Tradecraft: Cold War Spy Thriller The Game Coming to BBC America

Americans, too, will get to see The Game, BBC One's previously announced Seventies-set spy series from Being Human creator Toby Whithouse (who also penned one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, "School Reunion")! Deadline reports that BBC America will air the six-episode Cold War series in the fall. (As far as I know BBC One has not yet announced a UK airdate.) The Game stars Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy, RED) as the Smiley-esque spymaster "Daddy," along with Tom Hughes (Page Eight), Paul Ritter (Quantum of Solace), Shaun Dooley (The Woman in Black), Chloe Pirrie (Black Mirror), Victoria Hamilton (What Remains), Jonathan Aris (James Bond videogames) and Judy Parfitt (The Avengers) as his team of MI5 spycatchers. In the Mission: Impossible tradition, each team member has a unique specialty. The Game will straddle the worlds of episodic and serial television by following an overall mission to expose the mysterious Soviet-backed "Operation Glass" being run against Britain, but focusing each week on taking down a single Russian operative playing a part in the larger operation. It sounds like a throwback in the vein of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or Mr. Palfrey of Westminster, and I can't wait to see it!

3 Days to Kill Poster and Photo

Kevin Costner hasn't spied since No Way Out way back in 1987 at the height of his career. But in the first two months of 2014 alone, he'll be seen in two new high-profile spy movies! First up, he mentors a young Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, out this month. (Costner himself was offered the Ryan role in The Hunt For Red October, but turned it down to make Dances With Wolves.) Then, next month, he toplines 3 Days to Kill, the latest neo-Eurospy offering from Luc Besson's EuropaCorp in a bid for the same sort of late career action revival that worked so well for Liam Neeson after the success of Taken, but eluded John Travolta following the disappointing U.S. box office of From Paris With Love (a movie I found quite entertaining). Will Costner's effort succeed? Personally, I'm rooting for him! I've always liked him, and I tend to love Besson's neo-Eurospy actioners. 3 Days to Kill is written by Besson and Adi Hasak, the same team behind From Paris With Love. McG (Charlie's Angels, This Means War) directs, and Amber Heard (Paranoia, Machete Kills), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Connie Nielson (Gladiator) co-star. Here's the official plot summary, and the first official photo:

In this heart pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy who is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he's previously kept at arm's length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission - even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world's most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.

3 Days to Kill opens February 21.

True Lies Anniversary Blu-ray On the Way

Even though James Cameron has made the two highest grossing movies of all time, both for Fox, the studio has shown very little love on home video for his 1994 spy movie True Lies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger with Jamie Lee Curtis, Tia Carrere, Eliza Dushku, Charlton Heston, Art Malick, Bill Paxton and Tom Arnold. It's never been on Blu-ray in the U.S., and the existing DVD is so bare-bones that it proudly boasts as it's sole "special" feature "Original Theatrical Trailer." But that's set to change in 2014 for the movie's 20th anniversary, when, according to The Digital Bits, the studio plans to release a special edition Blu-ray. Although we're still awaiting an official announcement from Fox, co-star Tom Arnold recently confirmed that he and the rest of the cast shot new interview material for the release. True Lies has never been among my favorite Bond rip-offs, but I admit I still look forward to watching that opening tango/snowmobile sequence—and watching Charlton Heston do a great Nick Fury impression—in high definition!

TV Review: Intelligence (2014)

CBS’s new spy series Intelligence stars Josh Holloway (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Lost) as a secret agent with a microchip in his brain that gives him special powers. (I’ll get into those in a minute.) The logline sounded like Chuck played straight (or a Six Million Dollar Man for the cyber era) when it was first reported, and that’s essentially what it is. Which, on its own, is neither a bad thing nor a good thing. The pilot is expectedly exposition-heavy, but when it comes down to it I suspect the success of this series will depend more on its stars than its not-entirely-fresh (and not entirely successful) premise. And, fortunately, Holloway seems born to play a cocky superspy! (As evidenced in his five minutes of screen time in Ghost Protocol.)

Holloway plays Gabriel Vaughn, a former special forces soldier who’s had a microchip implanted in his brain to… Well, for all the clunky exposition we’re treated to in the pilot (and that makes up about half the episode’s runtime), I have to confess I’m not entirely 100% sure exactly what it does. It kind of seems to have the amazing power to suit the writers’ specific needs at any given moment. But for starters, we meet Gabriel in the middle of the Himalayas at a remote military compound on the India/Pakistan border. By looking at a giant satellite dish, he’s able to “see” the SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) it’s recently transmitted. Not only that, but he’s able to pause the scene of a major terrorist attack that seems right out of Strike Back and then walk through it, observing every detail from every angle. And in those details he discovers that a CIA agent (who we later learn is his wife, who’s been in deep cover for two years!) apparently took part in the attack. Then some soldiers turn up and capture him, and he gets to do some cool old-school spy stuff that doesn’t depend on any chips… and then he somehow opens a door with his mind. Granted, it’s a door controlled by an electronic keypad, but still, he seems to open it with his mind. So that’s where we get the whole thing about his powers being at the whim of what the writer thinks would be cool in a given moment. And, personally, I’m not so into the superhero stuff. I prefer my TV spies to rely on their wits and their fists and a few believable gadgets, but not something that basically amounts to magic. And after this brief magic moment it’s mercifully back to regular spyjinks, and the cold open ends up competently marrying the pre-credits sequences from Tomorrow Never Dies (military compound in Pakistani mountains) and GoldenEye (jumping off of a giant, dam-like cliff).

Once we’ve seen Gabriel’s amazing powers in action, the pilot switches back to the States determined to fill us in on what exactly is going on. To do this, we’re introduced to audience surrogate Riley Neal (Meghan Ory of Once Upon a Time), a Secret Service agent summoned to a secret facility (the U.S. Cyber Command, which the show takes great pains in assuring us is not related to the CIA) where she’s offered a job she never applied for by an enigmatic spy boss named Lillian Strand (CSI’s Marg Helgenberger). That job is using her experience from the Presidential Protection detail (we learn that she wasn’t just a Secret Service agent; she was the best Secret Service agent!) to protect, as Lillian puts it, “the most valuable piece of technology this country’s ever created.” Or, as Gabriel puts it, “following around a charming devil with a microchip in his brain.” Gabriel doesn’t want a babysitter (“So that girl’s supposed to keep me in line, huh?”), and Riley doesn’t want the job (for no particularly compelling reason that I can tell other than checking the “refuse the call” box on the writer’s Hero’s Journey worksheet), but by the end of the episode they seem firmly paired.

Lillian and her team of scientists outline the Clockwork Project (as Gabriel and his enhancements are known) for Riley, explaining, “We connected a human being directly to the information grid. Internet, wifi, telephone, satellite…” (That single line would have sufficed for all the exposition in the episode. The more detail they try to go into, the less credible it all sounds.) So he’s basically a one-man NSA. Not great timing there, CBS, as the NSA isn’t exactly popular right now… but then again the faceless NSA doesn’t have Josh Holloway’s charming-devil eyes.

The actual plot of the week kicks in when the neuro-Geppetto scientist who ran the project (Gabriel’s cyber “father”) is kidnapped by the Chinese. You see, he also created another chip, and now the Chinese want him to implant that into one of their (female) agents, conveniently creating a beautiful femme fatale antagonist for Gabriel. (You can’t have The Six Million Dollar Man without the Bionic Woman, can you? Or Archer without Bionic Barry?) For a minute it looks like they’re actually playing U.S. vs. China spy games on Intelligence, of the sort that can’t be depicted in movies anymore because Hollywood is so desperate for those all-important Chinese dollars… but then it turns out that TV is after that market as well. This bad Chinese agent just happens to have been recently disavowed by his government (just like Wo Fat on the new Hawaii Five-0) and gone rogue, so his actions absolutely don’t reflect those of the benevolent Chinese government! (Absolutely, China, we promise!) At this point we also meet Gabriel’s requisite techie backups, including a fat, long-haired geek named Amos and a skinny, spectacled geek named Nelson. Unlike Chuck’s scene-stealing Nerd Herd, however, neither manages to break out of hackneyed stereotype territory in the pilot.

Gabriel spots a cyber-clue that takes him and Riley to Chinatown. In keeping with the post-Alias spy TV tradition (Undercovers, Exit Strategy, etc.), we’re alerted to foreign (or even just quasi-foreign) locales via localized hip-hop. Mandarin (possibly?) rap fills the speakers as our half-bionic duo takes on Chinese gangsters in an exciting gunfight and eventually an exciting hospital fight. Intelligence is at its best when engaging in traditional action-adventure stuff like this, and not trying desperately to explain its inexplicable high concept. Hopefully the pilot proves the only time they bother with attempts at exposition, and the Intelligence brain trust will just have fun with their silly premise from here on in! Because it is fun if you allow yourself to just go with it and take a ride with the appealing leads. Holloway perfected the charming devil act on Lost and puts it to good use here, and Ory (a brunette, in stark contrast to the recent tradition of pairing impossibly young blond female agents with irascible males on Fringe, Alcatraz, The Black List and more) sometimes channels a young Sandra Bullock. Their chemistry together is promising, and because his ongoing story arc involves a search for his missing wife (whom he refuses to believe has really turned traitor), any sexual tension should convincingly remain just that (in Avengers territory) and not jump the Moonlighting shark anytime soon.

Without being weighed down by nonsensical quasi-scientific exposition, Holloway and Ory should be able to keep Intelligence watchable and entertaining. The constant (and constantly deficient) exposition in the pilot put me off, but there’s an enjoyable spy series with compelling leads itching to come out, so I’ll be tuning in again next week in hopes that that happens.

International Trailer for Le Carre's Most Wanted Man

Dark Horizons has posted an international trailer for Anton Corbijn's eagerly anticipated John le Carré adaptation A Most Wanted Man. Unsurprisingly, it looks great! And while there are some obvious changes to certain characters' ages and nationalities, it still looks pretty faithful to the excellent source material. While it doesn't seem to divulge as much as the Cannes reel that leaked briefly online last summer, this trailer still seems to reveal a little too much... but luckily that will probably only be noticeable to readers of the novel. Lionsgate will release the contemporary Hamburg-set espionage thriller in America sometime this year, but we still don't know when. (It's set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival this month.) It's certainly among the 2014 releases I'm most looking forward to! Directed by Corbijn (The American), A Most Wanted Man stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Robin Wright and two of my favorite contemporary German actors, Nina Hoss (Barbara) and presumptive Oscar contender (for Rush) Daniel Brühl (The Fifth Estate).

NOTE: The original version I embedded was taken down, so here's a new one from Rope of Silicon, thanks to Bob's keen tradecraft!

Bethlehem Trailer

American distributor Adopt Films have released an English language trailer (via Deadline) for Bethlehem, a stunning le Carré-esque spy movie set against the present day Israeli-Palestinian conflict that examines the psychological toll of espionage on its practitioners. Bethlehem, which already bagged six Ophir Awards (the Istraeli Academy Awards), was Israel's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, but shockingly didn't make the final cut. Directed by first-time helmer Yuval Adler and co-written by the Israeli Adler and Palestinian journalist Ali Wakad, Bethlehem tells a very Cold War type of spy story set in the titular city, about an agent of Israel's Shin Bet and his Palestinian asset torn between two masters and two worlds, the teenage brother of a wanted terrorist with ties to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas. And it's a truly fantastic movie, one of the best serious spy films in years. I saw a festival screening earlier this year, and in a Q&A afterwards the director cited le Carré as an inspiration - and when I say the influence was obvious, regular readers will know that I mean that as high praise indeed! U.S. spy fans should definitely check this one out when it's released in limited markets on February 21, 2014.

Another Teaser For AMC's Turn

AMC has released the another teaser trailer for their Revolutionary War-era spy series Turn. This one reveals more of the show's espionage aspects. Turn is based on the book Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose. With a pilot directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Turn tells the story of The Culper Ring, America's first spy network. It stars Jamie Bell (Tintin), Kevin McNally (The Contract), Burn Gorman (Torchwood), Seth Numrich, Heather Lind, Meegan Warner, Angus MacFadyen, J.J. Field, and Samuel Roukin. It airs this Spring.

Archer Season 5 Poster, and Another Teaser

After a series of highly entertaining "ISIS training film" viral videos, FX has released a more substantial teaser for the upcoming fifth season of Archer. Instead of revealing a lot of new footage, however, it's mostly comprised of stuff we've already seen, but rehashed in a typically hilarious manner. The season poster, which has been online for a few weeks, takes its queue from Miami Vice this time around instead of James Bond or Burt Reynolds. Archer returns Monday, January 13.

Trailer For 3 Days to Kill

Here's the first trailer for 3 Days to Kill, Kevin Costner's bid for a Liam Neeson-like late career revival as an action hero in a Luc Besson-produced neo-Eurospy movie. This is another riff on Besson's successful Taken formula about an ex-CIA agent with a teenage daughter, but this time the agent (Costner) has been pulled back into his dirty business, and he's trying to keep it a secret from his daughter in order to foster a normal relationship with her. Adding another twist, the way the Agency lures him back in to kill for them again is by giving him an experimental drug that might cure his life-threatening condition - at the expense of hallucinogenic side effects. Besson co-wrote the script with his From Paris With Love collaborator Adi Hasak. Charlie's Angels director McG seems like the perfect orchestrator for Besson's brand of over-the-top spyjinks. I was let down by Besson's last effort, The Family, but I think this trailer looks very promising! And Costner looks a hell of a lot more invested in the role than Bruce Willis does nowadays in this sort of thing.

Two Teasers for the New Season of The Americans

Last year's best new spy drama, The Americans, doesn't return to FX until February, which still seems forever away! But the network has released two conceptual teaser spots (via Vulture) to whet our appetite. (Neither one seems to contain any actual footage from the upcoming second season.) Until February, though, we'll have to rely on ABC's Americans-inspired true story miniseries The Assets to slake our thirst for 1980s Cold War espionage and wigs.

Tradecraft: The Missionary Dead at HBO

This is some bad news. I was looking forward to the prospect of a Berlin-set Cold War spy series from (in part) Malcolm Gladwell, but apparently it's not to be. Deadline reports that the cable network has decided not to move forward with its pilot The Missionary, which has been in the works since 2010. C'est la vie. At least we've got a lot of other Cold War spy series on the way right now to keep us preoccupied, what with The Americans returning to FX, The Assets debuting on ABC, The Game on BBC One, Legacy on BBC Two (which has already aired in the UK as part of their fall Cold War season), and of course that epic 18-part adaptation of Len Deighton's Bernard Samson series that's in the works! (If that one happens, it will eclipse all others anyway...)

BBC Plots Cold War Spy Dramas Set in the Seventies

It's not just American television that's getting swept up in the Cold War these days. (See yesterday's news.) The success of FX's 1980s period spy drama The Americans on TV and Tomas Alfredson's 2011 feature version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in theaters have also spurred the BBC to revisit the era of its greatest ever spy series, the original miniseries version of Tinker, Tailor. Deadline first reported last July that BBC Two ordered a one-off spy drama entitled Legacy from the team behind the 2009 Nelson Mandela telefilm Endgame. Written by Paula Milne (who also scripted the upcoming Sean Penn neo-Eurospy contender The Gunman) and directed by Pete Travis, Legacy is based on a 2001 novel by Alan Judd. Charlie Cox (Stardust) stars as fledgling MI6 agent Charles Thoroughgood, who is ordered to reconnect with Viktor, a Russian diplomat he knew at university (played by Sherlock's Moriarty Andrew Scott) in order to turn him. Both the mission and Viktor prove to be more than they appear, and soon, according to the BBC Two blurb, Charles "is catapulted into a dangerous personal odyssey to uncover the truth but finds himself drawn into a lethal KGB plot to mount an attack within the UK." Meanwhile, he's conducting an affair with the wife of a fellow agent (The Hour's Romola Garai) as his own family history comes back to haunt him. Christian McKay (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Simon Russell Beale (BBC Radio's Smiley) co-star. Legacy aired in the UK last month as part of their Cold War season, and there is no news yet about a U.S. airdate. Endgame was broadcast stateside on PBS' Masterpiece, so I hope they run Legacy as well. Here's the trailer:



But that's not the only period spy drama cooking at the BBC. Late last year, BBC Cymru Wales announced The Game, a six episode Cold War spy drama from Being Human creator Toby Whithouse (who also penned one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who, "School Reunion"), and this summer casting was firmed up. Filming is underway and the series is scheduled to air in 2014 on BBC One. Tom Hughes (Page Eight), Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy, RED), Paul Ritter (Quantum of Solace), Shaun Dooley (The Woman in Black), Chloe Pirrie (Black Mirror), Victoria Hamilton (What Remains), Jonathan Aris (James Bond videogames) and Judy Parfitt (The Avengers) star. According to the BBC, "when a defecting KGB officer reveals the existence of a devastating Soviet plot, codenamed Operation Glass, the charismatic but paranoid head of MI5, known simply as Daddy (Cox), assembles a secret committee to investigate." In the tradition of such shows, each team member has a unique specialty. Every week the team uncovers a new traitor, another piece of the puzzle that is Operation Glass. I like it! More than just a period version of Spooks, it sounds like something in the vein of Mr. Palfrey of Westminster, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, or possibly even Mission: Impossible. Once again there's no information yet on a U.S. airdate, but I'd be surprised if BBC America doesn't pick this one up.

Trailer for ABC's Cold War Spy Miniseries The Assets

The Americans won't be the only 1980s Russian agents on the small screen this winter. The success of FX's incredible Reagan-era spy series (review here) has caused ripples on both sides of the Atlantic, resulting in new serious Cold War spy dramas in the works from ABC and the BBC. And more Cold War spy dramas is nothing but a good thing, no matter what the networks' motivations in buying them. In July Deadline reported that ABC greenlit The Assets, an 8-part miniseries (or "limited series" as they now call them) based on based on the book Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed by Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille, the CIA counter-intelligence officers who caught Ames. Aldrich Ames was one of America's most notorious and damaging traitors of all time, a Soviet mole who fed valuable intel to the KGB that led to the deaths of at least ten CIA assets. And like The Americans, The Assets also stars an Englishman named Rhys doing an American accent. Not Matthew Rhys, but Paul Rhys, who once played Simon Templar in a series of Nineties BBC radioplays and also guest-starred on Spooks (aka MI-5). Paul Rhys plays Ames, while Jodie Whittaker (who was truly excellent in BBC's Broadchurch earlier this year) plays Grimes and Harriet Walter (who also guest-starred on Spooks, and happens to be the niece of Bond villain Christopher Lee) plays Vertefeuille. Foyle's War's Julian Ovenden also stars. The Assets premieres Thursday, January 2 on ABC. Morgan Hertzan, Rudy Bednar and Andrew Chapman executive produce. Here's the trailer:



Interestingly, this isn't the only project in the works based on Circle of Treason. In October Deadline reported that the screen rights to the book (evidently separate from the television rights) had been acquired by Focus Features. While the trade blog (oddly) didn't mention The Assets in its story, it did offer a nice summary of the movie's approach to the story:

The movie is a dramatic thriller based on real events in the late 1980s and early ’90s in which sounds like Zero Dark Thirty-like dogged hunt for a CIA traitor. The authors methodically took down America’s most notorious traitor, and had to battle against the CIA’s institutional hierarchy and chauvinism to do it. Vertefeuille, who passed away, rose in the CIA from the position of typist to taking foreign postings in places like Ethiopia, Finland the The Hague before working in counterintelligence. That’s where she met Grimes.
After seeing how a coterie of agents and assets — some they knew personally — were assassinated or imprisoned in the Soviet Union, they became convinced there was a mole in their midst. The movie is the methodical hunt that brought down Ames, who received millions of dollars for  his treachery and nearly got out of the country before he was caught.

Barry Josephson is producing, Adam Schneider is co-producing, and Anne Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel are writing the script. Personally, I'm eager to see both versions of this deadly real-life mole hunt! If the film version is anywhere near as good as Billy Ray's Breach (which told the story Ames' equally damaging contemporary mole in the FBI, Robert Hanssen), then it will really be something to look forward to.

Tradecraft: A Most Wanted Man to Premiere at Sundance

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anton Corbijn's John le Carré adaptation A Most Wanted Man (a movie I've been eagerly anticipating and following for 2 1/2 years now) will debut at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January. As previously reported, Lionsgate will release the film in America. Here's the official capsule from the festival line-up:

A Most Wanted Man / Germany, U.S.A. (Director: Anton Corbijn, Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell) — Based on John le Carré's bestselling book, Anton Corbijn directs this modern-day thriller with Academy Award–winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, and two-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe headlining an ensemble cast. Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright.

Trailer For AMC's Revolutionary War Spy Series Turn

AMC has released the first trailer for their upcoming Revolutionary War-era spy series Turn, based on the book Washington’s Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose. Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Turn tells the story of The Culper Ring, America's first spy network. It stars Jamie Bell (Tintin), Kevin McNally (The Contract), Burn Gorman (Torchwood), Seth Numrich, Heather Lind, Meegan Warner, Angus MacFadyen, J.J. Field, and Samuel Roukin. It airs this Spring.

Tradecraft: Fast and Furious Director Justin Lin Takes On Bourne Legacy Sequel

Deadline reported last month that Justin Lin, the man who turned the lackluster and flailing The Fast and the Furious series into a stellar, unmissable international heist and car chase action franchise, is turning his attention to Jason Bourne. Er, sorry, to Aaron Cross, the Jeremy Renner character who inherited the Bourne mantle (but not name) in the disappointing 2012 spinoff The Bourne Legacy. After that one, the Bourne series could really use some of what Lin injected into the Fast and the Furious movies. He's probably also the most traditionally mainstream action guy (despite his indie roots with Better Luck Tomorrow) to land a Bourne gig to date. Will this mark some sort of weather change for the franchise? Personally I think the director of Fast Five (a way, way better action movie than it ever had any right to be) can probably craft a top-notch Bourne movie (or faux-Bourne movie anyway), but we'll have to wait until 2015 to see. A subsequent Deadline story added that the new film is slated to open on August 14, 2015, which means that in 2015 spy fans will be treated to new entries in the Bond, Bourne and Mission: Impossible franchises all in the same year! What a year that will be...

Trailer: The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box

No, it's sadly not a new feature version of the hilariously risible 1970s ITC series starring Gene Barry, but there is a new movie on the way called The Adventurer. The full title of this Adventurer is The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box. It seems to be a sort of Alex Rider-meets-Indiana Jones period teen fantasy spy movie, and it's got a surprisingly stellar cast for this sort of thing including Sam Neill, Michael Sheen, Keeley Hawes, Lena Headey and Ioan Gruffudd. The film opens in limited release January 10, when it will also become available on iTunes.

Great Deals On Spy TV

When Paramount first released The Wild Wild West: The Complete Series back in 2008, many fans were upset because it included the two reunion movies Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980). The problem was that neither of those had been included with any of the individual season releases, and the disc they were on was never released on its own, so their inclusion on the pricey complete series was seen as a slap in the face to fans who had diligently bought each season as it was released. But now as part of their Cyber Monday Deals Week (yes, they made up a day and then they made that made-up day a week), Amazon is offering the all-inclusive box set for a truly affordable price. What originally retailed for $100 is now just $29.99 for this week only! For that money, it's worth finally making the upgrade for fans who bought all the seasons but always wanted the reunion movies as well. I'm sure you can make back thirty bucks by selling off your single-season sets and break even. And if you never bought any of the individual sets, this bargain is a no-brainer. The Wild Wild West is one of the best spy series of the Sixties, and The Wild Wild West: The Complete Series is an essential part of any spy library.

Speaking of essential parts of spy libraries, there's another must-have complete series set on sale today (and this one is today only at this price): Foyle's War: The Home Front Files Sets. The Homefront Files collects seasons 1-6 (that's all but this year's post-war seventh series) of Anthony (Alex Rider) Horowitz's espionage-heavy and completely fantastic WWII mystery series starring Pierce Brosnan's Bill Tanner, Michael Kitchen, and today the set which regularly retails for $150 is just $39.99! Buy it for yourself or give someone an awesome Christmas gift... or send a strong hint to someone who's buying you a Christmas gift. Foyle's War is great stuff.

Tradecraft: Transporter Director Boards Sacha Baron Cohen Spy Spoof

Looks like Paramount is serious about that Sacha Baron Cohen spy spoof we first heard about in August. According to Variety, the project now has a title and a director. Louis Leterrier, who made his name directing the first and best of the neo-Eurospy wave with The Transporter (co-directed with Corey Yuen) and Transporter 2, will bring his action experience to the action-comedy Grimsby. Baron Cohen wrote the script with Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids), and the story follows a Bondian supserspy forced to go on the run with his long-lost brother, a moronic soccer hooligan. As far as I know Baron Cohen has not yet committed to star, but I think it's a safe assumption he means to play at least one of the two brothers if not both. Leterrier most recently directed Baron Cohen's wife, Isla Fisher, in Now You See Me. Apparently Baron Cohen was insistent on landing a director with serious action experience, which would seem to indicate that this action comedy will be heavy on the former, which should separate it from other spy spoofs like Johnny English or Austin Powers. I absolutely love Transporter 2, and I'm excited to see Louis Leterrier return to the action-comedy spy genre.

Another Archer Training Video: How Lana Deals With Ninjas

Here's another one of those great Dharma Iniative-style ISIS human resources training videos (this time courtesy of Vulture) promoting the upcoming fifth season of Archer on FX! Last time Sterling Archer taught us about gun safety; this time Lana shows the correct way to handle ninjas in the office:

Simon Pegg Returns for Another Mission

We have our second confirmed team member for Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible 5 (following last May's obvious announcement that Tom Cruise would once again star as Ethan Hunt). When asked by MTV (via Dark Horizons) if he'd be back for a third round as IMF agent Benji Dunn (Pegg debuted in the franchise's third installments), Pegg enthusiastically replied, "Yes, absolutely! I'm looking forward to that. I've already started eating one carrot a day in order to be in shape." Great! I really hope that McQuarrie brings back as many of the team members from Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol as possible. That was the first film in the theatrical franchise that actually did a decent job of capturing the team dynamic that made the TV show so great.

The Muppets Go Spying

The new Muppet movie, Muppets Most Wanted, has a distinctly spyish flavor. Not only does this UK trailer feature fake James Bond music, but Sam the Eagle plays a CIA agent! (Of course the film is also tipping its hat to the best Muppets movie ever, 1981's The Great Muppet Caper, which featured Diana Rigg.) While we're on the subject of Muppets and spies, it's worth remember than Roger Moore appeared on the original Muppet Show (which was, of course, an ITC series like The Saint and The Persuaders!) and Pierce Brosnan appeared on the Nineties revival Muppets Tonight. In 1999, Brosnan was even attached to a Muppet movie that sadly never came to be. Frequent Kevin Smith collaborator Brian Lynch sold a spec script to The Jim Henson Company which would have seen the Muppets lured to solo Hollywood careers. Gonzo was to replace Brosnan as James Bond, and Brosnan would have played himself. It's a pity that film didn't happen.

Tradecraft: Olympus Has Fallen Goes Spy for Sequel

Deadline reports that the first of this year's dueling Die Hard-in-the-White House movies, Olympus Has Fallen, will get a sequel. And unlike the first one, the sequel will be a spy movie. According to the trade, "this time around POTUS (Aaron Eckhart) and his trusted Secret Service bodyguard Mike Banning (Gerrard Butler) plus an English MI6 agent are the only ones who can stop a plot to take down London during the Prime Minister’s funeral." Since the threat is within England, I'm assuming they mean an MI5 agent, but then again I doubt accuracy is very high on the producers' list of priorities. "Angela Bassett and Radha Mitchell also reprise their roles in London Has Fallen as the director of the Secret Service and Mike’s wife, respectively, while [Morgan] Freeman is back as Senator Allan Trumbull." The first film's screenwriters, Katrin Benedikt and Creighton Rothenberger, are also penning the sequel, with filming expected to begin in May 2014. The project is currently out to directors, so hopefully that means that Antoine Fuqua (Shooter) will not be returning. (He's gone on to helm the feature film version of The Equalizer.)

Upcoming Spy CDs: OSS 117: Murder For Sale Soundtrack

While the first four movies in Andre Hunebelle's OSS 117 Eurospy series were scored by Michel Magne, the fifth film, whose many titles include OSS 117: Murder For Sale, OSS 117: Double Agent and No Roses for OSS 117, saw changes both in front of and behind the camera, including the composer. John Gavin (who later signed on as James Bond for Diamonds Are Forever before Sean Connery was lured back) stepped into the lead role, taking over from Frederick Stafford, and joined a dream-team spy ensemble that included Curd Jürgens, Luciana Paluzzi, Margaret Lee and Rosalba Neri. While Hunebelle still produced, Renzo Cerrato and Jean-Pierre Desagnat assisted with directing chores, and veteran Eurospy composer Piero Piccioni (The 10th Victim, Matchless, From the Orient With Fury) took over the scoring. This meant (obviously) that no music from this film was included on the excellent Michel Magne OSS 117 compilation CD from Universal. But this month, as first reported on the Spy Bob Royale website, Beat Records will release Piero Piccioni's complete score for this film as Niente Rose per OSS 117. It's available for pre-order from Amazon and, more reasonably, Screen Archives Entertainment. It will be great to have this elusive OSS 117 music at last! I hope Beat Records follows it up with further complete OSS 117 scores.

Read my review of Niente rose per OSS 117 here.
Read my overview of the OSS 117 Eurospy series here.

Tradecraft: Idris Elba Takes Lead in Bastille Day

We haven't heard about the neo-Eurospy movie Bastille Day in quite a while - in a year, actually. Last we heard, Taken and From Paris With Love director Pierre Morel was attached, but he's moved on to other stuff since then. (Namely, The Gunman, starring Sean Penn.) Now, however, Bastille Day seems to be moving forward once more, with a major star attached: the awesome Idris Elba (who also co-stars in The Gunman). Variety reports that Vendome Pictures and Anonymous Content will produce, and no director is currently attached. According to the trade, "the story revolves around a U.S. operative who is tasked with interrogating and eventually making a young American boy 'disappear' in order to avoid embarrassment to the U.S. government after the boy is linked as the prime suspect to an attack on the Paris metro. After several more attacks, the operative realizes the boy is innocent and may be the only link to the person actually orchestrating the attacks."

Tradecraft: Spooks Feature Film Cast Expands

Deadline reports that Kit Harington (Game Of Thrones) and Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty) have joined the previously announced Peter Firth in Spooks: The Greater Good, the feature film continuation of the popular and long-running UK spy series Spooks (known in the U.S. as MI-5. According to the trade, "Harington plays an ex-MI-5 operative brought back in by Ehle’s deputy chief to uncover how a terrorist escaped custody during a routine handover." The feature, directed by frequent series helmer Bharat Nalluri, is scheduled to shoot early next year. Further cast announcements are expected soon; it's still unknown if any other series cast members whose characters survived will be joining Firth. I have yet to see Game of Thrones (I know, I know...), but I saw Harington on a panel at Comic-Con and he exuded leading man charm. Ehle is always good (and especially in Zero Dark Thirty), so I have no doubt she'll make a good addition to the Spooks team too.

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 1

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 2

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 3

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 4
Read my review of MI-5: Volume 5

Spyship Finally Sails Onto DVD

Spyship, the critically revered 1983 BBC Cold War drama from (in part) Callan creator James Mitchell, is finally available on DVD for the first time next week in the UK courtesy of distributor Simply Media. I've never seen this series, but as a huge fan of Callan (and of 1980s UK spy dramas), I've long wanted to and happy that now I finally can. Here's how Simply Media describes the plot:

Enter a nightmarish world of political cover-ups of international consequence in the last decade of the Cold War in this six-part BBC drama. 
When an ordinary British fishing vessel and its 36-man crew mysteriously disappears off the coast of Norway, journalist Martin Taylor (Tom Wilkinson) is determined to find out why. His father was on board, and is now missing. 
His investigations soon lead him to run up against the twin barriers of Royal Navy stonewalling and an impenetrable Soviet Politburo.
The notorious finale shocked audiences when it was first aired in 1983. 
Spyship is based on the fictional novel by Brian Haynes and Tom Keene, former reporters who researched the real life sinking of the FV Gaul in 1974 which was shrouded in mystery.

The Region 2 PAL 2-disc set is available to pre-order from Amazon UK for £15.82; it comes out on November 18.

Steve Coogan Shows Off His Bond Impressions on The Jonathan Ross Show

In The Trip, we saw Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden attempt to outdo each other with their hilarious Michael Caine impressions, and we saw Coogan do a terrific Roger Moore. On The Jonathan Ross Show last week, the British actor/comedian showed off his impressive impressions of other Bond actors. Coogan's Dalton leaves a lot to be desired (and sadly he doesn't do a Lazenby even though he claims to have every Bond actor but Craig in his repertoire), but his Moore and Brosnan are particularly spot-on. Check it out:



Coogan can currently be seen starring opposite former M actress Judi Dench in the Oscar-touted dramady Philomena. At one time he was linked (along with Ben Stiller) to play the Roger Moore role in a feature film remake of The Persuaders!, but sadly that never came to be. Coogan's career is littered with Bond reverence and references. His signature character Alan Partridge is obsessed with Roger Moore, and it's a running joke on the premiere of Coogan's first Partridge-centric series Knowing Me, Knowing You, that Moore fails to show up for an interview on Alan's chat show. In one of the most memorable episodes of the subsequent series, I'm Alan Partridge, Alan hilariously re-enacts the entirety of The Spy Who Loved Me for his friends when the VCR breaks.

Sterling Archer Teaches Gun Safety

I love Archer's viral video campaign leading up to the January premiere of the fourth season of the hilariously irreverent animated spy spoof. We've already seen an Archer remake of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" music video (it makes sense if you've watched the series) and an HR film on conflict resolution featuring Pam Poovey and her puppet. The latest video promoting the FX series is another Dharma Iniative-like ISIS training film with Archer himself teaching gun safety to new recruits. Check it out:

Tradecraft: Spooks/MI-5 Revived For Theatrical Movie

BBC's Spooks, known in America as MI-5, ran for ten seasons and concluded in 2011, making it one of the longest running spy series in television history. Now it looks like the show may find a new life in feature films. Variety reports that series star Peter Firth, who played spymaster Harry Pearce, will star in the theatrical feature Spooks: The Greater Good for Shine Pictures and Kudos. Series producers Jane Featherstone and Stephen Garrett will team up with Ollie Madden (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) to produce the film, from a script by series writers Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent. Bharat Nalluri, who helmed both the series pilot and the series finale as well as lots of episodes in between, will direct the movie as well. The producers are seeking international distribution partners at the American Film Market. According to the trade, "In the film, a terrorist escapes from the custody of MI-5, the British intelligence service, during a handover. The head of counter-terrorism is blamed, and then disappears himself. His protege is called in to help uncover what happened." So far Firth is the only actor attached, but I'm sure a few more familiar faces from the series (well, from the few who survived all the way through anyway) will turn up, probably joined by some heavy-hitting guest stars. Personally, I'd love to see Hugh Laurie reprise his Season 1 role as Firth's condescending MI-6 counterpart Jools Siviter!

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 1

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 2

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 3

Read my review of MI-5: Volume 4
Read my review of MI-5: Volume 5