Deadline reports that Guy Ritchie had been hired by Paramount Pictures to write and direct a WWII movie, titled Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, based on a novel by Damien Lewis that focused on the formation of the first British black ops unit.
Previous drafts were penned by Arash Amel, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson.
When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army–alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to secretly develop of a very special kind of military unit that would operate on their own initiative deep behind enemy lines. The units would be licensed to kill, fully deniable by the British government, and a ruthless force to meet the advancing Germans. The very first of these “butcher-and-bolt” units–the innocuously named Maid Honour Force–was led by Gus March-Phillipps, a wild British eccentric of high birth, and an aristocratic, handsome, and bloodthirsty young Danish warrior, Anders Lassen. Amped up on amphetamines, these assorted renegades and sociopaths undertook the very first of Churchill’s special operations–a top-secret, high-stakes mission to seize Nazi shipping in the far-distant port of Fernando Po, in West Africa.
It’ll be interesting to see if he ends up casting familiar actors such as Charlie Hunnam and Jason Statham.
Guy is a busy bee as he finished a thriller titled Wrath of Man that has yet to come out and is currently in production on his new spy movie formerly known as Five Eyes, both films starring Jason Statham. He had been announced to make an Aladdin sequel for Disney but that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon given all these projects he keeps attaching himself to.
At one time, Ritchie had been developing a remake of The Dirty Dozen but things eventually fell apart when Quentin Tarantino made his own WWII film with fighting men behind enemy lines with the Brad Pitt flick Inglourious Basterds. A project that was greatly inspired by movies like The Dirty Dozen.
When this war project will begin shooting is a little unclear but Guy has been moving quickly between the productions of Aladdin, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, and now with “Five Eyes.” I wouldn’t be shocked if this ended up being his next film to shoot.
SOURCE: DEADLINE
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