John Le Carré adaptations can be hit-and-miss affairs: not all of them can be Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. But we have faith in Anton Corbijn, the man behind Control and The American, who has directed A Most Wanted Man. The first clip from the film, which premiered in Sundance at the weekend, is now online.
A Most Wanted Man finds Philip Seymour Hoffman playing rogue German counter-terrorism expert Gunter Bachmann. He’s trying to track down half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), who may or may not be part a militant jihadist group in post-9/11 Hamburg. Issa has access to a very private bank account containing a legacy of dubious origin and it's not long before British, German and American intelligence agencies are paying close attention.
To try to find his man, Gunter interrogates human rights lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), and things just get more complicated from there.
The film boasts a frankly fantastic cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Nina Hoss, Franz Hartwig, Kostja Ullman, Rainer Bock, Charlotte Schwab, Max Volkert Martens, Martin Wuttke and Turkish actress Derya Alabora. There’s no set date yet, but A Most Wanted Man should be on our screens this year.