It’s been a long time since John Le Carré’s literary hero George Smiley has been seen on screen, either big or small, but with Focus Features’ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the English language debut for Tomas Alfredson, director of the highly acclaimed Swedish vampire flick Let the Right One In, he’s back, this time played by Gary Oldman in what many are considering his strongest performances in years.
In this movie, Smiley is looking for a mole in the Secret Service, one that is sharing information with the Russians, compromising their every move, and surrounding Oldman as fellow agents is one of the finest casts in recent memory, including recent Oscar winner Colin Firth, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds and more.
A few weeks back, ComingSoon.net attended the New York junket for the film and in the video interviews below, we spoke with Oldman, Firth and director Tomas Alfredson about how each of them came to the project, their own relation to John Le Carré and the Cold War, how Oldman prepared to play a secret agent significantly older than he really is and more.
