From Netflix hit to marital bliss, inside Guy Ritchie’s new life as he finds true happiness 16 years after Madonna split
IN 1999 Guy Ritchie seemed to have it all thanks to his hit movie Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels as well as the ultimate celebrity girlfriend in Madonna.
But over the next 25 years the director went on a rollercoaster ride that meant his private and professional life never peaked simultaneously . . . until now.
After marrying then divorcing Madge, father-of-five Guy, 55, has finally found happiness with his second wife, actress Jacqui Ainsley.
And that joy has coincided with one of his biggest hits in years, Netflix gangster series The Gentlemen, which has been viewed on the streaming service 44million times in the UK alone.
A TV insider said: “The success of The Gentlemen has been a huge thrill for Guy and, in some ways, a very pleasant surprise as he’s carved out a career as a movie maker.
“To suddenly find himself basking in the glory of a hit TV series has been something of an epiphany for him, and the cherry on the cake of the current chapter of his life.
“Finally, he has the happy family he always craved and is enjoying a return to form.”
The Gentlemen, which dropped on Netflix last month, is a comedy drama exploring the British class system.
Showered with praise
It is told through the story of Edward Horniman, played by hunky British actor Theo James who had a big part in The White Lotus.
He unexpectedly inherits the estate and title of his late father, The Duke of Halstead.
However, Eddie also inherits a secret drugs farm underneath the house, which is run by mobsters who refuse to get off his land.
So instead of trying to beat them, the new duke joins them in all sorts of illegal enterprises, which are aided by his mother Lady Sabrina, played by Joely Richardson, and his gamekeeper Geoffrey, played by Vinnie Jones.
It also stars Giancarlo Esposito, from Breaking Bad, as businessman Stanley Johnson and features Ray Winstone and Daniel Ings.
The Gentlemen has not just been a hit here, where a crime caper featuring a toff would be a natural fit. Netflix has seen the show top the charts around the globe.
Critics have showered it with praise too. One described it as “an absolute boat-load of fun”, while another said “It’s just too fun: the fast cars, the increasingly unhinged baddies and how everything keeps going wrong in ever more spectacular ways.”
Perhaps the most poignant remark was that the series was: “Guy Ritchie with all the knobs turned to max.”
Despite moving from films to TV, Guy hasn’t ditched his typically English style of storytelling, and has brought together all the elements that forged hit films including 1998’s Lock Stock and 2000’s Snatch.
Hit films
As well as mobsters, the series features members of the travelling community, boxers, hardmen and hapless characters.
And Guy admits the story of The Gentlemen, which he directed as a film in 2019 and spawned the current spin-off TV series, owes much to his early gangster films.
He said: “It’s on that frequency, but 20 years later. Everyone evolves — well, hopefully everyone evolves.”
Guy’s evolution as a writer, director and producer has moved in tandem with him developing a lifestyle as a happily-married country gen, one that unquestionably inspired his TV hit.
Although he came from rather posh stock himself and was privately educated, when he first emerged on the movie scene he seemed to revel in the geezer image of the characters in his films.
But it appears he has increasingly returned to his origins, buying Georgion manor Ashcombe House, near Bath, set in 1,134 acres, where he embraces his image as wealthy, landed gentry.
Despite making millions, Guy once remarked: “Other than the fact I like a country house, I can’t think of anything I’d want to spend my money on.”
He added: “The English countryside is the most staggeringly beautiful place. I can’t spend as much time there as I like, but I like everything about it. I like fishing, I like clay-pigeon shooting.”
The house was bought in 2001 when Guy was still married to Madonna and with the pair forming the ultimate It Couple of the Noughties.
But in 2002 the rot set in. He had his first film disaster directing and writing Swept Away, a rom-com starring his famous wife that was roundly panned.
Then came two more of his gangster movies, Revolver in 2005 and RocknRolla in 2008, that did not have the same impact as his previous hits. Then in 2008 he and Madonna, who had son Rocco and adopted David together, divorced citing irreconcilable differences.
Next Guy made the two Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, which were box office successes in 2009 and 2011.
It was around this time that Guy met Jacqui, and she recalls the cheeky exchange they had when introduced via mutual friends in London.
Shock divorce
She recalled: “Guy said: ‘That’s a pretty dress,’ and I thought, ‘Well, he could just be a bit of a charmer.’ So I said, ‘Are you auditioning for a new wife?’ And he went, ‘Oo-ooh, cocky,’ and we laughed.’”
They married four years later at his estate in a star-studded event attended by Brad Pitt, Henry Cavill and David Beckham, and have three children together — Rafael, 13, Rivka, 11, and ten-year-old Levi.
And Guy couldn’t have been happier, once remarking: “I love fatherhood. I could bang on about kids for ever.”
Though his family life was at its best, he was less fortunate in his career with lukewarm receptions for his remake of The Man from UNCLE in 2015 and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in 2017.
Eyebrows were raised further when he seemed to park his traditional action hero films in favour of writing and directing the Hollywood live-action telling of Aladdin in 2019.
I love fatherhood. I could bang on about kids forever
Guy Ritchie
Further disappointments came last year with Operation Fortune, a gangster film that ended up airing on Prime Video, and war movie The Covenant, one of the biggest box office bombs of the year.
Guy always admitted he had a slightly haphazard approach to filmmaking, once saying: “What I try to do is throw as much mud on the wall as I possibly can and just see what sticks, what shines as quirky or more interesting than the others, and I try to cling on to that.”
The film version of The Gentlemen came in 2019, starring Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam and Michelle Dockery. It did well at the box office, but didn’t send many ripples through Hollywood.
At its premiere, Guy explained he never wanted the story to be a film, but he was made an offer he “couldn’t say no to”.
He added: “I presented it first as a TV series but as I did, it got snatched off my table and they said: ‘Let’s make it into a film and then we can make it into a TV series.’”
Guy found that making the jump from film to TV was not too difficult.
He said: “The characters take on their own life, all you have to do is establish a character and create their own voice, then couple that with an actor and we’re off to the races. You feel this could run and run.”
That will be welcome news for Netflix bosses when they ask for The Gentlemen II.