, and now he's snagged two roles both of which see him on opposite ends of the legal spectrum. The first and probably most prominent, is that he'll play a mobster in Gangster Squad, directed by Ruben Fleischer(Zombieland
). He joins a cast that already includes Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Emma Stone, Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi, and possibly Robert Patrick. Ex-cop Will Beall wrote the script, which springs from a series of LA Times articles about a special team of LAPD officers established in the 1940s to deal with the influx of east coast mobsters into Los Angeles. Grillo will play Ragan, a mobster operating the Continental Wire Service, which was one of the main horse racing betting services in the country.
And next is End of Watch, which comes from writer/director David Ayer(Training Day
, Harsh Times
) and is yet another of his numrous gritty crime flicks, usually dealing with corruption in one way or another. We don't know much about the plot of the film, only knowing that it deals with the friendship between two LAPD partners. Michael Pena and Jake Gyllenhaal are the two cops, with Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera co-starring. Grillo will play their tough commanding officer. Grillo's due for a big bump in status with his upcoming film, the MMA grappler Warrior coming out in September. That sees him paired up with Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, and Joel Edgerton. [Variety]
