At Comic-Con last weekend, I got to speak with director Ruben Fleischer who was there to promote his new comedy, 30 Minutes or Less.  Here's our recap of the panel and all our previous coverage.  During the interview, Fleischer talked about being at Comic-Con, the difficulty in editing a film that has so much improv, deleted scenes and what will be on the DVD.Of course with Fleischer getting ready to direct Gangster Squad (which is going to star Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Holt McCallany and Robert Patrick), we also talked about where and when they're going to film, the incredible cast, his approach to the material, and the script. Finally, for all the Zombieland fans, we talked about if there will ever be a Zombieland 2. Hit the jump to read some of the highlights or watch the interview.Ruben Fleischer Time Index/Selected Quotes:
- :22 What he loves about Comic-Con
- :55 What went into deciding what to show for the 30 Minutes or Less panel?
- 1:43 Talks about the difficulty in editing a film like this that has so much improv and so many takes to choose from.
- 2:35 With the filmâs 83 minute runtime, what kind of stuff ended up on the cutting room floor?
- 3:16 Is he going to be doing an extended cut of the film on DVD or will they just put the deleted scenes all in one place? Talks about his opinion on directorâs cuts.
- 4:25 Talks about his approach to Gangster Squad: âWith Gangster Squad, what really excited me about it was the opportunity to stretch my legs as a filmmaker and really kind of take on a bigger challenge and show what I can do. In terms of scale and sensibility I think Zombieland and 30 Minutes are similar, but this movieâs a whole new set of challenges. Thereâs a different scale of actors or style of actors, and just doing a classic movie genre like this is intimidating, but I gotta just stick to my gut and trust my instincts and try and make the best version of it I possibly can.â
- 5:08 He talks about the high quality of actors heâs been blessed with on each of his films. âBut on [Gangster Squad] itâs really an embarrassment of riches when you have people like Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, itâs just a dream come true. And theyâre all so talented, and I think what we all responded to was just how great the script was, and so itâs a chance to really just make an awesome script and elevate it with these amazing actors in it.â
- 6:29 Has the script for Gangster Squad been altered at all to tailor it to specific actors as theyâve signed on or is it pretty much the same as it always was?
- 7:17 Says heâs not aware of anyone doing any crazy physical transformations for the film, but heâs not sure about Pennâs approach to Mickey Cohen.
- 7:38 Talks about how theyâre filming in Los Angeles and what theyâre doing to transform the city into 1940s L.A.
- 8:26 Talks about Zombieland 2. Says he has mixed feelings on it, and the only reason to make it is to make it better than the first one. Says everyone is really busy at the moment. âItâs, I think, something weâd all be excited to do, but as time passes the reality of it happening just from a pure[ly] practical perspective is less and less likely.â