Released almost 25 years ago, “L.A. Confidential” earned rave reviews and ended up landing 9 Oscar nominations (winning two). The film features an incredible cast and is a great detective noir. And it appears the Oscar-winning writer of the first film, Brian Helgeland, had a great idea for a sequel a few years ago, including some A-list cast members like Chadwick Boseman, but the studio turned him down.
According to an interview with The Ringer, Helgeland talked about his idea for “L.A. Confidential 2” and why it never got made. Long story short, you can’t make a movie without studio support, even if you have some of the biggest names in Hollywood attached.
Helgeland said that a few years ago, he worked on a new story for “L.A. Confidential 2” with James Ellroy (the author behind the novel the original is based on). The story was so exciting, Helgeland had already secured returning cast members Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce. And apparently, he had wooed “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman to play a young cop in the ‘70s. (Helgeland wrote the film, “42,” which starred Boseman.) But it was all for naught.
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“We worked the whole thing out,” Helgeland said. “It was great. And Warners passed.”
For those that haven’t seen “L.A. Confidential,” the film stars Crowe, Pearce, Kim Basinger (earning an Oscar for her role), and Kevin Spacey. The noir followed the stories of three police officers in ‘50s Los Angeles as they investigate a series of murders.
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Obviously, we’ll never know the full story, as it’s unclear exactly why Warner Bros. passed on the idea at the time. However, you have to imagine something was amiss if the studio would nix a sequel to an Oscar-winning film, especially when it has returning cast and one of the biggest stars in the world at the time in Boseman. So, for now, we’ll just have to sit back and imagine what that film could have looked like.
You can watch the trailer for the original film below:
