Let The Right One In Director Taps Oldman, Firth, Fassbender And Thewlis For His Next Film
Let the Right One IndirectorTomas Alfredsonwas initially slow to lock down a follow-up film. He was a part ofThe Danish Girlfor a while, before walking away. (Lasse Hallström directed instead.) Now Alfredson is making a film calledTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which is now casting. The one actor definitely set to star at this point isGary Oldman, but several other great names are negotiating roles as well.Production Weekly(viaThe Playlist) reports thatColin Firth,Michael FassbenderandDavid Thewlisare all in talks right now. Those four guys? Holy shit, that could be a hell of a cast.Peter Morganis writing the script based onJohn Le Carré’s novel (supposedly with the assistance of the author) which is the first in a trilogy that also features novelsThe Honourable SchoolboyandSmiley’s People. The overarching story is a classic tale of Cold War espionage, andwhen I first reported on this projectwe didn’t know if Alfredson’s film would be a period piece or an update. At this point, it looks like a period piece, so that’s a mark in the ‘plus’ column.
The story has retired intelligence agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) being called back to serve when a high-ranking member of MI6 is suspected of being a Soviet mole. I still hope that Le Carré and Morgan kept the jargon that was used in the novel; Le Carré called MI6 ‘the circus’, black bag ops were ‘scalphunters’ and American agents were ‘the cousins’.
Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spyhas been adapted twice before: by the BBC for television in 1979 with Alec Guinness starring as George Smiley, and then by BBC Radio 4 in 1988. A 1982 BBC mini-series later adaptedSmiley’s People(again with Guinness), the third book in the trilogy, but the middle chapter has never made it to screen. The shoes of Alec Guinness will be difficult to fill, and I’d initially hoped for someone like Bob Hoskins, but Gary Oldman could easily nail this, too.
