It’s always nice to have a new Steven Spielberg film on the way. And right now, there are two, with Bridge Of Spies barrelling through post-production even as the director works on The BFG. The Spies trailer has hit the web and you can watch it below.
Tom Hanks stars in the film as James Donovan, an insurance lawyer who was pushed headfirst into the Cold War during the 1960s when he had to negotiate for the release of downed U2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) after the airman was shot down over Russia. Mark Rylance co-stars as Rudolf Abel, a suspected KGB spy who was defended by Donovan in a US courtroom in 1957, and is, thanks to back-channel negotiation, the likely swap for Powers in a deal with the Soviets. It’s an agreement that doesn’t exactly sit well for America at large, and Donovan feels the brunt of the protests.
**Bridge Of Spies **boasts a screenplay begun by Matt Charman and overhauled by the Coen brothers. The title as it now stands refers to the popular Cold War nickname for what's now the Glienicke Bridge connecting Wannsee and Potsdam: East and West Germany at the time the film is set. Its official name then was the Bridge Of Unity, but it garnered its alternate moniker due to its notoriety as a prisoner exchange point for Western and Soviet powers.
It’s typically atmospheric stuff, with Spielberg working, as he so often does, with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. Unusually this time out, the score will be by Thomas Newman, thanks to John Williams resting up from a minor health issue and busy getting to work on the new Star Wars. Bridge Of Spies will be on UK screens October 9 before heading to the US on October 16.