Exclusive: David Cornwell, the British spy better known to the world under his pen name John le Carré, reveals secrets of his extraordinary life in a documentary directed by nonfiction filmmaking legend Errol Morris.
The Pigeon Tunnel, from Apple Original Films and The Ink Factory (The Night Manager), is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 20.
Following a career in Britain’s MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and ‘60s, Cornwell became the mega-bestselling author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager and The Constant Gardener, all of which were successfully adapted by Hollywood. His fictional creation George Smiley, the veteran intelligence officer who appears in many of those books, has been played on screen by James Mason, Alec Guinness, Denholm Elliott, and Gary Oldman.
“Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film...
The Pigeon Tunnel, from Apple Original Films and The Ink Factory (The Night Manager), is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 20.
Following a career in Britain’s MI5 and MI6 in the 1950s and ‘60s, Cornwell became the mega-bestselling author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager and The Constant Gardener, all of which were successfully adapted by Hollywood. His fictional creation George Smiley, the veteran intelligence officer who appears in many of those books, has been played on screen by James Mason, Alec Guinness, Denholm Elliott, and Gary Oldman.
“Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film...
- 7/24/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
HBO Max’s period drama “Spy/Master” is more John le Carré than Ian Fleming, state its creators. Following Victor Godeanu, a high-ranking officer in Romania’s secret service, advisor to president Nicolae Ceaușescu – and a spy – who decides to defect in 1978.
“As a child, I used to watch James Bond, which is a very cartoony version of espionage. It was something we really wanted to avoid. We wanted it to feel real,” says Kirsten Peters.
Adina Sădeanu adds: “John le Carré’s novels, for example ‘A Perfect Spy,’ are so complex. These characters run away from their own humanity. I have always wondered: How do they live? How do they wake up in the morning, after saying so many lies?”
For Sădeanu, her journalistic background – as well as Romanian roots – came in handy as well.
“Over the years, I met many people working in intelligence. They weren’t these ‘James Bond’ types,...
“As a child, I used to watch James Bond, which is a very cartoony version of espionage. It was something we really wanted to avoid. We wanted it to feel real,” says Kirsten Peters.
Adina Sădeanu adds: “John le Carré’s novels, for example ‘A Perfect Spy,’ are so complex. These characters run away from their own humanity. I have always wondered: How do they live? How do they wake up in the morning, after saying so many lies?”
For Sădeanu, her journalistic background – as well as Romanian roots – came in handy as well.
“Over the years, I met many people working in intelligence. They weren’t these ‘James Bond’ types,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
John le Carré, whose bestselling novels about the chilly world of Cold War espionage were the basis for a long series of popular film and TV adaptations, has died of pneumonia. He was 89.
Le Carré’s literary agency, Curtis Brown, announced his death on Dec. 13 via Twitter. The beloved storyteller, whose real name was David Cornwell, was a favorite among writers and screenwriters for the naturally cinematic touches and propulsive narratives he delivered over a career that spanned a half century and 25 novels, the most recent of which was published in 2019, three days after his 88th birthday.
“It is with great sadness that we must confirm that David Cornwell — John le Carré — passed away from pneumonia last Saturday night after a short battle with the illness… We all grieve deeply his passing. Our thanks go to the wonderful NHS team at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro for the care...
Le Carré’s literary agency, Curtis Brown, announced his death on Dec. 13 via Twitter. The beloved storyteller, whose real name was David Cornwell, was a favorite among writers and screenwriters for the naturally cinematic touches and propulsive narratives he delivered over a career that spanned a half century and 25 novels, the most recent of which was published in 2019, three days after his 88th birthday.
“It is with great sadness that we must confirm that David Cornwell — John le Carré — passed away from pneumonia last Saturday night after a short battle with the illness… We all grieve deeply his passing. Our thanks go to the wonderful NHS team at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro for the care...
- 12/13/2020
- by Chris Morris
- Variety Film + TV
That South Korean director Park Chan-wook is interested in revenge should come as no surprise to anyone with even a passing familiarity with his work. After the box-office smash Joint Security Area (2000), he proceeded to make what is now collectively known as “The Vengeance Trilogy": Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002); Oldboy (2003), the most well-known entry; and Lady Vengeance (2005). For a while, though, it would seem to explain why The Little Drummer Girl (1983), of all of John le Carré’s spy novels—and not, say, A Perfect Spy, the masterpiece that directly followed it—captured Park’s long-standing interest, eventually culminating in a lavish, six-episode mini-series.Set in 1979 against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the series opens with a terrorist attack on a Jewish diplomatic residence in Bad Godesberg, West Germany. In a sinuous, ticking-clock set-piece, a leather briefcase—seen in the opening shot, as well at the close of...
- 12/4/2018
- MUBI
In the first of a new occasional series, Esther Walker and her nine-month-old daughter Kitty offer a view from parent-and-baby cinema screenings – this time at Hampstead's Everyman
When you are expecting your first child everyone tells you to go to the cinema a lot because once you have a baby you never will. And I always thought "Why not? Just get a babysitter."
And then I actually had a baby, nine months ago now, and I realise why. It's because early showings of films clash with bath-and-bedtime, and later screenings are too late for tired parents. ("So if the programme says 9pm, the film will start at 9.30 and it's two hours long. That means we won't be in bed until … midnight?! Forget it.") Lucky ones can scrabble around on pay-per-view for something that was in cinemas six months ago, but most parents are years behind everyone else when it comes to new releases.
When you are expecting your first child everyone tells you to go to the cinema a lot because once you have a baby you never will. And I always thought "Why not? Just get a babysitter."
And then I actually had a baby, nine months ago now, and I realise why. It's because early showings of films clash with bath-and-bedtime, and later screenings are too late for tired parents. ("So if the programme says 9pm, the film will start at 9.30 and it's two hours long. That means we won't be in bed until … midnight?! Forget it.") Lucky ones can scrabble around on pay-per-view for something that was in cinemas six months ago, but most parents are years behind everyone else when it comes to new releases.
- 10/20/2011
- by Esther Walker
- The Guardian - Film News
With its complex plotting, acute understanding of human nature and timeless moral dilemmas, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is Le Carré's masterwork.
• Download the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy audio book for free
A
Adapting a novel for the cinema presents unique problems – it's not at all the straightforward process people assume, particularly if the novel is as complex and cerebral as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The screenwriters of this exceptionally fine and sombre new dramatisation of the novel (Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor) have perfectly reflected its labyrinthine world of bluff and counter-bluff, of suspicion and paranoia, of corruption and betrayal.
B
Betrayal is the novel's and the film's great theme – and perhaps the dark undercurrent beneath all of John Le Carré's work. Indeed one might claim that, among the few things we British are very good at – cricket, bespoke tailoring, dictionaries – is the spy novel. Possibly this...
• Download the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy audio book for free
A
Adapting a novel for the cinema presents unique problems – it's not at all the straightforward process people assume, particularly if the novel is as complex and cerebral as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The screenwriters of this exceptionally fine and sombre new dramatisation of the novel (Peter Straughan and the late Bridget O'Connor) have perfectly reflected its labyrinthine world of bluff and counter-bluff, of suspicion and paranoia, of corruption and betrayal.
B
Betrayal is the novel's and the film's great theme – and perhaps the dark undercurrent beneath all of John Le Carré's work. Indeed one might claim that, among the few things we British are very good at – cricket, bespoke tailoring, dictionaries – is the spy novel. Possibly this...
- 9/17/2011
- by William Boyd
- The Guardian - Film News
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