Spy Movie News – March 29, 2022

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

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Here’s our March 29, 2022, edition of Spy Movie News!  Today we will get some spy movie updates, some James Bond award news, more spy movies and old spy movies coming to streaming services, new Bond villains? the MGM and Amazon deal, Agent Game, Red Notice 2 and 3, The Outfit, Faceoff 2 and more!   Ok, we should probably start this by saying we don’t know what happened with Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre.   We told you last month that this movie was to be released on March 18.  Well, STX Films moved the movie from the release schedule and now the release date is unset.  So, it obviously didn’t release in March.  We’ll keep you posted as we were looking forward to this one. 

Here are the spy movies coming out in April 2022 

Theatrical Release 

Agent Game 

Releasing in both US theaters and streaming on April 8th is the Dermot Mulroney, Adan Canto, Katie Cassidy, Jason Isaacs, and Mel Gibson spy movie Agent Game.    The official synopsis for the movie reads, “In this riveting spy thriller, no one is safe. Harris (Dermot Mulroney), a CIA interrogator at an Agency black site, finds himself the target of a rendition operation after being scapegoated for an interrogation gone horribly wrong. As the team tasked to bring Harris in begins to question their orders — and each other —Olsen (Mel Gibson), a senior intelligence officer, and his subordinate, Visser (Annie Ilonzeh), raise the stakes. Now, it’s up to Harris and some newfound allies to uncover the truth and turn the tables.” 

The Duke 

To add to life’s confusion with the pandemic-affected movie release cycle, two movies are being released this year titled The Duke.  The first is the one we’ve been talking about in other podcasts which is about the heist of the Duke of Wellington portrait.  This heist is referenced in the James Bond movie, Dr. No.   Released in the UK in February.  The US release was pushed to Unfortunately, the movie The Duke has been pushed until April 22, 2022, in New York and Los Angeles. Other cities will get The Duke over the following weeks  The second The Duke movie is expected to be released in June 2022 and is about a hostage situation.   

Streaming

Amazon Prime Releases and Releases:  

  • The 1976 movie Marathon Man will be available on Amazon Prime starting April 1, 2022.   
  • All the Old Knives (Tom for Dan: Oddly, this isn’t on any of the amazon April releases that I’ve seen). 
  • Olen Steinhauer’s story based on his novel All the Old Knives, is being released on April 8, 2022, in select theaters as well as Amazon Prime Video. 
  • Two CIA agents and ex-lovers (Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton) are brought back together years after a failed rescue attempt and forced to blur the lines between profession and passion in this deeply riveting tale of global espionage, moral dilemma, and deadly betrayal. 
  • We screened this movie and liked it. We will release our interview with the director, Janus Metz, and screenwriter, Olen Steinhauer who also authored the novel - on Wednesday, April 6th. 

Netflix 

Yaksha: Ruthless Operations: This Korean movie will be coming to Netflix on April 8th. Netflix describes this movie this way “On assignment in a perilous city to inspect a Black Ops team and its notorious leader, an upstanding prosecutor steps into a deadly was between spies.” 

Hulu 

Hulu will be adding the 2009 movie The International to its lineup on April 1, 2022. 

AMC +

The Ipcress File series comes out on AMC+ in May 2022.  This is the series that debuted on ITV in the UK at the beginning of March.  We’ve released 3 podcasts on The Ipcress File series when ITV had their release, including an interview with the Executive Producer Steven Saltzman. 

James Bond News 

We have quite a bit of James Bond news for you today. We told you last month about the nominations that James Bond received at the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards.  So, let’s look at what happened. 

BAFTAs 

We’ll start with the BAFTAs as they happened first. James Bond got some love in this ceremony. 

Diamonds are Forever and so is Dame Shirley Bassey 

It started with Dame Shirley Basey with an excellent performance of the theme song for the 1971 movie Diamonds are Forever.   Bassey sang this song for the movie.  While she was singing, clips of Bond movies played on the screens to the side of the stage.     Tom Cross and Elliott Graham won BAFTA for Editing on No Time To Die.  Tom cross dedicated his award to the stellar editor Peter Hunt.  And, Lashana Lynch won the EE Rising Star Award which is voted on by the public.  Technically not a Bond award, her performance in No Time To Die was a major reason for her win.   As reported in our buddy Bill Koenig’s The Spy Command, “The rising star was a fan vote. Still, on Feb. 3, Eon’s official Twitter feed counted it as a No Time to Die nomination. Former Bond continuation author Raymond Benson writes on Facebook the blog should not have counted it as a win for No Time to Die. His comment: ‘The Lashana Lynch award was not specifically for No Time to Die… she was just “Rising Star,” along with other nominees, not cited for any particular film they were in either. No Time to Die won ONE award.”  So, there you have it. 

Art Directors Guild 

No Time To Die Production Designer Mark Tildesley won the Art Directors Guild award for Best Production Design: Contemporary Feature Film for his work on No Time To Die.  

Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards 

Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell won Outstanding Original Song for a drama or documentary for the theme song to No Time To Die at the Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards.  So, they’ve won a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists.  And Sunday night they added an Academy Award to the collection. 

The Production Guild of Great Britain 

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were the winners of the PGGB Contribution to the Industry Award sponsored by Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. So, let’s stay on James Bond for a minute more. 

Liz Carr as a James Bond Villain? 

Liz Carr is pitching herself to be a James Bond Villain in an upcoming James Bond movie.   In an article on Digitalspy.com, Carr, who has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita and has been in a wheelchair since age 7 puts it this way:  "I just think that over the years the Bond baddies have always had a sort of disability trait to them – they've had a scar, they've sat in a wheelchair, but very rarely is it a real-life disabled person. Very rarely is it a woman,"   "In some ways just being myself, I think would be great. But I want guns on my chair, I want things to come out of the side, a bit like Inspector Gadget-wise. If you've got the kit, you might as well use it.”  We like the idea.  Let someone who has had to deal with a real disability play a Bond villain.  You would get a natural performance, not something forced.  At least with this idea, they wouldn’t have to offer a delicatessen made of stainless steel. 

Amazon Closes MGM Acquisition  

In another story we’ve been watching, Amazon has gotten approval for its MGM acquisition.  We’ll be watching to see what that means for the James Bond catalog and future movies and spinoffs.   Eon Productions still owns the creative rights to James Bond.   This could get interesting.  Let’s talk about how interesting.  Variety has an article saying that the first Bond product with Amazon Prime will be an 8-part television series called “007’s Road to a Million”.  Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are 2 of the producers.   The article states “The show will see contestants competing in a global adventure to win a £1 million ($1.3 million) cash prize. Filmed in many of the historic locations featured throughout the seminal Bond films, the “cinematic format” will be a test of intelligence and endurance. In addition to passing physical obstacles, the contestants — who will compete in two-person teams — must correctly answer questions hidden in different locations around the world in order to advance to the next challenge.”     If this article had been released on April 1st, I would have thought it was an April Fool’s joke.  A Bond Gameshow?  Yep, after No Time To Die and now this- wow – we are left stunned.   After a wonderful 60-year run we see this. . . who knows - ,maybe it sill be a stunning success – people like Bon and like winning money . . . so. . .  At least they are going to filming locations, which we like. 

In Memory of James Bond 

Speaking of filming locations; those fans going to the Faroe Islands to see where the climactic scene from No Time To Die was filmed will get a bonus.   The Guide To Faroe Islands Team YouTube channel has a video showing the creation and placement of James Bond’s gravestone.  The inscription reads “In memory of James Bond, 1962-2021”.  This is placed where the Bond was standing when the bombs went off. 

In Other Spy Movie News 

Gal Gadot 

Well, Gal Gadot is sure keeping busy. 

Heart of Stone 

An article on movieweb.com tells us that Rachel Stone will be Gal Gadot’s character in the upcoming Tom Harper-directed movie Heart of Stone.  Joining Gadot will be Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Schweighöfer, Jing Lusi and Paul Ready. The plot is being kept under wraps, but the word is that this will be another attempt to craft a spy-genre franchise, as we’ve seen done with the Kingsman series, The Gray Man, Red Notice, and Argylle.  So, there is a market for spy movie franchises, and this is another entry.  We’d like to see a bunch of them.  They probably won’t all succeed, but it is great to see the action in this space. 

Red Notice 2 & 3 

Gal Gadot is also reprising her role from Red Notice with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in Red Notice 2 & 3.  Much like the original plans for Mission: Impossible 7 & 8, they are planning to shoot the two movies back-to-back.  

The Outfit 

The just-released movie The Outfit isn’t a spy movie, it’s a crime movie.  In keeping with our goal of explaining where one movie influences another: the lead role, played by Mark Rylance is a cutter who used to work at Huntsman tailors.  This is the tailor shop that Matthew Vaughan’s mother took him to for a bespoke suit.  He later uses the real shop in Kingsman: The Secret Service. 

Face Off 2 

We’ve told you about a potential sequel to the 1997 movie Face Off on our February 16, 2021, Spy Movie News.  Well, we’re a little more than a year later and Nicolas Cage hasn’t heard anything about it.  According to movieweb.com, Cage says "I have not heard hide nor hair about it. So often these things we read about are just conjecture without any base or foundation to it. I feel the same about National Treasure 3. It’s been 14 years. There’s no there, there. So, is it fun to think about? Sure. Would [Face Off 2] be an exciting movie to make? Oh, hell yeah. But John Woo was such a huge voice in that movie. It couldn’t be a remake. I think these filmmakers even said as much — that something like that would have to be a sequel."  So, a director was named and the movie was in development.  Maybe they didn’t bring back the character Castor Troy and that’s why he hasn’t heard anything?  Given what happened to him in the original Face Off, that’s possible. We’ll just have to wait to find out. 

Argylle 

Another Spy Movie trying to become a franchise that we’ve talked about on numerous Spy Movie News episodes, Argylle, has released a trailer that you can see on YouTube.  Note that the spelling for Argylle has two “Ls” and an “e” at the end instead of the single L common in the US.   This is the movie that will be released on Apple + and stars Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa. There is no announced specific release date, apple.com lists a release date of 2023.  Nothing more specific than the year.    

Mission: Impossible 7 Release Window 

We’ve discussed in many Spy Movie News episodes how the theater release window is shrinking.  This window is the amount of time that movie theaters have a lock on a movie.  With the pandemic and the rise of streaming services, this has shrunk to about 45 days from the old window of about 90 days. An article in HollywoodReporter.com tells us that Tom Cruise is lawyering up against Paramount to bring their current 45-day window back to 90 days.  This isn’t too surprising given the now-settled lawsuit between Scarlett Johansson and Disney.  The Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 contracts were signed before COVID hit.   If he can get the window back to 90 days, will other tentpole movies follow suit? 

In Memorium 

William Hurt 

One of the best actors of his era, William Hurt passed away at age 77.   Hurt was probably best known for his roles in Broadcast News, Altered States, The Big Chill, and Body Heat. He had a prolific acting career.  Spy movie fans will remember him from The Good Shepard, his portrayal of Robert Hanssen in the tv movie "Master Spy: The Robert Hansen Story", and Black Widow. 

Alan Ladd, Jr. 

Legendary movie executive, Alan Ladd Jr has passed a the age of 84.   Ladd was President of 20th Century Fox in the 70s and was involved with Star Wars and Young Frankenstein before starting his own company where he enjoyed more success.  He joined MGM/UA and was involved in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. 

Veronica Carlson 

Veronica Carlson has passed at the age of 77. Although known for her horror films, her first movie was the 1967 spoof of Casino Royale.  Ms. Carlson also had a role in an episode of the tv series "The Saint".  

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