Mob City

Synopsis

Mob City is based on a true story of a conflict that lasted decades between the Los Angeles Police Department (under leadership of police chief William Parker), and ruthless criminal elements led by Bugsy Siegel, who was in charge of the Los Angeles mafia operations. The series is a crime drama set in Los Angeles during 1947, with brief visits to the 1920s to show background information. The so-called noir period in L.A. was a time of flashy cars, newly minted movie stars, and new beginnings. However, it was also a time of lies and corruption. Half of the LAPD was led by the mafia families with the assist of money, and there were huge loopholes in the system, which the mob were taking advantage of.

Main cast

Recurring cast

Guest stars

Development

The project was first announced in January 2012, under the title L.A. Noir. When asked about details concerning the show, Darabont said various cultures, such as those of African-Americans and Hispanics, would likely be explored, and he was interested in expanding upon already touched upon aspects from Buntin's book. Darabont also commented on the general nature of his project, explaining he wanted to avoid its coming off as a docudrama while still staying true to the book, part of the way to doing that required inserting fictional characters into the timeline. The series was picked up for six episodes in October 2012.

In January 2013, the title was changed to Lost Angels, as the original title was considered too similar to that of the video game L.A. Noire. In August 2013, the title was changed again to Mob City.

Casting

Jon Bernthal was the first to be officially cast; after one month of negotiations he was officially cast as the lead. Following after him were Milo Ventimiglia, Jeremy Strong, Neal McDonough, and in a guest role Simon Pegg. Alexa Davalos was cast as the female lead after which two more cast members were announced, Jeffrey DeMunn and Andrew Rothenberg. Both of the latter previously worked with Bernthal and Darabont in The Walking Dead. Following the six episode order Pihla Viitala (who was later replaced by Mekia Cox) and Gregory Itzin were confirmed to star. Thomas Jane, who starred in Darabont's film The Mist, was in talks to join the show in the role of famous mobster Bugsy Siegel. Edward Burns was later cast in the role of Siegel, instead of Jane. Jeremy Luke was confirmed to be playing the legendary mobster Mickey Cohen in June 2013. Robert Knepper confirmed that he had been cast in a recurring role in the series, but at the time his role was unknown. Before filming of the rest of the series began Knepper was promoted to a series regular, as Sid Rothman, a mobster working for Cohen. Ernie Hudson was cast in a recurring role as a mobster nicknamed "Bunny", in June 2013.

Filming

According to guest star Simon Pegg, filming for the pilot began on May 10, 2012 and wrapped shortly after sunset on May 25, 2012. The rest of the series started filming in June 2013 and ended in late August of the same year. While the pilot was shot on 35mm film, the balance of the series was shot digitally. Darabont, a proponent of film who described himself as "one of the last holdouts", was sufficiently impressed with the approximation to film that digital had come to be able to accomplish.

Changes were made to the original pilot due to the lengthy timespan between production and the series proper as well as to better establish series regulars. A new prologue from prohibition era New York was conceived introducing the characters of Bugsy Siegel, Sid Rothman, and Meyer Lansky which becomes contextualized in the finale. The pilot originally began with a flashback introducing young Mickey Cohen and William Parker; this was moved to the second episode. A new scene at a church which introduced the character of Leslie Shermer and further expanded Sid Rothman's role was also incorporated into the premiere. Some characters from the pilot were also recast: Gregory Itzin replaced Ron Rifkin as the mayor of Los Angeles, and Mekia Cox replaced Pihla Viitala as Bunny's Jungle Club bartender Anya. A production still from the pilot featuring Viitala was used prominently in the show's online marketing despite her absence in the show.

Critical reception

Mob City received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rating of 66%, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Frank Darabont's love letter to classic noir, Mob City, is like a gorgeous gangster moll; its facade feels a bit too familiar, but everything's in the right place and it's stunning to look at." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 63 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Legacy

Though the show did not find commercial success, TNT chief Michael Wright defended the decision to greenlight the series in a 2014 interview, commenting that "Mob City was a chance. It didn’t draw the audience, but I’d do it again tomorrow."

In 2015, TNT premiered another serialized, period crime drama, Public Morals, which was developed by Mob City recurring actor Edward Burns. Burns was partially inspired by the positive relationship that Darabont had with TNT on Mob City to do the project with the network. The series shares other actors with Mob City, including Neal McDonough and Robert Knepper.