The Nice Guys 2: Director Shane Black Gives New Update About A Possible Sequel

Screenwriter Shane Black helped perfect the buddy action/comedy formula in the 1980s and '90s, but I'd argue that "The Nice Guys," his 2016 directorial effort that he co-wrote with Anthony Bagarozzi, is his most purely enjoyable riff on that formula. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe co-star in a 1970s-set detective mystery that's as hilarious as it is compelling, and many who have seen it have spent years clamoring for a follow-up.

/Film was on board with the original movie from day one — actually, even earlier than that, since we had the opportunity to visit the set as the film was being shot. We've written before about how it's criminal that "The Nice Guys" never got a sequel, and Gosling has explained that one is unlikely because the original got trounced at the box office by "The Angry Birds" movie, a film everyone remembers and thinks very fondly of and totally didn't forget ever existed.

Now Shane Black has a new update about a possible "The Nice Guys 2." In a new interview in a featurette that can be found on Second Sight Films' excellent new limited edition 4K release of the movie, Black explains:

"I know the rights situation on 'The Nice Guys' is a bit difficult. Joel [Silver]'s a producer, Warner Bros. is the distributor, there's an oversees company that Ken Kao is a producer on. So to carve it out and make sure — in other words, can you make the sequel? Yes. Will it be financially feasible once you pay off everyone involved, including the actors getting their bump? That's the problem, is you're gonna present something that the actors have to agree to, that's a good script, and that is going to be very expensive and the studio's going to say, 'Well, didn't the last one sort of bomb at the theaters?' And you say, 'Yeah, but we want you to spend twice as much on this one anyway to get everyone back.'"

In that same interview, Black teases what "The Nice Guys 2" might have looked like, had it been given the go-ahead:

"The sequel was going to be any number of things, because ultimately, I come from the time where I used to read about a character named Shell Scott in a series of books by Richard Prather, and the character was so great. The capers changed, but you bought it for the character. So it doesn't really matter what the caper would be in the next movie. We'd find something. We had an idea that they go down to Mexico together and we'd set the whole thing south of the border. That was one notion, but we could just as easily have done something else. But once we got those two together and we decided to 'all systems go,' there was certainly a script to be had. I still look forward to one day writing that with Anthony."

As you can see, Black seems to be bouncing back and forth between two poles here, acknowledging the fact that a sequel will likely be prohibitively expensive, but still apparently holding out some hope that one might happen anyway. Despite the fact that the Warner Bros. film division is currently run by Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, who are famously filmmaker-friendly executives, it seems unlikely that "The Nice Guys 2" will be made while the notoriously penny-pinching CEO David Zaslav is in charge of that company.

"It's going to cost a ton, and the studio looks at it and says, 'We love Ryan. We love Russell. People love the movie, but it didn't hit when it came out, so we can't justify to our boss, who says, well, how'd the first one do?' That's the problem. They can't just make a decision because they like something. It's about keeping their jobs," Black concluded in the interview. Abdy and De Luca have, so far, been able to walk a fine line between supporting filmmakers' visions and keeping their boss placated, but I imagine taking a gamble on "The Nice Guys 2" might be a gamble they simply can't make. But it doesn't sound like Black has fully given up yet, so maybe if those of us who love the first film continue to vocally support it whenever we can, a viable path may open up for a sequel one day.