Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have worked together three times on screen: “Saving Private Ryan,” “Catch Me If You Can” and their last collaboration in 2004’s “The Terminal.” But in a way, the two partners and friends are always working together on something. They co-produced and conceived of the HBO WWII mini-series “Band Of Brothers” and they did the same thing with 2010’s companion piece focusing on the United States Marine Corps in “The Pacific.” WWII and all its facets clearly fascinate these two men and they’re going to do this well, to some degree, once again with Spielberg’s latest film, “Bridge of Spies.”
But ‘Spies’ is post-WWII, and set in the middle of the Cold War in the 1960s. It’s a historical action spy thriller film written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen and it centers on a lawyer (Hanks) who is thrust into the middle of this tense intrigue when he is given a mission to negotiate the release of an American reconnaissance pilot shot down over the Soviet Union borders. Here’s the official synopsis:
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.
As Spielberg is wont to do with some of his dramatic films, the movie isn’t really loaded up with stars—some of them might be names now, but aside from Eric Bana, “Munich” was loaded with unknown theater actors and international up and comers. The director seems to have taken the same approach using Hanks as the main anchor. The rest of the cast includes the second-billed Mark Rylance (a relatively unknown English theater actor Spielberg likes so much he cast him as the lead of his next movie "The BFG"), Scott Shepherd (“Side Effects”), Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch and Alan Alda. The movie also features Billy Magnussen ("Into The Woods"), Eve Hewson ("The Knick"), Domenick Lombardozzi ("Boardwalk Empire”), plus James Caan and Ed Asner appear in smaller supporting roles.
Landing in the middle of awards season, “Bridge of Spies” will be released in theaters on October 16th. Check out the new poster and watch the first trailer below.