Full-Length Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer!

At their upfront presentation today, ABC unvelied a new three-minute trailer for their Joss Whedon-produced fall TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel spy comic. And it looks way better than this weekend's brief teaser! In fact, it looks pretty incredible. (I love the typically Whedon-ish bit calling out the preposterous acronym.) Check it out!

And for a full introduction to S.H.I.E.L.D. and its history, read my "S.H.I.E.L.D. primer" here.



Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air Tuesdays at 8 on ABC, starting this fall.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Show Officially Picked Up by ABC

Who would have thought when the David Hasselhoff TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired that fifteen years later we'd actually see an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show on a major network? But it's true! ABC has officially greenlit the Joss Whedon-produced series spun out of the world of Marvel's big screen movies. This teaser doesn't really reveal too much, and sadly it isn't particularly impressive. And I'm a little concerned by Agent Coulson's declaration that "it's not just spy versus spy anymore." (There better be some aspect of spy versus spy!) But I'll wait until the fall to pass any judgment. Right now, I'm just super excited that there will really be an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show!!! And I'm really hoping that Agent Coulson's Corvette can fly. At least I hope there's some little nod to the classic S.H.I.E.L.D. comics of Jim Steranko. I'd love to see this show play like MI-5 with super-science. We shall see this fall! If all this is Greek to you, or if you just need a refresher on Marvel's answer to U.N.C.L.E., read my complete S.H.I.E.L.D. primer here.

CONTEST: Win The Adventures of SuperSeven on DVD

Yesterday I urged readers to support the terrific web series The Adventures of SuperSeven on Kickstarter. I still urge that. (There's now a day and a half left in their campaign.) And if you haven't yet checked out this action-packed Sixties spy parody on YouTube, and you prefer watching things on your big TV, then here's your chance. I have three DVD sets to give away of The Adventures of SuperSeven 5-disc set, containing the series' first 28 episodes along with with bonus material including blooper reels, interviews, photos galleries and music videos. (If you don't win, you can order the DVD set here. It's a bargain at $19.95!)
To enter to win this DVD set, all you need to do is send me an email with the subject heading "SUPERSEVEN CONTEST" including your name and mailing address by 11:59 PM, Pacific Time on Thursday, May 16, 2013.* The winner will be announced next Friday, May 17. And remember to support SuperSeven on Kickstarter!

*The Fine Print: One entry per person, please. Double entries will be disqualified. One prize-winner will be drawn at random and announced on Friday, May 17, 2013. The winner's first name will be posted here and he or she will be notified via email. All entries will be deleted immediately after the contest’s close, and no personal information will be retained or transmitted to any third parties. This contest is open to anyone, in any country, but foreign readers should note that these are Region 1 NTSC DVDs and be sure they have the proper equipment for playback. Unfortunately, the Double O Section cannot assume responsibility for items lost or damaged in transit.

Trailer for The East

There's a new espionage thriller coming out in a few weeks from Fox that's managed to fly under my radar for a while. In The East, Brit Marling stars as an operative for a private intelligence firm who goes undercover with an eco-terrorist group and finds her loyalties torn. Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Julia Ormond and Patricia Clarkson co-star. The East opens on May 31. Check out the trailer:

Tradecraft: 24 to Return to TV?

Ever since 24 went off the air in 2010 (was it really that long ago???), Kiefer Sutherland & Co. have been trying to revisit his iconic character, CTU agent Jack Bauer, in a feature film. I was really looking forward to seeing that. I felt that the real-time format of the TV show had grown tired (though it really bounced back in its final season), but the character was way too good to let go. Therefore, spinning him off into a film series seemed ideal. Well, that never happened, sadly. But there's good news for Bauer boosters yet! In a surprising move, Deadline reports that 24 may see new life on television... as a miniseries! (Or, as they call them today, as a "limited series event.") The trade blog reports that Fox, having cancelled Sutherland's most recent series, Touch, is keen on reviving 24 as a limited series. I like that plan, too. Jack Bauer's adventures don't have to take a whole day to conclude. Surely some terrorist threats are solvable in 6 or 8 hours? But if it's only 8 episodes, will the title have to change? (Unlikely.) Granted, there's no word yet on whether or not the new version would even retain the original show's real-time gimmick at all. I'd be totally cool with seeing Bauer taking on terrorists in a more traditional format. Like I say, it's the character that appeals to me, not necessarily the gimmick. Longtime 24 showrunner Howard Gordon has gone on to have all sorts of TV success since the show ended, including producing the amazing, amazing spy drama Homeland and executive producing the upcoming TNT spy series Legends. According to Deadline, it was Gordon who hatched the latest comeback plan and pitched it to Fox. All of this is not only surprising, but pretty darn awesome. I love that the TV model has changed so much that an American series can return a few years after it goes off the air in a slightly different format. I'd love to see 24 miniseries of varying lengths come on every couple of years. They really would be events, like the network wants, and we wouldn't get burnt out on them. (I got burnt out on the regular-length seasons around 4 or 5, and found that there were often only 12 good hours in a Bauer day anyway.) And who knows? Maybe the renewed exposure will put the film version back on track, too. But Jack Bauer is too great a character to fade away.

Support the SuperSeven Kickstarter in Its Final Week!

Do you watch the fantastic web series The Adventures of SuperSeven? If not, you really should! It's likely to appeal to just about anyone reading this blog. SuperSeven is a parody of and homage to not only Sixties Eurospy movies, but also that very specific subgenre of them that I identify as "costumed adventurer" movies (better known in some circles as fumettis), those movies where the Eurospy heroes wear masks. And skin-tight costumes. Movies like Fantastic Argoman and Flashman, to name two of the most must-see examples. But The Adventures of SuperSeven certainly isn't limited to those flicks! In any given week, you might catch multiple nods to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. or The Prisoner (really, Prisoner fans, be sure you check out the wonderfully bizarre SuperSeven homage "The Captive!") or any number of other examples of Sixties pop culture at its poppiest or most obscure. SuperSeven makes the most of its shoestring budget, boasting shockingly high production values in the form of nifty spy props and gadgets, hilarious performances that perfectly capture the essence of the era, bevies of beautiful women, and, perhaps best of all, tremendous fights and stunts performed and coordinated by some of the best stuntmen and stuntwomen in the business. (Yes, most of the cast as well as creator Scott Rhodes are professionals, and it definitely shows!)

But a shoestring can only go so far, and now Rhodes and his team are seeking an extremely modest goal to help fund the next season of Sixties spyjinx and shenanigans. That's where you come in. I've never shilled for a Kickstarter before, but I firmly believe that this one is a very worthy project to contribute to. Check out some of the episodes if you haven't seen them already, and if you're a Eurospy fan, I think you'll probably agree. (I happen to know for a fact that SuperSeven is a favorite among actual-factual, real-life spies in at least one branch of the Intelligence Community, which is pretty high praise... and shows that spooks do have a sense of humor.) But do it soon! There are only three days left in this campaign. Please visit Kickstarter and support this fantastic web series!

Support The Adventures of SuperSeven here!

And if you need further encouragement, check back tomorrow for a terrific SuperSeven contest!

Tradecraft: More U.N.C.L.E. Casting

So is this Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie finally really happening? It kind of looks that way! Despite a lack of any official announcement from rumored star Tom Cruise or studio Warner Bros., the trades continue to report on potential casting for Guy Ritchie's film version of the classic 1960s spy show. The Hollywood Reporter reports that A Royal Affair star Alicia Vikander is "in negotiations" for the female lead in the film. At 25, she seems too young to be a romantic interest for 50-year-old Cruise, so maybe she'll be flirting with Illya Kurakin (Armie Hammer) instead of Napoleon Solo? The trade reports that the actress will be playing an original character, and not one from the series or its spinoff, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. According to THR, "Vikander will play a British agent who has a thing for cars." That's all we know. What I want to know most about this production are 1.) who is writing it? Are they using the Scott Z. Burns draft that Steven Soderbergh was working from when he was attached to direct, or is there a new script? And 2.) is it still set in the Sixties, like the Soderbergh/Burns version? I sure hope so!

Tradecraft: Cruise Officially Accepts Another Mission; McQuarrie Boards Ice Station Zebra Remake

Deadline reports that Tom Cruise has officially signed on for Mission: Impossible 5—or whatever they end up calling it. That's certainly not a surprising development (especially considering that the last entry, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, set franchise records by grossing almost $700 million worldwide, and garnered some of the series' best reviews), but it does make things official. We already knew that Paramount was keen to do another one, and last we heard frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (who wrote and directed the Cruise vehicle Jack Reacher) was the top choice to direct. But there's been no official announcement confirming McQuarrie's involvement, and indeed another story in today's trades calls it into question. According to The Hollywood Reporter, McQuarrie has just signed on to take on another iconic Sixties spy title—Warner Bros.' previously announced Ice Station Zebra remake. (The busy writer/director has also long been linked to a third spy project, Paramount's Tom Clancy reboot focusing on the black ops specialist John Clark.) Last we'd heard about that project (which was over a year ago), David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) was writing with an eye to direct, but things must have changed because the trade reports that McQuarrie will now handle both those duties. The original Ice Station Zebra, based on the Alistair MacLean novel, marked a rare starring role in a feature film of that era for consummate Sixties TV secret agent Patrick McGoohan (alongside Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine and Rock Hudson). Its plot was heavily steeped in the Cold War, and today's trade story makes no mention of whether this new version will retain the period setting or update it, but I would guess the latter. The trade does speculate, however, that "the deal may impact the development of Paramount's Mission: Impossible 5, which McQuarrie is rumored to be the favorite to direct. Cruise is back to star in the action tentpole but there is no clear timetable for either movie project." Well, whoever ends up helming the next Mission: Impossible movie, my primary hope remains that he or she maintains the bright palette and clearly-filmed action sequences Brad Bird brought to the franchise in Ghost Protocol (far and away my favorite of the film series)... and most of all that they continue the closer connection to the TV show established in that installment! (Including the emphasis being on a team rather than an individual agent.) Today's story makes no mention of whether any of Cruise's Ghost Protocol costars were on board, but I really hope to see them all come back.

Meanwhile, as we heard last week, Cruise also remains attached to another movie based on a classic Sixties spy TV show, Warner Bros.' The Man From U.N.C.L.E. But there's still been no official announcement confirming his involvement in that one.

Tradecraft: Page Eight Becomes a Trilogy... With a Killer Cast

We knew that Bill Nighy was keen to do a sequel to David Hare's superior 2011 TV spy thriller Page Eight, but we've heard very little on that front for a while now. I was about to give up hope when today news came (from Deadline) that there would be not one, but two sequels to form "The Worricker Trilogy." Nighy and Hare are both returning, the former reprising his role as MI5 officer Johnny Worricker and the latter once again writing and directing. As with the first film, which co-starred Michael Gambon, Rachel Weiscz, Judy Davis and Ralph Fiennes, Hare has lined up stellar casts for his follow-ups. According to the trade blog, Skyfall's Fiennes and Strike Back's Ewan Bremner will reprise their Page Eight roles in the second movie, Turks & Caicos, joined by Christopher Walken (A View to a Kill), Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter (who has, amazingly, never made a spy movie before, I don't think), Dylan Baker (The Tailor of Panama), Zach Grenier (24) and James Naughton. Then Page Eight's Judy Davis, Kate Burdette and Saskia Reeves will return for the third film, Salting the Battlefield, as will Fiennes, Bremner and Bonham-Carter, joined by Casino Royale's Malcolm Sinclair.

Deadline also provides a few details on the plots of these sequels, but they contain mild spoilers for the first movie, so if you haven't seen Page Eight yet, go ahead and do so! If you have, then you'll remember that its conclusion found Worricker leaving both the service and the country, heading off to Turks & Caicos. But if he thinks he's out of the spy business, he's quickly proven wrong. In Turks & Caicos, he runs afoul of the CIA, who force him "to deal with a group of ambiguous Americans who are on the islands for a high-level conference." Meanwhile, "an old girlfriend is being asked to betray her boss in London in order to establish an illicit connection between the prime minister (Fiennes) and dark goings-on in the war on terror." The final entry, Salting The Battlefield, finds Worricker and that old girlfriend together on the run from MI5 "until Worricker returns home to confront the prime minister in a duel of wits." I'm so thrilled to learn we'll see more of Johnny Worricker! I love smart spy television of this nature, and the Brits do it better than anyone. I'm just a little disappointed that there's no mention of Rachel Weiscz reprising her role.

CIA Reviews of Spy Books and Movies

In a fascinating piece for The Telegraph, Dead Spy Running author Jon Stock reports on an internal CIA newsletter that publishes reviews by serving Agency officers of popular spy fiction, films and television. (Read an all-review issue from 2009 here.) I found it particularly fascinating to read a pseudonymous CIA psychologist's highly perceptive take on the neo-Eurospy flick Taken (excerpted below) in which she finds some surprisingly relatable content in a ridiculously heightened reality.

Although based on unrealistic operational and relationship scenarios (most of us are not granted the opportunity to fix our damaged family relationships by becoming a one-time hero), the movie touches upon the hidden and quite common fantasy that a person can remedy significant family upheavals resulting from challenging and time-consuming careers or other distractions by ironically employing unique work-related knowledge and skills to rescue the estranged loved ones. Furthermore, Hollywood’s propensity to glorify the world of espionage as dangerously sexy—but hidden from most people living mundane lives—appeals to our fantasies on another level. While at times the world of espionage is indeed both dangerous and exciting, our loved ones tend to find our opaque and mysterious work unpredictable and frustrating—even if in real life our work and the skills we employ are often not all that far removed from those employed by ordinary people in ordinary, fully transparent jobs. In this sense the price Neeson’s character pays in his personal life refers to very real dangers to relationships caused by a covert lifestyle, not to wildly overimagined operational dangers portrayed in the movie.

In the end, therefore, Taken indulges us with fantastic tradecraft, dangerous psychopathic villains, and epic operations and portrayals of awed and grateful family members that have very little connection to reality, yet are very fun to imagine.

The most interesting takeaway for me was how positive most of these reviews are. I would have expected people actually engaged in the business of intelligence to be dismissive and derisive of fantasies like The Bourne Identity, Burn Notice, or Anthony Horowitz's premiere Alex Rider novel, Stormbreaker. But the CIA reviewers enjoyed all of those. Less surprising are their takes on The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (read my own review here) and The Hunt For Red October. (There's also a humorous piece in which a number of recent trainees fresh off The Farm review The Recruit. They aren't all so positive.) Anyway, the journal offers a fascinating point of view on popular spy fiction, and is well worth checking out.

And speaking of contemporary spy authors writing about le Carré, you can also read Olen Steinhauer's review of A Delicate Truth at The New York Times.

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.