EXCLUSIVE: It’s been at least 15 minutes since we broke a buzzy American Film Market package, so here’s another one that’s sure to garner big interest from buyers.
STXInternational is launching sales on Guy Ritchie action-thriller The Interpreter, which will star Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal as a soldier who returns to a warzone to repay a debt to his interpreter.
Ritchie was inspired to tell the compelling story after conversations with soldiers and the interpreters who risk their lives to help them.
Gyllenhaal will play Sgt. John Kinley, who on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan is teamed with local interpreter Ahmed to survey the region. When their unit is ambushed on patrol, Kinley and Ahmed are the only survivors. With enemy combatants in pursuit, Ahmed risks his own life to carry an injured Kinley across miles of grueling terrain to safety. Back on U.S. soil, Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given passage to America as promised. Determined to protect his friend and repay his debt, Kinley returns to the warzone to retrieve Ahmed and his family before the local militias reach them first.
Principal photography is set to commence on January 10, 2022 on location in Spain.
Sherlock Holmes and Aladdin filmmaker Ritchie will direct from a script he co-wrote with his Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, Wrath of Man and The Gentlemen collaborators Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. Ritchie and Atkinson are also producing, with STXfilms executive producing.
CAA and WME Independent are jointly representing U.S. rights with STX. As we revealed earlier this month, the project was initially a potential Miramax joint, but STX is now at the helm.
Ritchie’s Jason Statham spy action thriller Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is set to release on January 21, 2022 via STXfilms.
Gyllenhaal continues to be one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors. The Brokeback Mountain and Prisoners star recently starred in Antoine Fuqua’s Toronto title The Guilty and has Michael Bay action pic The Ambulance hitting next year.
Ritchie is repped by CAA. Gyllenhaal is repped by WME.