The upcoming documentary The Pigeon Tunnel is the final interview with John le Carré, who wrote many best-selling novels about spies and was an MI6 agent himself.
A just-released trailer for the biopic shows the British spy-turned-author discussing his very usual life. The film will premiere on Apple TV+ this fall.
Go inside the mind of a spy in The Pigeon Tunnel
John le Carré isn’t his real name — it’s no surprise that a spy couldn’t resist using a pseudonym. David Cornwell worked as a British agent during the Cold War. Then he wrote genre-defining novels like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager and The Constant Gardener under his other name. These all became movies or TV series.
The Pigeon Tunnel is a collaboration between the author’s two sons Simon and Stephen and legendary documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War).
Apple TV+ says of its soon-to-be-released documentary:
“Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes. Drawing on le Carré’s New York Times bestselling memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, the film is an unprecedented voyage into the lesser-known parts of the iconic and historically private author’s formative experiences, set to an original score by Philip Glass in collaboration with Paul Leonard-Morgan.”
The trailer gives a foretaste:
Premiering this fall on Apple TV+
The Pigeon Tunnel will make its global debut on October 20, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Watching will require a subscription to Apple’s streaming service at $6.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
Already available through the service are this year’s most Emmy-nominated documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, and the NAACP Image Award-winning film Sidney, about legendary actor Sidney Poitier. In July, Apple released Stephen Curry: Underrated, the coming-of-age story of one of the most influential, dynamic and unexpected players in the history of basketball.
David Snow contributed to this article.
