"There's a mole.... right at the top of the circus. He's been there for years." You know when the summer film season isn't going so well when the best movies of the moment are rom-coms (Bridesmaids, Bad Teacher and Larry Crowne) but we'll be rid of the Transformers, the Green Lantern's, the Harry Potter's and all the other extremely loud but empty and soulless blockbusters soon enough as we enter the September serious fare and things get more interesting. Movies start to treat their audience seriously, for one. Working Title's new adaptation of
John Le Carre spy classic
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has been on our radar every since it's extraordinary cast was brought together and the newly released international trailer certainly doesn't disappoint. A legion of blighty character actors led by
Gary Oldman have been brought together by what I've heard is a top-rate script by
Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) and the chance for them to work with Let The Right One In's Swedish helmer
Tomas Alfredson who is making his English language debut here but has lost none of his talent in translation for a quietly sinister mood, drama through action and the looks on people's faces, and the power of words delivered just at the right note. This is the most exciting Brit film released in years.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cH_Fg3ds8
Oldman leads as George Smiley (a role made famous by Alec Guiness some decades ago) who comes out of retirement to hunt down a Soviet mole in the Circus, the highest department of MI6. His future The Dark Knight Rises co-star Tom Hardy is Ricky Tarr, a Brit operative who lends a helping hand,
Colin Firth is a senior intelligence figure and
Mark Strong has a substantial role as Circus agent Jim Prideaux. Then theres Sherlock Holmes and Prof. Moriarty from different universes as actors
Benedict Cumberbatch and
Jared Harris support alongside
John Hurt, Christian McKay, Kathy Burke, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, Stephen McGraham and
Simon McBurney. Pretty much a whos who of British character actors. It gives Valkyrie a run for it's money in that department. Russian actress
Svetlana Khodchenko has the key role of Russian spy Irina. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is widely expected to play at the Venice Film Festival in September with a U.K. opening of Sept. 16th in place and a U.S. release on Nov. 18th.