Hugh Grant & Josh Hartnett Join Ever Expanding Cast for Guy Ritchie’s New Thriller
Guy Ritchie is reportedly looking to reunite with The Gentlemen star Hugh Grant for his next project, the currently untitled action thriller formerly known as Five Eyes, starring macho man Jason Statham and Parks and Recreation alumni Aubrey Plaza. While the deal is not yet done, Grant has found much success working with Ritchie in the past, receiving unanimous praise from both critics and audiences alike for his portrayal of the charmingly amoral private investigator, Fletcher in 2019’s The Gentlemen.
Alongside Hugh Grant, Penny Dreadful star Josh Hartnett has also reportedly joined proceedings for the project, which was previously shopped to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival as Five Eyes. Should Hartnett join Five Eyes, this would not only mark his biggest movie role in nigh-on a decade, but also his second collaboration with both director Guy Ritchie and star Jason Statham, with the actor already joining the pair for Wrath of Man, which follows Statham as H, a cold and mysterious character working at a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week.
Josh Hartnett is best known for roles in the likes of Lucky Number Slevin and 30 Days of Night, but has been putting his name to lesser-known projects over the last few years. A starring role in these upcoming Ritchie/Statham projects should hopefully prove lucrative for him.
Five Eyes (or whatever it ends up being called) meanwhile finds Jason Statham once again flying the flag for no-nonsense action cinema. Statham stars as the wonderfully named Orson Fortune, an MI6 guns-and-steel agent who is “recruited by a global intelligence alliance to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with a CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all his charm, ingenuity, and stealth to track down and infiltrate billionaire arms broker.”
Quirky comedian Aubrey Plaza takes the lead alongside Statham, with the actress recently revealing her plans to “destroy” the grizzled action hero when they eventually meet on screen. “I cannot wait to shoot this movie,” Plaza said. “I hope that it will allow me to be a bada** CIA agent with the ultimate bada**. There’s no one more bada** than Statham – and I’m coming for Statham. He better watch out. Because I’m going to destroy him, and he’s going to like it.”
While details on Aubrey Plaza’s role are largely unknown at this time, the actress’ hopes that the movie will allow her to become the “bada** CIA agent” that she’s always dreamed of heavily suggests that she will be playing the “CIA high-tech expert,” who was previously named Sarah Fidel back when the project was titled Five Eyes.
The project also recently added the likes of Saw and The Princess Bride star Cary Elwes and rapper and The Gentlemen star Bugzy Malone to the roster. Guy Ritchie will direct and produce the movie from a screenplay written by Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, both of whom have worked with the director several times. The movie will also be produced and financed by Miramax with STX handling distribution. This comes to us courtesy of Deadline.
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