Mark Strong

Joel Edgerton Officially Joins Kathryn Bigelow’s Untitled Hunt for Osama Bin Laden Drama [UPDATED]

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 5th, 2012 at 3:22 pm

Joel Edgerton is in, again. After having been previously reported as the star of Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) untitled hunt for Osama Bin Laden drama, the Warrior star was forced to withdraw from consideration after scheduling issues with the 300 prequel looked to prevent him from toplining the project. Now Variety reports that Edgerton has officially signed on to star in the pic, which centers on the Navy Seal team that tracked and eventually killed Bin Laden. We recently reported that Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) was in talks to topline the drama, but Variety’s new report makes no mention of the actor. It’s possible he was the second choice to Edgerton, and now that Edgerton’s scheduling issues have been cleared up (he passed on the 300 prequel) Pratt is out.

The script was written by Bigelow’s Hurt Locker scribe Mark Boal, and the only other actor officially signed on is Jason Clarke. Rooney Mara had been eyed to play a female reporter embedded with the Seal team, but her Girl with the Dragon Tattoo promotion schedule prevented her from joining the pic. Edgerton is currently filming The Great Gatsby. The untitled film (previously titled Kill Bin Laden) opens December 19th, 2012. [Update: Deadline reports that in addition to Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, and Edgar Ramirez (Carlos) have joined the stellar ensemble. They also include Pratt in the cast listing, so it looks like he's still on the project after all.]

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 9th, 2011 at 5:06 am

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a crackling, intense, complex, old-fashioned spy-thriller…but you need to wait over an hour to get there.  Director Tomas Alfredson does a fantastic job of painting a rich 1970s setting that swings between London, France, Istanbul, and Budapest, but we have trouble getting our bearings as we jump across timelines and struggle to understand the wide cast of characters.  Terrific performances begin to peek out and try to surface but are smothered in an overdone attempt to obfuscate rather than intrigue.  Alfredson wants to put us inside the web of confusion of trying to uncover the truth, but he strings us along for too long.  At some point, the spy game must begin.

New Featurette for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 1st, 2011 at 9:58 am

Focus Features has released a new featurette for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  It’s mostly your standard EPK fluff where everyone talks about the greatness of the material and each other.  However, it also provides some background on the setting, and Tinker Tailor is a movie where the more you understand the world, the better off you’ll be.  The film throws a heap of characters and jargon at you and then jumps around timelines just to make the puzzle even more difficult to solve.  It certainly deepens the mystery, but it’s not a good sign when I’m handed a pamphlet (click here to view the interactive version online) with a list explaining code names and terms.  (I also spent the whole movie thinking “Karla” was a nickname for the Russians, but after the movie I found out it was a code name for the Soviet intelligence chief).  The featurette also attempts to build awards buzz for Gary Oldman, but we’ll see if that pans out.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film also stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones, David Dencik, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Stephen Graham, Kathy Burke, and Ciarán Hinds.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens December 9th.

35 New Images from TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: November 19th, 2011 at 2:44 pm

Just a few weeks out from the US debut of Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Focus Features has released a host of new images. The spy thriller that features Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Colin Firth, just to name a few, is set during the Cold War era and follows former spy George Smiley (Oldman) through his investigation of a possible double agent within MI-6. Based off of the 1974 British novel by John le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first novel of the “Karla Trilogy” and the first film installment may spawn a franchise.

Since the UK saw a September release for the film, we have a host of clips, images and trailers that you can find here. But with the US release coming up, we’ll also have new interviews with the cast coming soon. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy also stars Mark Strong, Toby Jones, John Hurt and Benedict Cumberbatch and opens December 9^th. Hit the jump to check out the new images.

Character Profiles for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: October 25th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

The spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy continues to be one of my most anticipated films amongst the crowd of awards contender’s coming out this fall. The trailer is highly engrossing, the cast is top-notch, and the film debuted to strongly positive notices at the Venice Film Festival (not to mention that latest news that the pic may spawn a franchise). Now, a slew of character profiles have been released for the film. They give a rundown of pretty much every major character that appears, augmented by quotes from the actors who play them. It’s a pretty cool look into the espionage-fueled world of the film.

Hit the jump to check them out. The film stars Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, John Hurt, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the U.S. on December 9th.

New Trailer for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Jason Barr    Posted: September 10th, 2011 at 9:27 am

The first U.S. trailer for director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has landed online. While it’s essentially just a mashup of the film’s two U.K. trailers, the score alone is worth the price of admission. For those unfamiliar, the film is based on the John le Carré novel and follows an ex-spy as he attempts to track down a double agent within the ranks of the MI-6. Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, John Hurt and Benedict Cumberbatch star.

Watch the new trailer after the jump. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the U.K. on September 16th and in the U.S. on December 9th.

New Poster and Featurette for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Jason Barr    Posted: September 8th, 2011 at 6:57 am

A new poster and featurette for director Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy are now available online. Starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Toby Jones and Benedict Cumberbatch, the spy thriller is set during the Cold War and follows former spy George Smiley (Oldman) as he investigates a potential double agent within the MI-6 ranks. The cast is great, author John le Carré’s source material is highly celebrated and I love Alfredson’s Let the Right One In. To summarize, I can’t wait to see this movie.

Watch the featurette, which is basically an introduction to Oldman’s George Smiley, and check out the new poster after the jump. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the U.K. on September 16th and in the U.S. on December 9th.

First Clip from TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 2nd, 2011 at 6:14 am

The first clip from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has hit online and it has me even more eager to hear what the reaction to the film will be after it debuts at the Venice Film Festival this weekend.  In the clip, “Control” (John Hurt), the head of the “Circus” (aka Britian’s intelligence agency, MI6) instructs agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) in the hunt for the mole, assigning code-names to each of the suspects in the hunt.  The code names are “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poor Man” and the fifth suspect is protagonist George Smiley (Gary Oldman), the retired MI6 agent who joins the investigation.  I think the use of putting pictures on chess pieces is a little heavy handed, but I love the tension of the scene and the way it’s shot.  So far, no film has gotten rave reviews out of Venice but I’m hoping will be hearing positive reactions to the spy thriller.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film also stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Toby Jones, and Benedict Cumberbatch.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the UK on September 16th and in the US on December 9th.

New Posters for REAL STEEL, THE IDES OF MARCH, and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 30th, 2011 at 7:05 am

New posters have gone online for Real Steel, The Ides of March, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  The Real Steel poster finally uses Hugh Jackman’s mug instead of his silhouette or the boxing robot’s camel-fist.  Speaking of handsome faces, Ryan Gosling is a good-looking dude looking at fellow attractive gent George Clooney in the poster for the political thriller The Ides of March.  I’ll let folks in the comments section debate who’s hotter (answer: Clooney).  Finally, there’s a UK quad poster for Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy that’s packed with blurbs from British publications raving about the movie.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Real Steel and The Ides of March open October 7th.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the UK on September 16th and in the US on December 9th.

Awesome UK Teaser Trailer for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 24th, 2011 at 1:08 pm

People in the UK must think they’re so cool because they’re getting Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy two months before us poor sods in the US see it.  And to all of our UK readers, I’ll tell you this right now: you’re cool because of your accents, but getting a first look at this movie doesn’t hurt either.  Technically, folks at the Venice Film Festival will see what looks like an exhilarating spy thriller, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for the reviews we’ll be seeing a couple weeks from now.  If anyone in the UK wants to fly me over to see the movie, I’ll give you all the tea in China.  I’ve been told you people like tea.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong, Svetlana Khodchenko, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Stephen Graham, and Kathy Burke.   Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the UK on September 16th and in the US on November 18th.

Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong Sign on for CLOSER TO THE MOON

by Phil Brown    Posted: August 9th, 2011 at 10:51 am

Vera Farmiga’s career has really taken off in recent years with the long-underrated actress seemingly appearing in a new movie every month varying from her Oscar-nominated work in Up In The Air to more schlocky fare like The Orphan.  Today Farmiga has signed for her latest role in the rather intriguing-sounding communist bank-robber drama (yep, that’s a genre now) Closer To The Moon. British character actor Mark Strong will play the lead role as a put upon bank robber forced to re-enact his crime for a propaganda film. It’s an incredibly strange, but undeniably interesting concept that could quickly become one of the biggest Romanian films of all time. We know that you’ve all been waiting for that, so today is a day of celebration. Hit the jump for further details.

New UK Trailer for TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 4th, 2011 at 7:49 am

A new UK trailer for Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has gone online.  Like the first trailer, it’s tense, gripping, and reaffirms the film as one of my most anticipated for the remainder of 2011.  The plot centers on semi-retired spy George Smiley (Gary Oldman who looks like he could be making a serious run at an Oscar nomination) is called in to uncover a mole at MI6 (that’s the “circus” referred to at the beginning of the trailer).  As if Oldman working with the director Let the Right One In wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, how’s this for a supporting cast: Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong, Svetlana Khodchenko, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Stephen Graham, and Kathy Burke.  How can you not want to see this movie?

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer which finally explains the title to those of us who never read John le Carre’s novel.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens in the UK on September 16th and in the US on November 18th.  It will debut at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

International Trailer for TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 30th, 2011 at 7:15 am

It may be a spy thriller, but Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy could have some juice this awards season.  Focus Features has set the flick for November 18th and buzz is already building up around Gary Oldman’s performance as George Smiley, a semi-retired spy tasked with rooting out a mole in MI-6.  The powerhouse cast also includes Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Stephen Graham, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

The international trailer for the film has been released and it looks like Alfredson has really nailed the suspense of the story while side-stepping the predictable tropes of the spy genre.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Toby Jones and John Hurt.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens in the UK on September 16th, and it’s possible the flick could show up at the Venice Film Festival and/or the Toronto International Film Festival.

GREEN LANTERN Review

by Bill Graham    Posted: June 16th, 2011 at 4:19 pm

Director Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern exists in a time when rainbow bridges aren’t laughed at and secret agent mutants enhance the drama, which is why the newest entry in DC Comics’ long lineage of films feels like a regression. The talent amassed for this origin story can understandably excite onlookers, but the end result won’t make many want to come back for more. A disjointed plot that may alienate audience members instead of pull them in is a bad start to Warner Brothers franchise kick-starter hopeful. The real shame is that Ryan Reynolds is a natural choice for Hal Jordan, and the rest of the cast exude similar confidence, but the material they are working with hinders the film from ever lifting off the ground. Even Campbell seems to be unwilling to commit to the material. Short, choppy, and overpopulated with CG and not enough heart, this is one comic book film you might want to skip this summer. Hit the jump for my full review.

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong and Peter Sarsgaard Interview GREEN LANTERN

by Christina Radish    Posted: June 13th, 2011 at 10:18 pm

With Green Lantern hitting theaters this week, Ryan Reynolds is the latest actor taking on a superhero for the big screen. As the gifted and cocky test pilot Hal Jordan, Reynolds is charming, witty and likeable, taking audiences on an adventure, as the first human chosen for the Green Lantern Corps. Warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him the ability to create anything his mind can imagine. Unfortunately for Hal, he doesn’t get much time to enjoy his recruitment before he learns that a terrible enemy called Parallax is threatening to destroy the balance of power in the Universe. With the fate of Earth in his hands, and encouragement from fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), Hal must quickly master his new powers and find the courage to save all of mankind.

During a press conference at the film’s press day, co-stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong (who plays Sinestro) and Peter Sarsgaard (who plays Hector Hammond) talked about bringing this story to life, having a strong leading lady, getting to portray the journey of Sinestro, the prosthetics required to create the look for Hector Hammond, and how they were all honored to be a part of such a special project. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

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