I thought; if they were to say, make Horse Under Water as the first of a new spin off movie series in the Harry Palmer 'franchise' - who would play Harry Palmer?
Clive Owen?
Mark Strong?
(Not Jude Law!)
Jason Isaacs would be pretty cool. Damien Lewis might be a nice choice also. Colin Firth is not known for coming across as dangerous, but he's a terrific actor who could sell it if given the role. Or maybe one of the stronger leads from 'Spooks' like Matthew Macfadyen or Rupert Penry-Jones.
"And no regrets?"
I was thinking if it were a prequel i.e. to Ipcress file, they'd need a younger guy , or maybe it could be a film that slots in the franchise at any point as it is.
shareWith a re-imagining of a franchise this old, like the Bourne films, you can just start a new timeline and make the character any age you want - hopefully only contingent upon whomever so happens to be the actor with the most presence.
"And no regrets?"
I know you could restart the franchise, which I'm all for, but I'd rather have it related in someway to the main franchise, as - like Dirty Harry - I think Caine's original movie series is too good to reimagine or remake. So that's why I wanted to set the prospective new film as a prequel, with an actor playing a younger Harry Palmer. You could also however, place a new film in the present and have Harry Palmer revealed as an actual name of a specific operative, therefore, using that idea, you could have Caine in the movie hand-off to his successor.
shareNah, don't like that. Sounds like the redundant rationale people use for why there are five different fortysomethings from various decades, all called James Bond, and ignoring the only necessary explanation - it's a film franchise. You don't need any of that passing-the-baton stuff. It's just time consuming exposition. Just keep the character and tonal template broadly the same and either adapt any of the books directly or remake the previous films - whichever makes for the strongest debut.
The reworking of the Bourne franchise to keep more in step with the political zeitgeist suggests faithfulness to either the books or the previous films may not be required. You could probably transplant the Harry Palmer character into any new plot actually. And come to think of it, his distinctly unBondian, unglamorous, semi-working class lifestyle has relevancy again with the current economic climate, and may be the only element that's needed to strike a chord with audiences.
"And no regrets?"
They should remake FUNERAL IN BERLIN, a great novel in the series that was drastically changed in the first version with Michael Caine. There are great scenes with the Russian spy master, Col. Stok, and with a Holocaust survivor, that make the story way above average and that were missing in the movie. Those two chapters are two of the best chapters I've ever read anywhere. And, the ending in the book is much much better, with a lot more suspense. A remake would be great, especially in light of the new movie TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. Then, they could go onto the other novels that weren't filmed like HORSE UNDER WATER and YESTERDAY'S SPY. A modern re-do wouldn't work for me, because contemporary thrillers have to have much more high-octane action than exist in Len Deighton's books. This spy is not like Bourne and even less like Bond. More like Philip Marlowe in Chandler's novels, crossed with one of the more heroic spies that sometimes can be found in a few John Le Carre novels.
shareHmm... I had to give this some real thoughts, and I agree with you, definately not Jude Law. Clive Owen perhaps, but he's no personal favourite of mine, he's too much of a "stone-faced" actor to do this role justice.
My vote would have to go to Ewan McGregor, who I think could take it on and do the many levels of the persona Harry Palmer justice.
Remember to always be yourself... Unless you suck!
I think they should do SPY STORY, which is actually my favorite Len Deighton novel about "Harry". As to who'd play him, an unknown would be best. If not, I'd actually like Kenneth Branaugh or Hugh Laurie. SPY STORY takes place with an older "Harry" than the events of THE IPCRESS FILE.
shareClive Owen would make a good Harry Palmer. Intelligent but street-wise.
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