Josh Hartnett has revealed that his character in Guy Ritchie's latest action thriller, Wrath of Man, was not in the original script for the film. A remake of the 2004 French film, Cash Truck, the story centers on the mysterious H as he is hired by a cash truck company as a guard, secretly utilizing the job to track down the robbers who murdered his son. Jason Statham leads an ensemble cast that includes Hartnett, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Laz Alonso, Scott Eastwood, Eddie Marsan, Post Malone and Andy Garcia.
Development on the project was first announced in late 2019, with Ritchie set to write and direct the English-language remake and Statham signing on to star. The action thriller marks the fourth adaptation between Statham and Ritchie, going back to their debuts in the comedic crime thriller, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, followed by 2000's Snatch and 2005's Revolver. Much like a number of recent films, Wrath of Man saw its theatrical release shifted a few times due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic before finally settling on its May 7 debut in the United States.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Hartnett revealed that his character of Boy Sweat Dave was not included in the original script, and his casting only came about after an actor who was set to play the role no longer was attached to the production. With Hartnett and his family living in England, Ritchie called him up with a part he wanted Hartnett "to think about and consider" and they would "make up as we go along." Being a big fan of Ritchie's films, Hartnett stepped up to the challenge of creating his character on the fly during production, including an entire backstory in which he wanted to be an actor or soldier and failed at both, leading to his armored car job, and thought his "little tutorial on how to improvise right on the spot" proved to be a great collaborative effort. Read what Hartnett said below:
We basically inserted the character into a bunch of different scenes, and then sort of made him up, made up his interaction with the other characters as he went along. What was most fun about it was that it was a very dark, testosterone filled film, and I just wanted the character to be just such a try hard, and a character that had a very soft center, and was not. Always in over his head, always the butt of the joke, just to kind of counter-balance all that testosterone. So for me, it was the chance to pay something new.
It's certainly not unheard of for a filmmaker and star to work together to help better flesh out a character or improvise ahead of production or during it on a low-budget title, but the idea of it happening across an entire production can be pretty off-putting or nerve-wracking for the filmmakers and performers. But should a collaborative partnership form as it sounds like the case was with Ritchie and Hartnett, it could result in some exciting things for fans and open doors for reunions in the future. With Ritchie already having a number of frequent collaborators under his belt and Hartnett partnering back up with him for the spy thriller, Five Eyes, fans could see a lot more of these great improvised efforts to come between the two.
As reviews have also proven, Ritchie certainly is getting back into his groove of crowd-pleasing thrillers after dividing audiences and critics with his King Arthur and Aladdin adaptations before returning to the world of underground English crime in The Gentlemen. Though some fans may be disappointed his next feature won't be the long-desired RocknRolla sequel, the notion he's partnering with Statham again for back-to-back projects is certainly exciting. For now, fans can head to theaters and enjoy the latest pairing of the star and filmmaker with Wrath of Man now in theaters.
Source: CinemaBlend