Morning filming outside LA City Hall of a Basinger/Crowe/Gosling flick called ‘The Nice Guys.’ pic.twitter.com/Ml0XEBh7UP
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) January 21, 2015
The south lawn of Los Angeles City Hall served as the set Wednesday for a 1970s-era protest scene for the upcoming thriller “The Nice Guys,” staring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.
Some onlookers felt as if they had traveled back in time after spotting a vintage Los Angeles Police Department squad car parked outside City Hall.
Demonstrators in bell bottom pants were also seen on the ground in what appeared to be a peaceful “die-in” protest — just a few dozen yards away from where real protesters recently gathered to air grievances about police.
Also spotted on the set were Gosling and Crowe, and extras dressed in police uniforms and riot gear.
The film’s story follows a private detective who investigates the supposed suicide of a porn star and along the way, stumbles upon a criminal conspiracy involving the smog-producing U.S. auto industry.
The period film, which is due to be released in 2016, is set in Los Angeles, but some scenes were shot in a house in Atlanta, where the state film incentives are more generous than in California. The production returned to Los Angeles for a one-day shoot at City Hall, where fees for filming on city property are waived, according to Marie Lloyd, spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Other productions are lined up to shoot soon at City Hall, Lloyd said, with the HBO show “Silicon Valley” scheduled to film inside the mayor’s press conference room next week.
City Hall has appeared in dozens of television shows and films over the year, such as the hit series “The West Wing” and the classic film “Chinatown.” More recently the building’s marbled halls and rotunda were used as a set in the latest season of the television show “Scandal,” which stars Kerry Washington.