(Matt Holmes & Joanna Lim wrote this report) What with
the culmination of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass'
Bourne and
the recent shackling of the James Bond film franchise, Working Title have moved fast to capitalize a gap in the market for smart espionage thrillers by greenlighting a movie adaptation of
John Le Carre's adored and classic spy novel,
Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy. YES, Hollywood can surprise you now and again by making a movie that justifies it's existence as an art form. The book is set in the mid-70's during the height of the Cold War. It revolves around Brit George Smiley, a middle aged and ordinary intelligence expert (i.e. the antithesis of Bond) who is lured out of retirement to hunt down a Soviet mole in 'the Circus', the highest department of MI6.
The Daily Mail say the great
Gary Oldman is in talks to lead in a part once made iconic by
Alec Guiness' portrayal in a much loved 1979 BBC television adaptation, and we think this is just about perfect casting. Just look how Oldman plays the only honest cop in Gotham with such sincerity and profound humanity, a role where he is Jim Gordon and no longer Gary Oldman.
Colin Firth,
David Thewlis and Churchill's favourite film critic turned undercover Nazi spy
Michael Fassbender are in discussions to play various intelligence heads and potential mole suspects. Female parts are still to be cast including Smiley's wife. Acclaimed Swedish director
Tomas Alfredson of
Let the Right One In fame will direct his English-language debut with
shooting set to begin in September.
Ironically, he will work from a script by
Frost/Nixon and
The Queen scribe
Peter Morgan who wrote the adaptation a few years ago, and of course also scribed the latest
Bond venture which is currently anchored by MGM's financial woes. Along with
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and
The Constant Gardener,Tinker is considered to be one of Le Carre's best works and as the first novel in the
Karla Trilogy, it also leads to another exciting franchise of top notch spy action. OWF are thrilled and intrigued by this one....