Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tomas Alfredson took his first English language film and redrew le Carré’s map. The novel’s Czechoslovakia section became Hungary, where a 20 percent production rebate made it affordable, and Ricki Tarr’s Hong Kong strand was moved to Istanbul. The unit spent five days in Budapest and nine in Istanbul. Casting stayed unsettled. Days before the shoot Gary Oldman was the only lead under contract. Michael Fassbender’s X-Men schedule handed the Tarr role to Tom Hardy, and Toby Jones replaced Jared Harris. Le Carré himself turns up as a guest at the Christmas party. Bridget O’Connor, who wrote the script with Peter Straughan, died of cancer during production and the film is dedicated to her. The Academy nominated it three times and it won nothing: leading actor, adapted screenplay, original score. Of eleven BAFTA nominations two became awards, Outstanding British Film and adapted screenplay. Hoyte van Hoytema pulled the camera well back from his sets and worked on very long lenses, which flattens rooms into one another. The 1979 BBC version with Alec Guinness gave the same book seven episodes and 315 minutes. A good fit if you will work out who is standing in which room from a glance rather than from a line of dialogue. Not for anyone who needs each betrayal explained at the moment it happens.