Director Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of the John le Carre spy novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was a bit of a surprise success last year, grossing over $80 million against a relatively small budget and earning Gary Oldman his first ever Oscar nomination for Best Actor.  Given le Carre’s numerous novels, Alfredson and the folks at Working Title began to mull over the possibility of adapting another one of the books for a sequel, but movement on that front has been relatively quiet as of late.

Steve recently got to interview producer Eric Fellner while attending the press day for Working Title’s upcoming musical adaptation Les Miserables, and Fellner provided a promising update on the sequel to Tinker Tailor.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Modern spy fiction owes debts to two British authors. Ian Fleming created James Bond, who became the spy movie franchise over the past few decades. Fleming’s formula has also worked in dozens of other films—beautiful girls, clever gadgets, exotic locations. The other fiction spymaster is John LeCarre. LeCarre’s spies are so authentic some of the terms he created for his spies to use came to be used in the real world. LeCarre’s most famous work, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, was recently made into a film for those looking to get lost in the wilderness of mirrors. We review the DVD after the jump.

Following a bit of a mad scramble to replace departing director Gary Ross, Lionsgate seems to have settled on his replacement for the impending Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.  We recently learned that the studio had narrowed their list down to two choices: Moneyball director Bennett Miller and I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence.  Now comes word that Lionsgate plans to extend the offer to—drumroll please—Mr. Lawrence!  Hit the jump for more.

Gary Oldman wrapped up his 3-day, 7-film retrospective at New York’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema with a fun, extended Q&A after Wednesday night’s screening of his Oscar-nominated performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The first time Academy Award nominee fielded questions from a theater filled with hundreds of his fans with nearly an hour.  Oldman also hung around for autographs, pictures and additional questions.  Hit the jump for stories from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, his paralyzing doubt on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and what he thought while watching Heath Ledger as The Joker.

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.

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.

Tomas Alfredon’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy remains one of my most-anticipated films of the fall especially after picking up strong notices when it debuted at the Venice Film Festival.  The film has already been released in the UK and Gary Oldman, who plays the film’s protagonist George Smiley, tells The Guardian [via The Playlist] “I loved playing George and there are of course films to be made of John Le Carré’s other books featuring George, with Smiley’s People and The Honourable Schoolboy being the obvious ones [Oldman told Empire that the books may be combined into one movie]. But I would insist on quite a few factors, such as I would really want Tomas Alfredson to direct it again.”

Production company StudioCanal may be willing to agree to those factors as The Guardian strongly hints that the studio wants to launch a franchise and that an announcement will be made in Paris next week.   If the upcoming spy thriller is as good as folks are saying then the announcement will be welcome news.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in the U.S. on December 9th.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis.

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.

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.

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.

Empire Big Screen is a bit like Comic-Con in that studios come by the show off footage from their new movies and the filmmakers come to talk up those films.  The festival is run by the good folks at the world’s best movie mag, Empire Magazine, so I approve.  Since we don’t have anyone at the event, we’ll be running quotes from other sites who are attending.  The first piece of news comes from Empire who spoke with Sherlock creator/writer Mark Gatiss.  Gatiss says they’re only about a week and a half away from wrapping production and that this season will be “The Woman, The Hound and The Fall” trilogy.  To be more specific, this year’s episodes will adapt the Sherlock Holmes stories “A Scandal in Bohemia”, “The Hound Of The Baskervilles”, and “The Final Problem”.  The second season of BBC’s Sherlock will premiere in early 2012.

Hit the jump for reactions to footage from Titanic 3D, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and more.

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.

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.

If you were wondering whether or not Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was being set up for an awards run, you now have your answer.  Variety reports that Focus Features has set the spy thriller for November 18th.  The story centers on “George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a veteran spy pulled out of semi-retirement to ferret out a Soviet agent in MI6.”  Oldman is already receiving early buzz on his performance and he’s bolstered by a strong supporting cast that includes Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Stephen Graham, and Benedict Cumberbatch.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the film premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September, but nothing has been announced on that front.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has some tough competition on November 18th, but it’s not going for the same audience.  Also opening that weekend is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Happy Feet Two, which obviously are going for after a different demographic than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

Yesterday I got to speak with Gary Oldman for his new movie Red Riding Hood.  While I’ll have the full interview online very soon, I was able to get updates on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let The Right One In) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

For those hoping that The Dark Knight Rises will be as awesome as The Dark Knight, Oldman (who plays Commissioner Gordon) told me that he’s spoken to Nolan about the story and calls it “fantastic.”  He then said, “You think you can’t top The Dark Knight and I think he may have.”

Regarding Alfredson’s follow up to Let The Right One In, Oldman said it’s probably the greatest role he’s ever played.  Which after looking at his amazing resume, is saying something.  The Cold War thriller centers on semi-retired agent George Smiley (Oldman) who is pulled out of semi-retirement to ferret out a Soviet mole within MI6.  The film has an impressive cast that also includes Oscar-winner Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt and Toby Jones.  Hit the jump to watch the interview: