Gary Oldman has suggested that a reprisal of his role as bespectacled spymaster George Smiley is a welcome but distant prospect in a recent interview to promote DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Widely-regarded as one of Sir Alec Guinness’s finest hours, the BBC adaptations of John Le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Solider Spy and Smiley’s People were seen as unbreachable. However fish were well and truly put in the kettle by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, who together with Oldman created a simmering 1970s atmosphere of cheesecloths and intrigue. Who could forget that closing sequence set to the strains of La Mer?
With Smiley taking charge of his own shady organization the stage was set for further instalments. However, Oldman has revealed that an imminent sequel is unlikely:
I would like to … There was talk of Smiley’s People, and then it all kind of … So, I’d like to do another…. I think he (Alfredson) at least wanted to make … they wanted him to sort of almost do back-to-back, and he said, “I don’t know, I want to do something else first, or do something in my own language.” Because you forget that he’s Swedish. So, who knows?
While Oldman is rightly regarded as one of our finest character actors, it is his sense of anonymity that made him the natural successor to the quiet, thoughtful Guinness. It would be a pleasure to see him play Smiley again, though if the elements failed to come into play you would at least be left with a powerful standlone segment in Alfredson’s TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY.
Source: Collider
