Gary Oldman Set To Star In Tomas Alfredson’s Spy Thriller ‘Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy’; Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender & David Thewlis To Join?

After dropping the gender-bending tale “The Danish Girl” starring Nicole Kidman, Tomas Alfredson is now set to move onto his previously announced adaptation of John Le Carre’s Cold-War-set spy thriller “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy” with the production set to kick off this September, according to Production Weekly.

On top of that, the project is now reportedly in the process of casting with versatile thespian Gary Oldman set to star and the illustrious likes of Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis in early negotiations to follow. It’s early days yet but it’s already shaping up to be quite the impressive cast for Alfredson’s followup to the highly acclaimed “Let The Right One In.”

Adapted for the screen by the talented Peter Morgan (“The Queen,” “Frost/Nixon”), who has apparently “managed to put the heart and essence of Le Carre’s classic into the screenplay,” Le Carre’s novels follows the story of a British Intelligence operative whose task is to delve into the world of Cold War espionage and root out a Soviet mole in the Circus, the highest echelon in the British Intelligence Services. Oldman is slated to the lead George Smiley, described as a “breathtakingly ordinary, anti-James Bond”-type character who was previously portrayed by Alec Guinness in the 1979 BBC television adaptation of ‘Tinker, Tailor.’

Firth, Fassbender and Thewlis, meanwhile, are being lined up for other unnamed but vital roles, with two female roles also up for grabs including Smiley’s wife and a matriarchal figure at the agency.

Color us intrigued and excited with where this project is going. And with a certain British spy looking like he’ll remain absent from the silver screen, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Alfredson and Working Title to capitalize with a smart, realistic take on that same world.