Nick Nolte Joins 'Gangster Squad'

Briefly: Here's one more reason to be excited about Ruben Fleischer's upcoming '40s-set LA 'cops vs. mobsters' story Gangster Squad. Nick Nolte is taking a role in the film; he'll be Bill Parker, "the new chief of police in Los Angeles," and a Chief who isn't in the pocket of big-time LA gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). The character is a WWII vet and the guy who gives the gangster squad its mandate to bust Cohen and other organized crime goons.

Nolte joins a cast that also includes Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Michael Peña, Mirielle Enos, Giovanni Ribisi, Holt McCallany, Robert Patrick, Frank Grillo and Sullivan Stapleton. I don't know exactly what has Nick Nolte showing up all over the place lately, but I love it. He's in the David Milch/Michael Mann HBO show Luck, as well as the upcoming films Warrior (pictured above), Parker and The Company You Keep. [Deadline]