Guy Ritchie has just wrapped his latest movie, Five Eyes, but he’s immediately signed on for his next project. The British filmmaker will direct the WWII film Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which in the works at Paramount.
The film is based on Damien Lewis‘ book of the same name, and has actually been in the works at the studio since 2015 when they acquired the rights. The project has gone through multiple scripts, with The Fighter scribes Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson penning an early one, with the latest draft being written by Arash Amel (A Private War).
The story takes places in 1939, when Winston Churchill decided to fight a little dirty against the Germans by creating essentially Britain’s first black ops unit, who were tasked with striking behind enemy lines.
The group’s tight-knit members knew they were likely to die in battle and that the government would deny their existence, but they won important victories against the Nazis using a combination of deception and brute force, while breaking all the accepted rules of warfare along the way.
Jerry Bruckheimer will produce under his eponymous company along with Chad Oman, while Ritchie’s frequent collaborator Ivan Atkinson will executive produce. Paramount’s Vanessa Joyce will oversee the project for the studio.
Ritchie is best known for his hard-nosed British gangster dramas Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. He’s never done a war film before, so it will be interesting to see how he adapts.
The director has been busy recently. He’s got action thriller Wrath Of Man due later this year, while, as mentioned, he just finished shooting spy film Five Eyes. Both films star Jason Statham, with the latter also featuring Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett and Hugh Grant.
#Peace.Love.MinistryOfUngentlemanlyWarfare
