The work of John Le Carre made a major cinematic comeback in 2011. While many of his novels have been adapted before, director Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy was a critical success that did well at the box office and earned three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Adapted Screenplay (Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan) and Best Actor (Gary Oldman). A new adaptation is already in the works, Le Carre's A Most Wanted Man, and it looks like it has landed an A-list lead.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who put on two stellar performances last year in The Ides of March and Moneyball, is now in talks to join the project, which is being directed by Anton Corbijn. According to Variety, the story follows a half-Chechen, half Russian man on the run who goes into the Islamic community of Hamburg, Germany and looks for help to find his grandfather's "ill-gotten" fortune. A female lawyer and a male British banker decide to help the man, not knowing that they are being watched by a German spy unit. The script was written by Andrew Bovell, who last worked on Martin Campbell's The Edge of Darkness. The film will be Corbijn's first since 2010's The American and production is scheduled to begin in September.
While the movies don't always end up being top notch, I have yet to see a poor Philip Seymour Hoffman performance and it's great to see him back in a starring role. But what about the banker and the lawyer? Any Le Carre fans out there want to suggest who they think would be best for the roles?
