As our November preview has already amply demonstrated, the late fall still has several scintillating dramas in store, not least of which is Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of John le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl. Florence Pugh, the breakout star of Lady Macbeth, stars as Charlie, an English actress with leftist politics who stumbles upon an opportunity to do more than just spout radical talking points at bourgeois parties. Enter Alexander Skarsgård as Gadi, a taciturn (but gorgeous) Israeli intelligence officer who thinks Charlie’s ability to become anyone can be put to use elsewhere.
The limited series, which makes its two-hour debut November 19 on AMC, also stars Michael Shannon as Martin Kurtz, a “spymaster” who’s eager to test Charlie’s limits before they can even shake hands. But as we see in this exclusive clip, she can more than hold her own.
The Little Drummer Girl premieres November 19 at 9 p.m.
12 Comments
lol I didn’t realise this was Park Chan-wookI totally ignored it when the BBC aired it, assuming it was the latest in the approximately one billion boring police or spy shows they air every year
So, looking at that photo, somebody should really consider greenlighting a Michael Shannon as Kurt Vonnegut production of some sort.
I really loved the opening chapter of this book, but never got much further into it. I think my problem was the usual “it’s a tough world, and we need antiheroes to make tough choices” mindset that justifies violence. I prefer the kind of cruel/absurd worldview for action, like No Country, where there’s no connection of the best at fighting with a slightly more moral center.Though again, I may be misremembering the book. The conversation here, in which Charlie is taken to task for being hypocritical, allows her to defend her pacifism rationally, and that’s good. But there would be no plot if she doesn’t fall in with Shannon’s scheme.
I’ve not read this book, but I’ve read many of le Carre’s other novels and I never got the sense than any of his books justice violence much, or at all.
Like you I haven’t read The Little Drummer Girl either. I guess it was dealing with a group of protagonists similar to those in the Spielberg film Munich, but it was, at least in its early chapters, not anywhere near that’s film’s distaste for retributive/peremptory violence (but maybe that was where it was going).
Is that a typo, or do you think “justice” is a verb?
That’s a typo. Thanks for pointing it out!
“I really loved the opening chapter of this book, but never got much further into it.” I don’t know what this means.
So this isn’t the long-awaited Vonnegut bio?
I remember reading this in 1983 when it came out and liking it. Hopefully this is better than the 1984 movie adaptation with Diane Keaton.
Does anyone remember how any John le Carré books end?
Yes.