Tomas Alfredson talks "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Swedish director Tomas Alfredson first got noticed in the United States with his film "Let the Right One In," a brilliant and boldly original take on the vampire genre (the film was remade, not quite as brilliantly or boldly originally, as "Let Me In" -- you can read Alfredson's thoughts on that film here ). He's followed that breakthrough up with a bold take on another genre, the spy film, in his adaptation of John le Carré's classic novel, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." But all this genre reinvention doesn't mean Alfredson's a "genre filmmaker." For all he knows, Alfredson says, his next movie might be a romantic comedy.
"I never think of what label they end up having in the video store," Alfredson told me about his taste in projects. "If it's action or drama or comedy or whatever, it's the same for me, the same kind of work. I wouldn't be against a romantic comedy as long as it interests me. It doesn't matter really."
What matters right now is "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," a labyrinthian espionage tale set in England's Secret Intelligence Service (nicknamed "The Circus") in the 1970s. At its center is an enigmatic man named George Smiley ( Gary Oldman ). As the film begins, Smiley and the Circus' top man, Control (John Hurt), are forced into early retirement, casualties of a botched operation in Hungary. When Control dies sometime later, Smiley is recruited to resume his old boss' final mission: uncovering the identity of a mole in the upper ranks of The Circus. There are four main suspects, each with their own code name: Tinker (Toby Jones), Tailor (Colin Firth), Soldier (Ciarán Hinds), and Poorman (David Dencik). Smiley must figure out which one's the mole before they can do any further damage. But when you're hunting former friends and co-workers, who do you trust?