With Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare headed our way, fans are wondering whether it is based on a true story or a book. Does the action flick use characters and instances that are inspired by real-world people and events? Here’s everything you need to know.
Is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare based on a true story or a book?
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare adapts Damien Lewis’ book “Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII,” which was in turn based on a true story.
The book tells the story of a secret unit that worked on former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s orders. They made huge sacrifices that people were unaware of. But their acts played a crucial role in helping the Allies of WW2 win, which was finely articulated in Lewis’ novel.
Now, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare will showcase this highly secret team of real-world people going on an action-packed impossible mission in enemy territory to sabotage Nazi plans.
The team was led by Major Gus March-Phillips, who originally inspired James Bond. Now, Henry Cavill is bringing the character to life. In his interview with Comicbook.com, Cavill explained how he found out about the character and did his research for the part.
He said, “Via the script, actually. That was my first access point, and then I read the book, which the script was based upon, and that’s where I got all my info. Then, really, we kind of just created this hyperbolic version of this character to fit into this movie. But there’s not a huge amount written about these guys, because they were obviously fairly ‘Secret Squirrel’ types.”
Cavill continued, “Major Gus March-Phillips, the character I play, was also an amateur poet and author, and he has written a book — I believe — with a character that was based upon the kind of adventures he had had. And had he not died during World War II, there’s a chance he would have beaten Ian Fleming to the punch of writing a James Bond-type character.”
Besides Cavill, the film stars Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen, Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard, and Freddie Fox as Ian Fleming, who were all present during WWII as well.
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