Rising action star Alan Ritchson will be hitting our shores to film War Machine.
Rising action star Alan Ritchson will be hitting our shores to film War Machine.
Which Hollywood heavyweight is heading for Godzone?
Spy hears the world’s fastest-rising action star, Alan Ritchson, of Prime Video series Reacher, will be hitting our shores to film sci-fi movie War Machine at the end of the year.
Fans of Ritchson will have caught his latest action outing that has just dropped on Prime Video: UK director Guy Ritchie’s latest movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Ritchson is a man of his word. Last year in an interview with the Herald to promote the second season of Reacher, Ritchson hinted at a visit to our shores.
In a message for the show’s Kiwi fans, Ritchson said:
Entertainment sources tell Spy that War Machine, which is being made by Lionsgate for Netflix, will film in New Zealand and Australia this year.
It is understood Ritchson will film for three weeks in Godzone in November and December.
Directing the movie is Australian-born writer, producer and director Patrick Hughes, who directed The Expendables 3 and Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which starred Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek and Samuel L. Jackson.
In March, US entertainment publication Deadline reported Ritchson would star in sci-fi film War Machine, which will follow a team of army rangers at a boot camp for special operatives where, during their final day, they “encounter a threat beyond their imagination”.
Not much more is known about the plot, but Ritchson is used to action-packed productions.
In 2022, he stepped into author Lee Child’s bestselling creation, the itinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher, who solves crimes and hands out his own brand of street justice in the Reacher series.
Alan Ritchson as he appears in Reacher season two. Photo / Supplied
Fans of the show will be pleased to know it is reportedly filming its third season.
In his interview last year, Ritchson told the Herald once he read the books, he knew he’d die if he didn’t play the part.
Last year Ritchson joined The Fast and the Furious franchise and starred in Fast X as Aimes, the new head of the agency.
He hit the big screen again this year — and grew his global fan base — starring in Guy Ritchie’s World War II action blockbuster The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, alongside Henry Cavill and Eiza González.
Ritchson has said it was a dream to work with Ritchie. His character in the espionage caper, which is based on a true story, was the decorated Danish soldier and real-life war hero Anders Lassen.
Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy editor. Based in Auckland, he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
