Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

[sophie]

Benedict Cumberbatch (Peter Guillam) recited a few lines from the poem "Casabianca". Three years earlier, in the radio comedy Cabin Pressure, his character was mocked with a few lines from the same poem.

[kim]

As this movie is about the uncovering of an infiltrator in the British Secret Service, and director Tomas Alfredson's previous movie was Let the Right One In (2008), this movie was jokingly referred to as "Get the Wrong One Out".

[francisco]

Jared Harris was originally cast as Percy Alleline, but he had to back out due to scheduling conflicts with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).

[elmer]

To prepare for his role as Peter Guillam, Benedict Cumberbatch went to Essaouira, Morocco, where Guillam had been stationed in the story: "It has a slightly nightmare quality. I was wandering around the streets at night, thinking what it must be like to know that every turn could be my last."

[morris]

The title of this movie and the novel is taken from an English children's rhyme that reads "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief".

[richard]

Director Tomas Alfredson based the environment on his first impressions of London when he first visited the town in the 1970s: a brown and gray palette, shadows and uncovered lightbulbs, and dirty streets. "If you see London now and at that time, it's two different cities. Today it's a white city; then it was black; it was so dirty, and you could still feel the War all around."

[gabriel]

This movie marks the second reunion between Gary Oldman and Kathy Burke. They previously appeared in Sid and Nancy (1986) and behind cameras, Oldman directed Burke in Nil by Mouth (1997).

[beth]

Gary Oldman is the fifth actor to play George Smiley in a movie and on television. His predecessors include Rupert Davies, who was the first in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965); James Mason in The Deadly Affair (1967), where Smiley was renamed Charles Dobbs; Sir Alec Guinness played him twice in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982), while Denholm Elliott was the last person to play Smiley in A Murder of Quality (1991).

[maureen]

John le Carré based the character of Karla (Michael Sarne) on the K.G.B.'s Major General Rem Krassilnikov, who was a counter-Intelligence spy for the K.G.B.'s State Security Committee.

[morris]

When Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) spots George Smiley (Gary Oldman) at the school, he asks Bill Roach (William Haddock) if it's a beggar man or a thief. "Beggar man, thief" is the ending part of the children's rhyme upon which the movie's and novel's title is based. Additionally, as mentioned in the novel (but not in this movie), "Beggar man" is Smiley's code name in the "Tinker, Tailor" sequence.

[ella]

Filming took place at a disused Army barracks in North London, a location much cheaper and affording wider space for the set designers than renting buildings in London for filming. The barrack's corridors and alcoves were used for interior shots, and the side of a building was dressed up as a Wimpy bar.

[carla]

Third John le Carré filmed adaptation to be nominated for Academy Awards, where it was nominated for three Oscars. The first, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), was nominated for two Oscars, while the second, The Constant Gardener (2005), was nominated for four Oscars, winning one statuette, for Rachel Weisz, for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The Constant Gardener (2005) is the only ever filmed adaptation of a John le Carré novel to win an Academy Award.

[kenzi]

Benedict Cumberbatch describes his role as Peter Guillam as the ultimate acting exercise: "I've always wanted to play a spy, you are never what you seem."

[bernice]

Gary Oldman based his performance as George Smiley on a line from the novel: "George is like a swift, Ann (Katrina Vasilieva) once told Haydon (Colin Firth) in George's hearing. He lowers his temperature until it's the same as the room around it. Then he doesn't lose heat by adjusting." Director Tomas Alfredson further compared Smiley to a turtle, "because the turtle has so much of its body hidden inside a shell. It is fixed, and it doesn't have a lot of different expressions."

[sara]

Second filmed adaptation of a John le Carré novel to have a score composed by Alberto Iglesias. His first was for The Constant Gardener (2005). Both music scores were Oscar nominated in the Best Music Score category, for the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score.

[violet]

Michael Fassbender was originally cast as Ricki Tarr, but he had to back out, because he was busy filming X-Men: First Class (2011), and was replaced by Tom Hardy. Both actors played roles in Band of Brothers (2001).