Ok, this definitely sounds awesome! Gary Oldman is in discussions with studio executives about playing George Smiley in upcoming Tomas Alfredson‘s espionage movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
And that's not all! Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis are also rumored to be in early negotiations for roles in a movie that is actually an adaptation of John Le Carre's seminal cold war best-seller.
Set in the aftermath of the cold war, the thriller tells the tale of a spy-hunt within the highest echelons of the British Secret Intelligence Service:
“The enduring novel by one of the greatest storytellers follows George Smiley, who is a troubled man of infinite compassion, and also a single-mindedly ruthless adversary as a spy.
The scene which he enters is a Cold War landscape of moles and lamplighters, scalp-hunters and pavement artists, where men are turned, burned or bought for stock. Smiley's mission is to catch a Moscow Centre mole burrowed thirty years deep into the Circus itself.”
Peter Morgan wrote the screenplay for the movie, which will go into production this September.
So, as we said, Gary Oldman would play George Smiley, previously played by Sir Alec Guinness in the 1979 TV series, while Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis are also said to be in discussions about filling roles as various intelligence heads and bureaucrats who the British government believe could be Russian spies.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is set to hit cinemas in 2012. We'll keep you updated!