Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, and Michael Fassbender Lead TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

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Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, and Michael Fassbender have signed on to adapt Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY.

Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson looks to make his English-language debut with an adaptation of the John Le Carre 1974 spy novel Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy. Variety reports that the Swedish director has landed an excellent starring cast of Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, and Michael Fassbender. Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) scripted the adaptation, which revolves around the British Secret Intelligence Service in the aftermath of the Cold War. More after the jump:

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The evocative atmosphere of Let the Right One In instantly made Alfredson a director to watch, and you can hardly do better Peter Morgan right now if you're in the market for a sharp script with a political bent given his two recent Oscar nominations for Frost/Nixon and The Queen. But this is the kind of cast that makes you stand up and take notice. Fiennes and Oldman have been reliably great for decades now, and Firth arrives fresh off his acclaimed turn in A Single Man. Meanwhile all the major players in Hollywood are trying to get in on the Fassbender business (most notably X-Men: First Class) after recent breakout roles in Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank, and Hunger.

In accordance with the setting, most of the parties involved (Fiennes, Firth, Oldman, Morgan) hail from Old Blighty. Throw in a Swedish Alfredson and the German-Irish Fassbender, and that's quite the roster of international filmmaking talent. Don't know that there's another film in production that could top it in that respect.

Le Carre's source novel was previously adapted into a 1979 seven-episode British series starring Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Alec Guinness. Here's the literary plot synopsis via Amazon:

It is now beyond doubt that a mole, implanted decades ago by Moscow Centre, has burrowed his way into the highest echelons of British Intelligence. His treachery has already blown some of its most vital operations and its best networks. It is clear that the double agent is one of its own kind. But which one? George Smiley is assigned to identify him. And once identified, the traitor must be destroyed.