Though he remains best known to many for his early hits like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), Guy Ritchie continues to direct well-received movies. In recent years, he has released films like The Gentlemen (2019), Wrath of Man (2021), and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023), and he also helmed 2019’s live-action Aladdin, which grossed over $1.05 billion worldwide.

In 2024, Ritchie collaborated once again Henry Cavill. The pair first worked together on 2015’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a Cold War spy thriller, but their latest movie jumps even further back in time to World War II. The former Superman actor plays a real-life British commando in the movie, which features an impressive cast of frequent Ritchie collaborators and newcomers alike, including actor Eiza González.

Guy Ritchie Had Eiza González Learn German 10 Minutes Before A Scene

One Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare Moment Featured A Last-Minute Change

González reveals that she had to learn German very quickly for one scene in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

. Hitting theaters in 2024, the World War II espionage flick marked Ritchie’s follow-up to The Covenant and adapted the events of Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis. Cavill stars as Gus March-Phillipps, the leader of an elite team of British commandos tasked with disrupting the German war effort deep behind enemy lines, with González playing Marjorie Stewart, a real-life British actress who eventually joined the Special Operations Executive.

During a recent appearance on the “H๏τ Ones” show from First We Feast, González recalls one scene in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare in which her character sings “Mack the Knife.” According to the actor, Ritchie made a last-minute decision that she should sing the song in German instead of in English, and this resulted in some frantic rehearsal with her on-set dialect coach and with her German co-star Til Schweiger. Check out González’s recollection of the moment below:

“He said, ‘Oh my God, you should just sing it in German.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean? We’re filming in 10 minutes.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, you can do this. Hazel’ – ‘cause I had a dialect coach as well on set – ‘she can help you.’

“So now I’m running to Hazel and I was so scared of saying no. I didn’t say no, I said yes. Why? Why did I say yes? I ran to Hazel and we’re like listening to the song phonetically and then, Til Schweiger was there, who obviously is German, and started helping me. And in 10 minutes, I was singing ‘Mack the Knife’ in German. And I just trusted him and he really made it look like I knew what I was doing, but I really in real-life didn’t.”

What This Means For The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Ganzález’s Recent Career Explained

González, as Marjorie, spends much of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare behind enemy lines, working to take down Schweiger’s villainous Heinrich Luhr. Though it’s Cavill’s Gus who serves as the central figure in the movie, González is a crucial character in a larger ensemble that includes Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Cary Elwes, Henry Golding, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and Babs Olusanmokun. For both audiences and critics, the film seems to have succeeded, with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare reviews praising the mix of World War II action with star power and Ritchie’s unique sensibilities.

For González, the story certainly speaks to her adaptability as an actor, and it helps to explain why she was chosen as the lead for Netflix’s 3 Body Problem TV show. She can also now be seen starring opposite Aaron Paul in Ash, a sci-fi thriller that has been met with generally positive reviews. Though The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare may not be widely considered Ritchie’s best work, it certainly features an impressive array of actors, with González clearly shining as Marjorie.

Source: First We Feast