TORONTO: Alex Walton will commence pre-sales in Canada this week on the Shane Black crime thriller starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.

Ken Kao and Walton’s Bloom along with Kao’s Waypoint Entertainment have boarded the project, which Warner Bros has dated for US release on June 17, 2016.

Kao will serve as executive producer and co-finance through his Waypoint Entertainment, while Joel Silver of Silver Pictures is serving as producer.   

Black will direct The Nice Guys from an original screenplay he co-wrote with Anthony Bagarozzi about a down-at-heel private eye and a thug in 1970s Los Angeles who team up on the murder investigation of a porn star that uncovers high-level conspiracy.

Bloom and Waypoint are currently in production on Gus Van Sant’s The Sea Of Trees, the project that launched the company in Cannes and stars Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts.

Waypoint’s slate includes Martin Scorsese’s Silence to be distributed by Paramount Pictures starring Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Andrew Driver and Watanabe; and Terrence Malick’s next two films – Knight Of Cups with Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett, and an untitled film starring Michael Fassbender, Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett.

Walton’s Bloom roster includes Skiptrace starring Jackie Chan and The Hunters, which John Moore will direct.