Thomas Alfredson may have set the arthouse world on fire with the teen vampire drama Let The Right One In, but he’s heading in a slightly different direction for his English-language debut, which will be a film adaptation of John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
While the project was announced a while ago, it’s only now that Alfredson has started filling out the cast, with Production Weekly (via The Playlist) reporting that Gary Oldman will be taking on the rather daunting dask of trying to follow in Alec Guinness’ footsteps, who played lead character George Smiley in a 1979 TV version of the spy novel. Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis and also in early negotiations for the film.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is about retired British intelligence officer Smiley (who is often described as being a sort of quiet, anti-Jame Bond figure), who is asked to return to his old agency to discover which of his former colleagues is a Russian spy. Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) is on scripting duties, and filming is due to start in September.