There's more than a little excitement in these parts for a little spy thriller called Tinker Tailor Soldier Sp****y, so its presence at Empire Presents... Big Screen had us donning our espionage casual, gripping our bugging devices* and heading to its panel to watch some world-first footage from the film.
Producer Robyn Slovo and screenwriter Peter Straughan were there to introduce three new clips from the film. The first showed the influence of MI6's 'Control' (John Hurt) waning within the agency's HQ. Better known as 'the Circus', it's the setting for some heavyweight acting. Tight and claustrophobic, Hurt and Toby Jones' Percy Alleline slug it out verbally over Alleline's mysterious new 'Witchcraft' intel.
The second gave our first look proper at Gary Oldman's Smiley, the character made famous on-screen by Alec Guinness in the 1979 BBC dramatisation. The soft lisp, inscrutable gaze and middle-age slouch disguise an iron will and cat-like intelligence. He's every bit as 'Smiley' as we were expecting: a pitch-perfect reinvention of a literary and screen icon. The scene saw Smiley send his trusted confederate Peter Guillam on what looks like a fool's errand to lift a key dossier from the Circus. It's a nerve-racking and beautifully designed sequence that just sings on the big screen.
The third sequence from Tomas Alfredson's thriller flashed back to MI6 agent Ricky Tarr's time in Portugal, and the first revelation of a Soviet mole in the Circus. It's Tom Hardy's chance to shine. The vignette takes up most of an episode in the BBC's '70s adaptation of John le Carré's novel, and the movie looks like giving equal weight to Tarr's pivotal back story.
Straughan confirmed that. "We had to merge a few characters," explained the screenwriter, "but otherwise it's nearly all there." Interestingly, Slovo revealed that it was Alfredson himself who hunted down the directorial gig. "Tomas actually came to us," she revealed. "He'd heard that we were doing it and put himself forward for it."
If you haven't laid eyes on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's terrific teaser and equally heavyweight trailer, now's the time. This fantastic-looking spy business will be arriving in UK cinemas on September 16. Circle the date on a piece of paper, then swallow it.
*Not literally, legal types