Guy Ritchie is clearly past the point of making major franchise films that have massive budgets and very little creative control. Because with “The Gentlemen” and the upcoming “Five Eyes,” it’s clear that the filmmaker is making features that tend to call back to his earlier works. And this freedom seems to be extending to his casting too.
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According to Deadline, Hugh Grant and Josh Hartnett are the latest actors to join Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, and Cary Elwes in the cast for “Five Eyes.” The film is the next film by director Guy Ritchie and tackles the world of global espionage. “Five Eyes” stars Statham as a retired MI6 agent that teams up with the CIA to take on a bad guy that aims to get some scary technology that will lead to global catastrophe. You know, like whatever spy film you typically watch.
Grant is probably not so much of a surprise to the cast as Harnett. Grant recently appeared in the aforementioned Ritchie flick, “The Gentlemen,” and he’s just a great actor that should be in more things, if we’re being completely honest. In addition to “Five Eyes” and “The Gentlemen,” Grant also showed up recently in the acclaimed HBO limited series, “The Undoing.”
As for Hartnett, he was once the “next big thing” about 20 years ago, appearing in films such as “Pearl Harbor,” “The Black Dahlia,” and “Black Hawk Down.” More recently, he’s shown up in projects such as “Penny Dreadful,” “Ida Red,” and “Paradise Lost.” But in all honesty, “Five Eyes” is probably the most high-profile role for Hartnett in a few years and could serve as an exciting reintroduction to audiences.
It’s unclear when “Five Eyes” will arrive in theaters and/or streaming, but the film is in production now.