Oscars 2012: ‘Tinker Tailor’ nomination honors late playwright
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The cerebral British spy drama ‘Tinker Tailor Solider Spy’ received three Oscar nominations Tuesday morning -- one for its star, Gary Oldman, another for its score by Alberto Iglesias and a third for its adapted screenplay by Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan. In the case of the script, though, the nomination comes posthumously for O’Connor, a playwright (and Straughan’s wife) who died of cancer at the age of 49 in September.
“I’m stunned and thrilled to hear about the nomination,’ Straughan said in a statement. ‘I wish more than anything in the world that my wife Bridget O’Connor -- who did the lion’s share of the adaptation -- could be here to enjoy this moment. She would be so happy and so proud. I’m going to go and meet my daughter now and tell her how clever her mother was!”
O’Connor was the author of the prizewinning play ‘The Flags,’ as well as collections of short stories and several plays for radio and theater.
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Adapted from the John le Carre Cold War novel that previously inspired a 1979 BBC miniseries, ‘Tinker Tailor’ is set in 1973 and tells the story of the search for a mole at the top levels of British intelligence. Oldman plays George Smiley, the taciturn agent who’s tasked with ferreting out the treachery. The film is directed by Tomas Alfredson, who previously made the critically acclaimed atmospheric vampire tale ‘Let the Right One In.’
‘For me ‘Tinker Tailor’ is not really a spy movie,’ the director told The Times last year. ‘It’s a film about friendship and loyalty, and the personal costs for soldiers in the Cold War.’
-- Gina McIntyre and Steven Zeitchik
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