New RED 2 Trailer

This has Helen Mirren shooting two guns out of a fishtailing Lotus Exige. Love. Love!

Tradecraft: U.N.C.L.E. Tom Finds His Illya

It looks like the Tom Cruise version of Warner Bros.' troubled, long-gestating Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature film is indeed moving forward. And the studio may have found the Illya Kuryakin to Cruise's Napoleon Solo, according to Deadline. The trade blog reports that The Social Network and Lone Ranger star Armie Hammer "is set" to play the Russian secret agent originated on the classic Sixties TV show by David McCallum. The age difference between Cruise, 50, and Hammer, 27, is interesting. While McCallum was brought onto the show as a young heartthrob with teen appeal, he was only a year younger than Robert Vaughn, who played Solo. Presumably the new dynamic will be more of a mentor/student relationship rather than equal partners. Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie is attached to direct. I'm still curious to know if Ritchie's version is set in the 1960s, which was Steven Soderbergh's plan for the franchise when he was set to launch it. Personally, I hope so! (At the very least, that will help differentiate U.N.C.L.E. from Cruise's other spy franchise based on a Sixties series, the contemporary Mission: Impossible.)

Trailer for the New Le Carre Book

John le Carré himself stars in the official trailer for his new book, A Delicate Truth. I can't wait to read this novel! It's out today in Britain, and hits American shelves on May 7.

Shadow Dancer Trailer

Here's the trailer for Shadow Dancer, the 1990s-set Clive Owen spy drama we first heard about two years ago from Man on Wire director James Marsh. Owen plays an MI5 operative who coerces a single mther (WE's Andrea Riseborough) into spying on the IRA... which means spying on the members of her own family. Gillian Anderson plays Owen's manipulative, duplicitous boss. (At least those are the adjectives I infer from the trailer.) Shadow Dancer, which came out in Britain last year, opens Stateside on May 31.

Bernard Samson Returns to Television!

Well, here's the story to beat as the best spy news of the year! The Deighton Dossier reports that Len Deighton's greatest character (yes, even greater than the unnamed hero of The Ipcress File and its sequels) is returning to television... for an 18-episode maxi-series courtesy of Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy! The Hollywood Reporter reports that Clerkenwell Films, the production company behind Misfits, is developing an 18-episode maxi-series based on Deighton's classic Cold War series featuring Bernard and Fiona Samson. The 10-volume series encompasses three separate trilogies (Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match; Spy Hook, Spy Line and Spy Sinker; Faith, Hope, and Charity) and a standalone prequel, Winter, which comes between the first two trilogies. These books, which brilliantly bridge the desk and field sides of the genre, are among my favorite spy novels ever. One day I shall get around to examining them in detail on this site, but suffice it to say that they are absolutely essential reading for any and all fans of espionage fiction or students of the Cold War. Again and again I see The Ipcress File listed as Deighton's best book (and there's no denying that it's a great read and made a wonderful movie), but to me the Samson cycle is the author's unequaled masterwork, and I cannot wait to see it adapted in its entirety. (The first three novels were filmed as Game Set Match for ITV in 1988, starring Ian Holm as Bernard, a series Deighton was reportedly unhappy with.) Oscar-winning screenwriter Beaufoy encapsulates everything that's wonderful about these novels very succinctly in the press release:

Deighton's masterful series of novels draws the hidden political map of the late twentieth century. It is all here: murders, honey-traps and spy swaps, the double-dealing and manoeuvring of nations jousting for position at the height of the Cold War, with Bernard Samson, the Bond with brains, giving it an almost Chandleresque sense of cool. The novels have at their heart a love story of Shakespearian proportions, taking in passion, betrayal, loyalty and the lengths we will go for the love of country and the love of one another.

Deighton himself is fully behind the new adaptation. A few years ago, Quentin Tarantino expressed an interest in filming the first three novels, but the author has always held out for an offer from a film company who wanted to adapt the entire series. Now that's come. My only regret is that it's just 18 episodes. Assuming these are hour-long episodes, and assuming Winter isn't part of the deal, that only allows two hours per book. The 1988 series was able to devote four to each of the first three volumes. But I trust Beaufoy to figure that out! And who knows? If the series is a success, perhaps we'll see Winter become a miniseries in its own right down the road. With a story spanning five tumultuous decades, it certainly could.

This is now officially the spy project I am most excited about on the foreseeable horizon. I hope it comes to fruition!

Java Heat Trailer

According to the title cards in this trailer, Kellan Lutz is "an American agent" teamed with "an Indonesian cop" "in an exotic land" must save "a princess in danger" and "the heat is on." I like it when a trailer actually tells you what you're going to get so concisely! (Well, most of the verbs there are my own inferences, but I feel confident in making them.) I'm not sure why it doesn't bother to announce that Mickey Rourke is "an evil terrorist," but perhaps the trailer cutters felt some things were self-evident. Twilight may be what's behind for Lutz, but both Tarzan and Hercules are in this guy's future, so I'm hoping he delivers the goods as a bona fide action star. We'll get to make our first conclusions when Java Heat opens on May 10. (It will also be on VOD three days later.)

Movie Review: The Berlin File (2013)

The Berlin File may be confusing, but it’s also quite a good spy film. (The two have never been mutually exclusive, after all.) It’s a South Korean movie, but it’s set—and filmed—in Berlin. The location is more than just title fodder (in Korea the film is simply titled Berlin), too. The iconic city that played host to so many Communist-East-vs.-Capitalist-West spy movies during the Cold War makes an ideal backdrop for today’s most relevant Communist-vs.-Capitalist struggle, that of the two Koreas. Against such historic spy landmarks as the Brandenburg Gate, a North Korean and South Korean agent (and, true to the genre, quite a lot of other parties) hunt each other in a compelling game of cat and mouse as writer/director Ryu Seung-wan drops plenty of allusions to his Cold War-era forebears, from Bond to Bourne to le Carré to Deighton. (The recent Bourne movies are the most obvious inspirations.)

As the film opens, South Korean spooks monitor a meeting taking place in a Berlin hotel between a Russian arms dealer, an Arab terrorist and a North Korean agent so good he’s not in any database (a “ghost,” as they refer to him). Unsurprisingly, that many bad guys in one room is going to attract the attentions of other supposedly friendly governments as well. Although it’s unclear exactly who is who during the chaotic sequence itself, it eventually becomes clear that the CIA and the Mossad are also interested in this conference, as well as the primary South Korean agent’s support team. With that many lit fuses hovering this powder keg, it’s inevitable that things won’t go as planned. Sure enough, the meeting erupts into chaos, and gunfire, foot chases and hand-to-hand combat ensue. As the North Korean agent, Pyo Jong-Seong (Ha Jung-woo) attempts to escape via the hotel roof, he’s intercepted by South Korean agent Jeong Jin-soo (Han Suk-kyu). The two men have enough time to size up one another (the basis of any antagonists-bound-to-work-together framework) before Jin-soo gets the upper hand and makes his getaway.

Jin-soo has a wife at home, Ryeon Jung-hee, who feels neglected. Yet she herself is the pawn of Jin-soo’s boss, the North Korean ambassador. (This “ghost” reports directly to the ambassador.) Her job is to be his translator at a business meeting, but he requires her to go further and seduce a potential German business partner in order to get a market advantage and whatever intel she can pick up. The ambassador’s motives, in turn, are questioned by Pyongyang (or possibly by another faction within the North Korean government), and this casts aspersions on Jung-hee as well. I won’t even go into who’s bugging the meeting and why! It’s all so complicated as to be very hard to follow (even harder via subtitles), and it’s possible that the intricate web doesn’t really make any sense at all, but to me the web itself is more crucial to the success of this sort of spy story than the sense it makes. At any rate, Pyongyang sends a cleaner out to Berlin, Dong Myung-soo (Ryu Seong-beom) (introduced in an exciting fight aboard a train in further accord with genre traditions) to make sense of this situation and eliminate any loose ends. Myung-soo informs Jin-soo that his wife’s loyalty (and, by extension, his own) is in question, forcing him to choose between his wife and his country. Despite being a patriot, Jin-soo finds himself with no choice but to go on the run with Jung-hee, making their escape across Berlin rooftops and amidst much gunfire. If it seems like I’ve given away too much at this point, don’t worry; everything I’ve encapsulated up until now is merely the setup! I recount here it in so much detail because I relished the (possibly unnecessary) complexity.

The purpose of all this setup is to force Jin-soo to go rogue, and eventually team up with his North Korean counterpart, Jong-Seong, forming a classic action movie odd couple. This pairing creates ripples affecting various factions from the South and North alike, along with the Arabs from the beginning and the CIA. The actor playing Jong-Seong’s CIA ally is unfortunately kind of awful. Luckily, his white face is probably enough to make him convincing to Korean audiences for whom his English dialogue is no doubt subtitled anyway, but English speakers are forced to put up with enough bad line readings to wish the filmmakers had bothered to fly in an actual Hollywood character actor for the part. (Surely William Sadler is available for this kind of job?) Spy fans, however, will likely cut him some slack because he uses a le Carré paperback as a way to identify himself to his contacts!

The elaborate spy scenario is, of course, all basically a clotheshorse on which to hang a number of action setpieces, just like in an American movie. When such setpieces take place against a Berlin backdrop, I tend to be satisfied. (It also helps that, with the exception of some dodgy CGI fire, most of them are quite well executed—but that’s almost secondary for me to the locale.) The action is fairly violent, especially in the finale, and there is a particularly brutal torture scene. But even squeamish spy fans will still find plenty to like in The Berlin File. Its themes of divided loyalties and betrayals both personal and professional, along with its gleefully labyrinthine plot, are enough to make you believe it could be a product of the Cold War. And when it comes to spy movies, that’s a very good thing indeed. The Berlin File is a thoroughly entertaining throwback that updates classic themes and a classic setting to suit the very current geopolitical conflicts of today.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Burn Notice: Season 6

TVShowsOnDVD reports that Burn Notice: Season Six  will hit DVD on June 11... oddly not quite in time for the Season 7 premiere on June 6. Weird. The website previously reported that bonus content for the sixth season of the hit USA spy show includes deleted scenes, a gag reel, the featurette "Matt Nix Gets Burned" and an audio commentary on the episode "Shock Wave" featuring series creator Nix, director Renny Harlin and stars Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell. (The Burn Notice commentaries, like any track involving Campbell, are always entertaining.) MSRP for the 4-disc set from Fox is $49.98, but of course it will be available from Amazon for significantly less. The sixth season marked some more major changes to the series' format, and saw some cast departures. (I was personally very sorry to see the departure of Lauren Stamile as Agent Pearce.) I'm particularly excited for this season on DVD, because I was in the midst of a move when it aired and temporarily without cable, so I didn't get to see most of it. I'm looking forward to getting caught up at last!

007 in Verse: James Bond Returns in New Book... of Poetry

This one kind of slipped under the radar. In February, a new James Bond book was published! And it's the first one to be written in verse. Canadian poet Kimmy Beach has concocted an epic poem about 007 entitled The Last Temptation of Bond, published by the University of Alberta Press. On her blog, Beach calls the project "in part — my take on Nikos Kazantzakis’ 1960 novel, The Last Temptation of Christ." Here's the publisher's full description:

Kimmy Beach’s The Last Temptation of Bond is a frisky and erudite romp into the world of pop culture icon, James Bond. As 007 comes to terms with his own mortality, the women in his life (and there are many), circle in for the kill. For once, they will influence the narrative of his life. Parodies of pop culture have long been Beach’s trademark territory, but what sets The Last Temptation of Bond apart from her previous work is the ease with which she straddles the perceived divide between contemporary pop culture and modernist literature. Raunchy and irreverent, The Last Temptation of Bond will appeal to the rabble and the literary aesthetes.

Beach is apparently a Bond fan. Among the many interesting insights into "her Bond" that Beach provides on her blog is the fact that she had a longstanding Saturday ritual of watching Casino Royale (I'm guessing she means the Craig version) with a steady supply of Vesper martinis and quoting along, sometimes rewriting it as she went! Clearly, she knows how to spend a Saturday afternoon. The Last Temptation of Bond is available on Amazon.

Trailer for the New Saint!

Well, this proves that the new Saint series is one step closer to reality! And that the pilot actually exists. Not that I doubted it, of course, but after so many years of false starts and productions falling apart at the last minute, it's great to see videographic evidence that this one is really in the can. The promotional artwork at the left was created for the MIPTV media market, where the producers will attempt to sell this pilot to networks internationally. Hopefully it sells and we end up with a whole new Saint series!

As previously reported, the pilot was directed by Simon West, and you can get a good taste of the result from the MIPTV trailer below. There's a lot to love! I love that it uses the familiar Saint theme music. I love that they found a believable way to get the Saint into a dinner jacket in this day and age. I love that there's a fight on a funicular! I love the international locations and the high productions values. It looks like a very slick production, for sure. And new Simon Templar Adam Rayner, from what I can tell based on these short clips, looks good in the role! (Needs a shave, though.) Eliza Dushku looks great, too, as the Saint's on-and-off girlfriend from the Leslie Charteris novels, Patricia Holm. I worry, though, about how heavily this trailer leans on cliché. Just about every tried and true trope of genre is touched upon, but maybe that's what you need to sell a TV show. I've read the script for this pilot, and I know that it goes beyond the clichés, and does indeed feel appropriately Saintly. I'd like to see a trailer that focuses more on what sets Simon Templar apart from the pack rather than what makes him part of it, but that might freak out potential buyers. They probably perfer the familiar. Already, though, it feels like this production redeems the character from the Val Kilmer movie. And, of course, as the icing on the cake, we're treated to some dialogue between two venerable Saint stars, Ian Ogilvy and Sir Roger Moore! I really, really hope this pilot gets sold all over the world and goes quickly to series! I desperately want a new Saint on the air.

2 Guns Trailer

2 Guns stars Denzel Washington as a DEA agent and Mark Wahlberg as a Naval Intelligence officer who cross paths when they're each undercover, neither one knowing the other is an agent, and end up stumbling into a CIA operation. From this trailer, it looks like a lot of fun! The all-star cast also includes Bill Paxton (True Lies), Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Fred Ward (Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins), Edward James Olmos and James Marsden. 2 Guns opens August 2.

Tradecraft: Matthew Vaughn's Secret Service Lands at Fox

We've known for some time that Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn planned to re-team with comic book creator Mark Millar for an adaptation of Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic The Secret Service. Today, Deadline reports that Fox will distribute the film, and is aiming for a November 14, 2014 release date. Vaughn directed the excellent X-Men: First Class for Fox (review here). Before we get to the material itself, this news has a few ramifications for Bond fans to consider. First, it effectively takes Vaughn out of the running to helm Bond 24, something many fans had hoped for following Sam Mendes announcement that he wouldn't return for the franchise's next entry. (Vaughn previously directed Daniel Craig in Layer Cake.) Second, though no date has been announced for the next 007 movie (all MGM has promised investors is within the next three years), if EON is able to get the movie made in time for a 2014 release, then November 14 would likely be its target date (following the pattern of recent Bonds, anyway). Would that put two spy movies head to head? Or would Fox back down and move their upstart out of the way of the Daniel Craig juggernaut coming off of a billion dollar series best? Probably the latter, I'd imagine.

As for The Secret Service, the comic book book follows a hoodie-wearing London street thug who's plucked from his dead-end life by his Bondian secret agent uncle and given a second chance in Her Majesty's Secret Service. I love the teen spy subgenre, and thanks to his stellar work on Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, and most especially X-Men: First Class, I'm a big fan of Vaughn's. I like the premise of the comic, and indeed there's a lot to like within its pages as well. But there's also a lot that frustrates the hell out of me. Despite its wonderful art, the comic feels like a first draft. Despite Deadline's assertion that the film "closely follows the comic," I'm hoping that Vaughn and his frequent co-writer Jane Goldman will once again elevate the material far above Millar's comic book, as they did very ably with Kick-Ass.

Daniel Craig Unveils New Range Rover Sport

Evidently James Bond's association with Range Rover didn't end with the use of a Land Rover Defender in Skyfall. Or, at least, 007 star Daniel Craig's didn't. Craig drove the all-new Range Rover Sport into its unveiling event in New York City this week, and though there's no official 007 association here, Range Rover cut a suitably Bondian video to introduce the new SUV.

Tradecraft: Robert Redford Joins S.H.I.E.L.D.

Never one to yield, film legend Robert Redford (Spy Game) is backing S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Marvel sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, according to Deadline. Robert Redford as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? That's pretty awesome! (Come to think of it, he might have made a great Nick Fury, though that never occurred to me.) The trade blog doesn't mention what character he'll be playing, reporting only that "Redford is in talks to play a senior leadership role in S.H.I.E.L.D., the superhero collective run by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury character." Of course, Double O Section readers are well aware that S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a "superhero collective" (that's the Avengers), but a powerful high-tech spy agency. Since Jackson is in The Winter Soldier and Fury's in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., it seems likely that Redford's character will be clashing with him. Otherwise, what's the point of adding another agent in the "senior leadership?" Unless... Is it maybe possible that Redford will play a modern-day version of Fury's best friend, Dum Dum Dugan? Neal McDonnough played Dum Dum in the first Captain America movie, set during WWII. No, the ages don't work out, but Hollywood always fudges that when it comes to WWII veterans. (Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer have both played them in recent years, despite being too young.) Plus, they could always say Dum Dum got a few drops of Infinity Formula over the years to slow the aging process. (S.H.I.E.L.D. junkies know what I'm talking about.) And it would make sense to include one elder character who Cap knew in his former life. Could it be? Probably not, but it's fun to speculate! I'd love to see Dum Dum turn up in a modern S.H.I.E.L.D. capacity!

UPDATE: I guess he's not Dum Dum, but closer to my first guess. Latino Review reports that Redford's character is named Pierce, and The Hollywood Reporter adds that "one source describes the role as similar to the one played by Ralph Fiennes ... in last year’s James Bond movie Skyfall."

Tradecraft: Tom Cruise Circles U.N.C.L.E.

Will Ethan Hunt open Channel D? The Hollywood Reporter reports that Tom Cruise is "in early talks" to star in Warner Bros.' looooong-in-the-works feature remake of the classic Sixties spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Following a lengthy period of development by Steven Soderbergh (in which many actors were approached, from George Clooney to Channing Tatum), director Guy Ritchie and producer Lionel Wigram (the duo behind Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes franchise) are attached to the current incarnation. Like Soderbergh before them, they've already been through a long list of actors, none of whom have stuck. (Most notably, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were approached to play series heroes Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin.) According to the trade, "Sources have said that if the Cruise casting doesn't gel, Ritchie would be forced to move on to a new movie project." (His name frequently comes up as a directorial candidate for the next James Bond movie, but only in rumors.) On the one hand, I really want to see this movie made, so I'd like to see Cruise accept this mission if that's the only way it can happen. On the other, though, Cruise already has a popular movie franchise based on a Sixties spy series! Should the same guy topline both Mission: Impossible and Man From U.N.C.L.E. film franchises? He can't be all the spies! Or can he? One thing I find encouraging about this prospect is that it might indicate that Ritchie's U.N.C.L.E. movie, like Soderbergh's, remains a Sixties period piece. I didn't think that anyone else but Soderbergh would attempt a Cold War action spy franchise. The OSS 117 movies have recreated that era of filmmaking so well as parody, but we have yet to see a serious contemporary action spy movie set then (though X-Men: First Class did it very successfully with superheroes), and, personally, I'd love to see that. I have no knowledge that this is actually the case (I don't even know who's writing Ritchie's version; Scott Z. Burns penned the Soderbergh script), but it just seems unlikely that Cruise would pursue two franchises so potentially alike unless there were a big difference between them... like the period in which they were set. And I could actually see Cruise looking good decked out in Mad Men attire. But I can't quite see him as Napoleon Solo. Like George Clooney when he was attached in 2010 (early in the Soderbergh process), Cruise is now closer in age to Robert Vaughn when he reprised the role in the reunion telefilm Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair than when he originated it in the Sixties!

Tradecraft: Cinemax's Hunted to Return in Movie Form?

After the BBC cancelled the Melissa George spy series Hunted, a co-production with U.S. cable channel Cinemax, Cinemax announced that they were working with creator Frank Spotnitz to find a way to continue the show in a slightly different format. (Continuing it in its existing incarnation was impossible without the BBC's involvement.) All that was clear was that George's Sam Hunter character would return. Last November, a Cinemax representative told Deadline, "We are making plans with creator and executive producer Frank Spotnitz and star Melissa George to present a new chapter in the Sam Hunter mythology." At the time, I interpreted that to mean another season, completely overhauled and possibly with a new title. But apparently the format change is more radical than that. In a story about George being cast on ABC's new series Gothica, Deadline reports that "While the series ended when BBC opted not to renew it, Cinemax and Sportnitz have been plotting two-hour movies centered on George’s character, which has developed strong fan following." Presumably these movies will incorporate some of the ideas Spotnitz was reportedly already developing for Season 2.

Lamborghini Unveils the Perfect Spy Hunter Vehicle

Now this is the car they should use in that new Spy Hunter movie! (For the uninitiated, Spy Hunter is a videogame that centers much more on a gadget-filled supercar than Angleton-style mole hunts. Ruben Fleischer is directing a movie adaptation for WB.) At the Geneva Motor Show this week, Lamborghini unvelied the new space-age Veneno... and tell me that's not the pixelated G-6155 Interceptor come to life? I've previously pitched the Jaguar C-X75 and the new Lotus Esprit for this crucial role, but now my heart is set on this wicked looking Lambo.

Of course, the top and rear views are the most important in determining a good Spy Hunter vehicle... and this crazy vehicle doesn't disappoint from those angles. Just think of the weaponry and gadgetry you could load onto this thing! It looks like a submarine already, without even undergoing a Lotus-like transformation. Or a jet.

Bond on the Big Screen in Los Angeles

Angelenos have been blessed with an abundance of opportunities to see James Bond movies on the big screen in the past year. (Personally, I couldn't be happier!) Their next opportunity comes next month in Glendale. All throughout April, the Alex Theater will screen a different Bond film every Tuesday night with an array of exciting guests lined up. The series kicks off on April 2 with Licence to Kill accompanied by a Q&A with David Hedison. Octopussy follows on April 9 with Bond Girls Maud Adams and Kristina Wayborn in attendance. On Her Majesty's Secret Service screens April 16 followed by a George Lazenby Q&A. (If you've never had the distincnt pleasure of hearing the remarkably candid Lazenby speak, by all means make this a priority!) Films proceed in order from there. April 23 is Diamonds Are Forever, with Lana Wood and Trina Parks, and Live and Let Die closes out the month on April 30 with an encore appearance by Hedison (the screen's only two-time Felix Leiter before Jeffrey Wright), this time joined by Gloria Hendry. All showings begin at 7:30. That's a great line-up of movies and stars, and a real treat for SoCal Bond fans! Series subscriptions can be purchased at a discount online here. Individual tickets can be purchased here for $10 per film.
Thanks to Neil for the heads-up on this!

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: The Great Spy Chase

Today sees the release, from Olive Films, of the 1964 Eurospy classic The Great Spy Chase (aka Les Barbouzes - French slang for "secret agents" as Frederick Forsyth readers are no doubt aware) on DVD and Blu-ray. Les Barbouzes, directed by George Lautner, is one of the all-time great Eurospy movies. And I don't mean that in an insular way, like it's one of those low-budget slices of cheese that we fans of the genre enjoy so much, but which your average modern movie viewer might scoff at. No, Les Barbouzes is the rare Eurospy film that you can show to your film snob friends and impress them with, too. It's a genuinely great satirical comedy, irrespective of its genre. It's also, unlike a lot of terrific Eurospy movies, not a James Bond imitator. If anything, Les Barbouzes plays more like a parody of the Dr. Mabuse movies, or of the espionage genre as a whole. Full disclosure here: it is a black and white, French language film that takes place mostly in one big house. (Well, a chateau.) While those elements might not sound like the ingredients for a top-shelf Sixties spy spoof, let me assure you that they all gel perfectly. (And just because it's set mainly in one location doesn't mean there isn't any gadgetry or kung-fu fighting!) The premise finds spies of all nations descending (under preposterous covers) on the home of a recent widow who inherited the patent to a new, top secret weapon when her scientist husband died suddenly. Each secret agent wants to secure the weapon for his own nation, and all are pretty much aware of who their competitors really are. Soon people in the house are dying at an alarming rate, frequently in rather hilarious ways. It's a great send-up not only of the spy genre, but also of Cold War politics at large—and America's role in a rapidly changing Europe. Lino Ventura leads the cast as the French agent vying for the widow's affections. Olive's DVD and Blu-ray present the film in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, in French with English subtitles. It's truly amazing that we're getting a Region 1 release of this overlooked gem, so buy it; support Olive, and maybe they'll put out more Eurospy treasures! Retail is $24.95 for the DVD and $29.95 for the Blu-ray. Both are available from Amazon for slightly less and other online vendors for even less than that.

Olive is also releasing an earlier Lautner/Ventura collaboration on DVD and Blu-ray today. Monsieur Gangster (aka Les Tontons Flingueurs) spoofs the gangster genre and apparently laid the groundwork for Les Barbouzes. I haven't seen it, but it's well regarded.

Neo-Eurospy Trailer: Erased

Wow! In the new Aaorn Eckhart neo-Eurospy movie Erased, Eckhart reenacts not one but two recent Liam Neeson entries in that genre: Taken (review here) and Unknown (review here). Regular readers will no doubt register no surprise when I share that not only am I okay with that... I'm excited for it! The Eurospy genre at large, after all, is built around the basic tenet that imitation is the sincerest form of... well, commerce, I guess. While that title may sound unfamiliar, this is actually a film we've been tracking for a long time... quite a long time, as a matter of fact. Eckhart's involvement was first announced in 2010 when the movie was called The Expatriate, and in late 2011 we learned that Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko (herself no stranger to the neo-Eurospy movement) would co-star. Oh yes: did I fail to mention that? Yet another reason to be excited for this movie! Olga Kurylenko, car chases, European streets, and heaping dollops of Taken and Unknown. Does all that equal a winning formula? Check out the trailer and judge for yourself. Erased opens in theaters on May 10 after premiering on demand a whole month earlier, on April 5. I'll be seeing it in a theater.

Judi Dench's M's Name Revealed

This is interesting! When the Bond movies introduced a new female M in 1995's GoldenEye, played by Judi Dench, the literary 007 rights holders (then Glidrose Productions) decided that it was time for a female M in the books as well. Author Raymond Benson named this character Barbara Mawdsley, but the books have always held a separate life than the movies. (None of the continuation novels to date has been turned into a film.) The female M of the films was never named. Even when Pierce Brosnan left the role, Dench remained as M in the franchise reboot Casino Royale (2006), opposite Daniel Craig. There's one scene in that film where Bond almost speaks her name (hinting that it begins with an M), but she cuts him off snapping, "Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed." Even in Skyfall (2012), which focuses more on Dench's M than any other movie, her name is never spoken aloud. But, apparently, it is revealed... if you have sharp little eyes. ComingSoon (via CommanderBond) recently had the opportunity to examine up close some props from that film, and discovered that one prop displayed prominently on screen lists M's real name. MAJOR SKYFALL SPOILERS FOLLOW: The inscription on the box containing the porcelain bulldog bequeathed by M to 007 (itself a sly nod to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) reads, "Olivia Mansfield bequeaths James Bond." So that answers that, then! Fascinating.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Where the Spies Are?

Warner Archive recently started Beta testing an online streaming service and Roku channel called Warner Archive Instant. The Beta version doesn't have nearly all the titles that have been made available on MOD discs from the Warner Archive Collection over the years, but, interestingly, it does contain a few that haven't.  One of those is the 1965 David Niven Eurospy movie Where the Spies Are. Presumably, its inclusion here is indicative of a forthcoming disc release through WAC's standard MOD program. Directed by Val Guest (Assignment K, Casino Royale), Where the Spies Are stars Niven as Dr. Jason Love, hero of ten books by James Leasor. The supporting cast will also be familiar to spy fans. It includes Francoise Dorleac (Billion Dollar Brain), John Le Mesurier (Hot Enough For June), Noel Harrison (The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.) and Eric Pohlmann (the original voice of Blofeld). Personally, I've found that the film streams fine online, but won't play on my Roku. I'll chalk that up to the glitches of Beta testing, and hold out for the eventual DVD.

Tradecraft: Ken Jeong Cast as The Examiner in Spy Remake

Deadline reports that Ken Jeong (The Hangover) has been cast as the mercurial spy boss known only as "The Examiner" in ABC's remake of the British sitcom Spy. Jeong is currently in the cast of Community on NBC, so should that be renewed for another season, he won't be able to take the Spy role. But with Community having hit a series low in ratings this week, I don't think many people expect that to happen. I think Jeong's a pretty great choice for the unpredictable and mischievous Examiner, a role originated by Robert Lindsay on the UK show. I can definitely picture him in the part. As previously announced, Rob Corddry plays the lead, well-meaning single dad-turned-secret agent Tim, and the brilliant Paget Brewster (Andy Richter Controls the Universe) was also recently cast as the hapless hero's ex-wife. Mason Cook (last seen as Eddie Munster on Mockingbird Lane) plays Tim's precocious and condescending son. UK series creator Simeon Goulden penned the U.S. pilot, which remains (unsurprisingly, I suppose) quite close to its British counterpart.

Tradecraft: Universal Chairman on the Future of Bourne

Universal Pictures chairman Adam Fogelson gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter (via Dark Horizons) in which the trade asked him about the future of the Bourne franchise. After three successful movies starring Matt Damon as Robert Ludlum's amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne, the series went a different direction in its third entry last summer, The Bourne Legacy (review here). Jeremy Renner took over as the star, but not in the same role. Instead he played Aaron Cross, another graduate of the secretive Treadstone program (more or less, anyway), which created Bourne. The result was, in my opinion, unsatisfying, and also less successful at the box office than Damon's last entry, the superb Bourne Ultimatum (review here). But Damon and his Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass have been reluctant to return, though neither rules it out. So where does that leave the franchise at the studio? Here's the question and Fogelson's answer.

THR: Last summer's Bourne Legacy grossed $276.1 million worldwide without Matt Damon -- good, not great. What's your plan for the Bourne property?

Fogelson: The point of the last movie was to create a universe, a world and characters that give us a lot of freedom and flexibility in how we go forward. Yeah, the movie didn't perform the way the last one did. It also didn't cost what the last one did. It performed more along the lines of how the first one did. I absolutely see us doing more Bourne, 100 percent yes. Matt has talked about the possibility of coming back, and we totally respect that and are excited if and when he wants to have conversations. But I think the last movie gave us a big bunch of options to pursue a next chapter.

I've said before and I still maintain that the key to this franchise's future is going back to Ludlum's books. The Bourne Supremacy is an excellent novel (review here), and the filmmakers barely used any of its plot in their movie of that name. So look to Ludlum for a plot (it would have to be updated, but could still totally work), and give it a new title. Or go all the way back to the first book, The Bourne Identity (review here). The movie used its basic premise quite well, but left huge swathes of valuable, usable plot untouched.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week

I never expected to see Innocent Bystanders on DVD, let alone on Blu-ray. But today, thanks to Olive Films, the 1972 spy film starring Stanley Baker (The Man Who Finally Died), Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice), and Sue Lloyd (The Baron), is available on both DVD and Blu-ray! And that's just awesome. Innocent Bystanders was directed by The Italian Job's Peter Collinson and based on a novel by Callan creator James Mitchell. (Mitchell wrote several books about secret agent John Craig, played by Baker in the film.) Bond veterans Vladek Sheybal and Cec Linder also appear. This violent tale of betrayal and espionage has long been one of the most sought-after titles among spy fans of this era, who can now finally add it to their collections. Both formats are presented in 1.77:1 widescreen. Now if only someone would give us a Region 1 release of the Callan movie!

Ben Affleck's Oscar-nominated historical spy film Argo is out this week from Warner Bros. (just in time for the Academy Awards) on Blu-ray/DVD Combo and DVD. Argo is a terrific period spy movie that plays out like a real-life episode of Mission: Impossible--right down to the awful late Seventies haircuts. (Read my review of the movie here.) The Blu-ray/DVD combo edition includes an audio commentary with director/star Affleck and writer Chris Terrio, a feature-length picture-in-picture commentary track called "Eyewitness Account" including testimonies with everyone involved in the real-life events who's still around, and the featurettes "Absolute Authenticity" and "The CIA & Hollywood Connection." Finally, there's also a 47-minute TV documentary from 2005 called "Escape From Iran: The Hollywood Option." The DVD apparently includes a different featurette called "Escape From Tehran: We Were There." I would imagine that might be edited out of the picture-in-picture feature, but I'm not sure. There's also an exclusive version of the combo pack available at Target stores with the additional half-hour featurette "From the Argo Files," so that's the one completists will want.

Finally, there's a notable non-spy title out from Olive this week as well. Diana Rigg fans keen on tracking down all of her rare (and surprisingly few) appearances from the era of The Avengers and On Her Majesty's Secret Service will no doubt be interested in the 1970 version of Julius Caesar out today on DVD and Blu-ray, in which Rigg plays Portia. Jason Robards and Charlton Heston star, while a host of spy stars round out the cast including Christopher Lee (The Man With the Golden Gun), Richard Johnson (Deadlier Than the Male), Robert Vaughn (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and Richard Chamberlain (The Bourne Identity).

Tradecraft: Spy Hunter Moves Forward at Warner Bros.

After a decade of fits and starts, this latest incarnation of the forever-in-development videogame adaptation Spy Hunter seems to be moving healthily forward with director Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad), who was first attached to the project last October, still involved. Deadline reports that Carter Blanchard (Good vs. Evil) has been hired to pen the new script to Fleischer's specifications. Comingsoon has a very enlightening quote from Fleischer on his approach:

If I can make any movie, it would be a James Bond movie. I've always loved the genre but I don't think they'll hire an American to direct a James Bond movie, I've been told, so for me, Spy Hunter is an opportunity to create a new spy franchise. It sounds silly but that was my favorite video game when I was a kid and it had a great title and a great theme song, but there's no real other associations that people have with it other than a cool car, so I feel like there's a lot of room for us to invent a new character and a new series. I think just the Spy Hunter that is the most bad-ass spy who hunts down rogue spies is a really cool launch pad for an idea and I hope that we can bring it to life.

Sounds like the right direction to me! Any Eurospy fan knows that many highly entertaining movies have come from emulating James Bond.

Look At... The Berlin Wall

Network recently relaunched their website as Networkonair, and one of the primary features of the new site is their streaming "On Demand" section. I really enjoyed the episode of Scotland Yard they posted there (now gone), but  it's another video I'm directing you to today. Anyone who reads as many books as I do about divided, Cold War-era Berlin should definitely check out the 10-minute episode of  the 1960s theatrical documentary short subject series Look At Life entitled "The Wall." It contains lots and lots of contemporary glimpses of the Berlin Wall, in color no less. It makes a great supplement to famous Berlin-set spy novels like Funeral in Berlin, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Quiller Memorandum. I don't know how long it will be available for, though; these free streaming episodes don't remain for too long on the site. This segment comes from the forthcoming Region 2 PAL DVD set Look At Life Volume 6: World Affairs, which also includes a short entitled "James Bond's Island" examining Early Sixties Jamaica. I'd sure like to see that one! As a matter of fact, I'd like to see all of these.

Numbers Station Trailer

We first heard about Numbers Station way back in 2010 when it was set to star Ethan Hawke and Malin Akerman, and based on its logline sounded a lot like Safe House. Now, three years later, it clearly exists... because it's got a trailer! It doesn't star Ethan Hawke anymore, though; a year after the project was first announced, he was replaced by John Cusack. Akerman is still in it though; see for yourself below:


The R-rated Numbers Station opens April 18, but it's coming from Image Entertainment, so that probably means just a few theaters for a few weeks on its way to DVD, like The Double.

New Spy DVDs Out Today: James Bond and Beyond!

Today is a huge day for spy DVD and Blu-ray releases! The celestial body around which all of these releases are orbiting is, of course, Skyfall (review here). The 23rd official James Bond movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray from MGM and Fox. Special features include two audio commentaries (perhaps to make up for none on Quantum of Solace?), one featuring director Sam Mendes, the other with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and Production Designer Dennis Gassner, an hour-long making-of documentary called "Shooting Bond," a featurette on the premiere, a 1-minute spot advertising the soundtrack, and the film's theatrical trailer. The film is presented in a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio, which is somewhat controversial because it could be seen in two different aspect ratios theatrically. Personally, I preferred the taller 1.9:1 presentation seen in IMAX theaters. Mendes and cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins shot with both formats in mind, but claimed not to have framed specifically for one or the other. The 1.9:1 version cut off some information on the sides of the frame, but the 2.40:1 version cut off some information at the top and bottom. To my eye, the IMAX image looked more natural. But the difference is really negligible enough that it's not worth dwelling on this much; I just wanted to let people know which one is on the disc. Had they provided both options, I might well end up so paralyzed with Hamlet-like indecision every time I put the movie on that I would never end up actually watching it, and that would be a tragedy! Skyfall is a wonderful Bond movie, and it really goes without saying that it belongs in every Bond fan's library. Retail is listed as $39.99 for the Blu-ray and $29.98 for the DVD, though both are already significantly discounted this week on Amazon and at other retailers. Amazon also has the Bond 50 Blu-ray collection on sale this week for just $129.99, and that's even got an empty slot reserved for Skyfall. So if you held off buying it last year, pick it up now and you'll have all 23 official 007 movies to date in one convenient, attractive package!

Also out today (though pre-orders have been shipping early), and making its high-def debut, is Twilight Time's Blu-ray of In Like Flint. Last month the specialty label released its predecessor, Our Man Flint on Blu-ray, and the sequel comes just as loaded with special features as that one was! And like on the first release, I'm on some of them (under my actual name, Matthew Bradford, and billed as a "Spy Film Historian," which is certainly accurate), discussing the impact of the Flint movies and their star, James Coburn. I'm in these ones a lot more, in fact, than I was on Our Man, so if you're among the millions and millions of fans buying these for me rather than Coburn, you're in luck! Bonus material on In Like Flint includes an audio track featuring Jerry Goldsmith's complete isolated score, an audio commentary with Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and film historian Eddy Friedfeld, trailers, a rare screen test, and the featurettes "Derek Flint: The Secret Files," "James Coburn: The Man Beyond the Spy," "Designing Flint," "Flint vs Zanuck: The Missing 3 Minutes," "Puerto Rico Premiere," "Future Perfect," "Feminine Wiles," "Spy School," "Musician's Magician," "Spy Vogue," and "Take It Off." That last one is a vintage featurette that seems to be promoting the movie to women(?) while at the same time insulting them (?), and doing it via a weight-loss advertisement. If you manage to make it all the way through its interminable running time, I sincerely doubt you'll ever revisit that one, but it's still nice to have, of course, as a weird, unwatchable time capsule. Fortunately, the rest are all fascinating! Some of these are retained from the previous DVD edition, but some are brand-new documentaries created exclusively for the Blu-ray release by John Cork, co-producer of those wonderful documentaries on the James Bond Special Editions. Sadly what's missing from this release that was on the DVD edition is the attempted Seventies TV revival of the character, Our Man Flint: Dead On Target, starring Eurospy leading man Ray Danton as the irrepressible Derek Flint. It's true that the TV movie is far from essential (in fact it bears little resemblance to the Sixties films, and Flint himself is a mere private eye, not an international playboy superspy) and that poor Danton (who was excellent in some of his Eurospy work) struggles to fill Coburn's large shoes... but as a spy completist I still want to own it. That means I'll have to hang onto my DVD set despite buying these new Blu-rays. Oh well. The new special features on Twilight Time's edition certainly make this Blu-ray a must-buy for Sixties spy fans even without the TV movie! Seriously, this is sure to be one of the major spy releases of the year. The region-free Blu-ray is a limited edition of just 3,000 units, and retails for $29.95 exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment. These limited editions do sell out, so be sure to order soon!

Also timed to piggyback on Skyfall's release is BBC's DVD of the Top Gear special 50 Years of Bond Cars. The special, presented by Richard Hammond last fall to tie in with the theatrical release of Skyfall, is one of the best James Bond TV specials I've ever seen. It's a must-see for fans of Bond cars especially, and I'm so glad that it's getting a DVD release because it's one I definitely want to own for posterity. Not only does Hammond interview a number of 007 production personnel (including Guy Hamilton, Roger Moore and Daniel Craig) and test drive some original Bondmobiles, but he also pilots an actual working Lotus submarine car! Top Gear's version is based on an Excel rather than an Esprit, but unlike the production version(s) used in The Spy Who Loved Me, this one actually functions as both a street car and a submarine! Seriously, this is one you want in your Bond collection. Best of all, it's a real steal with a bargain SRP of just $9.95... and it's even less than that on Amazon.

What's this doing on here? Avengers fans, take note! Six years after the first two seasons of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries came out from Universal, Shout! Factory is releasing the third Hardy Boys season, sans Nancy this time, on DVD today. Why is this of particular interest to spy fans? Well, the show does sometimes deal in espionage, and in this season the Hardy men have graduated college and are official government agents themselves. In one two-parter, they even help a Soviet defector wishing to relocate to Hawaii... but that's not why I'm mentioning it. Not specifically, anyway. No, I'm mentioning it because Patrick Macnee (who celebrated his 91st birthday last week) turns up as a guest star in the episode "Assault on the Tower" playing a debonair, bowler hat-wearing British agent identified only as S. This was just a year after The New Avengers went off the air, so fans of John Steed will probably want to add the DVD to their library. (Well, completists, anyway, like myself.) The 3-disc set retails for $24.97, though it can be ordered through Amazon for significantly less.

I know I've been remiss on my weekly spy DVD alerts lately. So later this week I'll do a post rounding up all the spy releases so far this year. Stay tuned!

First Look at Philip Seymour Hoffman in le Carre's A Most Wanted Man

The Hollywood Reporter (via Dark Horizons) provides our first glimpse of Philip Seymour Hoffman as German BND spymaster Günther Bachmann in Anton Corbijn's John le Carré adaptation A Most Wanted Man. And that's Rachel McAdams in the foreground, as human rights lawyer Annabel Richter. The trade would seem to confirm that Willem Dafoe will be doing an accent, as it describes his character, Tommy Brue, as "a conflicted British private banker." When Dafoe was cast, I wondered if that meant the character, who was Scottish in the book, was being turned into an American. Filming has wrapped and Corbijn (The American) is currently in post-production on the Hamburg-set thriller. The cast also includes Robin Wright as the bullying CIA honcho Martha Sullivan and Nina Hoss (who was absolutely fantastic in the title role in last year's German spy movie Barbara) as Bachmann's right-hand woman, Erna Frey. This is definitely one of the movies I'm most looking forward to this year. And after that, we've still got at least two more le Carré films on the horizon!