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The director of one of last year’s best films has finally found his next gig… Tomas Alfredson, director of Let The Right One In, has been hired to make a spy thriller.

Per Variety, Alfredson will be directing an adaptation of John Le Carre’s classic cold war novel, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”  It will be Alfredson’s first film in English and the second time the novel has been brought to the screen.  The first was for a BBC mini-series starring Alec Guinness.

The story is about an aging, retired spy named George Smiley who’s brought back to active duty to help identify a possible mole in the upper ranks of the British Secret Intelligence Service.  No word on casting yet, but the script is written by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Last King of Scotland).

Alfredson showed with Let The Right One In that he can handle atmosphere and character with equal skill.  The challenge here will most likely be with the story itself.  It’s not yet known if the film will keep the cold war-era setting or if it will be updated into the modern day.  Either option is intriguing, and I have no doubt Alfredson and Morgan will create a brilliant film regardless of the movie’s setting.

What do you think of this pairing? Have you read the book?