We’ve seen Tom Hanks work with Steven Spielberg a few times already, but putting them back together with a screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen? Now that is a way to sell tickets. Set within The Cold War and exchanging of political prisoners in the 1960s, BRIDGE OF SPIES also features Broadway star Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Billy Magnussen and Alan Alda. It’s safe to say this looks like a heavy politicial thriller, but the in the hands of Spielberg and the Coens (who co-wrote the script with Matt Charman), and with that impressive cast, I’m totally on board. Take a look at the trailer below and poster above and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, DreamWorks Pictures/Fox 2000 Pictures’ “Bridge of Spies” tells the story of James Donovan, a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. Screenwriters Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen have woven this remarkable experience in Donovan’s life into a story inspired by true events that captures the essence of a man who risked everything and vividly brings his personal journey to life.
Directed by three-time Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg, “Bridge of Spies” stars: two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks as James Donovan; three-time Tony Award® winner Mark Rylance as Rudolf Abel, a KGB agent defended by Donovan; Scott Shepherd as CIA operative Hoffman; Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan as James’ wife, Mary; Sebastian Koch as East German lawyer Vogel; and Academy Award nominee Alan Alda as Thomas Watters, a partner at Donovan’s law firm. The film is produced by Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger with Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Matt Charman and three-time Academy Award winners Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. “Bridge of Spies” will be released in theaters on October 16, 2015.