The Kidd here...
Warner Bros. is really cutting themselves with the double-edged sword here in regards to Ruben Fleischer's GANGSTER SQUAD. Not only are they looking to make significant cuts to the film, including reshooting a crucial theatre shooting scene, following last week's tragic events in Aurora, Colorado, but the studio is looking into their options as far as shifting the film on the release schedule.
When Nordling wrote up the news that reshoots were in order earlier this week, I wondered why Warner Bros. didn't just put the film, starring Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, on the shelf for a little while, until things settled down a bit, and sensitivity wasn't so heightened. It looks like they are doing that for a short time, but mostly to make sure they can bring the cast back together for the reshoots, the cast's availability to do press to support the film and when they might have a spot to stick the movie.
January 11 is the date being currently eyed, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which would line GANGSTER SQUAD up against HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, a competition the mobster movie should easily win... but by rushing into what seems like a kneejerk reaction so quickly following what happened in Aurora, Warner Bros. really has painted themselves into a no-win situation. If they don't cut the scene, they look insensitive. If they do cut it, they've got no backbone. Shelving the film might have diffused some of the attention that'll be paid to the film, solely because of this one scene, but now bringing it back still reshot... well, it's just a big mess over at Warner Bros. right now trying to figure this dicey situation out.
I would have liked to see GANGSTER SQUAD as presently constituted sometime next March or April... or even next August. That should have created enough space between now and then... but Warner Bros. is playing this one as safely as possible.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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