Spy Movie News 10-29-2024

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An untitled Christopher Nolan movie, Bourne 6?, The Agency, The Traitor, Ghost Trail, and more make up this episode of Spy Movie News 10-29-2024 edition. 

We’re going to start by talking about spy entertainment in development, then move on to some industry news, and then wrap with a tip of the hat to some industry workers who have passed in the last month.

Upcoming Spy Entertainment

“The Agency”

Last year, in our February 28 Spy Movie News, we talked about a show in development called “The Department” which was based on the French series “Le Bureau des Legendes”.  We mentioned that we weren’t sure if this would be a direct remake of the French series in English.  And, we told you that George Clooney would direct it.

Well, in the last year and a half, a lot has changed. And a lot of progress has been made. First, the series will be called “The Agency”.  Second, it is not a direct redo of the series in English, although this will be in English. And third, George Clooney is listed as one of the Executive Producers. Fourth, the trailer is out. And fifth, the series will premier for Paramount Plus users on Friday, November 29th.  However, you need the Paramount Plus with Showtime membership plan to stream it then.

According to an article on movieweb.com,

“When The Agency begins, the audience meets Fassbender’s character after he’s been in deep cover on a mission for six years. Now, he has to adjust to this new season of his life and answer to a higher power, his boss. Gere plays Bosko, the London Agency Chief with a colorful past, having served as an undercover agent himself.”

So, this one looks like it could be good.  It’s based on an established series and has a very strong cast.

THE TRAITOR

The movie, THE TRAITOR, premiered at the Zurich Film Festival. This is not to be confused with the 2019 movie with the same name. In fact, its Swiss name is Landesverräter

Variety.com tells us that this true story tells us of a “young man in Switzerland who, seeking to escape the repression of militarization during World War II, falls into the hands of a manipulative German spy.”

We’ve only seen release information for a limited release in Switzerland and will keep you posted if we will be getting a US or UK distribution.

Untitled

Ok, this one is untitled, but Simu Liu has developed a series for Peacock that stars Simu Liu, Melissa Barrera, Sinclair Daniel, and Brian d’Arcy James.

The official tagline for the series states:
“Five minutes in the future, a first-generation-American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Liu) realizes his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears. Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies.”

This one sounds intriguing to us.  But, we haven’t seen a release date yet for this eight-part series.

GHOST TRAIL

This upcoming spring we will get another show based on true events.  This movie debuted a Cannes and will hit the US market in the spring of 2025.

The story is about a Syrian refugee who has joined a secret group that is trying to target the fugitive leaders from Syria.

The synopsis of this one is:

 “His mission takes him on the trail of his former torturer — spending his days locating the prison guard from his past. With his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt, and revenge, will Hamid be ready to confront him?”

Christopher Nolan’s next project

Ok, so since this is Christopher Nolan, not much is known about it.  But, that said, Nolan is doing a new movie and has Matt Damon and Tom Holland.

Variety speculates that Nolan won’t be doing another sci-fi movie year, but that this may be a spy movie. 

So, as usual with Nolan, we don’t know much about what he’s doing, but the speculation is that it will be something for spy movie fans.

One thing we have learned is that the movie is slated to release on July 17, 2026.

CLASSIFIED

This is one we missed in last month’s Spy Movie News.  However, in our May 30, 2023 episode, we told you about the movie CLASSIFIED, starring Aaron Eckart, Tim Roth, and Abigail Breslin. At that time we told you that the plot of CLASSIFIED sounds interesting. Eckhart plays Breslin’s father.  He’s a CIA hitman, who has been receiving orders for almost 20 years.  Breslin is an MI6 analyst who finds out that Eckhart’s division was shut down a long time ago.  So, who has been giving Eckhart his orders?  Hmm.

Well, fast forward a year and a half, and this movie just released on streaming platforms last week in the US.  So far, you can see it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple Plus, and Microsoft.com.  If you have a favorite streaming service, you might want to check as it looks like they were going for a broad non-exclusive streaming release.

SCORPION

In case you haven’t gotten enough of Aaron Eckhart playing a CIA agent, he has picked up a new project called SCORPION. 

Eckhart’s character is a CIA assassin.  He has a mission that failed which forced him to go off the grid.  When he reemerges, he has a dilemma that he must resolve.

We have yet to see a release date on SCORPION, but we’ll keep you posted.

The Day of the Jackal

The movie THE DAY OF THE JACKAL has been turned into a series starring Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal and Lashana Lynch as the British CIA agent trying to catch him.

The first five episodes of the series will launch in the US on November 14 2024 on Peacock.  There will be weekly releases after that culminating in a two-episode finally on December 12.  In the UK, the series will be available on SKY starting November 7th.

We loved the 1973 movie starring Edward Fox.  This one looks to have a strong cast.  Let’s just hope the writing can support the 10-episode series.

JASON BOURNE DILEMMA

Movieweb.com has an interesting article that says that there will be a sixth movie in the Bourne series.  It is in early development and doesn’t have Matt Damon signed on to it yet.  However, they have named Edward Berger as the director.  Berger helmed ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and the just-released movie CONCLAVE.

So, the article is light on specifics like cast and timing.  We’ll have to wait and see what transpires.  Hopefully, they will do it and it will be closer to the first 3 Bourne movies in quality.

INTO THE LION’S MOUTH

There is a new project by Radar Pictures to create a movie adapting Larry Loftis’ book “Into the Lion’s Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov – World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond”.

We’ve mentioned World War II double agent Dusko Popov in many of our episodes as he was a real spy and one of the spies who supposedly inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond character.

We love the “Real Spies and Their Stories” movies and hope this one stays accurate to the stories.  We like those types of movies. Think of the Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe movie BREACH.  However, we don’t like when there are major alterations like in OPERATION MINCEMEAT and THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE.  So, we are hoping this adaptation remains true to Popov’s story.

We are hoping to get Loftis on our show in a future episode.

“Black Doves”

Netflix has a new spy series starring Kiera Knightley called “Black Doves”.  This series is set at Christmas time in London and will be released on December 5, 2024, in the US. 

The basic plot is that a married British Agent (Knightley)’s lover is assassinated, potentially blowing her cover.  She goes out to avenge his death.

The cast also included Ben Whishaw, Andrew Koji, Tracey Ullman, and more.

Netflix has already ordered a second season of the series so they seem to think this one will be good.

AGENT 86

The movie AGENT 86 has been released in Tunisia but so far international distribution hasn’t been fleshed out. 

This movie is about a task force that has to stop the spread of a lethal narcotic called Devil’s Breath. 

To us, it sounds a bit like the plot of KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE’s or MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II.

What is different here is that this is a Tunisian/Chinese project so it is likely to have more violence than those two movies.  We’ll have to wait and see.

We’ll keep our eyes open for more about AGENT 86 and if it will get a North American or UK distribution.

UNTITLED

Ok, so we have another untitled movie, this time coming to Netflix.  And, the details are a bit light so we aren’t 100% sure this is a spy movie.

The tagline for this movie is:
“Centered on White House staffers grappling with an impending missile strike on America, this gripping drama unfolds in real-time as tensions escalate.”

So, we don’t know if this is a spy movie or something closer to the Gerard Butler “Has Fallen” movies.  But, it sounds intriguing and the cast included Rebecca Fergusson, Idris Elba, Gabriel Basso, Tracy Letts, and Jason Clarke. Kathryn Bigalow will be directing this one.  She also directed ZEROP DARK THIRTY, THE HURT LOCKER, and 19 other projects.

A LINE OF FIRE

The movie A LINE OF FIRE is currently filming and stars Cuba Gooding Jr, David A.R. White, Katrina Bowden, Jason Patric and Scott Baio.

The synopsis tells us:

 “After working as a secret agent in the FBI for ten years, Jack Conry aka “Cash” left it all behind after his wife passed in order to dedicate himself to his two daughters. Despite a fulfilling life at home, Cash misses the chance to make an impact and has been considering a return to the force. The decision is made for him when his old partner’s niece Jamie calls him for help, launching Cash right back into a world of danger, corruption and intrigue.”

Again, this is in production but we haven’t seen a release date yet.

RED ONE

Ok, this one is a bit odd and we aren’t sure it is a spy movie.  But it feels like it might be.

The upcoming movie RED ONE is about Santa Claus being kidnapped and what happens when they try to get him and save Christmas.  RED ONE stars Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, and Chris Evans.  J.K. Simmons plays Santa Claus.

RED ONE will hit US theaters on November 15, 2024, with a worldwide release happening throughout November.

KINGSMAN: BLUE BLOOD

Well, this isn’t good.  An article on hollywoodreporter.com throws cold water on expectations for the 3rd and final KINGSMAN movie with Taron Egerton as Eggsy. In the article, 20th Century Studio’s Boss Steve Asbell answered a series of questions on upcoming projects.  

When asked about “Kingsman sequels or prequels” his response was “There’s no plans on doing them anytime soon.”

Wow, this is unfortunate news. We thought that was a franchise that could have legs and the players could change as Kingsman is an organization, and sometimes their agents die.

 The third Eggsy movie could have set up the next lead actor or actress. It was set up to be able to handle change with new agents better than the Bond or Bourne series. 

Plus, we would have loved to see what they did with the bad guy they teased in KINGSMAN in the end-title sequence.

So let’s move on to some happier news, Renewals

Renewals

We all love to see when our favorite spy series gets picked up for another season.  We have quite a few to tell you about.

We’ll start with

Slow Horses

Apple has announced that “Slow Horses” has been renewed for the 6th season. And yes, you haven’t missed anything. Season 4 just aired.  So, this renewal is announced even before Season 5 is done.

The Diplomat

Now, moving to Netflix, they have renewed “The Diplomat” for a third season.  This announcement comes just before the October 31, 2024, release of Season Two.

The Night Agent

Another Netflix series to be renewed for a third season is “The Night Agent”.  Once again, this announcement comes in advance of the release of Season Two. This is not surprising as “The Night Agent” was Netflix’s most-watched series in 2023 and 7th all-time.

The release date for Season Two of “The Night Agent” is just listed as “Winter 2025”.  We’ll keep you updated on this one. The nice thing in terms of timing is that Season Three will begin filming at the end of 2024 so we are unlikely to have another 2-year wait.

Reacher

Ok, let’s move to Amazon for this next one.  The series “Reacher”, starring Alan Ritchson, has been renewed for season four.  Similar to what we’ve seen with some of these other renewals, season four has been picked up before season three has aired.  Season three is expected to air sometime in 2025.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Sticking with Amazon, fans of the Prime Video series “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” have been trying to figure out where they can take this series.  This series won two Primetime Emmy Awards. Did John and Jane die in the last episode? Well, we don’t know.  But we have heard that for season two, new lead roles are being cast for a one-year contract.  It doesn’t necessarily mean John and Jane died, it could just be additional leads.  And, we are hearing that Billie Eilish is one of the names being discussed for one of these roles.

This is interesting news as co-creator Francesca Sloane also worked on “Fargo”.  “Fargo” had a format where each season had a new story with different characters.  Could that be what they are doing with “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”?  We’ll just have to wait to find out. 

Citadel

So, the “Citadel” format is a bit convoluted, even for the Amazon Prime world. The series is going with a “new story, new characters, new location,  same organizations” approach to the series.

In Season One we got Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Stanley Tucci, and Lesley Manville. This one was filmed in the UK, Spain, Morocco, Slovenia, Serbia, and Valencia Spain.

Season Two is called “Citadel: Diana” and is set in Milan, Italy.  It stars Matilda De Angelis, Lorenzon Cervasio, and Maurizio Lombardi.

Season Three takes us to India and stars Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.  Season Three premieres on November 7, 2024.

So, this is the anthology approach we talked about as a possibility for “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”.  It will be fun to see where they take us next.  Do they go to Japan, China, or maybe Africa for the next one?  We think this is a fun way to do a series.

Alright, so those are the spy series we know have been renewed.  Let’s move on to some other

Industry News

A Request from the Prince of Wales

Here’s a fun one:  Will Prince William get his request met?  According to an article on Variety.com, Prince William approached filmmaker Paul Greengrass about the Bourne series.  At a BAFTA and Royal African Society event, the Prince went up to Greengrass and asked “Another Bourne, please” Greengrass “laughed and shook his head.”

“Not for me, they need somebody younger, I’ve done my bit,” Greengrass later said (via The Independent). “But I hope they get somebody great and young to do it, I think they’re in the process.”

As we told you about above, Edward Berger has been hired to direct BOURNE 6 so we’ll have to see if the Prince gets his wish.

It’s All About The Stunts

Ok, this one isn’t about a spy movie, but it is something we know we will like.  No spy action movie can be done without stunt performers.  We have an episode talking with stuntman Rick English about his work on spy movies and the Batman series.

Well, Marv Films, which is Matthew Vaughan’s company is creating a four-part movie series called (pause) STUNTNUTS.  We love this title, not just for what it says, but that it is a palindrome like TENET was. 

Anyway, this series will bring in well-known actors and intermingle them with stunt performers.  For instance, Chris Hemsworth’s regular stunt double is Bobby Holland Hanton. They are shown together in this movie.

The premise is that a group of athletes need to raise funds to save the gym where they train.  They use their stunt skills by hiring themselves out as stunt performers.  According to Matthew Vaughan in an article on Deadline.com, “the whole fun of the film is that the stunt artists will be joined by various big name stars and they are the supporting artists supporting the stunt artists who are the stars of the film.”

We think this is a great concept and will give some exposure to a group of performers who we all have seen and appreciated their work, but didn’t know who they work.

In Memoria

That brings us to our In Memoria section where we acknowledge the passing of spy movie talent.

Alvin Rackoff

Prolific director Alvin Rakoff has passed at the age of 97.  Among his over 100 credits on IMDB, Rackoff directed Roger Moore in an episode of “The Saint” and then directed him in the movie CROSSPLOT. Rakoff is probably best known for directing the TV movie A VOYAGE ROUND MY FATHER, starring Laurence Olivier.

According to an article on Variety.com: It was Rakoff who recommended Connery for the role of Bond after 007 producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli called the director to ask his opinion.

John Ashton

The actor best known for playing John Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop movies, John Ashton passed at age 76. Spy movie fans may know him as the FBI Director in MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL and Marvin Dorfler in MIDNIGHT RUN.

Tom met Ashton at a bar in the Caribbean and says he was very nice, humble, and great to talk with.

Kris Kristofferson

Academy Award Nominee, Actor, and musical artist Kris Kristofferson passed at the age of 88.  Kristopherson is probably best known for his performances in BLADE, BLADE II, and A STAR IS BORN, but he has 118 credits on IMDB.   Spy movie fans may know him from his portrayal of Bobby Logan in the 1984 movie FLASHPOINT.

John Lassell

Actor John Lassell died at the age of 95.

Among his many roles, Lasell played a State Department Official in the Hitchcock espionage movie TOPAZ.  He also played Winston Walding in an episode of the “Mission: Impossible” TV series, and was in dix episodes of the 1966-1971 series “The F.B.I.”, and one episode of “I Spy”

Nicholas Pryor

Prolific actor Nicholas Prior, probably best known for his role as Joel’s father in RISKY BUSINESS has died at the age of 89. Of his 173 acting credits, Pryor played Secretary of State Jack Douglas in the 1996 movie EXECUTIVE DECISION.

Bob Yerkes

Stuntman Brayton Walter “Bob” Yerkes passed at the age of 92.  He performed in numerous movies and television shows.  He has performed stunts in STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI, BACK TO THE FUTURE, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, and more.  Spy movie and TV fans will have seen him in the TV movie “ASSASSIN” and the 1985 movie REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS.

Robert Watts

British producer Robert Watts passed at the age of 86.  The 1980s was a very successful decade where Watts produced hit after hit.  Some of those included STAR WARS V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT.  He was also the Second Assistant Director on the James Bond movie THUNDERBALL in 1965.

Ok, That’s a wrap! You’re now caught up with all the spy movie news for the last month.

Tell us what you think about the Spy Movie News 10-29-2024 edition.

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