At the Lionsgate panel at CinemaCon, we finally learned when director Guy Ritchie‘s next feature will hit the big screen. Announced last year out of Cannes, the then-untitled In the Grey was announced as the action comedy veteran’s next big project with a handful of regular collaborators reuniting with him for the occasion, including The Covenant star Jake Gyllenhaal and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare alums Henry Cavill and Eiza González. The film is now set to bow in theaters on January 17, 2025, and is currently in post-production as it gears up for release early next year.
Little was known about In the Grey to this point, but Ritchie and Cavill were both in attendance at the convention to offer a first look at what’s to come in the project. It’s set to follow “a group who operates in the middle of criminality and the law” with Cavill, Gyllenhaal, and González joining forces in the search for billions of dollars in stolen cash. Further plot details are being kept under wraps, but it sounds like prime Ritchie material with a humorous edge and plenty of action as it follows its larger-than-life protagonists on their daring mission.
In addition to reuniting the trio of stars with the director, the film will also feature another powerful presence in recent Saltburn and The Wheel of Time star Rosamund Pike, though it’s unclear at this time what her role will be. Previously, González was announced to play a high-level female negotiator in In the Grey while Cavill and Gyllenhaal would collaborate as a pair of extraction specialists trying to find her a way out. More details are sure to come as the date draws closer, but for now, Cavill expressed how excited he was to work with all three of Ritchie, Gyllenhaal, and González again in a very positive environment. “Guy creates a wonderful environment on set.” he said at the convention. “It’s a creative freedom, certainly… In Guy’s case, it really is like family… there is a shorthand, there is a freedom of friendship.”
Ritchie Has Several Intriguing Titles Coming Up Beyond ‘In the Grey’
Ritchie‘s CinemaCon appearance comes a week before his WWII action comedy based on an incredible true story The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare comes to theaters. The film puts Cavill in the shoes of the bearded and burly Gus March-Phillipps, the leader of the titular espionage and sabotage group founded by Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming tasked with undermining the Nazi war effort through unconventional tactics that would pave the way for modern Black Ops. He and González are joined by Reacher star Alan Ritchson and many more in the feature, but it’s not the only thing Ritchie has up his sleeve. The director is also keeping busy with the Fountain of Youth which will feature John Krasinski and Natalie Portman as leads with González also on board for her third consecutive Ritchie film alongside Domhnall Gleeson and Arian Moayed.
In the Grey comes to theaters on January 17. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the director’s latest as it nears its release and more from CinemaCon which runs through tomorrow, April 11.
via Collider
Can’t wait for #UngentlemanlyWarfare on film? Interested in espionage? Liked #TheTraitors? Want to learn more about the SAS + Philby’s interest therein? Best read Beyond Enkription in #TheBurlingtonFiles about real scoundrels in MI6 aka #PembertonsPeople. https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2022.10.31.php.
If you enjoy reading fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
What is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.