Blog: John le Carre - An Evening with George Smiley

There is nothing like reading a well-written book by an intelligent and knowledgeable author. Through into the mix lots of espionage, cultural references and a subtle British humour, and you get an incredible reading experience. And that is John le Carré’s books in the nutshell.  

John le Carre

 

John le Carré is a British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and '60s, he worked for both the Security Service and the Secret Intelligence Service. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), became an international best-seller and remains one of his best-known works. Following the success of this novel, he left MI6 to become a full-time author. In 2011, he was awarded the Goethe Medal.

I didn’t know that John le Carre did any public appearance, as he is of a rather advanced age, but the moment I heard of this presentation, I knew I had to go and see it. It was broadcasted live by Cineplex on October 25, 2017.

Trailer

 

Synopsis

 

Captured live from London's Royal Festival Hall, join us for a celebration of one of the world’s greatest writers as he shares the secrets behind the creation of his most beloved character. From his extraordinary Cold War novels – such as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – to his powerful descriptions of the arms trade in The Night Manager, and the War on Terror in A Most Wanted Man, the writing of John le Carre has come to define the last half century. In this one-off event, the author discusses the full breadth of his career, and reflects on the continuing story of his most famous creation, the tubby, bespectacled spy, George Smiley. Coinciding with the publication date of his new novel, A Legacy of Spies, the event will include readings from the book by the author. The novel sees the return of some of le Carre’s most iconic Cold War characters, including George Smiley and his trusted lieutenant, Peter Guillam, as their past comes back to claim them in the present. With a rare question and answer session, this will be an unmissable opportunity to experience one of the foremost chroniclers of our age, direct and in his own words. In support of MSF, the leading emergency medical humanitarian aid organisation, John le Carre is donating his speaker’s fee, and the producers of the live cinema broadcast, The Ink Factory, are donating their share of the profits to the charity.

 

My experience

 

The theatre was only half full with, predictably, people far older than me (I find it rather refreshing to be the youngest in the room). Right before the start, a Cineplex representative came into the auditorium and announced a one-question quiz. The prize was the new George Smiley book, “A Legacy of Spies”.

 

The question asked was “What is the latest book by John le Carre?”. I did a double take, as I am sure many in the audience, as nobody expected to be asked a question with such an obvious answer, so I didn’t say a thing. Someone in the audience yelled out the title of the book, and we had our winner.

 

Except, that person already had a copy of “A Legacy of Spies”.

 

The Cineplex rep was stuck - he had to do the giveaway but he ran out of questions - so a gentleman in the audience voiced the question for him.

 

Somebody answered it, and the Cineplex rep was ready to hand over the price. Except - that person also already owned a copy.

 

Can you guess what happened next?

The helpful gentleman asked the audience another question.

It was also answered by someone who already had the book.

 

We all were starting to giggle hysterically, because it was just too good. There were, perhaps, only about 50 people in the audience, and most of them have already purchased and read the book that was being given as a price. But since there were more than one people who didn’t have a copy, the rep couldn’t just give it to somebody.

 

To be honest, I didn’t even try to participate. I am not good with quizes and the questions concerned the George Smiley books that I haven’t read yet (I also have a feeling that I was spoiled certain things from the Karla trilogy), but I was enjoying the show a lot!

 

The fourth question came up, and finally an elderly lady next to me answered it with a help of her friend. The game was over. The Cineplex rep thanked everyone for an incredible entertainment and especially the person who stepped in with his questions (his questions were so deep, that they reminded me of my late professor of XX Century World Literature).

 

Finally, the show began.

 

The first part had John le Carre talk in extensive detail of his writing journey, how he came up with the character of George Smiley, as well as his own experience in intelligent service in UK and his work abroad. He also read small bits from “A Legacy of Spies” and talked about certain characters in detail. He mentioned several actors who portrayed George Smiley and Peter Guillam in various adaptations. (He even mentioned Benedict Cumberbatch in 2011 movie version of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and how his movie character was different from the book - which is something that I am still on the fence about.)

 

His hour long presentation is interrupted by interviews with several actors and producers: Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman (The Night Manager, 2016), Simon Russell Beale (who narrated The Complete George Smiley Radio Dramas: BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatization), Michael Jayston (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (miniseries)), and some others whom I, unfortunately, did not remember by the name.

The second part of the broadcast was a Q&A session with John, which was run by Jon Snow.

 

It was a delightful evening overall. I left Cineplex itching to read the first novel about George Smiley, “Call for the Dead”, as soon as possible. So far, I have only read “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and “The Night Manager”. But I can’t wait to get my hands on more of le Carre’s books. If anything, this broadcast got me even more into the spy novels set during the Cold War.

 

Buy the latest book

A Legacy Of Spies

 

My book reviews

 

Links

 

  • https://www.johnlecarre.com/
  • https://www.cineplex.com/Movie/john-le-carre-an-evening-with-george-smiley

 

TIFF 2013 - Only Lovers Left Alive

Originally written: SEPTEMBER 7, 2013 "Only Lovers Left Alive" is a 2013 internationally co-produced vampire film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi, and John Hurt.

I arrived to the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema around 10:40am (the movie time was 12:15pm). I intended to arrive earlier, but I underestimated the distance. For some reason I thought it is an intersection with Yonge. Go me.

I got into the rush line. It was pretty short compared to the lines for The Fifth Estate and 12 Years A Slave. It was pretty quiet. Maybe because it was raining quite a bit.

At 12pm the line was not moving. And nobody was telling us how many people are ahead or how many tickets there might be. Compared to other screenings I went to, the volunteers here were few and not very talkative. Maybe it was the rain.

At 12:10pm the line moved a bit. Then a bit. It was moving very slowly. At 12:20pm somebody said that the movie had started (which doesn’t make sense because they wouldn’t be keeping people in the line then). Then 5 minutes later somebody said that they were going to start shortly.

There were few people ahead of me, when we heard that they would let 5 more people inside (they were letting in people in fives) and that was it.

I was lucky to be that 5th person in the line.

I got inside the theater when the movie was on already, but barely missed anything. I think they let in another 5 people after me, because I saw more people coming in later. But it was definitely not the whole rush line (compared to two other galas). And this was not even a premiere! I think there were about 30 people ahead of me in the line. So I estimate that there were about 40 rush tickets sold.

But I can only guess, since nobody told us how many people were in the line.

The movie was a visual and musical delight. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton played vampires, a married couple, Adam and Eve. They were beautiful in their Yin/Yang harmony, a pair of glamoury and artistic hippies with fangs. The story is quite simple. It is less of a story and more of a painting, where you want to watch every detail for hours. Mia Wasikowska was Ava, Eve’s younger sister. She was adorable. John Hurt played an old vampire (hinted to be Shakespeare himself).

It was an odd but pretty movie, a very soft one, with no sex, no biting, no violence. It was so different from any other vampire movie that I have seen that I want to give Jim Jarmusch an Oscar only for creating his own folklore about vampires.

Acting was brilliant. It looked as if Tom and Tilda were not playing vampires, but rather themselves, being as deep, thoughtful, intelligent and lithe as they are in real life.

There was only one scene in which both of them were naked (nothing graphic though) - both of them are so thin! And Tilda is over 50! And she looks amazing!

I want that movie. I want to watch it again.

The movie was shot in Detroit, Colon and Tangier. The scenery was amazing. Every single frame is worth capturing.

I didn’t expect that there would be Q&A afterwards, since it was not a premiere and there were very few people, no paps and no buzz. But I was wrong! Jim Jarmusch, Anton Yelchin (who plays Adam’s friend) and Tom Hiddleston were there!

Oh my god. I still can’t believe I saw Tom Hiddleston! He is as charming and as polite in real life as everyone says he is. Anton was adorable. And Jim was freaking hilarious. He joked about Tom, saying that they, the producers, do not really care about how nice/not nice the actors are, so far they can do their job. He laughed and said that Tom is a very nice guy. All while Tom was looking down and being all adorably abashed about it.

There were quite a few questions from the audience (compared to the gala of "12 Years A Slave" where there were no questions from the viewers, only a couple from the host). Somebody asked Tom how it was to work with Tilda and he said that it was amazing. Compared their work to dancing. It was quite lovely (he sounded so adorable).

I was sitting at the far back, but I did manage to take a picture of all of them at the podium. They were also broadcasting the image to the screen. Which was very good because I could see them, compared to 12 Years A Slave (again), where I could see almost nothing from my balcony seat.

When the Q&As were done, I left, because I didn’t want to fight my way to the front to have another look at Tom (I am still wondering if he is as tall as he looks like on screen). People were very nice though, no rabid fangirls. Everyone was leaving (as if we didn’t have the freaking LOKI in the room, but seeing as it was a bit different movie from The Avengers, some people might have not seen it), I saw only a couple of people go closer to the cast and the producer, but I think only because they were already at the front.

It was quite lovely. And seeing Tom Hiddleston made me really happy! :) A photographer was snapping shots right behind my seat all through Q&As, so I am sure we all will see the pictures of my left ear from it on tumblr.

This movie is very much worth seeing. And also this also answers another questions - if it is worth going to any screening but galas/premium. Yes and yes.

And I can’t believe I got lucky again! Woohoo! Hopefully my luck holds through the rest of TIFF.

Happy movie watching!