Though he remains best known to many for his early hits likeLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels(1998) andSnatch(2000), Guy Ritchie continues to direct well-received movies. In recent years, he has released films likeThe Gentlemen(2019),Wrath of Man(2021), andGuy Ritchie’s The Covenant(2023), and he also helmed 2019’s live-actionAladdin, which grossed over $1.05 billion worldwide.
In 2024, Ritchie collaborated once again Henry Cavill. The pair first worked together on 2015’sThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.,a Cold War spy thriller, but their latest movie jumps even further back in time to World War II. The former Superman actor plays a real-life British commando in the movie, which features an impressive cast of frequent Ritchie collaborators and newcomers alike, including actor Eiza González.
One Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare Moment Featured A Last-Minute Change
González reveals that she had to learn German very quickly for one scene inThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Hitting theaters in 2024, the World War II espionage flick marked Ritchie’s follow-up toThe Covenantand adapted the events ofChurchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWIIby Damien Lewis. Cavill stars as Gus March-Phillipps, the leader of an elite team of British commandos tasked with disrupting the German war effort deep behind enemy lines, withGonzález playing Marjorie Stewart, a real-life British actress who eventually joined the Special Operations Executive.
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During a recent appearance on the “Hot Ones” show fromFirst We Feast, González recalls one scene inThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfarein which her character sings “Mack the Knife.” According to the actor,Ritchie made a last-minute decision that she should sing the song in German instead of in English, and this resulted in some frantic rehearsal with her on-set dialect coach and with her German co-star Til Schweiger. Check out González’s recollection of the moment below:
“He said, ‘Oh my God, you should just sing it in German.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean? We’re filming in 10 minutes.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re able to do this. Hazel’ – ‘cause I had a dialect coach as well on set – ‘she can help you.’
“So now I’m running to Hazel and I was so scared of saying no. I didn’t say no, I said yes. Why? Why did I say yes? I ran to Hazel and we’re like listening to the song phonetically and then, Til Schweiger was there, who obviously is German, and started helping me. And in 10 minutes, I was singing ‘Mack the Knife’ in German. And I just trusted him and he really made it look like I knew what I was doing, but I really in real-life didn’t.”
What This Means For The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Ganzález’s Recent Career Explained
González, as Marjorie, spends much ofThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfarebehind enemy lines, working to take down Schweiger’s villainous Heinrich Luhr. Though it’s Cavill’s Gus who serves as the central figure in the movie,González is a crucial character in a larger ensemblethat includes Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Cary Elwes, Henry Golding, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and Babs Olusanmokun. For both audiences and critics, the film seems to have succeeded, withThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfarereviewspraising the mix of World War II action with star power and Ritchie’s unique sensibilities.
Made on an estimated budget of $60 million,The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfaregrossed only about $30 million in theaters due to its release directly onto Prime Video in regions outside the U.S.
For González, the story certainly speaks to her adaptability as an actor, and it helps to explain why she was chosen as the lead for Netflix’s3 Body ProblemTV show. She can also now be seen starring opposite Aaron Paul inAsh, a sci-fi thriller that has been met with generally positive reviews. ThoughThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfaremay not be widely considered Ritchie’s best work, it certainly features an impressive array of actors, with González clearly shining as Marjorie.
