After the Aurora, Colorado tragedy, the period crime drama Gangster Squad almost went back to formula, requiring a rewrite, re-shoots, and a delayed release to remove plot elements that rang a bit to close to the theater shooting that left 12 dead and another 58 injured.
Gangster Squad is back with a new trailer that ditches the eerie Aurora associations, looking all-the-more promising with more crazy-stupid action and gun-play and extended scenes between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
You may recall a scene from the old Gangster Squad trailer in which a cadre of trench-coated, fedora-wearing wise-guys stand behind a film screen and shoot Thompson sub-machine guns at the audience while a film plays. This scene inadvertently walked into controversy when alleged shooter James Holmes did much the same thing at the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, causing incalculable human loss and heartbreak.
The Gangster Squad trailer was immediately pulled, the premiere was pushed back, and the entire original ending sequence had to be re-shot. The film’s producers did the right thing there, and the new ending is somewhat teased in the new trailer.
But we won’t spoil anything for you. Check out the new Gangster Squad trailer below and let us know if you like it better than the first one. Despite the film’s uncomfortable former ties to the Aurora massacre, are you still willing to go see it? If so, Gangster Squad hits theaters on January 11, 2013.
The new Gangster Squad trailer: