Mel Gibson and Colin Farrell are set to star together in the Millennium Films action movie War Pigs, directed by Tommy Wirkola. Written by Nick Ball & John Niven, the project was originally named The Takedown. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing through Di Bonaventura Productions, together with Matt Berenson.

War Pigs centers on a crew of ex-Special Forces soldiers as they go undercover as drug dealers, all as part of a revenge mission against the violent cartel that murdered one of their friends. At the same time, the crew tries to pull off an elaborate heist. Director Tommy Wirkola previously helmed the Norwegian comedy-horror film Dead Snow, as well as the Jeremy Renner fantasy-action vehicle Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Wirkola also directed Noomi Rapace in the Netflix sci-fi film What Happened to Monday?

Wirkola will next work with Millennium Films on War Pigs, and Deadline reports that Mel Gibson and Colin Farrell have signed on to head up the cast. Character details are sparse, but Farrell will be playing a man named Drex while Gibson plays someone named The Pastor. Production on the film is expected to begin in October.


For Gibson, being cast in War Pigs marks another step in the actor's somewhat remarkable comeback after years as a Hollywood outcast. The comeback began in earnest when Gibson directed the harrowing war drama Hacksaw Ridge, which garnered six Oscar nominations including one for Gibson for Best Director. As further proof that Gibson has been fully welcomed back into the Hollywood fold, the actor last year starred with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the family-friendly comedy hit Daddy’s Home 2. Gibson’s big upcoming directorial project is expected to be the war drama Destroyer starring the aforementioned Wahlberg. Gibson has also lined up another acting role in Joe Carnahan’s Boss Level, co-starring Frank Grillo and NFL star Rob Gronkowski.

Meanwhile, Colin Farrell can next be seen in the Gillian Flynn-scripted drama Widows, directed by Steve McQueen and also starring Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall and Carrie Coon. Farrell will also star in Tim Burton’s live-action Dumbo in the role of Holt Farrier, a one-armed war veteran and circus performer. On the opposite end of the cuteness scale from Dumbo, Farrell will get a chance to mix things up in a revenge-themed action movie with Gibson. Smoldering intensity is something Farrell does almost as well as Gibson, a man known for his explosiveness both on and off the screen. Audiences will get to witness the kind of sparks that fly when Farrell and Gibson team up for Tommy Wirkola's War Pigs.