Brian J. Smith & Walton Goggins Cast In ‘L.A. Confidential’ TV Show
As you may be aware, if you’ve been keeping up with news on the site, CBS has an ‘L.A. Confidential’ TV series in the works at the moment. They have now announced two of the main lead actors will be Brian J. Smith & Walton Goggins.
Based on the James Ellroy’s novel and 1997 feature film, this adaptation comes from Arnon Milchan, producer of the movie, and is written by Jordan Harper (‘Gotham’, ‘The Mentalist’). Interestingly, it will have the tone, music and style of a modern-day drama but will still be set in the 1950s, which is going to make for an “intriguing” juxtaposition. The story premise is still similar, as it follows 3 homicide detectives, a female reporter and an up-and-coming actress as the detectives pursue a sadistic serial killer among the secrets and lies of gritty, glamorous ’50s LA.
Brian J. Smith is set to play Ed Exley, the role played by Guy Pearce in the movie version of the story. The character is described as cold, but with a conscience, brilliant, authoritative and ambitious. He is a uniformed L.A. cop and the son of former hero detective turned real estate developer Preston Exley. Competing against the memory of his deceased brother (father’s favourite), Ed is determined to make his mark and become worthy in his father’s eyes. He is single-minded in his pursuit to make detective and will do anything to prove himself.
Smith has most recently been seen as Will in Netflix’s ‘Sense8’, but has popped up in episodes of ‘Quantico’, ‘Defiance’, ‘Person of Interest’ and ‘Blue Bloods’ and a number of other shows. The other major roles you may know him from are as Max in ‘Gossip Girl’ and Lt. Matthew Scott in ‘Stargate Universe’.
Walton Goggins will take the part of Detective Jack Vincennes. He’s described as “all swagger and flash with a movie star smile”. Not averse to the occasional corrupt shakedown, Jack knows how the system works and will use it to his best advantage. The role that was played by Kevin Spacey in the 1997 movie.
Goggins has most recently played the part of Rip in the Navy SEALs drama ‘SIX’, and Lee in HBO’s ‘Vice Principals’. Other parts you might recognise him from include ‘Justified’ where he played Boyd Crowder, ‘Sons of Anarchy’ where he starred as Venus Van Dam, and ‘The Shield’ where he played Shane Vendrell. He’s also popped up in the movies ‘The Hateful Eight’, ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Lincoln’. He can next be seen in the new ‘Tomb Raider’ film and Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’.
‘L.A. Confidential’ is currently still only a pilot, so may not go to series, we will have to wait and see. We’ll bring you more news as we get it.
