Speaking from the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Guy Ritchie revealed Friday that his thriller “The Interpreter” is now titled “The Covenant.”
“Names, as it transpires, are about the most challenging aspect of filmmaking,” Ritchie told Variety. “The last few films I’ve done, the trickiest decision to make has been the name of the movie. As of today, it’s called ‘The Covenant.’”
The thriller sees Jake Gyllenhaal’s army sergeant in Afghanistan rescued by his Afghan interpreter, played by Fahim Fazli, and having to traverse hostile territory towards safety. Written by Ritchie and his regular collaborators Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, the film was completed “literally in the last few days,” said Ritchie.
It is only one of a packed lineup of projects for the “Sherlock Holmes” director. Next to shoot in February is “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” is also completed and will be released early in the new year. Ritchie is currently filming “The Gentlemen,” a TV spin-off of the hit movie, which sees the director re-team with Vinnie Jones, the soccer player who made the move to acting in Ritchie’s feature debut “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”
“I adore Vinnie Jones. We’re in the middle of that. It’s great. It’s just like making a movie. And it was particularly good to see Vinnie Jones again. He was in particularly good form,” he said.
And that’s all without noting the mooted live action remake of the Disney animated movie “Hercules” as well as a sequel to Ritchie’s previous Disney collaboration, “Aladdin.”
“The idea is to be quite busy for the next few years,” Ritchie laughed.
Ritchie said of Will Smith, who played the genie in “Aladdin,” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Friday: “I’ve never met a more lovely man, and working with him was one of the most wonderful, great experiences I’ve ever had. I never saw anything other than the consummate, generous gentleman.”
He would consider casting Smith again. “I wouldn’t have any issue casting Will Smith in anything, because, as I say, he was just the fucking perfect gentleman.” (Variety)