Shane Black on cult success of ‘The Nice Guys,’ 10 years later: ‘There’s something to being the king of the midnight movie’

When “The Nice Guys” debuted 10 years ago, the writing was on the wall for the big-screen comedy. It came out sandwiched between “Captain America: Civil War” and “X-Men: Apocalypse.” It opened against “Angry Birds.” The cartoon birds, Ryan Gosling has lamented, “just destroyed us.” “They’re just so angry,” Gosling once sighed. And yet, marking its upcoming 10th anniversary this month, “The Nice Guys” has established itself as one of the most beloved comedies of the last decade — a decade in which Hollywood studios largely left the genre for dead. A 1970s-set comic noir directed and co-written by Shane Black, “The Nice Guys” paired Gosling and Russell Crowe as private eyes in a Los Angeles crime caper that, a decade later, keeps getting better. “There’s a lot of interest in ‘The Nice Guys’ today that wasn’t there when it opened. And the box office will attest to that,” Black deadpanned in a recent interview. “But people find these things. I think there’s kind of a joy of finding a movie on streaming or rental and then suddenly kind of realizing: How did I miss this? And ‘The Nice Guys’ was easy to miss.” Now, “The Nice Guys” is almost always on, in reruns on cable or streaming services. Whenever it’s on Netflix, it ranks among the most viewed on the platform. As more have become familiar with the comic talents of Gosling, in “Barbie” or “Project Hail Mary,” fans inevitably ask: “But have you seen ‘The Nice Guys?’” Black has known box-office smashes; he originated the “Lethal Weapon” movies. But he’s come to view films of his that didn’t make money as his favorites. In 2005, he made another cult favorite in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” which helped revive Robert Downey Jr.’s career. (Downey makes a cameo as a corpse in “The Nice Guys.”) “There’s something to being the king of the midnight movie,” says Black. “It’s not the most lucrative thing in the world.” Comedies go dark Earlier in the 2000s, comedy was a moviegoing staple. The films of Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow and Meli