Actors Henry Cavill, Henry Golding had a blast on WWII comic caper with ‘Guy Ritchie madness’

NEW YORK – Writer-director Guy Ritchie is best known for British crime comedies made in his signature style – crowd-pleasers such as Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Sherlock Holmes (2009) and The Gentlemen (2019).

But with The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the 56-year-old Englishman brings his trademark rapid-fire dialogue, intricate plotting and dark sense of humour to a tale of true heroism from World War II.

Available on Prime Video from Sept 19, the spy action comedy’s ensemble cast includes Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, Eiza Gonzalez and Alan Ritchson.

The film is loosely inspired by Operation Postmaster, the daring British-led covert mission that went behind enemy lines in 1942 to capture ships supplying Adolf Hitler’s submarines.

The mission was led by Gus March-Phillipps, the late British army veteran who helped to inspire the spy character James Bond.

In this heavily fictionalised telling, he is played by Cavill. The character is a maverick commander who puts together a team of rogues that includes explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Golding), killing machine Anders Lassen (Ritchson) and undercover agent Marjorie Stewart (Gonzalez).

At the red-carpet premiere in New York City earlier in 2024, Cavill says of the film: “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also about some really serious subject matter and an incredibly serious time.

“If World War II didn’t happen and someone wrote a story about it, you wouldn’t believe it. It’s completely mad, what happened during that period.”

The 41-year-old British actor played Superman in the DC superhero films Man Of Steel (2013) and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016).

“These guys and girls going through what was essentially a suicide mission and being enormously successful – you tie that in with some of the Guy Ritchie madness, and it makes for a wonderful movie to watch,” says the star, who also appeared in spy movies such as Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015).

One of the film’s executive producers, Hollywood veteran Jerry Bruckheimer, agrees.

“It’s not like a war movie you’ve ever seen before.

“A – It’s a true story. B – It’s got Guy Ritchie’s humour in it. So it’s something that’s totally unique,” says the 80-year-old. The American film-maker has produced militaristic action hits such as Top Gun (1986), Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001).

This story is more comic caper than historical account, but the actors wanted it to be realistic.

Gonzalez, 34, had to convincingly brandish a firearm.

“I had a little bit of experience with gun training prior to this,” says the Mexican actress, who starred in the Netflix science-fiction series 3 Body Problem (2024).

In The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, however, most of her training consisted of Guy Ritchie screaming, “Shoot! Left! Right! Down!”

“That was basically my warm-up and my shot,” she says.

Golding, 37, says he was relieved his role was less physical.

“I think Alan (Ritchson) got most of the running around.

“I’m the explosives expert so I just plant a little C-4 (explosive) here and there,” says the Malaysia-born British actor, who starred in the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and crime comedy A Simple Favor (2018).

“But in fact, back in those days, there wasn’t really hand-to-hand combat, so there was not much physical stuff, which was great.”

Members of the cast bonded when they shot the film in Turkey, staying at the same hotel and spending almost all their time together, even off the clock.

The experience left a lasting impression on Golding.

He says: “Being stuck on a boat for a week at a time out on the azure of the Mediterranean, we were just all together and we would hang out every single day.”

Golding, who previously worked with Ritchie on The Gentlemen, calls it life-changing.

For Cavill, what made the shoot special was also being allowed to improvise.

“In the morning, we sit down and kick a scene around, and the scene – as written – will not exist in the same way by the time we’re finished.

“It creates an incredibly freeing process, and I really enjoy it because there are no limitations. It’s just about the best storytelling and character development.”