The photograph of Gary Oldman as Smiley on page 4 of the Review (The truth about spies, 17 September) looked so like Sir William Coldstream when I taught with him in his final years at the Slade school of fine art, Ucl, 1974 to 1976. I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last night and the film confirmed that Oldman's portrayal of Smiley is based on Coldstream: his glasses, his painting technique based on the ideas of watching he developed at the Gpo Film Unit working alongside Wh Auden, who wrote in his Letter to William Coldstream, Esq (1937): "Let me pretend I am the impersonal eye of the camera." The film even seemed to echo his various Georgian homes and studios.
Peter Wright's Spycatcher starts with his final day at work for MI5. He gets off the train at Euston Square and walks down Gower Street to the MI5 offices in a building next to an art school.
Peter Wright's Spycatcher starts with his final day at work for MI5. He gets off the train at Euston Square and walks down Gower Street to the MI5 offices in a building next to an art school.
- 9/23/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
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