As if the new adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy didn’t already have one of the best ensemble casts to gather on one movie for along time, yet another quality thesp has been added to the roster, in the form of Mark Strong.
Empire's sources suggest that Strong will be playing Jim Prideaux, a Circus agent shot in the back during the failed Operation Testify early on in the story. Prideaux's testimony is a key part of the revelation that there's a mole in the highest echelons of the British Secret Service, with our hero George Smiley then spending the film trying to smoke out the double agent.
While Strong may never better his performance as his own floating head*, his casting is just another reason we’re now seriously anticipating the latest translation of John Le Carre’s work to the screen before a single frame has been committed to celluloid. But when you have a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Jared Harris, Benedict Cumberbatch (as Peter Guillam) and Ciaran Hinds, all under the direction of Let The Right One In’s Thomas Alfredson, you can understand our feelings. Even though, as The Playlist points outs, Ralph Fiennes and David Thewlis aren’t mentioned. That just makes us think they considered but passed – though the truth of that won’t be known until the thing is actually filming.
And the female contingent has also increased by one (to, er, one announced so far), with Svetlana Khodchenhova signing on to play Russian spy Irina.
Reassuringly, producer Tim Bevan assures fans of the original that the Cold War setting and the plot about Oldman’s George Smiley hunting for a mole within the Secret Service will be maintained, largely at the insistance of Le Carre himself, who will be present on set to provide information and probably cuff actors round the head if they start acting like silly arses.
**Just kidding, Mr S! You were also great in that film that time. *