Here’s our Spy Movie News for July 26 2022!
This article discusses the August 2022 releases of spy movies and we’ll look at some ongoing projects like Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One, The Gray Man 2, Sicario 3, Spy Kids, and oh, Happy 60th Birthday Tom Cruise.
Let’s start by looking at what’s coming in spy entertainment in August 2022.
We are in the summer doldrums here and our pickings for new or re-released spy movies are pretty slim.
August Theatrical Spy Movie Releases
On August 12, IFC Films will release Rogue Agent both in theaters and on AMC+. Their synopsis of the movie is: “The chilling true story of conman, Robert Freegard, who posed as an undercover MI5 agent kidnapping countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt until the woman who fell for him brought him to justice.”
We like seeing true spy stories brought to the screen. The twist of having the MI5 agent just being a conman and not a real agent sounds intriguing to us. We’ll be checking this one out.
Ok, we had to stretch a bit for this next one. On August 5th, we’ll see the theatrical-only release of Bullet Train. This isn’t technically a spy movie, but it looks like it has a feel of a spy movie.
According to the Sony Pictures website:
“In Bullet Train, Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe—all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives”
Streaming Spy Movie Releases for July
This list is very sparse. Come on streamers, give us spy fans more to watch.
Netflix
On August 5th Netflix will add:
Carter – This Korean Netflix original movie sounds like it has a bit of a Bourne feel to it. The synopsis of this one is: Agent Carter wakes up one day in a motel room without any recollection of his identity and follows orders to join an explosive mission.
Skyfall – Also on the 5th, Netflix will re-release Skyfall for streaming.
Then on August 8th, they will release another Netflix Original Film, the Spanish movie – Code Name: Emperor. This movie Follows Juan, an agent working for the intelligence services, who also reports to a parallel unit involved in illegal activities.
Hulu
Hulu will rerelease the 1993 movie In the Line of Fire on August 21st.
HBO Max
HBO Max has no new spy movie releases in August, not new releases or re-releases.
And that’s pretty much it for August. So let’s now look to the future.
Upcoming Spy Movies
Spy Kids
We’ve mentioned the Spy Kids reboot that is being developed for Netflix in past Spy Movie News editions. Billy Magnussen, who played Logan Ash in No Time To Die, has signed on to the Spy Kids reboot. So this cast is really taking shape. We can’t wait to see the finished product.
Kingsman 3
An article on movieweb.com gives us some insight (maybe) into Kingsman 3. We’ll call it Kingsman 3 as that is what the article uses. We know the name will change. This is expected to be the last of the Eggsy and Harry Hart arc of the series. It is not expected to be the last Kingsman movie, however. It will just be the last with Eggsy and Harry.
We remember that Eggsy and Harry weren’t in the most recent movie in the series The King’s Man. That movie was a prelude to the Eggsy and Harry arc. It hinted at more arcs in the series. We like this as this is a series about an organization, not a person. People can be replaced or killed as part of the design.
Mission: Impossible is in a similar position to the Kingsman series as it is technically about the Impossible Mission Force, not Ethan Hunt. So, they can take that series forward if they want, even if Ethan Hunt dies or retires in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning part one or part two. This avoids the problem that the Bond series has entrapped itself with. These two series can go on easily unlike Bond.
So, here’s why we said maybe at the beginning of this discussion. Here is Taron Edgerton’s quote from the article:
“My understanding is that we are to be shooting the third installment in my saga I believe next year. But you know, don’t listen to what I say because I don’t really know. You know, they’re grown-up decisions.”
Edgerton does go on to say “there is a script”.
So, he hedges while giving us a clue. Let’s hope he’s right as we like this series and would like to see more. We need a replacement for James Bond and this one works.
The Gray Man
We have three things to discuss about The Gray Man which was just released in July on Netflix and in limited theaters. As we’ve talked about before, the hope is that this movie will launch a series of movies based on Mark Greaney’s book series.
The Gray Man has some great chase scenes. An article in Variety discusses how COVID affected the shooting in terms of locations. Our favorite quote comes from production designer Dennis Gassner: “A rooftop chase scene was assembled from various locations, including a spot in Prague. “If you went to visit it, you wouldn’t find it,” he teases.” That’s too bad for us here at SpyMovieNavigator.com because we love finding filming locations. We guess we’ll have to move on to the next location.
Will there be a The Gray Man 2? Well, Ryan Gosling is ready to go on. In an article by Jonathan Fuge, Gosling says: “I loved making this film. I’d love to do it again. I’m hoping we can bump Six up to a name status at some point, just for his own sanity”.
The article continues to tell us that “both The Gray Man 2 and a prequel centering on Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen are already said to be ‘at the very early stage.’ ”
Well, we enjoyed watching this movie and hope they do press on with more from the series. The prequel on Lloyd Hansen is an interesting take. He is the antagonist in The Gray Man. We liked his crazy character very much. It would be awesome to get his backstory in a sequel.
And finally, director Joe Russo has been quoted in Variety as saying: If we do continue forward with the story, I can guarantee you that Dhanush’s character will be part of that world moving forward.” This is great news for us. We called out Dhanush’s character Lone Wolf in our no-spoiler review of The Gray Man. His role and Dhanush’s performance were fantastic. [I changed the name here because in the credits he’s called Avik San, but in the closed captioning and in the movie they call him Lone Wolf.]
Blackbird
Some people will finally get a chance to see the Michael Flatley movie Blackbird. This spy movie has been shrouded in intrigue since it debuted at London’s Raindance Film Festival in 2018. Hollywood reporter.com tells us that at that premier, no journalists were allowed to view it and there were no reviews or audience reactions on Twitter. Then, like Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects, it disappeared.
Then, in July 2021, it was the opening night movie at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival. Oh yeah, and they didn’t stream it. Michael Flatley won the best actor award at the festival for his performance as Blackbird. He is described as a “troubled, sharply-dressed, James Bond-esque secret agent who retires from the service and seeks solace as the owner of a glamorous nightclub in the Caribbean.”
So, why did we start out saying “some people” will get the chance to see it? Well, they are releasing Blackbird on September 2, 2022, but only in some theaters in Ireland.
So, the intrigue continues. We hope nobody wanted a return on their investment quickly. That said, we think this intrigue might set Blackbird up for a huge payday in the future. If it does well in Ireland and given its mystique, this could just be marketing genius.
Sicario 3
Expected to get the title Sicario: Capos, Sicario 3 is in development. This is the third movie in the Sicario series. The cast hasn’t been announced.
In an article on movieweb.com, we’re told that the story will likely pick up from the Sicario: Day of the Soldado, ending. Black Label Media is the producer and has confirmed that “the movie should enter production this year”. It also quotes actor Josh Brolin, who has appeared in the previous two installments as saying that the script has been “written and rewritten”. And, he joked “we may be 80” when they finally do film it. Given that Brolin is only 54, let’s hope that was a joke.
Mission: Impossible
Ok, so we still have a year to wait for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One. We still can’t believe that’s the title they came up with. Anyway, there are a couple of news items that caught our attention this month:
Tom Cruise Turns 60
Tom Cruise hit his 60th birthday on July 3rd. That prompted director Christopher McQuarrie to tweet out a fantastic picture of Cruise doing a stunt for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part Two. Well, maybe it was Part Two. We’ve also seen an article about this that says it was for Part One. Either way, check it out. It is an impressive look at a 60-year-old Cruise still going nuts with his stunts. You can find it on JoBlo.com.
We don’t think Mickey Rourke and Tom Cruise will be having dinner anytime soon
We’re going to have to sensor this a bit due to the language, but Mickey Rourke lashed out at Tom Cruise on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Morgan asked Rourke “When you see someone like Tom Cruise, grossing a billion dollars with Top Gun Maverick .. what do you think of that?”
“That doesn’t mean (bleep) to me,” Rourke said about the film’s success. “The guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years. … I got no respect for that. … I don’t care about money or power. I care about… when I watch Al Pacino working or Christopher Walken, and De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris’ work and Ray Winstone’s work, that’s the kind of actor I want to be like. …A lot of guys that tried to stretch as actors.”
Piers pressed Rourke and asked him “you don’t think Tom Cruise is a good actor” to which Rourke replied, “I think he’s irrelevant”.
Wow, coming from a guy who’s had a hit-or-miss career, including one Oscar nomination while Cruise has 3, that is quite a statement. Yeah, we should probably keep these guys apart for a while. You can catch the interview on Twitter. There is a link to it on Variety.com.
Looking Backward
Two articles caught our attention this month looking back at older spy movies.
Austin Powers
In celebrating the 20th anniversary of Austin Powers in Goldmember, Vulture gave us an oral history of Beyonce and her role as Foxxy Cleopatra. Makeup artist Kate Briscoe gave us some background on the making of one of the movie posters. Beyonce thought it made her look too skinny. Brisco said:
“When we were shooting, someone brought her a poster that would be promoting the movie,” Biscoe said. “He showed it to her, like, ‘Do you like it?’ And she was kind of like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘What’s the matter?’ And she says, ‘You made me too skinny. It’s not me.’ Then she did this hourglass shape. And he said, ‘Okay, we’ll fix that.’”
Briscoe continued, “She walked away to go do the scene, and I looked at him and smiled, like, ‘Is that the first time that you’ve ever had an actress ask to make her body bigger?’ He was like, ‘Yes. It’s going to cost me thousands of dollars, but I am going to do it.’”
We applaud the decision to both change the poster and to tell us about it. Great job.
True Lies
Ok, this one looks back and forward. We’ve already told you that there is an upcoming tv series based on the movie True Lies.
Well, the movie just hit its 28th anniversary this year is True Lies. Jamie Lee Curtis starred as Helen, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jamie Lee recently discussed one of the stunts from the movie. Namely, the stunt where she hangs off a helicopter in the movie. She credits her stunt double Donna Keegan but says one shot required Curtis to be wired to a helicopter. The article has a picture from the movie, and one of the stunts being performed. It’s nice work and it is fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at a very cool scene. You can check it out in this article on Movieweb.com.
In Memorium
Monty Norman
Well, the James Bond family lost a very important member of its history. Monty Norman passed away at the age of 94.
Norman created the James Bond theme that was then arranged by John Barry. There were disputes how much Norman contributed versus John Barry, who orchestrated the Bond theme for the movie. Yet, Norman is credited with writing it. He also penned ‘Underneath the Mango Tree’ for Dr. No.
We can’t imagine James Bond without his theme.
James Caan
Probably best remembered for his roles in The Godfather and Misery, the prolific actor James Caan passed away at 82. Spy movie fans may remember him playing The President in the 2008 movie Get Smart. Caan also appeared in two episodes of the ‘Get Smart’ tv series in 1969.
Gregory Itzin
Gregory Itzin has passed at the age of 74. He is most known for his role as President Charles Logan on the television series ‘24’. He also played Henry Wilcox on the CIA-based tv series ‘Covert Affairs’.
David Warner
And finally veteran English actor, David Warner has passed at the age of 80. Among his 228 IMDB credits, he starred in Titanic and The Omen, and several Star Trek productions . Spy Movie fans may remember him from the 1992 movie Spies Inc., the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps, or Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming where Warner played Admiral Godfrey.
So, that’s a wrap! This has been the July 26, 2022 edition of our Spy Movie News. Please subscribe to our show – Cracking the Code of Spy Movies – in your favorite podcast app and on YouTube. Tell your friends about us – Share info about our show on your own social media – Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too! All the links are on our website. SpyMovieNavigator.com – Thanks for listening – we appreciate it!
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Learn about what's streaming and in the theater, BLACKBIRD, KINGSMAN 3, THE GRAY MAN 2, SICARIO 3, SPY KIDS and more.
