While Henry Cavill’s team are sailing between warships in Guy Ritchie’sThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, other characters are responsible for overseeing the mission and gathering vital intelligence. That responsibility falls on Brigadier Gubbins ‘M’ (Cary Elwes), Heron (Babs Olusanmokun), and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González). The characters make up a small part of the incredible ensemble cast Ritchie has collected for the film. Alongside them,The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfarealso stars Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Freddie Fox, and Rory Kinnear.
We firstspoke with Cavill, Pettyfer, and Fiennes-Tiffen, and we were lucky enough to also talk to Cary Elwes, Eiza González, and Babs Olusanmokun about their roles inThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. While Elwes couldn’t get a word in, González and Olusanmokun discussed Guy Ritchie behind the scenes and setting the stage for Henry Cavill’s group to blow everything up. You can watch our video interview above.
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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a World War II film following a top-secret combat unit who were formed by Winston Churchill to hunt down Nazis. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie and based on the book The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops by Damien Lewis.
MovieWeb:In this ungentlemanly group, I think it’s safe to say that your characters are more straight-laced and focused on the mission over having fun. Was that the same dynamic on set? Or was it just very relaxed from everyone?
Eiza González:We had so much fun.
Babs Olusanmokun:We had so much fun. I mean, we had to be focused on the mission of starting the film off, Eiza and myself.Because we shot for the first two weeks, we sort of set the tone for that. But then the boys came, and they brought the tone of celebration. And then Cary joined us and yeah, it was all fun.
Eiza González:You’re always having a good time with Guy Richie. Like,I see BTS of our film and we’re just endlessly laughing. It’s just laugh after laugh after laugh. Everything was just fun. And the crew of people, the people that he works with, are so fun.
Babs Olusanmokun:This is his long-time crew. So, you’ve got shorthand.
Eiza González:And you may see it on screen. Everyone’s having a great time.
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MovieWeb:Well, Babs and Cary, I know you’ve both worked with Guy Ritchie before. And Eiza I believeThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfareis your first time working with him?
Eiza González:Well, this one, yes. But now I’m on my third one with him.
MovieWeb:Well, I was gonna ask if you would be jumping back on, but I think that’s answered that one?
Eiza González:Yeah, well, I did. Back to back to back.
Eiza González Loved Ritchie’s Catchy Dialogue
MovieWeb:Likeall Guy Ritchie films, this film was filled with memorable lines and phrases and quippy dialogue. Were there any phrases that kind of stuck in your mind during production, and then just kept getting repeated throughout the shoot?
Eiza González:Yeah, I did. When I’m talking to [Til Schweiger] in the room, and I say, ‘the relentless howl of jungle entropy.’ I just found that hilarious. [Guy Ritchie] came up with that idea.And I was like, what does that even mean?He’s like, “The relentless howl of jungle entropy. Entropy is a funny word.” And that’s Guy at his whole, you know,he loves vocabulary and language. So it’s easy to keep lines in your head, because it’s so specific. There’s no, ‘Oh, what was the word?’ Like, you’re never gonna forget the word entropy, never gonna forget that.
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MovieWeb:So you’ve all been heavily involved in the action genre across your careers. Was the training for this film any different from your past work? Or does it all flow similarly?
Babs Olusanmokun:For me, not particularly becauseI didn’t have a lot of ‘action’.It was more, sort of, covert, discreet action. You know, in terms of business, rather than running around [holds up finger guns shooting people]. So we left that for the boys this time around.
Eiza González:Yeah,we left them to do all the bloody work.
Babs Olusanmokun Trained with Guy Ritchie Without Realizing
MovieWeb:Well, following on from that, I know Guy Ritchie is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, just as you [Babs] are. Do you know if he ever got involved in any of the training? And were there any behind the scenes rolls (sparring) between yourself and Henry Cavill as well?
Babs Olusanmokun:But yeah, so he actually trained with me. He did some private sessions with me, but many years ago. And when I worked onWrath of Man, after two days, I’m like, let me say something. And he was like, ‘Oh my god!’ That’s the first time I’m telling that story on camera. But yeah, so we had a previous Jiu-Jitsu relationship ages ago.
Eiza González:But he doesn’t do it anymore, does he?
Babs Olusanmokun:No, he trains here and there. You know, he’s just careful. But he trains here and there.So we talked about Jiu-Jitsu a lot. But we were working, we didn’t really get time to roll, so to speak, but he loves Jiu-Jitsu.
Eiza González:So there were no flying triangles?
Babs Olusanmokun:There were no flying triangles.But Guy loves Jiu-Jitsu, and it’s something that’s very dear to my heart too. So you know, we do have that connection. But it has mostly been an amazing film connection, and having such deep appreciation for his work, really, that got us connected.
