Imperative Entertainment, the studio behind the Clint Eastwood movie The Mule and last year’s Ridley Scott-helmed All the Money in the World, has come aboard to produce Prince of War. The feature film will center on Erik Prince, the ex-Navy SEAL who founded the controversial private military contracting firm Blackwater.
Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead, Berlin Station) is directing the film as his next project. He is also working with Collateral‘s Stuart Beattie on a new version of Beattie’s initial script, which was adapted from Prince’s 2013 book Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror, as well as Adam Ciralsky’s 2009 Vanity Fair article “Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy.”
The pic will focus on Prince, the billionaire capitalist dogged by a grand-jury investigation, clandestine CIA assassination missions, and the voluntary manslaughter trial of five ex-employees. The producers say it will be a deep dive into the industry of modern warfare and reflect on the dark convergence of capitalism and patriotism.
The tone for the complicated subject, which will make for a juicy lead role, is being described as American Sniper meets The Insider.
Imperative’s Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas and Ryan Friedkin will produce with Nicolas Chartier of Voltage Pictures and Craig Flores from Bread and Circuses Entertainment. Ciralsky and his P3 Media will executive produce. 30West will arrange financing and distribution.
The studio’s current projects include Lyrebird, the true story about an art forger who victimized the Nazis with bang-on copies of masterpieces. Guy Pearce stars and Friedkin is making his directorial debut.
Roskam is repped by UTA, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Austen. Beattie is repped by Paradigm and Joan Vento-Hall, and Chartier withi Levin Law Corp. Prince is repped by Gray Krauss LLP, Ciralsky is with Endeavor Content and Gray Krauss.
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