Is Kim Basinger preparing for another golden performance? According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-winning actress will be joining Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad) and Russell Crowe (Noah) for a role in the upcoming Warner Bros. movie The Nice Guys.
Basinger, who earlier this year appeared in the independent films I Am Here and Four Minute Mile, came to prominence in the 1980s in a series of attention-grabbing roles. She played a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983), was nominated for a Golden Globe as Memo Paris in The Natural (1984), played opposite Mickey Rourke in the sexy thriller 9½ Weeks (1986), and famously portrayed Vicki Vale in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989). In 1998, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her seductive performance as Lynn Bracken in L.A. Confidential.
The Nice Guys is set in 1970s Los Angeles, and pairs an ex-fighter and a private detective as they attempt to solve a murder. Written and directed by Shane Black (Iron Man 3), the film has acquired a cast line-up that continues to get better with each new announcement. So far, Gosling is on board to play Holland March, a socially-inept L.A. private detective who befriends Russell Crowe’s musclebound goon, to solve the mystery of a missing girl and the death of a porn star.
The project will mark a reunion for Basinger with her L.A. Confidential co-star, Russell Crowe. This time the actress is slated to play a criminal chief justice who is “in bed with criminals.” We could take this to mean she’s carnally engaged, or is simply taking cash for turning a blind eye.
Whatever her alliance may be to the bad guys, we also know who will be playing them. Beau Knapp (No One Lives) has signed on to tackle the role of an accident-prone, gold chain-wearing hitman, with Keith David (Cloud Atlas) on hand to play his older partner.
The Nice Guys, scripted by both Black and Anthony Bagarozzi (The Long Kiss Goodnight), hits theaters on June 17th, 2016.