This is a culture interlude, not a nerd interlude, although of course the kind of culture I'm about to focus on might well be called nerdish. A new production of Le Carre's classic spy novel, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is out. A short video of the cast at the premiere in Britain is here.

Very interesting casting: Gary Oldman as George Smiley; it will be interesting to see how his take on the role differs from the book and Alec Guiness' classic portrayal, since this role is kind of against type for him. Not that I'm against that; good actors deserve chances to do different roles. John Hurt is "Control", Smiley's former boss who died too soon to finish the hunt for the Russian mole in The Circus (Le Carre's name for British Intelligence), leaving Smiley to complete the job. That should be interesting; the role has possibilities that weren't really explored in the 1970's BBC adaptation.

I won't say any more since I want to avoid the temptation to speculate without having seen the film, or to include spoilers based on my knowledge of the story from the books. (Yes, I've read every one that I mention below, and have re-read most of them a number of times. I warned you about what kind of interlude this was.) I have just one final comment. At the end of the video clip, Le Carre was asked about possible sequels, and he took what I thought was just the right line: yes, it would be great, but it has to be done with "fear, not confidence." I would love to see this crew do Smiley's People, assuming this film does well (which I think and hope it will). Having them do every Le Carre novel in which Smiley appears (there are five in which he plays the leading role, one, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, in which he is a major character but not the lead, and at least two others I can think of in which he appears) is probably too much to ask, but one can hope. :-)