London spies
Our Kind Of Traito r | Ewan McGregor headlines the latest adaptation from spy fiction’s most wanted man…
If the Beeb’s The Night Manager stoked your appetite for more John le Carré adaptations, your wait is finally over.
Our Kind Of Traitor was groomed for adaptation in 2012, following Tomas Alfredson’s stealth-hit Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A little cast/director upheaval, a 2014 shoot and a year’s gap later, its mysteries are ready for disclosure.
In a Bond-ian love-in, Ralph Fiennes (M), Mads Mikkelsen (Le Chiffre) and Ewan McGregor (007 rumour-mill perennial, so roll with it, OK?) were initially mooted for the adaptation of the 2010 novel, with Justin Kurzel ( Macbeth) to direct what he dubbed a “more visceral” le Carré riff. Only McGregor remains from that lot, making this the season of delayed McGregor films (see also Jane Got A Gun, the full story of which is on p114). He’s joined by Naomie Harris (Moneypenny) and Damian Lewis, whose rumour backlog is also haunted by 007’s spectre (OK, enough Bond).
McGregor and Harris play Oxford academics Perry and Gail, a couple in Antigua charmed by Russian Dima (Stellan Skarsgård) over champagne. But this is le Carré, so after Dima tempts the Brits to a decadent party, it turns out he’s the Russian mafia’s “number one money-launderer” – and he wants Perry to leak info to MI6 so he can defect for his family’s safety. Enter Homeland- er Lewis’ MI6 man, at which point Perry tries to give up the info and finds himself sucked into a globe-trotting whirligig of trouble.
The script comes from adaptationschooled scribe Hossein Amini, whose recent work includes a knotty riff on Patricia Highsmith’s The Two Faces Of January. Susanna White took over the directing job, bringing her experience with Brit-TV adaps ( Bleak House), American TV ( Generation Kill) and starry ensembles ( Nanny McPhee 2) to bare. Whether they’ll shepherd the result to Tinker- sized business is uncertain: but either way, it’s high time this one came in from the cold. KH ETA | 13 MAY Our Kind Of Traitor opens in the spring.