Robert Patrick is in final negotiations to join the cast of “The Gangster Squad,” as Variety's Dave McNary exclusively reports, taking the role for which Bryan Cranston had previously been in talks. The period police saga will have Patrick starring opposite Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena and Anthony Mackie. Emma Stone is in negotiations for the female lead, as SHOWBLITZ first reported. Ruben Fleischer will direct from a script by former Los Angeles Police Dept. officer Will Beall. Project chronicles the LAPD’s struggle with increasing crime and corruption in the 1940s, and the formation of the Gangster Squad to keep East Coast organized crime figures out of Los Angeles. Patrick will portray Max Kennard, a laconic LAPD officer from Texas who ambitiously enforces the law. Cranston had been in talks last month for the role, but is no longer involved with the project.
