Atomic Blonde

Director: David Leitch
Writers: Kurt Johnstad (screenplay)
Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman

David Leitch has had an unusual career path in Hollywood. He started as a stunt double and was in productions such as Fight Club, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Matrix Reloaded. He slowly worked his way up, becoming the stunt coordinator on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending. He then started working as a second unit director for action heavy films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Captain America: Civil War and Jurassic World. The second unit of a film is a crew that is responsible for shooting supplementary footage; this includes establishing shots, stunts, inserts, and cutaways.

In 2014 he took the major step of directing John Wick, along with co-director Chad Stahelski. Although uncredited on the film, this was very much a film where stunts reigned supreme, so his work came to the fore. He has followed it up with this latest production, another film which is very heavy in stunts. It is based on a graphic novel, “The Coldest City” by Antony Johnston (Oni Press). It currently stands on 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is very high for an action film, so if you’re looking for something a little kick-ass…. you could do a lot worse!

David Leitch is currently filming Deadpool 2 as his star continues to rise in the action genre. Leitch took control of the project after the director of the first Deadpool film, Tim Miller, left after ‘creative differences’ with its star Ryan Reynolds. The first Deadpool film was a surprise success, taking $363 million dollars in the US and Canada alone. It will be fascinating to see how this latest setp for Leitch works out!