The depth of the Celluloid Curtain selections resulted from a two year project by the festival’s curators, Nikolaj Nikitin and Oliver Baumgarten, encompassing archives throughout Europe in the search for rare spy films. Their most important find, and the centerpiece of the festival, is the long banned Russian film “Skvorets i Lira.” It dealt with two operatives who infiltrate business circles in West Germany and its release in 1974 coincided with the Guillaume scandal in that country, whereby it was revealed that Chancellor Willy Brandt’s closest aide, Gunter Guillaume, had been working undercover for the Stasi, the infamous East German secret police. According to Nikitin and Baumgarten, the ban on the movie stemmed not only from its inopportune timing and strong parallel to the Guillaume affair, but its grim ideological tone was ill fitting in the emerging climate of détente. The Berlin leg of the festival, following on the heels of a great response in London, concludes on June 22.

The film, which starts shooting next month, is about a spy who works for a security contractor not unlike Blackwater. One of her teammates betrays her, and…well for the rest you’ll have to wait and see. The movie’s not due out until 2011.

Gina Carano plays the female lead, joined by Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Dennis Quaid. The two actors currently in negotiations to join Knockout’s cast are Channing Tatum and Michael Angarano. The former – who will train with a Mossad agent for the part – will be a member of Carano’s spy cell. The latter will play a teenager who helps Carano gets out of a tight spot and in doing so, inadvertently becomes her partner.

The budget for the film’s not huge ($25 mill) and the shooting will take place in Spain and Ireland to make full use of tax incentives and rebates offered in those countries.

The second movie you’ll want to be on the lookout for is still unnamed, but seems to be going by the pet name Wichita for the time being. Tom Cruise (who was actually originally up for the lead in Salt until Jolie expressed interest and the character underwent a sex change) plays a secret agent who makes his way in and out of the life of an unsuspecting single gal played by Cameron Diaz. Apparently she falls in love, completely oblivious to his undercover occupation, and then gets embroiled in one of his operations…but it’s all hearsay at this point seeing as the movie’s not due out until July 2010, and the studios like a little suspense and anticipation, especially when it comes to spy thrillers…

Sounds like it will be a mix of action-packed spying and romance though…following somewhat in the footsteps of this year’s corporate spy flick Duplicity. What’s a good spy movie without a little romance after all…?

Filming for Wichita began Tuesday at the Worcester Regional Airport, which has been transformed into a working set of the Wichita Airport (the real one’s just too big a hub to close down for filming, even with a 20 Century Fox budget).

Ben (Zach Galifianakis), the low-level government scientist who’s in charge of training and outfitting the furry spook crew with their spy paraphernalia, has also figured out how to train flies to carry teeny video cameras into small places. Ben’s got the g-force team investigating the über-wealthy industrialist Saber (Bill Nighy) who may have devilish plans to take over the world, but a few misadventures and the FBI steps in and sends the critters to live out a more fitting existence at the pet shop.

There the spies meet a kooky hamster (Steve Buscemi, part ferret?) and a gassy guinea pig (Jon Favreau) who escape with them and join the mission to stop Saber from taking over the world.

Apparently kids under 8 will enjoy the 90-minute distraction, but adults (spy-caper-loving or otherwise) may want to bring earplugs and take the op to snooze, as boiled down, the dialogue’s generic, the jokes are flat and the plot’s just your spy movie standard.

The casting’s less star-studded than that of spy flicks Duplicity (2009) and Salt (scheduled for a 2010 release), but the acting is good and the twists and turns rather compelling.

The movie spans a quarter century and weaves in black and white flashbacks to Thomas Sparrow’s active CIA days. As a Berlin-based agent during the Cold War, Sparrow (David Rasche) is involved in a money transfer case that goes bad, and even though he’s now retired, living out his days in Seattle, the CIA and Russian mafia are still trying to figure out where the cash landed up.

And from the family-side, Sparrow’s trying to make amends. His daughter Josephine (Elisabeth Rohm), whom he hasn’t seen since she was a little girl, is not the most well-adjusted of individuals. An alcoholic mother with a young kid, she gets by on meaningless sexual encounters, and it seems that a lot of her issues can be traced to her father’s absence. Daddy Sparrow wants now to make up for lost time…get a little parenting in before it’s really too late.

We explore Josephine’s relationships with her shrink (Eric Roberts) – also ex-CIA, her custody battle lawyer (Chad Lindberg), and her self-destructive self, not to mention her repentant father.

Lots of anger, torment, remorse – with an ex-spy at the heart of it. Looks like a winner for folks into their espionage, but it may be hard to come by depending on where you live. Producers are currently seeking distribution for the movie.

Lagerfeld will do the voice of bad guy Fabu in the action-packed cartoon feature based on the TV show by the same name that’s been captivating French audiences for five seasons. The fifth season is to be the last of the show about three high school girls (good start right?) who become secret agents (even better). Although European, the show is set in Cali, and the girls are American: Clover, Sam and Alex. Sounds very Charlie’s Angels-esque, except their Charlie is called Jerry.

High school students by day, the girls  work undercover to fight international crime with special spy gadgets provided by their boss, who heads up the World Organization of Human Protection agency (WOOHP). The girls must, of course, figure out how to keep their secret lives under wraps while they juggle the usual difficulties of American high school life.

The film is scheduled to open in July in France.

image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Officially, the base is used to supply foreign troops in Afghanistan, but when Kyrgyzstan got a $2 billion economic support package from Russia, they asked the U.S. to close the base. The request was made in February, and the Americans are, as things stand now, scheduled to leave in August. Obviously having to close the base would be a setback for the U.S., especially as it gets ready to send more troops into Afghanistan.

The documentary – simply called Base – reports that Manas base has a high-tech surveillance system hidden on the premises, which can “eavesdrop on the whole world – every fax, every e-mailed letter. Every call from a mobile or landline phone is being recorded and processed. Billions of messages are being intercepted.”

Following Friday’s clip, a U.S. defense official commented that the accusations are not only absurd but also conveniently timed to coincide with the revival of discussions between the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan over the base’s future.

The documentary accuses the U.S. of using the base as an intelligence headquarters “in a treacherous way, without being endorsed by the Kyrgyz authorities.”

In addition to showing a two-storey building with no windows – allegedly home to an advanced intelligence surveillance system at Manas, the film shows images of a woman who supposedly works at the U.S. embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek but is in reality an undercover CIA agent. She is later shown dressed (read: disguised) as an older woman. According to the documentary, the Americans have a team of spies in Bishkek whose aim is to keep Kyrgyz counterintelligence in the dark about CIA agents operating in the area.

The film was made by Arkady Mamontov, who has a history of making accusatory documentaries of this nature. In 2006, he was responsible for tensions between London and Moscow over a documentary that claimed to show British spies in the process of gathering information electronically with a fake rock.

Rossiya is known to be the media outlet of the Russian government, so the fact that it’s chosen to air a documentary so clearly anti-American so soon after Russian President Medyedev’s first meeting with Obama has people wondering about divisions within Russia’s ruling class.

image courtesy of www.centralasiatravel.com

Director Nadav Schirman is also a Bond enthusiast, but in The Champagne Spy – his first film – he gives viewers a glimpse into the real life of an undercover intelligence operative who also got a taste of the high life, but in a very different way. Schirman also delves deeper, showing us how his spy subject’s double life had a huge impact on the lives of his family.

Even though the story of undercover operative Ze’ev Gur-Arie begins in the mid-20th century, Schirman first heard of his exploits from his son Oded. Oded had never breathed a word of his father’s involvement in the Mossad (he was sworn to secrecy by his dad in 1960) until Ze’ev passed away. He then took the story to Schirman, who was able to unearth excellent archival footage to complement the rather unbelievable tale of the spy’s career.

Ze’ev Gur-Arie’s real life was based in Paris with his wife and son. His career forced him to spend large chunks of his time in Cairo, however, where he rolled with the city’s high flyers. His unlikely cover? An ex-Nazi millionaire and horse breeder whose job was to get tight with his ‘fellow’ German expats – especially the Nazi scientists who the Israelis suspected of creating weapons whose express purpose was the obliteration of Israel.

Ze’ev Gur-Arie’s assignment in Cairo was no short-term mission. He was in it for long-term espionage and not only adopted, but effectively became Wolfgang Lotz. His moniker – the Champagne Spy – came from the perks of his cover. A convincing multimillionaire needs to lead a life fit for well, a multimillionaire. He even married a German socialite, Waltraud, and his Aryan looks combined with his skill as a spy allowed him to keep his cover and hinder the Germans’ nuclear pursuits for many years.

Oded and his mother didn’t know about Wife #2 until Ze’ev was busted – not by German and Egyptian officials funnily enough, but by his servant, who reported a transmitter he found in the house to the authorities. The Egyptians arrested the Lotzes as German spies working for Israel, never discovering that Gur-Arie was actually an Israeli. Their oversight got him a lifetime prison sentence instead of immediate execution. Waltraud – wholly oblivious to his true identity – was sentenced to three years in prison.

More than just a cover, Ze’ev/Wolfgang was very much devoted to his second wife, and it was this fact that made Oded and his mother’s discovery of Waltraud’s existence all the worse. After the Six Day War, Israel arranged to exchange Egyptian prisoners for Wolfgang and Waltraud’s release.

Wolfgang’s champagne-dappled days were over, and the complexities that his spying life had led to left neither him nor his family footloose and fancy free upon his return. It is this murkier side of espionage that Schirman does not fail to address in his award-winning documentary.

images courtesy of www.spywise.net and www.jewcy.com

It was avid James Bond paraphernalia collector Peter Nelson who came up with the idea of having a public museum dedicated to James Bond. Nelson has collected Bond items for 20 years and has amounted the largest private collection of its kind the world over.

Fans will be able to view several of the Aston Martin and Lotus cars used in the Bond movies in addition to other vehicles like the Russian T55 main battle tank used in Goldeneye and a Bell Jetranger helicopter. Many of the vehicles the museum will feature have never been seen by the public. Also on display will be many film props, including the original Colibri golden gun and lots of cool Q gadgets.

Nelson, like many Bond enthusiasts, first got his hands on Ian Fleming’s Bond books when he was a schoolboy. The films cemented his love for the spy. Nelson was almost unable to complete the museum project due to the vast cost involved and briefly considered auctioning his Bond collection off. He couldn’t bear the thought of splitting up a collection amassed over two decades, however, and has (we’re very excited to hear) managed to get the museum ready for its imminent grand opening.

photo courtesy of www.carenthusiast.com

Robert Edwards is due to adapt and direct the story of a night watchman at a European hotel who is recruited by intelligence agents to spy on a network of international arms dealers. Edwards brings relevant personal experience to the task, having served as an intelligence officer during the Gulf War.

This is not Brad’s first foray into the thrills of spy flicks. He played a CIA operative captured in China for espionage in the 2001 movie Spy Game, and appeared in the recent Burn After Reading, an intelligence spoof by the Coen brothers. In 2005, he starred across Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in which both Jolie and Pitt played professional assassins. Of course production is a different beast, but it’s always great to have one more promising espionage film on our radar.

photo courtesy of www.people.com

Of course, she was in the middle of filming for the new spy flick Salt, in which she plays Evelyn A. Salt, a CIA agent trying to clear her name of accusations that she is a Russian sleeper spy.

Additional scenes were shot in midtown along 5th Avenue on March 14. Jolie, wearing a black wig and black clothes, blended into the crowd at a funeral scene for a killed police officer. The NYPD played themselves. If you want to catch some of the espionage thriller action in person, Jolie and the NYPD are scheduled to return to 5th Avenue for more filming on Saturday, March 21.

Salt, which shoots in Washington and New York City, is due to open in 2010.

photos courtesy of www.theimproper.com

That’s right, tabloids and e-zines on both sides of the Atlantic had British director Danny Boyle lined up to direct the 23rd James Bond movie after his most recent hit claimed 8 Oscar gongs at the Academy Awards (including Best Director). According to UK paper The Sun, Barbara Broccoli (unfortunate name, yes, but no one bats an eyelid when you head up all things double-0-seven at EON Productions) approached Boyle to work his screen sorcery on Daniel Craig’s third go at Bond, James Bond.

According to an unnamed Sun source: “Danny is the man of the moment and he is being bombarded with offers from studios.

“He has been offered the chance to direct the 23rd Bond film by Barbara. The EON team love his vision and think that it would work perfectly for the new look of Bond.

“Danny has always insisted he is more interested in the film than the money.

“However, with Daniel Craig’s involvement and the way the films are now structured – with the emphasis on the characters and plot rather than gags and gadgets – it is right up Danny’s street.

“Everyone on the EON team thinks Danny would be a fantastic addition to the Bond family.”

It all sounds very promising, but this little piece if juicy intel leads to a dead end. Somehow people took “offered the chance to direct” to mean “will be directing,” but Entertainment Weekly cleared up the misunderstanding yesterday with an email from director of the day Danny, who wrote:

“I enjoy the Bond movies, always have and always will, but I have no plans to direct one. I don’t know who came up with the story, but please tell them I’m very flattered to be thought of!”

Hmmm…nothing like disinformation to get us all talking about (read: anticipating) the next spy blockbuster…(though to be fair, it’s not like we at the Dan Gordon Spy Club need any encouragement when it comes to talking about spy cinema).

Who do you suspect planted the story?

photos courtesy of www.baptisttwentyone.com and www.iwatchstuff.com

Salt was originally Edwin A. Salt, and Tom Cruise was in line to play the CIA agent star role. Angelina took an interest in the script however, and Edwin is now Evelyn (the film title castrated accordingly). So CIA officer Evelyn Salt is exposed as a Russian sleeper spy and has to outsmart and outrun the people convinced she’s on a mission to assassinate the president. Simultaneously, she’s trying to reunite with her family and expose someone else as the traitor. Liev Schreiber will be Jolie’s CIA boss and friend, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is up for a CIA counterintelligence role under the name of Peabody.

Buzz on the street is that Jolie will go undercover as a man at some point in the film. At least Edwin/Cruise get a little recompense.

Salt is being directed by Phillip Noyce and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Purkash.

photo courtesy of guardian.co.uk

Don’t be put off by the title – this film has nothing to do with giving birth. It’s Summit Entertainment’s latest action thriller starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning; it opened in theaters Friday 6, 2009.

Quickie Summary: Paranormal agents touting powers like telekinesis, predicting the future, creating alternate dimensions and eliminating rivals without so much a touch do battle with a government agency in Hong Kong to save the world. You may have to suspend your disbelief, but that’s part of the point.

The Washington Post reports: “It’s a gussied-up knockoff of a Scorsese mob movie, shellacked with an opaque sheen of Clancy-style espionage, stir-fried with a bit of Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and the Wachowski brothers. It’s the perfect brain vacation for those overtaxed by Oscar-nominated movies.”

Directed by Paul McGuigan, Push will drag you deep into the lethal world of psychic espionage, where the stakes are sky high – nothing less than the future of civilization as we know it.

The International

Opening the Berlin Festival on February 4, 2009 (US release: lucky Friday, February 13), The International is a sleek film about blackmail, espionage and murder in the banking world.

Quickie Summary: An Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and a Manhattan assistant district attorney (Naomi Watts) spearhead an investigation to bring one of the world’s most powerful banks to its knees. Together, they follow an international trail to uncover illegal activities galore (think money laundering, weapons trading, the destabilization of governments). With their lives in mortal danger, they partners take on a bank determined keep their clandestine operations active and their secrets under wraps at all costs.

Although directed by Tom Tykwer, the guy behind the quirky postmodern hit Run, Lola, Run, don’t expect the same sort of hyperactive color and dynamism.

Duplicity

Not due in US theaters until March 20, but Clive Owen is certainly making the spy movie rounds – this time acting opposite leading lady Julia Roberts.

Quickie Summary: A pair of ex-government agents turned corporate spies conspire to get the best of both their bosses, so they can walk off with the jackpot themselves.

A little lust, a lot of humor and not much trust promises a feel-good hybrid that marries romantic comedy and espionage/con job flicks. Directed by Tony Gilroy, the mastermind behind the Bourne series screenplays.