David Farnor | On 26, Jul 2023

Apple has picked up new documentary film The Pigeon Tunnel, from Academy Award winner Errol Morris (The Fog of War) and The Ink Factory (The Night Manager).

The Pigeon Tunnel pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell — better known as John le Carré, author of such genre-defining espionage novels as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager and The Constant Gardener.

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.

Simon and Stephen Cornwell, co-CEOs and co-founders at The Ink Factory, who are also David’s sons, said: “Full of deep insight, and surprising, amusing and often profoundly moving anecdotes, ‘The Pigeon Tunnel’ charts a conversation between two great minds, both consummate storytellers; one who wove extraordinary fiction from the events he experienced, the other whose interrogation of those events has led so often to a greater truth. Together, they explore the events of the Cold War, and of le Carré’s life, testing the boundaries of truth, memory and imagination. The layered and unorthodox film is a tête-à-tête between a filmmaker and a novelist – both masters of their craft – grappling with the roots of the creative process, the power of fiction and our responsibility to the truth.”

“The layered and unorthodox film is a tête-à-tête between a filmmaker and a novelist – both masters of their craft – grappling with the roots of the creative process.”

The film will premiere on Apple TV+ on 20th October.

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