Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, The Sympathizer, The Black Kaiser, Butterfly, Classified, Fog of War, Neither Confirm Nor Deny, and Birdseye are just seven of the upcoming spy movies or series that we’ll fill you in on today in our Spy Movie News – May 30 2023 edition.
Upcoming Spy Movies or Series In Development
So, let’s jump in and start with some new spy entertainment projects. We’ll follow this with some quick updates on a few items we’ve mentioned in earlier Spy Movie News Episodes. We’ll start with
Paris Has Fallen
The first new project we can talk about is Paris Has Fallen. This is the next project in the Has Fallen series. You may have seen the Gerard Butler movies Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen, and Angel Has Fallen.
Well, Paris Has Fallen is planning to be a television series, not a theatrical movie. According to an article on movieweb.com, actor Mathieu Kassovitz is the lead in the series, Vincent. The article describes Vincent as a
“protection officer to a French Minister, who is the target of a terror group led by villain Jacob. Vincent works with MI6 operative Zara to keep the politician safe, but they eventually unravel a wider plot, suspecting that a security service colleague is feeding information to Jacob, who is always a step ahead in his mission to bring down Paris.”
The series is still being shopped so we’ll have to update you later where you’ll be able to watch Paris Has Fallen.
Gerard Butler says there is another movie in the works, Night Has Fallen, although the talk about that movie started back in 2020. So, who knows if or when we’ll see Butler return as Mike Banning on the big screen.
Fog of War
Set toward the end of World War II, Fog of War will star Jake Abel, Briana Hildebrand, and John Cusack. This movie was being shopped at Cannes.
The Hollywood Reporter describes Fog of War like this:
“Set in the closing months of WWII, Fog of War tells the story of injured American pilot Gene (Abel) and his OSS agent fiancée Penny (Hildebrand) as they retreat to a remote estate in Massachusetts to stay with Penny’s distant uncle Robert (Cusack). Unbeknownst to her, the OSS has recruited Gene to spy on the family and the surrounding community as top-secret documents related to the D-Day invasion have been stolen and an enemy mole is somewhere nearby, preparing to turn these plans over to the Axis Powers.”
As usual, we’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
Classified
Aaron Eckhart is one busy actor in spy movies. He’s starring in another spy movie that was just shopped at Cannes. This time it is the espionage movie Classified. And, filming has already wrapped on this one. Aaron Eckhart is joined by Tim Roth and Abigail Breslin.
In the last year, we have told you about the movies The Bricklayer and Chief of Station that Eckhart is helming. So, he now adds Classified to his spy movie resume.
The plot on 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. We’ll have to watch this one to find out.
Birdseye
In 2018, Jennifer Lawrence starred as a ‘sparrow’ in Red Sparrow. In Birdseye, Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova plays a swallow spy. Sparrow and Swallow are both terms used for sexpionage. In fact, Birdseye was inspired by the book “Sexpionage: The Exploitation of Sex by Soviet Intelligence”.
So, in Birdseye, Bakalova’s character is based in Washington. Her childhood love is out to kill her on the orders of Russia. Given the cast of Maria Bakalova, Jean Reno, and Ty Simpkins, we expect this to be a good one. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
Neither Confirm Nor Deny
You have to love this title, Neither Confirm Nor Deny. Greenwich Entertainment has acquired the North American distribution for this documentary.
The plot is about a mission in 1974 where the US government sought to find the sunken Soviet submarine, K-129. The mission was code-named Project Azorian.
The Soviets and the US were in a race to find the sub and its nuclear missiles. Except, the Soviets didn’t know the US was trying to find the wreckage. The US wanted to keep this a secret, especially from the Soviets. The press found out about the mission. The US government tried to get the story delayed.
In addition to this documentary, a fictional adaptation may happen. But, we can neither confirm nor deny that rumor.
Ok, so now we’re going to turn to a bunch of updates to spy movies and series we have already told you about. But, as usual, we keep you posted as we learn more.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
We mentioned in our February 28, 2023 episode that The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was in production.
Well, they’ve wrapped filming now. And, Henry Cavill has shared some footage from this Guy Ritchie movie. You need to check out Cavill’s mustache and beard on this one. You can catch the footage on movieweb.com.
Of course, they are talking about trying to make this a franchise. Who isn’t these days?
Butterfly
Also in that February 28th episode, we mentioned that Daniel Dae Kim was going to star in a series called Butterfly for Amazon. Well, that was some early information. Now we know that Amazon Prime Video has ordered the first 6 episodes of this series. Production has not yet started.
Amateur
Another upcoming spy movie that we’ve mentioned in the past is Amateur. As we’ve dived into this one more, this appears to be a remake of the 1981 movie with the title The Amateur starring John Savage, Christopher Plummer, and Marthe Keller. Both movies arebased on the novel by Robert Littell. In the 1981 movie, the death of a different person created the impetus for the movie than what we have in this new version.
Well, we told you in February, that Rami Malek had signed up for this one. We now know that Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Rachel Brosnahan, and Laurance Fishbourne have signed on for this thriller. So, yes, this is an excellent cast. We will be watching for this one to come out.
Special Ops: Lioness
We’ve talked about this one in a few Spy Movie News episodes. This is the upcoming Paramount + series that had been called Lioness. We’ll This series now has been given the official title of Special Ops: Lioness.
We’ve yet to see a release date but will keep you updated as we learn more. Deadline.com has an article on this, including nine publicity photos.
Special Ops: Lioness stars Nicole Kidman, Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira and Morgan Freeman.
The Order
Again, back in February, we told you about the upcoming Jude Law-Nicholas Hoult spy movie The Order and that we hadn’t heard much about it.
Well, we can now tell you that Marc Maron, Jurnee Smollet, Alison Oliver, and Odessa Young have signed on to the movie. Plus, we know that Law will play an FBI Agent and Hoult is a leader of a terrorist organization. The Order started filming this month.
True Lies
Ok, so this one has been released, but we have an update. CBS is not renewing the Steve Howie and Ginger Gonzaga tv reboot of the movie True Lies.
According to an article on MovieWeb.com:
“Although the series set itself up as a promising addition to CBS’ season, the series has been the lowest performing show across the network, making its cancelation an inevitability rather than a surprise. Having said that, the series did manage to maintain a constant viewership throughout its run, suggesting there will be a loyal group of fans who are unimpressed with the news.”
The Sympathizer
Last month we told you about the upcoming HBO spy series The Sympathizer. It isn’t expected to be released until 2024. Well, we have one thing to add to what we told you. Marine Delterme has signe on to the cast. Delterme is an actor/model, probably best known in France for her series Alice Nevers.
We’ll continue to keep you updated as we hear more.
The Black Kaiser
Last May 31st, we told you about the upcoming movie The Black Kaiser, starring Mads Mikkelsen. Well, a year later we can tell you that actor Vanessa Hudgens has joined the project. Hudgens starred with Mikkelsen in the 2019 hitman movie Polar.
Also, the director has changed from Jonas Akerlun who we told you about last year. The new director is Derrick Borte.
Filming is expected to start this fall. We’ll let you know more as we get it.
Archer
The popular animated television spy series Archer will end after season 14. The season will debut on August 30, 2023,
Archer debuted in 2009. In those 14 years, there have only been 3 James Bond movies. So sad.
James Bond
Again, we are going to ignore all speculation about what’s next for the James Bond franchise. Until we hear from Eon Productions, nothing you hear can be taken as reality.
However, we were wondering if you had $100 million to spare. If so, you could buy the island of Little Pipe Cay in Exuma, the Bahamas. This island was featured in Casino Royale (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean. So, for a cool $100 mil, you can get your Bond on.
Citadel
Season 1 of Citadel ended with this past weekend’s release of episode 6, “Secrets in the Night Need Early Rains”.
We’ve previously told you that there will be a season 2, now called Citadel: Diana. And there is a small bit about it at the end of episode 6. Season 2 will be exclusively directed by Joe Russo. Season 1 had multiple directors.
Italian actor Matilda De Angelis will be the central character in this one and Italy will be the next “location” for Season 2. It looks like Citadel is following the lead of The Avengers and White Lotus by building a franchise that will have adventures in different parts of the world, with mostly new casts.
Citadel: Diana is expected to be released in 2024.
Mission: Impossible
The hype machine is in high gear for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. We’re getting everything from more trailers and photos to Christopher McQuarrie saying that there may be more sequels after Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.
Release Date Change
The big news, however, is that the US release date has changed. And, this time it was moved up, not delayed. The original US release date was Friday, July 14, 2023. The new date is two days earlier on Wednesday, July 12.
This change was made to keep it in sync with the international rollout. Ok, technically there are countries with release dates through July 21st, but this ties the US date to the first rollout date of July 12. So, the UK, France, Canada, Italy, Philippines, Brazil, India, and more will all release on the 12th.
We applaud this as one of our complaints about James Bond is the long release cycle of its movies. With the internet, finding out what happens will be almost instantaneous with the initial release location. That can spoil a movie.
So, kudos to the powers that be in making this release date change. Thank you.
Run Time Announced
Don’t drink too much liquid before going to see Part One. It has a final runtime of 2 hours and 36 minutes. And that doesn’t include the credits or any mid or end-credit scenes they might add. So, you’ve been warned. This one is long.
Writer’s Strike
And of course, the writer’s strike continues.
In Memoriam
Unfortunately, we have a long list of people involved in spy movies who we’ve recently lost
John Wright
Film Editor John Wright passed at age 79. Wright was a prolific editor with work on movies such as Speed, Convoy, The Running Man, and more. However, spy movie fans will know his editing on the 1990 movie The Hunt for Red October.
Wright received two Academy Award Best Film Editing nominations. The first was for The Hunt for Red October, which he shared with Dennis Virkler. The second was for Speed.
Raymond Austin
Stuntman and director Ray Austin died at the age of 90. Among the movies he performed stunts in are North by Northwest (uncredited), The Saint, The Avengers, Spartacus, and Peter Gunn. He was the director or stunt director on Cleopatra, The Avengers, The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E., and many others.
James Brown
American footballer and actor James Brown has passed at 87. Brown is considered one of the best players in National Football League history. His first movie was The Dirty Dozen. Spy movie and tv fans will know his work in the movie Ice Station Zebra, and an episode of the tv show I Spy.
Tina Turner
Rock star Tina Turner has died at the age of 83. Turner had a long superstar career as a singer. James Bond fans will know Turner as the singer to the title song to the 1995 movie GoldenEye.
Paul Playdon
Writer and producer Paul Playdon passed at the age of 80. Among his writing credits, Playdon wrote 14 episodes of the television series Mission: Impossible and 3 episodes of The Wild Wild West.
Helmut Berger
Austrian actor, Helmut Berger has died at age 78. He is probably best known for his role as Martin Von Essenbeck in The Damned, for which he received a Golden Globe Nomination. Spy movie and tv fans will have seen him in The Return of the Saint and Code Name: Emerald.
John Refoua
Film Editor John Refoua died at age 58. Refoua is probably best known for his editing of Avatar. His work on Avatar was recognized with a Best Editing Oscar nomination which was shared with Stephen E. Rivkin and James Cameron. Spy movie fans will have seen his work on Olympus Has Fallen.
That’s a wrap of our Spy Movie News – May 30 2023 edition! Please help us out and Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies through your favorite podcast app! You can also read all of our Spy Movie News articles on our website.
