Jason Statham suits up for Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre first look

Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham are reuniting in style.

On the heels of May's Wrath of Man, the duo collaborate for a fifth time on Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, which also stars Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Bugzy Malone, Cary Elwes, and Hugh Grant. Ahead of next year's release, EW has your first look at the spy film, as well as new details from Ritchie.

"The truth is I wanted another alibi to give me a reason to work with Jason again because I enjoy collaborating with him so much," shares Ritchie of Operation Fortune, in which Statham (Snatch, Revolver) stars as super-spy Orson Fortune, who must stop a weapons sale involving billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Grant). The mission to save the world finds Fortune reluctantly teamed with some of the world's best operatives (Plaza, Elwes, Malone) and Hollywood's biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Hartnett).

Like Statham, Grant and Hartnett are repeat Ritchie actors, having recently appeared in The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man, respectively. The intriguing new addition to the filmmaker's realm is Plaza, who originally became known for comedy on Parks and Recreation and has subsequently branched out to seemingly every genre but action... until now. "It felt fresh and she felt capable," Ritchie says of casting Plaza. "I am more than delighted with the result."

When EW briefly touched on the film with Statham back in April, the working title was Five Eyes, a far cry from where the writer-director eventually landed with Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre.

"You have to look up the meaning of 'Ruse de guerre;' it's too ironic a premise to ignore," says Ritchie, who worked on the script with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. "Somehow only the French have managed to capture the meaning within a term, 'the accepted unorthodox approach to war' which is really what our film is about."

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre hits theaters in 2022.

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