Terrific Trailer for ‘The Gangster Squad’!

UK Release Date: 9th November 2012.

The Gangster Squad is an upcoming crime drama chronicling the LAPD’s fight to keep the East Coast Mafia, led by Mickey Cohen, out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s.

Ruben Fleischer is at the helm of The Gangster Squad and while he may be inexperienced in the genre (his previous directorial outings being comedies Zombieland and 30: Minutes or Less) the cast is star studded. Taking the lead as Mickey Cohen is the brilliant Sean Penn and the LAPD officer charged with stopping him is Josh Brolin. Support comes in the form of Hollywood hot property Ryan Gosling, the wonderful Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi and Anthony Mackie.

This is an absolutely fantastic trailer and is a brilliant advert for the film. It clearly defines the opposing characters (Penn and Brolin), it provides a great insight of the sort of action and tone of the film and provides a bit of comic relief in the form of Gosling’s character. I think that The Gangster Squad looks like a fantastic film and this trailer has certainly peaked my interest.

The crime genre is a timeless one and audiences are always going to be interested in it. Two of the greatest films of all time were gangster flicks, The Godfather and Goodfellas, but while the more recent Public Enemies and American Gangster failed to make any real waves in the film industry both were well received both critically and commercially. Success is surely on the cards for The Gangster Squad.

I Know That Face! It’s Jason Flemyng!

He's so happy!

There are some actors who work incredibly hard but never reap the rewards that Brad Pitt or George Clooney do; there are some actors who appear in a lot of films but not many people would know who they were. If you enjoy films, especially those directed by Guy Ritchie or Matthew Vaughn, then you will know the face of Jason Flemyng.

Flemyng boasts a wide variety of films in his back catalogue: gangster flicks, comic book movies, big budget blockbusters, small budget indies but interestingly, Flemyng continues to return to his television roots despite, by many people’s opinion, making it as a film star.

Lock, Stock: Flemyng's big break.

In 1994, Flemyng made his first film appearance after dropping in on a number of television series. This film was a version of The Jungle Book, but it was four years later that he got his big break in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Matthew Vaughn. Ritchie then went on to direct Flemyng again in Snatch.

In the early 2000s Flemyng made a transition to big budget Hollywood films. The two notable films of this time are From Hell, alongside Johnny Depp, and unfortunately the heavily criticised League of Extraordinary Gentlemen where he starred with Sean Connery.

The fun that Jason Flemyng had with Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels‘ co-star Jason Statham led to Flemyng being cast in action sequel Transporter 2. The relationships that Flemyng has forged in the movie industry are clearly important to him as he continued to work with Ritchie, Statham and Vaughn on more than one occasion.

Helping to reboot the X-men franchise

Matthew Vaughn has described Flemyng as his ‘lucky charm’ and this is why Flemyng features in most of Vaughn’s films, whether Vaughn is producing or directing. The partnership formed on Lock Stock has seen Flemyng given roles, however big or small, in Snatch, Mean Machine, Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass and a brilliant role in X-men: First Class as teleporting mutant Azazel. This is a role Flemyng will more than likely return for, especially as Vaughn is once again signed on to direct.

Jason Flemyng’s work has not gone ignored by others in the industry and he has appeared in several other films such as Soloman Kane, Clash of the Titans, Ironclad, the critically acclaimed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and even an uncredited appearance in The Social Network.

With such a wide range of films to his name it is almost impossible to avoid Flemyng’s work. He is a really really good British star who doesn’t get half the recognition that he deserves. No matter what role he plays, big or small, Jason Flemyng gives it his all.