Alan Ritchson Campaigned For More Brutal Violence In ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: “It Should Be Gory”
Alan Ritchson is best known for a larger-than-life turn as Jack Reacher on Amazon Prime Video’s record-setting series Reacher. But he’s about to introduce audiences to a man named Anders Lassen on the big-screen courtesy of Guy Ritchie’s latest, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Based on the book Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis, the story follows a covert organization formed in 1940 at the urging of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and aimed at secret missions to take down the Nazis. Ritchson co-stars with Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, Eiza González, Alex Pettyfer and Hero Fiennes Tiffin in the Lionsgate release. Though the film is a highly fictionalized take on the covert mission, Ritchson’s character is modeled after a real-life Danish soldier who was especially skilled with a bow and arrow, so much so that he campaigned to have it designated as an official weapon of war.
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Playing Lassen offered the chance to become “the baddest dude I’ve ever seen on paper in my life,” Ritchson said during a recent cover story interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “It was the greatest gift I’ve ever received.” Upon receiving it, he dove head first into research and read four books about Lassen. “He was a giant that we are lucky was among us,” he continued. “When I wasn’t filming Reacher, I would go with Ryan Tarran, my stunt double, to archery ranges and learned how to become an archer. I hired a dialect coach, Rea Nolan, to help develop the accent.”
His attention to detail didn’t stop once he was on set. After filming some scenes, Ritchson explained that he asked for some one-on-one time with Ritchie to request that some of his scenes be, well, bloodier. “I came into his trailer and I said, ‘Here’s my perspective on the action. Anders Lassen hated these Nazis. This was not just a dutiful soldier. This guy fucking had a mission. He wanted to murder these guys. He didn’t just want to kill him. He wanted hate kills. We should see malice in the knife. It should be gory and we should expose innards as he cuts people. We shouldn’t hide anything. It should all be in your face,” Richson said. “I was insane. He said he would think about it.”
The next day, Ritchson and Tarran were able to show off some of their strategy in a scene that was filmed in one of the towers. “We designed some stuff the next day. We’d been rehearsing and planning all night long. Guy came in and sat in the corner out of the way. We unleashed this scene that is now in a moment in the trailer where you can see Anders in the tower killing these dudes in hand-to-hand combat.”
Ritchson continued: “We spent the whole day shooting the scene, and it was all very improvisational. I was thinking, what if on the way up the stairs, you see these red strands dripping with blood and you realize Anders has hung a dude by his intestines? What about if he had a heart in his hands? We just kept thinking of how do we make this vision come to life? The props guy couldn’t get intestines in time but we had a pig’s heart. We did the best we could with what we had, but it was a blast.”
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare opens April 19. See more photos of Ritchson as Lassen below.
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