FILM-BRITAIN/SPOOKS 'Game of Thrones' favourite Kit Harington stars in 'gritty' spy thriller 'Spooks: The Greater Good'

Record ID: 156611

  • Title: FILM-BRITAIN/SPOOKS 'Game of Thrones' favourite Kit Harington stars in 'gritty' spy thriller 'Spooks: The Greater Good'
  • Date: 6th May 2015
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - APRIL 29, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, KIT HARINGTON, SAYING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER 'WILL': "He's almost like the muscle in the film. He's the henchman really. He's the young guy who's manipulated by, I think, more astute cleverer minds around him. Into doing their will. But I think the whole point of him is that he doesn't make a good spy because he's a bit of an emotional wreck."
  • Embargoed: 21st May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8FQRW99PQLQK6LIJKFCG1NSI4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The popular UK spy series 'Spooks' has a film making its was to the big screen on Friday (May 8).
    'Spooks: The Greater Good' stars some old favourites with Peter Firth returning as Sir Harry Pearce and new characters including 'Game of Thrones' actor Kit Harington appearing as Will Holloway.
    The film follows Pearce's attempts to find a traitor inside MI5 who may have helped a convicted militant escape from custody in London.
    Pearce has to go underground and acquire the help of Will Holloway, a gifted young man he decommissioned from the service years before, to find out who betrayed MI5.
    The original BBC series was very popular with audiences and won numerous awards.
    Harington said he believes the film stays true to the spirit of the show.
    "I think 'Spooks' always wanted to be a film. It wanted to have the big explosion. It wanted to have the sweeping shot of London. It wanted to have bigger action scenes. So, what's similar is that it's still a gritty, spy thriller very based in London and still in a very real world. What's different is that it's bigger on scope. We got to do things on this that they couldn't do in the TV show," he said.
    When film fans think of British spy movies they may consider James Bond to be the most famous of all, but Firth is confident 'Spooks' offers an entirely different experience to the Bond franchise.
    "I don't think there are any similarities really. Number one - Bond is MI6, we're 5. 6 is everything south of Dover, 5 is everything north of Dover. Basically, that's how they delineate it. We couldn't hope to aspire to be Bond. Budget-wise it's just out of the question and also Bond has two feet firmly in fantasy and we wanted to have one foot in reality so that the story was believable, could be happening - that was always the case with the TV show. One foot in reality and one foot in fantasy to make it cinematic and sexy," Firth told Reuters.
    The original BBC series 'Spooks', which ran from 2002-2011, was renowned for shockingly killing off major characters when the audience were not expecting it.
    Harington agreed that in some ways 'Spooks' shared similarities to 'Game of Thrones' which has also seen big characters die in surprising ways.
    "It pre-dated 'Thrones' and it did things that we're now credited for changing drama doing. I think there's always shows before really huge ones that do that and I think 'Spooks' did do that. I think it's a great dramatic device killing off people that the audience love, but not just because they love but because it's real, because that's what would happen in the real world. That when, unlike (James) Bond, the villain puts a gun to someone's head he doesn't talk so long that Bond can get out of it. He pulls the trigger - that's what we do in 'Spooks'," he said.
    'Spooks: The Greater Good', which also stars Jennifer Ehle (best known for playing Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC series 'Pride and Prejudice'), is released in the UK on May 8.
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