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Angourie Rice,

Joel Silver, Shane Black, Matt Bomer, Angourie Rice & Russell Crowe surprise us at a screening of The Nice Guys - EVENT REPORT

A couple of weeks back I was fortunate to go along to an early screening of Shane Black's new action comedy film The Nice Guys starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling (as The Nice Guys). I settled into my seat and got comfy for what, was sure to be two hours of fun. The lights dim slightly, but before the film starts - a man strolls out of the shadows to make a couple of pre film announcements. 

     My jaw drops in jubilant surprise as the guy says something like:

Hi, I'm Joel Silver. ”

     I tried to maintain my equanimity but Holy Cow! That's Joel Silver. The-e Joel Silver. Hollywood Legend and film Producer behind some of my favourite films. Joel Silver who has been involved in nearly every great action film in the last 30 years, including the likes of: The Warriors, Streets of Fire, Commando, Lethal Weapon, Predator, Die Hard, Roadhouse, The Last Boy Scout, The Matrix, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Sherlock Holmes, etc., etc.



     Admittedly there have been some misses in his portfolio but, to be able to consistently make hits that nearly always supersedes the previous film, over a near 4 decade career in a business that is notoriously fickle, is truly something and the calling card of a great producer.

     He went on to say something to the effect of he's the Producer of Nice Guys, thank you for coming ... but I couldn't be sure because all the time I'm thinking Holy cow! That's Joel Silver.

     Then he invites Director Shane Black onto the stage to say some words and introduce The Nice Guys.

     Video: The Nice Guys - Official Trailer (2016)                                                     

     As Matt Bomer said on the evening as can be seen in the video below:

These people on the stage, are responsible for roughly half of my favourite movies... ”

     - Matt Bomer 

The Nice Guys (2016) A mismatched pair of private eyes investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles. Director: Shane Black Writers: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi Stars: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, Kim Basinger RELATED Shane Black's Iron Man 3 Reviewed We analyse the Man of Steel Trailer

     I can't overstate the impact that both Joel Silver and Shane Black had on me - being a teen in the 80s. It's possibly no surprise that Shane Black was selected to write and direct Iron Man 3, the story of Tony Stark falling to his lowest and then rising up again as Shane Black knows a little something about the subject matter. And the tale of his Icarus like rise, fall and phoenix rebirth is part of Hollywood lore.

     Straight out of film school Shane Black exploded onto the Hollywood scene when he wrote Lethal Weapon (Mel Gibson & Danny Glover) and sold it for a fairly hefty chunk of change at the time. It's one of, if not my favourite, action film. It takes place in a thoroughly modern L.A. - with the decadence, corruption and seediness that make up the underbelly of the city but the personalities hark back to old school film noir with realistic complicated characters bouncing off each with witty banter, their relationship punctuated with some great action and nefarious villains -  rather than just being placeholders to lead to the action which had pretty much become the order of the day for action films at the time.

     Then out of nowhere Black turns up as an actor in Predator (Arnold Schwarzenegger & Carl Weathers) another of my favourite action films.

     Before earning £1.2 million, the most a studio had ever paid for a spec script at the time, for The Last Boy Scout (Bruce Willis & Damon Wayans ) - you guessed it another of my favourite action films of all time.

     This event was a milestone for film writers but was overshadowed when his next script The Long Kiss Goodnight (Geena Davis & Samuel L. Jackson), again broke records with its £2.8 Million price tag. But this also marked the beginning of a spell in the wilderness for Black for almost a decade as the 80s excesses, Hollywood's perception of him, fame, a Los Angeles lifestyle caught up with him and The Long Kiss Goodnight not performing as well as expected. But that is a story for another time.

     Nine years later in 2005 Black bounced back, both writing and directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Robert Downey Jr. & Val Kilmer) which led to him working with Robert Downey Jr. again on Marvel's Iron Man 3 and putting him back on the map, bringing us to the highly entertaining The Nice Guys (Ryan Gosling & Russell Crowe) which is worth every penny of your ticket money for 2 hours of escapism.

     After The Nice Guys Shane Black will be taking on 3 long time dream projects; he will be fulfilling his ambition to bring pulp and comic hero Doc Savage to the screen with Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, he will be bringing the Predator back to life (you know this one is going to be good) with The Predator as well as hopefully bringing Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir's pulp character Remo Williams back to the screen with The Destroyer. But I hope he finds the time to bring Ryan Gosling & Russell Crowe back together for a sequel to The Nice Guys (please).


     It seems that throughout his ups and downs there has been at least one constant - his friendship and working partnership with Joel Silver. It is almost as if they are two mismatched characters from one of Shane Black's stories, that despite their differences they have an unbreakable bond, which I guess is a very compelling component of his stories and I couldn't have been happier to see both these guys together introducing The Nice Guys.


     At this point I kind of realised what was happening and pulled out my phone to start recording, apologies in advance for the dire quality of the video below, the lighting was terrible and I was wholly unprepared for the personal introductions and was trying to adjust my phone's camera to try make the best of the conditions whilst recording.



     Joel Silver and Shane Black then went on to invite stars of The Nice Guys: Matt Bomer, Angourie Rice and Russell Crowe to the stage to say a few words. I loved  Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys and he had some hilarious choice words for the London audience.




     If that shoddy clip hurt your eyes, rather feast them on this high quality and hilarious "Porn is Bad" clip below, featuring damsel in distress; Kim Basinger and The Nice Guys.

The Nice Guys UK Poster [ZOOM]

A Silver Pictures Production in association with Waypoint Entertainment, “The Nice Guys” will be released in the UK this Friday, 3rd June 2016, by Icon Film Distribution.


For more information on The nice Guys, please visit www.NiceGuysMovie.co.uk
The Nice Guys on Twitter https://twitter.com/NiceGuysMovieUK
The Nice Guys on Facebook www.facebook.com/NiceGuysMovieUK
The Nice Guys on Instagram www.instagram.com/NiceGuysMovieUK


The Establishing Shot: JOEL SILVER, SHANE BLACK, MATT BOMER, ANGOURIE RICE &  RUSSELL CROWE SURPRISE US AT A SCREENING OF THE NICE GUYS - EVENT REPORT