Guy Ritchie will be putting together THE DIRTY DOZEN

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Best get a move on Quentin... Guy Ritchie is looking to beat you to the post. The biggest surprise of the pre-strike movie list last month was the news that Snatch and Lock Stock director Guy Ritchie was attached to direct a remake of The Dirty Dozen! Was Ritchie really thinking about remaking an American classic? The answer is yes. However, he will be shooting The Gamekeeper first.

The Gamekeeper is a Virgin Comics mini-series that Guy Ritchie himself put together with the intention that it might make a film somewhere down the road. This movie will be pre-strike (from Amazon)...

Patience is the virtue of the gamekeeper. Waiting for the right moment to strike anything that threatens the balance between man and nature. He is nature's remedy to man's disease. Brock lives a quiet existence as Gamekeeper on a secluded Scottish estate, until paramilitary mercenaries storm the estate and kill Jonah Morgan - the owner and Brock's friend. Now, Brock faces his dark past and the events he had sworn he'd forget. Obliged to avenge Jonah's death, Brock must leave his tranquil life and journey deep into an unfamiliar, urban underworld but as he gets pulled in deeper, it's difficult to tell who has more power, Brock, the man, or the animal within.

The big news though, is the confirmation of Ritchie on The Dirty Dozen.

The original Dirty Dozen is a great movie. The simple plot of 12 convicts who can fight for their freedom by taking on a deadly mission where many of their won't return is delicious, as was the original cast that included the likes of Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes and Charles Bronson. The movie worked so well because it felt really cool and fresh, quite unlike the serious war movies that starred the like of John Wayne in the decades before, but it also had many moments showcasing the horrors of war and dramatic tension. It was a blend that was both fresh and intriguing. Of course as the name suggests, the movie has a huge cast and that must have been something that influenced Ritchie on films like Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which had so many different characters. You can expect Jason Statham to be in this and probably Vinnie Jones, along with many more brits no doubt. Now, Quentin has been talking about his ensemble war movie Inglorious Bastards ever since he wrapped Jackie Brown. The Dirty Dozen along with a couple of other big cast war movies were the big influence on his idea and script for the film but as that project keeps stalling and stalling, Ritchie has jumped in and it may halt Quentin's movie altogether. I love The Dirty Dozen and I hate most of Guy Ritchie's movies BUT I do think he is superb for this, and this type of ensemble war picture we haven't seen in SOOO long and with the huge amount of modern day, serious warfare movies... a Brit version of The Dirty Dozen MIGHT just be pretty cool. The script's latest draft was turned into Warner Brothers by Zak Penn (Behind Enemy Lines, X-Men 3) and should have a fair sized budget and should film after the strike is all done and dusted. Ritchie and Tarantino have been compared to each other for years. Gonna be really interesting to see them tackle almost the exact same material.

source - iesb