Henry Golding, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer & More Join Henry Cavill In Guy Ritchie’s WWII Commando Movie ‘Ministry’

British director Guy Ritchie has been feverishly working since his big Disney film Aladdin from 2019 earned over a billion dollars at the global box office and has allowed him to rollout a string of movies since that certainly speak towards the filmmaker’s love for crime and action. Ritchie is now about to begin production on a period action film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, about the formation of the first British commando unit during World War II that executed various deadly missions behind enemy lines and with limited supplies/man-power.

Filming on Ministry is expected to kick-off on February 13 and Deadline has revealed some new additions to the cast. The film’s previously announced leads Henry Cavill and Eiza González will now be joined by actors such as Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Henrique Zaga, Alex Pettyfer, Cary Elwes. Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, and Til Schweiger.

Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Arash Amel, and Ritchie penned the script which is based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’ novel of the same name. One of the more interesting people involved with Ministry is mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer being attached after the billion-dollar success of Top Gun: Maverick.

This wasn’t the first time he’s attempted making films set during WWII. Once upon a time, Ritchie was attached to tackle a Sgt. Rock movie based on the DC Comics character and a remake of The Dirty Dozen but both of those WWII projects dissolved. It’ll be curious to see what the tone of the project will be as the series SAS Rogue Heroes (sort of mirrors Ministry) has a bit of edge/cheekiness to it, but the trailer for Ritchie’s upcoming military thriller The Covenant set in Afghanistan starring Jake Gyllenhaal gives the impression the director is taking this real-life subject matter a tad more seriously than with his other films that have been notably comedic.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Rogue’ Director M.J. Bassett Joins Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series Reboot

The Ronin can confirm that British director M.J. Bassett is part of the directing team of Amazon’s series reboot of Jack Reacher, previously a film franchise led by Tom Cruise and will have Alan Ritchson (slightly more aligned with Reacher’s stature/size) taking over the role in the show.

Bassett had been once involved with Amblin’s new Halo series but dropped out and recently she was behind the recent Megan Fox actioner Rogue. Her others credits include Altered Carbon, Iron Fist, Nightflyers, Strike Back, Endangered Species, Ash vs Evil Dead, and Silent Hill: Revelation.

Bassett joins The Wachowskis as part of the growing club of trans women directors tackling action projects, the more the merrier.

We previously first reported Amazon hired Bodyguard director Thomas Vincent for Jack Reacher.

The first season is reportedly based on Lee Child’s novel Killing Floor.

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

Skydance and Amazon are already partners on their popular Jack Ryan series based on the Tom Clancy novels led by John Krasinski, which is heading into it’s third season.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series Hires ‘Bodyguard’ Director Thomas Vincent

The Ronin has been able to confirm that Skydance/Amazon has hired French director Thomas Vincent to helm an undisclosed amount of episodes for their new Jack Reacher series starring Alan Ritchson (Titans, Ghosts of War). The Amazon series is a hard reboot of the character previously played by Tom Cruise in two feature films released by Paramount Pictures and based on the novels written by author Lee Child.

The first season is said to be an adaption of the novel The Killing Floor.

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

Vincent is likely best known for directing the first three episodes of the hit Netflix series Bodyguard that was led by Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Eternals).

BODYGUARD – Set in and around the corridors of power, Bodyguard tells the story of David Budd (Richard Madden), a heroic, but volatile war veteran now working as a Specialist Protection Officer for London’s Metropolitan Police Service. When he is assigned to protect the ambitious Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), Budd finds himself torn between his duty and his beliefs. Responsible for her safety, could he become her biggest threat?

We previously reported that filming is expected to kick-off around mid-April in Toronto.

They’ve also hired production designer Patricio M. Farrell, who worked on The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Skydance is also behind Amazon’s Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski and developing an original spy series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger for Netflix.

More casting announcements are on the horizon.

Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series Reboot Shooting In Toronto From April To July – Stars Alan Ritchson

The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that Skydance and Amazon’s upcoming Jack Reacher series reboot starring Alan Ritchson will be shooting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Filming is on the streaming series is expected to take place next year from April 15th to July 30th.

Alan Ritchson isn’t a stranger to shooting projects in Canada as he shot DC Universe’s Titans in Toronto as well.

The first season is reportedly taking cues from the novel The Killing Floor written by Lee Child and takes place in Georgia.

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

Tom Cruise previously played the titular role in the Paramount feature films Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. A casting choice that author Lee Child was never happy with given the character is a tall and hulking figure in the books.

Skydance Media is also behind Amazon’s Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski.

Since that Jack Reacher isn’t likely going to wrap until the summer (barring production delays) I wouldn’t assume that it would be ready to be released before the fall of 2021 or early 2022.

Alan Ritchson To Lead Amazon’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Series

Yesterday, it was announced by Amazon via Deadline that they’ve officially cast Alan Ritchson (Titans, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as the new Jack Reacher for their Prime Video series, which will be a reboot of the Lee Childs hard-boiled character. Reacher is known to be a hulking figure at 6’5 (Ritchson is 6’4), so the casting seems to be great on paper, we’ll have to see if Amazon will have another Jack Ryan level hit on their hands. 

Its first season is said to be based on the novel The Killing Floor and will take place in Georgia. 

Jack Reacher comes to the little town of Margrave looking for information about the mysterious death of a guitar player named Blind Blake. Instead, he finds one of the largest counterfeiting operations in history.

The character had been previously played by action star Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher and the box office blunder Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. A casting choice that seemed to irk author Lee Childs in retrospect.  

I’m sure folks are going to be curious if a Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher crossover event could be in the cards given they’re both Paramount/Skydance characters with their own Amazon shows. 

Amazon has a bevy of shows based on novels on the way including Lord of The Rings and The Wheel of Time about to resume production after production pauses. They also announced plans in 2018 to make a series reboot of Robert E. Howard’s Conan The Barbarian, the film incarnation starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and is credited to launching his successful Hollywood career. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE