Gangster Squad, which recounts the tale of the 1940s-era tussle between off-the-books Los Angeles police officers and an army of mobsters, hits screens Friday after being delayed by a real-life shooting in Colorado.

Director Ruben Fleischer agreed to cut a key scene in which mobsters shoot into a crowded cinema following the modern-day incident in the town of Aurora last July, in which 12 were killed and 70 injured in a theatre shooting. James Holmes is facing trial in the case.

The movie playing at the time was The Dark Knight Rises, but a Gangster Squad trailer — including a segment of the cinema-shooting scene — had already begun screening during previews. The trailers were immediately pulled. A new sequence was eventually shot in L.A.'s Chinatown and worked into the existing film, originally set to debut last fall.

Gangster Squad recreates the violence of 1940s Los Angeles, a period when crime syndicates were battling for control of the city.

Sean Penn portrays head mobster Mickey Cohen, while Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Giovanni Ribisi star as members of a police squad who use some tough tactics to battle the mob.

Only Ribisi questions the morality of police officers throwing away the rulebook.

CBC’s Eli Glasner talks to the U.S. actor about his conflicted character and the stylish set and costumes of Gangster Squad.