The Constant Gardener (2005): One of the world’s greatest novelists, John le Carre, passed away on Saturday of pneumonia. The British author was 89. Several of his best-selling novels have been turned into films over the decades. One of them was The Constant Gardener. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, the film tells the story of a widower who goes on a quest to solve his wife’s murder, no matter what the odds are against him. Rachel Weisz picked up an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for this film in 2006.
The Tailor of Panama (2001): Starring two renowned actors, Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush, the film tells a tale of a tailor who reluctantly becomes a spy for a British intelligence agent. Described by a reviewer as a “clever, consistently engaging thriller with complex characters who struggle with various alterations of the truth”, the film was based on one of le Carre’s more recent novels published in 1996.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Trust the rather awesome Gary Oldman to bring le Carre’s famous espionage veteran George Smiley to life on screen. Set in the times of the Cold War, Smiley comes out of semi-retirement to unearth a Soviet mole within British intelligence. The film, based on a 1974 novel by le Carre, won the BAFTA award for Outstanding British Film in 2013 .
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The Night Manager (2016): Boasting a stellar cast including Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, this six-part mini-series based on the first post-Cold war novel by le Carre published in 1993, has an 8.1 rating on IMDb and won Hiddleston a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965): The most vintage film on our list is also our favourite, featuring legendary actor Richard Burton as British Agent Alec Leamas, who chooses to face what may be his final mission during the Cold War. It won a BAFTA award for Outstanding British Film in 1967. In a 2013 article for The New Yorker, le Carre spoke of his time on the film set. “And Burton’s performance was epic. And we had the best seats. And in his dressing room he was very charming and said my book was the best thing since I don’t know what.”
