Jake Gyllenhaal has unfinished business to resolve in the first trailer for director Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film The Covenant.
The MGM military thriller, hitting theaters April 21, stars Gyllenhaal as Army Sergeant John Kinley, who is rescued during a tour in Afghanistan by his interpreter, played by Dar Salim. The footage shows Kinley grappling with whether to put himself back in harm’s way to rescue Ahmed.
“If it wasn’t enough for him to carry me across those mountains, now he’s hiding in a hole somewhere,” Gyllenhaal’s character says somberly in the trailer. “I should be in that hole.”
He later adds, “Ahmed and his family are in trouble. I am gonna have to get him out myself.”
The cast also includes Alexander Ludwig, Antony Starr, Jason Wong, Bobby Schofield, Sean Sagar, Sina Parvaneh, Emily Beecham, Cyrus Khodaveisi and Christian Ochoa.
Initially entitled The Interpreter, Ritchie wrote the script with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. Ritchie produces alongside Atkinson, John Friedberg and Josh Berger.
Gyllenhaal was recently seen in Michael Bay’s Ambulance and voiced a role in Don Hall’s Disney animated feature Strange World, both released last year. He has previously tackled military themes in films including Jarhead (2005) and Source Code (2011).
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ritchie reflected on his debut 1998 feature, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, nearing its 25-year anniversary after making a splash upon its initial release and helping set up his future career success. “You blink, and it’s as if nothing happened,” he said. “You’re just two stone heavier and a little bit richer.”
