hangingfire at tumblr

May 11

Cumberbock?

Me: (Waiting in line to buy gum, slowly becoming aware of the conversation behind me.)
She: We saw that movie too, we were so confused!
He: I fell asleep during it!
He2: All I could figure was, Colin Firth won the Oscar so he must be someone important in it.
He: Well, he *was* the bad guy...
She: I guess so...
Them: (Crosstalk)
She: But that Cumberbock guy was pretty hot stuff.
He2: Gary Oldman?
She: No, the younger one...

Apr 26

Feb 26

Why Gary Oldman should've won Best Actor

“We’ve both spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another’s systems. Don’t you think it’s time to recognise there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?”

Feb 23

(via jackswhite)

Feb 18

“

Q: Have you found that Americans don’t get the plot?

A: Yeah. But a lot of people are confused. They should not feel stupid or slow because it’s dense. Even when you read the book, you’re thinking, who is he talking about now? It gives me hope, a movie like this. It doesn’t insult your intelligence. It seems in this day and age, the industry wisdom [is that] movie audiences are dumb and TV audiences are smart. We watch these episodic long-form TV shows and we follow a plot effortlessly, but you got to dummy it all down for the people that go to the cinema. And I thought what was refreshing is that this is a movie, has a certain pace, has a European feel. I said to Tomas when I first saw the movie, it’s like watching a lava lamp.

” Gary Oldman on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, interviewed in the NY Times.

Feb 6

Well, well. Look what I found.

Tucked away on the Focus Features web site (buried under miles of Flash, but somehow a search for “tinker tailor soldier spy conference room clock” got me there directly): the screenplay for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. By Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, and nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay award.

P.S. I am sure that many fans will be glad to know that the shooting script gives Guillam’s boyfriend a name. You’re welcome.

Feb 5

“But oh my god WHY, WHY DID I SEARCH THE TUMBLR TAG, WHY WOULD I DO THAT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. There are so many posts by young - trust me, they must be young - Benedict Cumbermuffin fans going “LOL THE OLD GUY MAIN CHARACTER BLAH BLAH BLAH TALKING TO BENEDICT” and I’m like THAT IS GARY OLDMAN YOU PHILISTINES
OUT OF MY PRESENCE
YOU ARE FIRED FROM THE INTERNET HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHO - I MEAN FOR GOD’S SAKE - AT LEAST CALL HIM SIRIUS BLACK OR SOMETHING
OR COMMISSION GORDON
OR SOMETHING
BUT I WILL NOT ACCEPT OLD GUY.
la;ksjdglaksjglkasdg excuse me while I go flip some tables or something over the State of Youth Today.”

prescription cure for graphophobia: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Welcome to my experience of life as an older fan.

(via immlass)

hangingfire sez: Here is the #tinker tailor soldier spy tag summarized in four bullet points.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH SQUEEEEEEE
OMG TOM HARDY IN A SHIRT AND NO PANTS
BILL HAYDON/JIM PRIDEAUX ALL MY FEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLS*
…oh yeah that gary oldman kinda cool for an old dude i liked him as sirius black

*Which is a piece of internet slang that needs to be set on fire IMMEDIATELY.

(via immlass)

Jan 31

In which the scene where George Smiley tells the story of his only meeting with Karla is explicated.

A couple of things strike me here. One is the actors’ voices; obviously what one does with one’s voice is a big part of the performance craft, but it’s really worth noting what Gary Oldman did with his voice for Smiley—it’s lower, rougher, with a slower pace than his out-of-character manner. The other is the shots that show just how much light there actually was on the actors in that scene—a scene which comes across as dark and barely lit in the film. Ah, movie magic. I really do love it.

Jan 13

branduponthebrain:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)

“Beware of head entrapment.”

…At some point I will stop being obsessed with the movie and the book and le Carré in general, but today is clearly not that day.

thscnvrsationcnsrvnoprps:

Patrick Stewart and Alec Guinness in Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy

Stewart says nothing. But, he doesn’t need to. Great scene between two legendary actors.

Whoa, wait, what? How did I not know that Patrick Stewart played Karla in the Tinker Tailor Solider Spy TV series? And if I did know at some point, how did I forget?

That being said? I think I like this whole scene better as it’s relayed in the book and in the new movie, where the audience only gets it through the filter of George Smiley’s narration of his own memories. When all you see of the story is Smiley telling it to Guillam, you get more layers to work with—not just in what Smiley reveals about himself when he’s talking to Karla, but also in what Smiley reveals about himself to Guillam when telling him the story about what he inadvertently revealed to Karla. I feel like something is lost when the viewer is actually permitted to watch this scene “as it happened”. I can see why the TV producers thought it would be a good idea to do this, but I’m not sure it was the best decision.

(Then again, maybe I just need to watch the TV series to see it in context.)