Guy Ritchie is going to war.
The filmmaker, who made a name for himself with snappy crime thrillers, has boarded to write and direct Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a World War Two action spy thriller, THR has confirmed.
Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman are producing via Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
The project adapts Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops by Damien Lewis. Paramount bought the rights to the book in Fall 2015 and writers such as Arash Amel, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson develop drafts.
Ritchie’s boarding brings fresh momentum on the project that is part Dirty Dozen, part Inglourious Basterds. The book told how Prime Minister Winston Churchill, his back up against the wall against the Nazi horde, created black ops team what could be let loose upon the enemy and that he could deny existed. The group, populated by criminals and rogues, did dirty work in African and European locales, changing the course of the war.
When Paramount bought the book, a screen take was thought of having franchise potential as there were many missions that could be highlighted. The deadly churn in the team could also see various actors play the cutthroats coming and going.
Ivan Atkinson will executive produce. Vanessa Joyce, senior vp production at the studio, will be overseeing the project for Paramount.
Ritchie’s recent movies include the crime thriller The Gentleman and the billion dollar-grossing live-action remake of Aladdin. On top of his crime movies, he has taken on Victorian London with the Robert Downey Jr.-starring Sherlock Holmes movies, early England lore with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and mid-century Cold War with The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
