Crime Families Clash in Guy Ritchie’s Starry New Series ‘Mobland’ 

27 March 2025, United Kingdom, London: (L-R) English actress Helen Mirren, English director Guy Ritchie, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, English actor Tom Hardy, attend the British premiere of MobLand at Odeon Luxe. (PA Wire/dpa)
27 March 2025, United Kingdom, London: (L-R) English actress Helen Mirren, English director Guy Ritchie, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, English actor Tom Hardy, attend the British premiere of MobLand at Odeon Luxe. (PA Wire/dpa)
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Crime Families Clash in Guy Ritchie’s Starry New Series ‘Mobland’ 

27 March 2025, United Kingdom, London: (L-R) English actress Helen Mirren, English director Guy Ritchie, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, English actor Tom Hardy, attend the British premiere of MobLand at Odeon Luxe. (PA Wire/dpa)
27 March 2025, United Kingdom, London: (L-R) English actress Helen Mirren, English director Guy Ritchie, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, English actor Tom Hardy, attend the British premiere of MobLand at Odeon Luxe. (PA Wire/dpa)

British filmmaker Guy Ritchie takes viewers back into the dark world of organized crime in "MobLand", his latest television series that features a stellar ensemble cast including Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.

The 10-episode show follows two feuding London crime families, the Harrigans and the Stevensons. Hardy plays the Harrigans' well-connected fixer Harry Da Souza.

"I was interested in the traditional genre, so to speak, that it's gangsters in one family. I haven't done that before," director and executive producer Ritchie said at the show's global premiere in London on Thursday.

"MobLand" comes hot on the heels of Ritchie's hit 2024 Netflix series "The Gentlemen". Ritchie, who made his feature film debut with the 1998 crime comedy "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and went on to direct movies including "Snatch", "Sherlock Holmes" and "Aladdin", said he was enjoying the smaller screen work.

"I quite like that it goes on for a long time, to be fair. I quite like TV, so it's fun to oscillate between TV and film. I just think one informs the other," the 56-year-old said.

"MobLand" stars Brosnan as the Harrigan family head, crime boss Conrad, with Mirren playing his influence-wielding wife, Maeve.

Brosnan received the script from Ritchie last summer while he was working with Mirren on their upcoming movie "The Thursday Murder Club" and the two agreed to embark on the project. The experience marked a first for the 71-year-old, who said shooting on the series had only wrapped the day before the premiere.

"This is bonkers. I've never had something like this happen in life where you work for five months, finish and then the next night you're on the red carpet. But that's the way the world is going - fast," he said.

Brosnan, who previously starred in the series "The Son", said he was excited to return to TV.

"It keeps you on your feet. And if the writing's really good and you have people who know how to create an ensemble and create drama, then it's hard work, but it's exhilarating," he said.

The show also provided a brand-new experience for Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, who created its music with composer Ilan Eshkeri.

"I'm familiar with scoring, but this was different because of the sheer length of music involved," Bellamy said. "Normally a film would be 90 minutes or something, but this is like 10 hours."

"We were trying to combine this kind of gritty London gangster feel with the more privileged kind of luxury of the Harrigans. We were combining quite industrial electronic music with string quartet music," he added.

"MobLand", which is written by Ronan Bennett and Jez Butterworth, premieres on Paramount+ on March 30.



Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)

A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that actor and director Justin Baldoni filed against his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively after she sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.

US District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic film.

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can’t sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.

The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached or interfered with a contract. His legal team indicated it planned to do so.

"Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false," one of Baldoni's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. He said that Lively's claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were "no truer today than they were yesterday."

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.

"Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.

The lawyers said they "look forward to the next round" of seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were "grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."

"Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism," Charlie Stadtlander said in an emailed statement.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows."

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote the book "Man Enough."