On a recent evening, after finding a few folding chairs, Russell Crowe, 52, and Ryan Gosling, 35, settled into a grimy breezeway next to the Egyptian Theater. Showing inside this fabled movie palace here was The Nice Guys, a buddy comedy set in the 1970s by the writer-director Shane Black (best known for his work on Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and produced by Joel Silver. The film, out on May 26 in the UAE, stars Crowe as a goon for hire and Gosling as a hard-drinking private eye who reluctantly team up to locate a missing woman.
A semicircle of bodyguards stood at a distance, successfully blocking the view from fans behind a fence. But the dark-suited human barricade could do nothing to muffle a marching band that clattered unseen, somewhere along the street, playing a stadium anthem. “You’re amazing,” Crowe joked to Gosling, shaking his head. “You come with your own parade?”
While the discussion touched on serious subjects, the actors consistently made each other laugh. Gosling showed a flair for quick one-liners, while Crowe’s running gag involved his co-star’s reputation as a dreamboat. “If I’m not complimenting you enough,” Crowe said to Gosling as they sat down, “please jump in.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Neither of you specialise in funny movies. How did you know that you’d work as a comic duo?
CROWE: I knew that we’d just pop because a couple of years before, I called him about a project and said: ‘Hey, man. It’s Russell Crowe.’ And his response was, ‘Mr Crowe? I’ve been expecting this call. I’m deeply sorry for stealing [from you] for the last 10 years.’ From the first seconds of conversation together, it was totally my sense of humour. I thought, ‘We cannot miss.’
GOSLING: I’ve been a big fan of Shane’s for a long time. Also Joel Silver’s. These guys are part of my upbringing. I grew up on their movies. Shane wrote Monster Squad [with Fred Dekker]. My first exposure to what behind the scenes in Hollywood was like was Joel Silver as a director screaming at an actor in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. His voice is in my subconscious. For me, it was a great opportunity that didn’t take much consideration.
Were there a lot of discussions with Shane Black about how your characters should relate to each other?
CROWE: Most of the time in this genre, the buddy thing, you feel like at some point in time, there’s an audible click. Like in LA Confidential, Exley and White come together at one point and begin operating as one. And Shane was like: ‘Exactly right. That doesn’t happen in this film.’ [Laughs] So we did the opposite of that.
Ryan, at one point you react to something with what film buffs might consider to be a Lou Costello impersonation. Was that conscious?
GOSLING: I grew up on Abbott and Costello movies, partly because my parents didn’t get a movie membership at Blockbuster. We just got movies from the library because they were free. That’s how I fell in love with all those films and the broadness of the old-fashioned kind of physical comedy. Of all the films I watched, those guys seemed to be having the most fun — because they had each other. The whole idea of having a pal with you seemed like the ultimate to me. But I’ve never had the chance to do that. I came up through independent films and dramas. So when this came along, I thought, “This is what I’ve been wanting to do.”
You both have many scenes with Angourie Rice, an Australian actress who was 14 at the time. Was it uncomfortable exchanging coarse dialogue with a minor?
CROWE: There were a few ‘we’re-going-to-hell’ moments. [Laughs]
GOSLING: But her parents were always on set, and she’s such a pro. She’s just as mature as I was — last year.
CROWE: No, no. She’s way more mature than that. [Laughs] This was the most ridiculous set for me. As professional and focused as I like to consider myself, he just makes me laugh. There are probably just as many ruined takes on this movie as there were ones for the director to choose from.
Let’s talk about the scene, which can be seen in the trailer, where Russell’s character confronts Ryan’s in a toilet stall. How carefully was that bit of physical comedy choreographed?
GOSLING: I went to set early to work out how I was going to do this. I’m sitting there on my own, with my pants around my ankles, trying to figure out how to make this door open and close. Then I pushed the door open, and there’s Russell smoking and watching me. Then he and I talked about how the door could bounce better. It was a serious conversation about such a ridiculous thing.
CROWE” I’m not sure the door gag was even written. I think it just said, ‘Sitting on the toilet with a gun in his hand.’ Ryan was going: ‘What’s funnier? My left arm or my right arm?’ And I said, ‘Dude, what’s funny, I reckon, is if you use a different limb every time.’ The secret to that scene is that it’s done with a dancer’s grace. There’s no effort to make it funny.
Russell, have you been offered comedies before?
CROWE: Every few years, I’m offered one. I’ve always said that there’s a lot of comedic stuff in everything I do. That decapitation in Gladiator? That’s a real thigh-slapper. C’mon. I’ve been punching out the laughs for years. [Laughs]
Did you enjoy doing stunts in a movie like Nice Guys?
CROWE: I knew I had to be a little bit careful: I was 60 pounds [27kg] heavier then than I am at the moment. I wanted that size because of the Abbott and Costello dynamic that seemed to be inherent. But when you’re that big, you have to watch yourself. When you fall, you fall harder.
GOSLING: Immediately after the read-through, I saw Russ drawing the most accurate sketch of a hot tub I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, you could build a hot tub from the sketch. And he started talking to Shane about how it wasn’t possible to do the stunt the way it was written. Russell was already thinking about the stunts and how they were going to play out because he had so much experience. And I don’t. It felt very new for me.
Tonight was the first time you saw any part of The Nice Guys with an audience. What was that like?
GOSLING: Just watching it for 10 minutes before we came to do this was really fun. With drama, it’s hard to tell. You never know if it’s resonating or not. With this, if they laugh, then it’s working.
CROWE: My memory of this [movie] will be the ease of the collaboration. It’s so funny because [points to Gosling] he has a reputation. I have a reputation. Joel has one. Shane has one. These guys have reputations of being quote unquote ‘difficult’ and are actually just simply passionate. But us together, we were just getting the job done. And that was really, really fun for me. It makes you wonder who is the person who points that out as being difficult.
