The Reacher star advocated for more brutal violence in Guy Ritchie’s WWII action film.

Alan Ritchson rose to fame through his portrayal of Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher. Now, in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, he plays Danish aristocrat Anders Lassen, who was recruited to fight the Nazis in WWII and would become one of the most decorated commandos to serve in the British forces.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Reacher actor described his character in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Forces as “the baddest dude I’ve ever seen on paper in my life.” This is high praise, considering his most famous role is that of Jack Reacher, an all-around badass who regularly takes down his enemies with a combination of wit, hand-to-hand combat, and marksmanship. His character, Lassen, is one of the protagonists in Guy Ritchie’s latest action flick.

Based on Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis, the film follows a secret unit formed in the 1940s by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in order to help defeat the Nazis. Aside from Ritchson as Lassen, Henry Cavill stars as Gus March-Philips, Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard, Henry Golding as Freddy Alvarez, and Eiza González as Marjorie Stewart. Ritchson’s character was highly proficient with a bow and arrow, even advocating making it an official weapon of war in WWII.

Alan Ritchson Sees His Role as a Wonderful Gift
When discussing his character with THR, Ritchson said, “It was the greatest gift I’ve ever received.” The actor continued, “He was a giant that we are lucky was among us. When I wasn’t filming Reacher, I would go with Ryan Tarran, my stunt double, to archery ranges and learned how to become an archer. I hired a dialect coach, Rea Nolan, to help develop the accent.” Ritchson’s commitment to doing the character justice extended beyond preparation, as on set he was fully immersed, even talking to Ritchie about making some scenes “bloodier”.

“I came into his trailer and I said, ‘Here’s my perspective on the action. Anders Lassen hated these Nazis. This was not just a dutiful soldier. This guy fucking had a mission. He wanted to murder these guys. He didn’t just want to kill him. He wanted hate kills. We should see malice in the knife. It should be gory and we should expose innards as he cuts people. We shouldn’t hide anything. It should all be in your face,” Richson said. “I was insane. He said he would think about it.”

Ritchson continued, “We spent the whole day shooting the scene, and it was all very improvisational. I was thinking, what if on the way up the stairs, you see these red strands dripping with blood and you realize Anders has hung a dude by his intestines? What about if he had a heart in his hands? We just kept thinking of how do we make this vision come to life? The props guy couldn’t get intestines in time but we had a pig’s heart. We did the best we could with what we had, but it was a blast.”