Henry Cavill’s role as Nazi-killing commando soldier, Major Gus March-Phillips in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare required one unique training for his role. While Cavill killed it in the gunfire and action scenes acting like a madman with his tongue out, it was his twirly stylish mustache that needed training. It appears that the mustache was a more difficult job than executing the action scenes.
Guy Ritchie’s World War II film was based upon the 2014 book Churchill’s Secret Warriors by Damien Lewis and starred Alan Ritchson, Eiza González, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and Henry Golding, besides Cavill.
Henry Cavill’s Mustache Needed Extensive Training For The Film
Henry Cavill‘s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare explores a heavily fictionalized version of Operation Postmaster. The black-ops sabotage mission is led by Gus March-Phillips (Cavill), who assembles his team to disrupt the Nazi U-boat resupply operation. Needless to say, the film has some crazy gunfight scenes and audiences are just loving this film in theaters.
The film has received positive reviews, a much-needed one for Cavill after the disastrous Argylle. Cavill, along with his co-stars, appeared for an interview with CinemaBlend and touched upon the various aspects of making this Guy Ritchie film. While concluding the session, the host didn’t forget to ask Cavill about his “twirly whirly wax mustache look” in the film.
He wanted to know how The Witcher actor managed to attain a personality for the mustache. Cavill shared that he was lucky that the mustache worked out rather nicely after all the work he put into it. He shared that growing the mustache in itself had a sense of evolution. However, his twirly mustache looks also needed some work and training.
He had to train the hair to remain in its position, in addition to applying the required amount of wax. If untrained, the wax would’ve melted at hot temperatures giving a droopy look to the facial hair. The Man of Steel star explained to CinemaBlend:
“It kind of all worked out rather nicely. Obviously, [the mustache] takes time to grow. So, it had a sense of evolution like that. But I always wanted to have that twirly whirly wax mustache look and that takes training, not just by me to work out sort of how much wax to apply and how I want it to look, but the actual hair itself needs to be trained so it stays in position. Otherwise, as soon as you got hot, it would start all the wax to melt and you just end up with a droopy one.”
It was not the first time that a mustache came as a challenge for the actor. His mustache played a major issue of contention when his film Mission: Impossible – Fallout required him to carry one whereas the film Justice League wanted him clean-shaved (via ScreenRant).
Cavill was given his space to perform in the film. While he was not usually the actor who improvised a lot of scenes in movies, he had the liberty to unleash his improv skills. Speaking with Variety, he shared that some of his demeanor in the brutal scenes that appeared in the trailer was a co-improvisation effort between Ritchie and him.
Henry Cavill’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Has Been Receiving Positive Reviews
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has a 73% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing, with several reviewers giving the film a fresh rating. The audience score for the film stands at a whopping 94%, indicating that the film is a good entertainer. IGN gave a fresh rating, appreciating the story of the film that was “plucky, punchy, and quite entertaining.”
Rolling Stone also had a positive review for the film. They felt that the film executed the “rip-roaring flavor of yesteryear’s do-or-die romps” perfectly. Collider felt that the film elevates Guy Ritchie’s brand of action to “a whole new level”. Variety shared that the film’s “terrific ensemble” worked in its favor.
FandomWire called the film “an impossibly glib, rip-roaring, and exciting action picture.” The review also added that one of the positive aspects of the film was “a cast with this much swashbuckling beefcake, including a Superman, a Reacher, and a G.I. Joe.”
The film was released on April 19, 2024. It is currently running successfully in theaters.
