The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s Mr. Waverly Character Poster Has Arrived

And, today, we've at last got what's probably the final character poster for Guy Ritchie's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: Hugh Grant as Alexander Waverly, here billed as "the Intelligence." U.N.C.L.E. boss Mr. Waverly was played on the Sixties TV series by Leo G. Carroll (North By Northwest). When the casting of Grant as Waverly was first announced, it struck me as such inspired casting that that was the moment I sat up and took interest, thinking, "Wow, this U.N.C.L.E. movie just might be something special!" And the two trailers we've seen so far (here and here) have only strengthened these feelings. I think this movie will be great.

Thanks to David Diabolik for the tip!

New Transporter: Refueled Poster

EuropaCorp have released a new (better) poster for The Transporter Refueled, this one reflecting the new release date of September 4, 2015. The reboot, intended to kick off a new trilogy of over-the-top neo-Eurospy action, stars Ed Skrein stepping into the very large shoes of Jason Statham as professional transporter Frank Martin. It is unrelated to TNT's Transporter TV series with Chris Vance, though director Camille Delamarre did cut his teeth on a few episodes of the show.

American Ultra Gets Octopussy-Inspired Character Posters

Here are two trippy, Octopussy-inspired character posters for the stoner spy action-comedy American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. Eisenberg (The Social Network) plays a stoner sleeper agent whose Treadstone-like training is suddenly activated, setting into motion a chain of events that bring government spy agencies down on a small town. Walton Goggins lends some bona fide Bourne experience, and Bill Pullman (The Equalizer), Topher Grace (The Double), Sharon Stone (Agent X), John Leguizamo (Executive Decision) and Tony Hale (Veep) co-star. Watch the red band trailer here.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 1-Sheet Poster Revealed

Paramount unveiled the final 1-sheet for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation on the movie's Facebook page today. And, while I'm not normally a fan of photo montage posters, I have to say, I really like this one! I like the design, I like that it reminds me of the DVD covers for the TV seasons, and most of all I like that it reinforces that the Mission: Impossible film franchise has finally become a team series, like its TV predecessor. While we've seen a set of character posters for this film already (and Ghost Protocol had one as well), all of the previous Mission: Impossible 1-sheets (even the decidedly team-oriented Ghost Protocol), to the best of my recollection, featured only Tom Cruise (usually in his distinctive profile). This poster would seem to represent a full evolution of the film series becoming more like the TV show, which is a great thing! (Rogue Nation also features the return of The Syndicate, the primary antagonist in the final seasons of the show.) Here, Cruise is flanked by Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames and Alec Baldwin. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation opens July 31. View the latest trailer here.

More Man From U.N.C.L.E. Character Posters

Following on from the poster reveals for Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander), we have two more Man From U.N.C.L.E. character posters today: one for Armie Hammer as Solo's Russian partner, Illya Kuryakin (a role played in the TV series by David McCallum), and one for Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, The Great Gatsby) as Victoria Vinciguerra... or, as the poster bills her, "the evil genius." Some of the most memorable evil geniuses from the TV show were women, including Janine Gray (Danger Man) as Angelique in "The Deadly Games Affair," and the great Anne Francis (Honey West) as Gervaise Ravel in a pair of first season episodes. Hopefuly Debicki will follow in their illustrious footsteps! Now, surely we'll see a Waverly poster showcasing Hugh Grant before the week is out...

Tradecraft: Mighty Boosh Star Julian Barrett Gets MI5 Upgrade

Bonafide comedy genius Julian Barrett (The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley) has cooked up a comedy feature with a spy angle, according to Deadline. Barrett and his fellow Boosh actor Simon Farnaby (MI-High) have cooked up a movie called Mindhorn, about an MI5 agent named Bruce Mindhorn who was captured in the late 1980s and had his eye was replaced by a super-advanced optical lie detector, "which meant he could literally 'see the truth.' He escaped and fled to the Isle of Man, to recuperate in the island’s temperate micro-climate, and today has become the best plain-clothes detective the island has ever seen." If this is anywhere near as Mighty Boosh-meets-Spy In Your Eye as it sounds, I will be in heaven! Acclaimed theater director Sean Foley ("The Play What I Wrote") will make his feature directing debut, and Scott Free's Jack Arbuthnott will produce with Laura Hastings-Smith in association with Steve Coogan's Baby Cow. No casting has been announced, but they better get on that quick, because filming is scheduled to begin on the Isle of Man on July 27. I certainly hope that Barrett himself is starring as Mindhorn, but perhaps they're after a bigger name. Whoever it is, I can't wait to see this! The Mighty Boosh is pretty much the greatest thing ever, and when you take half the Boosh team and add a dash of spies, I expect nothing short of greatness.

Man From U.N.C.L.E. Character Poster: Alicia Vikander's Gaby Teller

Following yesterday's reveal of the Napoleon Solo character poster for The Man From U.N.C.L.E., today Warner Bros. released a second characters poster. But rather than following Napoleon with Illya, they chose to showcase one of the movie's leading ladies, Alicia Vikander as Gaby Teller. (Teller was not a character on the original TV series, but seems to fill the show's formula role of "the innocent" somehow caught up in U.N.C.L.E.'s spy action.) This decision is hardly surprising, as the red-hot Vikander, coming off of a scene-stealing, Oscar-worthy performance in the critical and commercial success Ex Machina, may well be the movie's biggest star at the moment. The Swedish actress will keep on spying after her U.N.C.L.E. tour of duty ends, appearing opposite Matt Damon in the next Bourne movie, it was announced this week. But before that, she's still got a number of other movies set for release this year. Perhaps tomorrow we'll see an Illya Kuryakin poster.

First Man From U.N.C.L.E. Character Poster

While the final 1-sheet for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was decidedly lackluster (especially compared to the striking teaser poster), at least there are much better character posters to look forward to. Here's the first one, showcasing Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo (played on the Sixties TV series by Robert Vaughn). Presumably we can expect an Illya Kuryakin poster featuring Armie Hammer soon, and perhaps even an Alexander Waverly poster with Hugh Grant. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. opens August 14. Watch the latest trailer here.

New Trailer and Poster for Hitman: Agent 47

Fox has released a fairly cool poster design along with a new trailer for its videogame-based neo-Eurospy reboot Hitman: Agent 47, starring Rupert Friend (Homeland), Hannah Ware (Oldboy), Ciaran Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek). The reboot sees Friend taking over the role of the enigmatic Agent 47, played by Timothy Olyphant in the 2007 original (review here). Hitman: Agent 47 opens August 21. Check out the trailer below:

Tradecraft: New Regency Makes Second Attempt at a Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV Show... This Time as a Reality Series

Back in 2007, ABC ordered a one-hour drama pilot from New Regency based on Doug Liman's blockbuster 2005 Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The successful team behind the movie was also behind that TV version, with Liman (The Bourne Identity, Fair Game) directing and Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: Days of Future Past) scripting. Married assassins Mr. and Mrs. Smith were reinterpreted as married spies (not difficult, since the movie traded heavily on classic spy iconography), with Jordanna Brewster (The Fast and the Furious) playing the Jolie part and Martin Henderson (Secrets & Lies) stepping into Pitt's shoes. The network ended up passing on the series, and it was shopped elsewhere, but ultimately failed to find a home.

Now, according to Deadline, New Regency is trying again at adapting the movie to television, but with a major twist. This time, teaming with unscripted production company 3 Ball Entertainment, they are doing it as a reality series. According to the trade, the competition show "will feature married couples that compete in a high-octane, high-stakes game, with the producers offering no further details." In the film, Pitt and Jolie each discover that their spouse is, like them, a professional assassin, and that they have each been tasked with eliminating the other, sparking a fierce, over-the-top battle of the sexes. A reality gameshow based on that concept just might work, if it's done properly.

New Regency has been eager to reactivate this brand for a long time. Besides the failed scripted series, they've also attempted to get a movie sequel off the ground (in which the Smiths were to have a child), and failing that, a theatrical reboot just five years after the first movie, which would have focused on a different couple, in their twenties, set up as a fake married couple straight out of spy school. Personally, I'd still love to see Pitt and Jolie reunite for a proper sequel under Liman's direction. It could actually be even more fun ten years later.

Tradecraft: Alicia Vikander Confirmed for Next Bourne Movie

Matt Damon's fourth Bourne movie (fifth in the series overall) is picking up steam! Hot on the heels of the news that Julia Stiles would reprise her role of Nicky from the first three movies comes confirmation, from Deadline, that red-hot Swedish star Alicia Vikander has, indeed, signed onto the project. We first heard rumblings that the breakout star of the sleeper hit Ex Machina (whose previous spy credits include The Fifth Estate and the forthcoming The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) was up for a Bourne role a month ago, out of Cannes. Coming off of a standout performance like she gave in Ex Machina (likely to earn her an Oscar nomination), the actress had her pick of projects, and ended up selecting The Bourne Resurrection (or whatever it really ends up being called) over the likes of Assassin's Creed with Michael Fassbender or The Circle with Tom Hanks.

Paul Greengrass, who helmed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum as well as the underrated Green Zone with Damon, will direct the new Bourne movie and is writing the script with Christopher Rouse (who edited Greengrass's two previous Bourne movies) after concocting the story with Damon. Damon and Greengrass are also producing, alongside franchise newcomer Gregory Goodman (X-Men: First Class) and Bourne veterans Frank Marshall and Jeffrey Weiner, of Captivate Entertainment, rights-holders of the Robert Ludlum library. Universal has announced a July 29, 2016 release date, but it will be interesting to see if they can actually make that date with just over a year to go and casting only beginning to firm up now. As previously reported, Viggo Mortensen is also rumored to be considering a role in the film.

Read my review of Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum here.

Read my review of Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy here.

Read my review of the 1988 miniseries of The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Supremacy here.

Read my review of Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Ultimatum here. 

Tradecraft: Gaumont Plots CIA Assassin Series Crosshair

Gaumont TV Europe will produce a 13-episode season of a CIA thriller entitled Crosshair, Deadline reports. Gaumont announced an aggressive plan last year to produce two new English language series a year, starting with William Boyd's Cold War Berlin-set Spy City. Now they've got another spy show in the pipeline, with the contemporary action thriller procedural Crosshair, following a CIA assassin and shot on location throughout Europe. Crosshair was created by Ken Sanzel, whose producing credits include Numb3rs, Blue Bloods and the Ironside remake. Here's the trade's rather clunky description:

The procedural aspect of Crosshair will see each episode focus on the circumstances and implications of a single rifle shot. The story of the globetrotting thriller centers on John, a freelance sniper with a CIA blessing to go anywhere and shoot for almost anyone. After discovering he has a 16-year-old daughter with the only woman he nearly loved, and realizing that his partner tried to kill him, he drifts into a mid-life crisis. Questioning everything he’s seen and done, he begins to develop a mercurial moral code. There’s also a throughline which sees John attempt to untangle a large conspiracy while at the same time trying to protect his career status and life.

Deadline adds that European broadcasters have lamented the lack of weekly procedurals, designed to be tuned into with no knowledge of what's happened before, as the U.S. becomes more and more focused on highly serialized event programming. Gaumont hopes to fill this void with Crosshair.