THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Those Who Wish Me Dead is an upcoming film starring Angelina Jolie. From high up in a watchtower, Hannah Faber (Jolie) is haunted by the memory of misreading which way the wind was blowing. Her meteorological malpractice led to her forest firefighting team’s deaths when the wind picked up and blew the fire towards them. 

She blames herself for not rushing to help the team —even though that would have meant certain death for her. As a veteran smokejumper, Faber has one of those jobs that seems tailor-designed for an action movie hero. As a specially trained firefighter, she has parachute training, survival skills, and well-honed wilderness instincts that are begging for 2nd and 3rd act payoffs. 

While keeping a watchful eye over the forest, a new fire season is on the horizon, and Faber doesn’t want to misread wind danger again. But this time, the burning risk comes from Mother Nature and gun-toting baddies Jack Blackwell (Aidan Gillen of HBO’s Game of Thrones) and Patrick Blackwell (Nicholas Hoult, the former child actor of About A Boy who grew up to be in Mad Max: Fury Road, and the X-Men franchise.) The Blackwells are a ruthless father-son assassin duo who killed Connor Casserly’s father (child actor Finn Little, best known for Netflix’s Tidelands). Jolie’s character becomes the child’s protector, and they fight fire and firearms across the Montana wilderness. 

Also coming to the firefight are Montana Sheriff Parker Harrison (Jon Bernthal of AMC’s The Walking Dead, and antihero Frank Castle in Netflix’s The Punisher/Daredevil), and a character portrayed by Tyler Perry. 

Those Who Wish Me Dead is an upcoming neo-western from Taylor Sheridan, the co-creator of the Paramount Network’s Yellowstone TV series and a writer behind Hell or High Water (Oscar nod) and Sicario. Sheridan also directed the Jeremy Renner/Elizabeth Olsen neo-western mystery Wind River. He was an actor in FX’s Sons of Anarchy TV series, portraying Chief of Police David Hale.

This film is based on a book of the same name by New York Times best-selling crime fiction author Michael Koryta. He is also the co-writer with Charles Leavitt (the pen behind Blood Diamond and In the Heart of the Sea) and director Sheridan.

In addition to a theatrical release on May 14, 2021, the film will also be available that day for streaming on HBO Max.