Shane Black would make a ‘Nice Guys’ sequel in a heartbeat. So, let’s get this shit going!

shane black the nice guys sequel

The Nice Guys is one of my favorite movies of the past five years, maybe of the past decade. I said favorite not best, don’t fucking @ me, okay? So, I’m more than wanting that fucking sequel teased at the end of the first. Will I get it? Who knows. But if it were up to director Shane Black, it would happen.

Screen Rant:

The Predator director Shane Black has stated that he would make a sequel to The Nice Guys “in a heartbeat,” but it would only happen if a studio or financier got behind the production. The 2016 comedy thriller starred Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, but despite excellent reviews it didn’t score big at theaters. However, Black recently revealed that he had ideas and plans for a follow-up with the two stars, although whether or not it will ever actually happen is another matter.

The Nice Guys was set in 1977, and took the buddy-cop film formula into a retro noir type detective story. Crowe was a reluctant enforcer called Jack Healy, while Gosling played an unlucky private eye named Holland March. The pair eventually bond over a missing persons case, and end the movie having created an investigative agency together. Sometimes mentioned by Black as being a spiritual sequel to his other popular comedic noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, it also starred Kim Basinger and Matt Bomer. It was widely acclaimed in reviews and received a Best Future Cult Hit award from SR, but it just never seemed to click with audiences at the time.

However, in a recent interview with Fandango, Black admitted that he would love to reunite Gosling and Crowe for a sequel. But he also acknowledges that the previous lack of strong domestic box office makes it pretty unlikely at the moment. Asked directly if he would shoot it himself, he said:

“In a heartbeat, if someone would pay for it… We had all kinds of ideas. The problem is it didn’t do that well at the box office. I imagine it will break even, which is not a formula for reacquiring two very expensive movie stars and proceeding with a sequel… I’m ready to go. If someone decided that it were enough of a cult hit to justify that, I’d be on it.”