Theo James in HBO Max’s ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’.
Guy Ritchie launched his directing career with films like ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’, but in recent years, he has turned to films like ‘Aladdin’ and ‘The Man from UNCLE’
However, in 2020, he released what many saw as a return to his roots, ‘The Gentlemen’, a criminal thug in London full of colorful characters. And since March this year, Netflix has been looking to lock down the TV version with Ritchie involved.
Fast forward a few months and it is a reality, the streaming service is handing out live orders and Ritchie has Theo James in the lead role.
‘The Gentlemen’, if you didn’t catch it, follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), who builds a hugely lucrative cannabis empire in London. When word gets out that he wants to monetize his business forever, it sparks plots, schemes, bribery, and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain from under him.
Among the rest of the cast, the standouts are Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Jeremy Strong, and Hugh Grant, who bring to life a collection of eccentric gangsters, sleazy journalists, and assorted thugs.
(left to right) Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding, Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam and Michelle Dockery in Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Gentlemen’. Photo courtesy of STX Films.
All we know about the show’s cast so far is James, playing Eddie Halstead, who has inherited his father’s sizeable fortune only to find out that it sits atop the weed empire owned by the legendary Mickey Pearson. Does this soldier have what it takes to master the dark arts of the British criminal underworld and control the entire operation?
There’s no word on whether McConaughey or the others will make an appearance in the series, but we’ll find out soon enough. Ritchie wrote a pilot script with ‘Peaky Blinders’ veteran Matthew Read and will begin filming. He will direct the first two episodes (setting the feel of the show) and is the executive producer overseeing the rest.
Ritchie’s TV work is rare, but not unheard of, as he has adapted his previous films – he created and co-wrote ‘Lock, Stock…’, which turned his debut into a show for British broadcaster Channel 4.
And the director is also busy on the big screen. He has the action comedy ‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre’ complete and headed to the big screen next year, and is bound to develop and direct the new live action/CG film ‘Hercules’ for Disney with Joe and Anthony Russo as producers.
But before that person even thought of moving forward, there was Ritchie’s next real show, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’, helmed by Henry Cavill.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and co-starring Eiza González, this truth-based World War II spy thriller will focus on the secret combat organization Winston Churchill and Bond writer Ian Fleming. The clandestine forces’ unconventional and completely ‘disrespectful’ fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and in part gave birth to modern Black Ops units.
