Alan Ritchson has the perfect screen presence for someone you don’t want to f*ck with, and because of that, he’s spent the past few years becoming one of Hollywood’s most reliable human battering rams. Between Reacher and Netflix’s War Machine, the actor has carved out a very specific niche built around one enormous fella using gigantic hands to punch things harder than the human body was ever meant to do. And that’s why he’s so good, and why his next project sounds like the ideal next step.
Variety reports that Ritchson is in negotiations to lead Maelstrom, a new Netflix action thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the filmmaker behind the streamer’s breakout hit Carry-On (Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, airport at Christmas, great fun). It’s a screenplay that’s certainly taken its sweet time to get to the big screen, having originally been sold to Warner Bros. way back in 1993, which might as well be the 1800s at this point.
The film follows a federal marshal tasked with protecting the fiancée of an arms dealer who is seeking witness protection, and that situation gets significantly worse when a hurricane cuts off communications and prevents reinforcements from reaching them, leaving the pair trapped together as the dealer’s men close in. The whole story takes place over the course of just one night, involving — yes, this is brilliant — an armed siege AND an escalating natural disaster. We could not love the sound of this more.
Who’s Involved in ‘Maelstrom’?
Mark Bianculli (How to Rob a Bank) was hired to update the original screenplay by the late Gregory Fitzpatrick, modernizing the characters and story for a contemporary audience. Maelstrom will be the first major project produced through Netflix’s deal with Jeff Robinov and his Talking Pictures banner. Robinov originally sold the screenplay while working as an agent and later helped oversee major Warner Bros. franchises including The Dark Knight trilogy and The Hangover movies.
The project was revived following the success of Carry-On, another thriller that spent years sitting dormant before Netflix attached Collet-Serra, Egerton and Bateman. Very quickly, the film became one of the streamer’s most-watched original movies, encouraging Netflix to search for other unmade projects with the same kind of broad, commercial appeal, which led them straight to Maelstrom.
Ritchson has not yet officially signed on, and Netflix declined to comment on the negotiations. Maelstrom does not yet have a release date.
via Collider