British actor Henry Cavill (“The Witcher“) made waves recently by announcing his official return to the Superman role with early development on a sequel to “Man of Steel.” But that’s not the only thing on the horizon as he’s already teamed with director Matthew Vaughn (“The Kingsman” franchise) on the Apple franchise-starter “Argylle” which could give the streaming service its own run of blockbuster-level spy films.
Cavill is also looking to reunite with “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” director Guy Ritchie after fans of the espionage project had voiced their desire for a follow-up. However, they’re working on something completely new. Deadline reports that the actor has landed a lead role alongside Eiza González (“Baby Driver,” “Ambulance“) in Ritchie’s WWII action flick based on the Damien Lewis novel “The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare.”
Mega-producerJerry Bruckheimer, who was behind Tom Cruise’s recent billion-dollar hit “Top Gun Maverick,” is involved with “Ministry” too.
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“Ministry,” tells the story of the first unit of British commandos put together during the Second World War by Winston Churchill and future James Bond author Ian Fleming. Arash Amel and Eric Johnson adapted the book for the screen. The film is expected to take cues from real-life missions behind enemy lines with the help of various spy/resistance groups in Nazi-occupied Europe and other countries involved in the war.
Ritchie once tried to explore the WWII genre in the past with a remake of “The Dirty Dozen” for producer Joel Silver only to abandon it when Quentin Tarantino‘s own WWII film “Inglourious Basterds” was announced. However, this project would be taking cues from historical events.
Filming on “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is set to begin this January in Turkey, and the project heads to the American Film Market as other films seek financing/distribution partners.
The filmmaker is on a tear of late, as Ritchie has the Jason Statham-led spy pic “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre” coming up next, has completed production on the Jake Gyllenhaal film “The Interpreter,” and is attached to direct both “Hercules” and “Aladdin 2” at Disney. There are also plans to turn his gangster comedy “The Gentlemen” into a television series.