THE NIGHT MANAGER ON FRANCE 3

The Night Manager, the brilliant six-part television adaptation of the book written by spy novelist John le Carré (the pen name of David Cornwell), premieres tomorrow in France on pubcaster France 3. 

This big-budget co-production for the BBC and American cable channel AMC stars Tom Hiddleston (best known as Loki in the Thor and Avengers movies), Hugh Laurie (House), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), Tom Hollander and Elizabeth Debicki.

The Night Manager marks the return of the work of John le Carré on television 25 years after a TV movie based on A Murder of Quality, and almost 40 years since the BBC version of Tailor Tinker Sailor Spy. Penned by David Farr (Spooks) and helmed by Danish Academy Award-winning director Susanne Bier (Serena), The Night Manager is a clever update of le Carré's 1993 novel on the scale of a James Bond film. Stephen Cornwell and his brother Simon, the author's sons, are behind it through their prodco The Ink Factory. For the big screen they produced Our Kind of Traitor (2016) and A Most Wanted Man (2014), both from novels by their father.

The Night Manager is centered on Jonathan Pyne (Tom Hiddleston), an ex-soldier turned night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo. At the height of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Jonathan  receives a plea for help from Sophie Alekan, an elegant and enigmatic guest who's the mistress of playboy Freddie Hamid. Hamid is an associate of Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie), a British arms dealer posing as a businessman and philanthropist. Pyne makes a decision whose tragic consequences haunt him for ever. Four years later, he works for a prestigious hotel in Switzerland when Roper arrives with his girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki) and his entourage.

Jonathan Pyne accepts to infiltrate the inner circle of "the worst man in the world" under the supervision of British intelligence operative Angela Burr (Olivia Colman). The Night Manager was filmed in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Morocco, Spain and Turkey (each episode cost £3 million). Produced by The Ink Factory in association with Demarest Films and Character 7 for the BBC and AMC. Exec produced by Stephen Garrett (former head of Kudos), Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell. Rob Bullock is the producer. Music by Spanish composer Victor Reyes (Los nuestros). Michael Snyman is the cinematographer. Opening titles made by Elastic (The Leftovers, True Detective).

Sophie is played by French actress Aure Atika. Though John le carré's book is titled Le directeur de nuit in French, the serial arrives on France 3 as The [pronounced "ZE"] Night Manager: L'espion aux deux visages ("The Night Manager: The spy with two faces"). Swiss TV aired it this summer as The Night Manager. Between Wiseguy (Stephen J. Cannell's show), Shakespeare and the aforementioned Spooks, The Night Manager is pure Must Watch TV in every department, starting with its solid ensemble cast. On BBC One each of the six one-hour episodes caught more than 6m viewers overnight.

Our February 2016 review of the first episode: 

http://tattard2.blogspot.fr/2016/02/the-night-manager-bbc-one.html

CAPITAINE MARLEAU: EN TROMPE L'OEIL (FRANCE 3)

[Spoiler-Free] Elsa Floriot, an au pair girl who takes care of the son of famous crime novelist Gilles Garin, is murdered during a big party at the author's manor.

Called on the scene, Capitaine Marleau of the Gendarmerie meets Garin, who offers to put his "science of crime" at her service.

As the capitaine explores the manor, the entourage of the novelist provides to her and Adjudant Tahar further suspects. Marc Durieux, an unsuccessful composer of "musique concrète", is Gilles Garin's brother-in-law. Cédric Aurier is the private tutor of Alex, Garin's 10-year old son, and he aspires to become a novelist. Judith Garin is Gilles's wife but also her publisher. Both live in the memory of a tragedy which happened four years ago and she's convinced that her husband had an affair with Elsa.

"The master of crime fiction" displays the same consummate art of smoke screens and red herrings he uses in his novels. Marleau isn't fooled, even when he brings her a suspect on a plate: Corinne Vidal, his ultimate fangirl, who thinks she's Gilles Garin's recurring heroine Blanche Saint-Léger! Helmed by series director and producer Josée Dayan, En trompe l'oeil is the brilliant fifth episode of France 3's definitely popular crime drama Capitaine Marleau (1). It's penned by Marc-Antoine Laurent and Jean-Marc Taba (both wrote Visa pour l'enfer, an episode of Blood on the Docks) with Série Noire author and scriptwriter Elsa Marpeau. Marpeau is the Capitaine Marleau series creator.

Corinne Masiero shines as Capitaine Marleau (no first-name), an offbeat cop between Columbo (2), Vera and French comedian Coluche, alongside movie and stage legend Pierre Arditi as Garin. Since 2011 he's Benjamin Lebel, the wine expert detective of Blood of the Vine (Le sang de la vigne), another of the numerous French hit crime dramas of France 3. Aure Atika (The Night Manager) plays Garin's wife Judith. The writers have fun with tropes of the mystery/crime genre in an atmosphere half-Agatha Christie, half-Chabrol. Of course, they deliver those great dialogues which contribute to the popularity of Marleau.

Josée Dayan always gets the best of her cast. Michel Fau (Marc) and Cyrille Eldin (Cédric) works again together after the play Fleur de cactus in 2015. Sophie Quinton is Corinne, the schizoid Nancy Drew. Adjudant Tahar is performed by Kader Boukhanef. In a nod to her role in Navarro (1989-2006), Catherine Allegret plays Fanny Brun, who owns a hotel restaurant (3). Produced by Josée Dayan and Gaspard de Chavagnac for Passionfilms and Bel Ombre Films, with R.T.B.F. (Télévision belge), RTS Radio Télévision Suisse (which aired the episode this tuesday) and France Télévisions. Music by Catherine Lara and Cyrille Lehn. Filmed in April 2016, mainly in Tournan-en-Brie (Région Île-de-France). 

(1) 4.608.000 viewers (20%) for the fourth episode.
(2) An acknowledged source of inspiration of the character. There are regular references and nods to Columbo in Capitaine Marleau.
(3) French viewers will also recognize actor Nicolas Carpentier, well-known here for the Renault adverts.

http://www.leparisien.fr/tournan-en-brie-77220/capitaine-marleau-en-tournage-a-tournan-en-brie-pour-france-3-06-04-2016-5691349.php

[Update - September 16, 2016] France 3 has just axed Blood of the Vine (http://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/le-sang-de-la-vigne-va-tirer-sa-reverence-16-09-2016-6123989.php).

THE NIGHT MANAGER - EPISODE ONE (BBC ONE)

Cairo, 2011. At the height of the Egyptian Revolution, Jonathan Pyne is the night manager of a luxury hotel. He receives a plea for help from Sophie Alekan, an elegant and enigmatic guest who's the mistress of playboy Freddie Hamid. 

Hamid has ties with Richard Onslow Roper, a British arms dealer posing as a businessman and philanthropist. Jonathan helps Sophie but makes a decision which has tragic consequences and marks him for life. Four years later, Pyne works for a prestigious hotel in Switzerland when Richard Roper arrives with his girlfriend and his entourage.

« You don't want to escape? » 

The work of spy novelist John le Carré (the pen name of David Cornwell) returns to television with The Night Manager, 25 years after the Thames Television TV movie based on A Murder of Quality and almost 40 years since the BBC version of Tailor Tinker Sailor Spy starring Alec Guiness. Hollywood tried to make the 500-page book (first published in 1993) into a movie a couple of times. The interest of the film industry for the bestsellers of le Carré goes back to 1965 (with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) and is very active since 2001.

Stephen Cornwell and his brother Simon, the author's sons, are behind this ambitious adaptation of The Night Manager, under their prodco The Ink Factory (founded in 2010). For the big screen the company produced Our Kind of Traitor (2016) and A Most Wanted Man (2014), both from novels by le Carré. Commissioned by the BBC and American network AMC, the big-budget six-part drama (£3 million per episode) is written by David Farr (Spooks) and helmed by Danish Academy Award-winning director Susanne Bier (Serena).

The Night Manager has a very solid cast. Tom Hiddleston (best known as Loki in the Thor and Avengers movies) plays Jonathan Pyne, a discrete and helpful ex-soldier turned hotelier. His life changes forever because of a rare emotional entanglement which prompts him to enter in a perilous game of espionage. Hiddleston faces off against Hugh Laurie (House) as the wealthy, charming and extremely dangerous Richard Roper ("The worst man in the world"). Laurie, a huge fan of John le Carré, tried unsuccessfully to get the rights of the book when it first came out and wanted to play Jonathan Pyne.

The novel underwent some substantial changes with the blessing of John le Carré himself. The most talked about is the astute gender swap of a key character, spymaster Leonard Burr. Angela Burr, played by Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), runs the obscure International Enforcement Agency from a shabby London office. The Night Manager also stars Tom Hollander as Roper's right-hand man Major Corkoran, Elizabeth Debicki (Jed Marshall), Douglas Hodge, Antonio de la Torre, Russell Tovey, David Harewood, Neil Morrissey, etc.

Sophie Alekan is performed by French actress Aure Atika. Filmed in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Morocco, Spain and Turkey, The Night Manager has definitely a James Bond vibe (the Zermatt location is very On Her Majesty's Secret Service) reinforced by the classy Tom Hiddleston. It's an excellent blockbuster TV update of le Carré's book. Apparently a possible original sequel series is not ruled out, which would be a first for the iconic author. With Jonathan Pyne the BBC certainly holds its Jack Ryan or 007.

The Night Manager is produced by The Ink Factory in association with Demarest Films and Character 7 for the BBC and AMC. Produced by Rob Bullock. Exec produced by Stephen Garrett (former head of Kudos), Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell. Music by Spanish composer Victor Reyes (Los nuestros). Michael Snyman is the cinematographer. Opening titles by Elastic (The Leftovers, True Detective).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/nightmanager
http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/berlin/the-ink-factory-the-story-behind-the-night-manager/5100489.article
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-02-21/tom-hiddleston-on-the-night-manager-how-could-you-get-away-with-being-a-spy
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-02-21/where-to-find-the-plush-hotels-and-lush-locations-in-the-night-manager