Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer is set to helm Warner Bros.’ Gangster Squad, which will tell the true story of a Los Angeles police squad going head-to-head with the organized crime of the city. The film will be penned by L.A. Rex writer Will Beall.
Acclaimed crime films like L.A. Confidential and The Untouchables are said to be tonally similar to Gangster Squad, which is obviously a good start, but Fleischer might not be the best choice for a crime movie. He showed lots of promise with Zombieland, but that mainly proved that he could adeptly handle comedy, even the film’s action sequences were comedic in tone.
Making this development all the more confusing, directors such as Darren Aronofsky and Ben Affleck – both of whom would seem fit for this project more so than Fleischer – were passed over for Gangster Squad, but such a decision suggests that the studio has faith in the relatively new director.
Fleischer has completed work on the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less, but also has Babe in the Woods and a sequel to Zombieland in the works, so there’s no telling when production on Gangster Squad will begin.
The casting of this project remains to be seen, but expect there to be some peculiar choices.
So, how does everyone else feel about Fleischer taking on Gangster Squad?
