Nick Nolte, and specifically his voice, seem to be aging like a fine vinegar– hard to swallow, but damn if it doesn’t give the character actor some bite. He does some fantastic work in Warrior, a film I’ll be gushing over more and more in the coming weeks, but whenever he opens his mouth it’s like every smoker’s cough you’ve heard comes tumbling out all at once.

I literally just cleared my throat thinking about it.

In any event, Deadline is reporting that right as he gains new heat for his performance in Warrior, he’s been cast in Ruben Fliescher’s increasingly star-studded LA gangster flick. This is definitely a more grizzled contrast to the last casting notice, which saw the beautiful Emma Stone make the cast a little more fair. Nolte will be playing “Bill Parker, the new chief of police in Los Angeles, and the first in a awhile who hasn’t been corrupted by Mickey Cohen.” Responsible for starting the titular division of agents and officers, Parker was a decorated veteran of WWII present at Normandy. In other words, a man with the balls to take on the city’s most notorious criminals. 

Gangster Squad, Fleischer’s move from modest action comedies to full-on criminal thriller, will certainly benefit from its cast which now sports Nolte and Stone along with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pena, Robert Patrick, Holt McCallany, and Giovanni Ribisi. The film will tell the story of a secretive LA law-enforcement organization that dug deep to bring down the major east coast mafia presence in the city– they did so covertly and yet took on some of the highest-profile gangsters in history (learn more here, if you’re not up on the project).

Fleischer was already well into pre-production on this when 30 Minutes or Less debuted a few weeks ago, so don’t expect it to be too long before we start seeing glimpses of these ladies and gentleman in their mid-40s LA best.

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