Keria Knightley in Official Secrets
Official Secrets, 10.40pm, BBC1, Tuesday, March 21
Keira Knightley gives a compellingly stripped back and unfussy performance at the heart of Gavin Hood's drama, which tells the true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun. Hood keeps things tight on Gun as she faces tough moral choices after receiving an email that is looking to weight a Un vote towards going to war. Gun's choice to speak out carries real personal risk, not least because her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri) was an asylum seeker at the time. The film keeps up a smart pace as it digs into the aftermath of Gun's actions, showing a woman determined to do the right thing no matter what the cost.
Goat, 1.25am, Film4, Wednesday, March 22
The psychological underpinnings and drivers of frat house behaviour and hazing are explored in this tense drama that gave musician Nick Jonas a...
Official Secrets, 10.40pm, BBC1, Tuesday, March 21
Keira Knightley gives a compellingly stripped back and unfussy performance at the heart of Gavin Hood's drama, which tells the true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun. Hood keeps things tight on Gun as she faces tough moral choices after receiving an email that is looking to weight a Un vote towards going to war. Gun's choice to speak out carries real personal risk, not least because her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri) was an asylum seeker at the time. The film keeps up a smart pace as it digs into the aftermath of Gun's actions, showing a woman determined to do the right thing no matter what the cost.
Goat, 1.25am, Film4, Wednesday, March 22
The psychological underpinnings and drivers of frat house behaviour and hazing are explored in this tense drama that gave musician Nick Jonas a...
- 3/20/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The UK documentary features three women who became high profile whistleblowers.
Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American distribution rights to When We Speak, director Tas Brooker’s British documentary about three high profile whistleblowers.
Gravitas will release the film in North American cinemas and on demand on July 15.
Shot over two years, the film features actress Rose McGowan, one of the first to speak out on sexual abuse in Hollywood, British intelligence employee Katharine Gun and Oxfam aid worker Helen Evans. The three women share their motivations, experiences and the fallout that resulted in each of their cases.
Abacus Media Rights...
Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American distribution rights to When We Speak, director Tas Brooker’s British documentary about three high profile whistleblowers.
Gravitas will release the film in North American cinemas and on demand on July 15.
Shot over two years, the film features actress Rose McGowan, one of the first to speak out on sexual abuse in Hollywood, British intelligence employee Katharine Gun and Oxfam aid worker Helen Evans. The three women share their motivations, experiences and the fallout that resulted in each of their cases.
Abacus Media Rights...
- 5/25/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Official Secrets Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival Official Secrets, 10pm, BBC2, Monday, April 18
Keira Knightley gives a compellingly stripped back and unfussy performance at the heart of Gavin Hood's drama, which tells the true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun. Hood keeps things tight on Gun as she faces tough moral choices after receiving an email that is looking to weight a Un vote towards war. Gun's choice to speak out carries real personal risk, not least because her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri) was an asylum seeker at the time. The film keeps up a smart pace as it digs into the aftermath of Gun's actions, showing a woman determined to do the right thing no matter what the cost.
Hot Fuzz, 1.35am, ITV2, Tuesday, April 19
A much more light-hearted view of the law is presented by Edgar Wright's equally pacy comedy, which continued the impressive...
Keira Knightley gives a compellingly stripped back and unfussy performance at the heart of Gavin Hood's drama, which tells the true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun. Hood keeps things tight on Gun as she faces tough moral choices after receiving an email that is looking to weight a Un vote towards war. Gun's choice to speak out carries real personal risk, not least because her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri) was an asylum seeker at the time. The film keeps up a smart pace as it digs into the aftermath of Gun's actions, showing a woman determined to do the right thing no matter what the cost.
Hot Fuzz, 1.35am, ITV2, Tuesday, April 19
A much more light-hearted view of the law is presented by Edgar Wright's equally pacy comedy, which continued the impressive...
- 4/18/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Official Secrets Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival Welcome to this week's Stay-At-Home Seven. If you're looking for more inspiration, we're shining our Streaming Spotlight on Palme d'Or winners this week, as Cannes kicks off tomorrow in France.
Official Secrets, Netflix
Kiera Knightly puts in a stripped back performance as real-life whistleblower Katharine Gun in Gavin Hood's film, which considers the personal risks Gun and her asylum seeker husband (Adam Bakri) took in the name of the truth. Hood goes at the complex material - surrounding a memo which basically urges the gathering of information by British intelligence services that could be used to blackmail smaller nations into voting for war in Iraq - at a brisk pace. In doing so he keeps the focus on the moral quandary Gun found herself while ratcheting up the tension via subplots involving a journalist (Matt Smith) working to confirm Gun's story...
Official Secrets, Netflix
Kiera Knightly puts in a stripped back performance as real-life whistleblower Katharine Gun in Gavin Hood's film, which considers the personal risks Gun and her asylum seeker husband (Adam Bakri) took in the name of the truth. Hood goes at the complex material - surrounding a memo which basically urges the gathering of information by British intelligence services that could be used to blackmail smaller nations into voting for war in Iraq - at a brisk pace. In doing so he keeps the focus on the moral quandary Gun found herself while ratcheting up the tension via subplots involving a journalist (Matt Smith) working to confirm Gun's story...
- 7/5/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Producers of Official Secrets proposed a special screening near Cheltenham spy centre, only to be told it wouldn’t go down well
The producers of Official Secrets, the film that tells the story of Gchq whistleblower Katharine Gun, had to be dissuaded by Whitehall insiders from holding a special screening in Cheltenham, where the spy agency is based, the Observer has learned. Security agency sources say the film’s producer, Ged Doherty, asked them if they thought staff at the vast eavesdropping centre would welcome the chance to see the film starring Keira Knightley near where they work.
But the producer was advised this would not be a good idea. “Katharine Gun is not a popular figure at Gchq; people still think her decision was a breach of national security. I think the producers were being a bit naive.”...
The producers of Official Secrets, the film that tells the story of Gchq whistleblower Katharine Gun, had to be dissuaded by Whitehall insiders from holding a special screening in Cheltenham, where the spy agency is based, the Observer has learned. Security agency sources say the film’s producer, Ged Doherty, asked them if they thought staff at the vast eavesdropping centre would welcome the chance to see the film starring Keira Knightley near where they work.
But the producer was advised this would not be a good idea. “Katharine Gun is not a popular figure at Gchq; people still think her decision was a breach of national security. I think the producers were being a bit naive.”...
- 12/8/2019
- by Dan Sabbagh
- The Guardian - Film News
Knightley stars as the Gchq translator who leaked a classified memo to the Observer exposing the Us plot to spy on the Un shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: ‘Truth always matters’
“Just because you’re the prime minister doesn’t mean you get to make up your own facts.” So says Keira Knightley’s whistleblower in Gavin Hood’s “based on true events” drama, an on-the-nose revisiting of the run-up to the Iraq war that draws clear parallels with the “alternative facts” rhetoric of modern politics. While Us and UK intelligence agencies conspire to engineer a justification for invasion, Gchq translator Katharine Gun (whose real-life bravery deserves celebration) follows her conscience and alerts the media to their dirty-tricks campaign, throwing her quiet life into turmoil, putting her work, marriage and freedom at risk.
Related: Keira Knightley: ‘Iraq was the first time I’d been politically engaged’
Continue reading.
Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun: ‘Truth always matters’
“Just because you’re the prime minister doesn’t mean you get to make up your own facts.” So says Keira Knightley’s whistleblower in Gavin Hood’s “based on true events” drama, an on-the-nose revisiting of the run-up to the Iraq war that draws clear parallels with the “alternative facts” rhetoric of modern politics. While Us and UK intelligence agencies conspire to engineer a justification for invasion, Gchq translator Katharine Gun (whose real-life bravery deserves celebration) follows her conscience and alerts the media to their dirty-tricks campaign, throwing her quiet life into turmoil, putting her work, marriage and freedom at risk.
Related: Keira Knightley: ‘Iraq was the first time I’d been politically engaged’
Continue reading.
- 10/20/2019
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
English actress Keira Knightley, Academy Award-nominated for “Pride & Prejudice” and “The Imitation Game,” understandably did not handle public attention well after the release of her 2003 breakout, Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Or with the many hits that followed. According to a new interview with The Telegraph, Knightley said that at age 22 — with “Love, Actually,” “King Arthur,” and “Atonement” all under her belt — she suffered a “mental breakdown” in the wake of being shadowed by paparazzi.
“The value of photographs of any famous young women at the time went up if they were of a very negative nature,” she told Robbie Collin, in reference to the media circuses that burst around such headline-grabbing stars as Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. “So if you weren’t already having a mental breakdown, they were trying to push you into doing things that kept your value as high as those who were.
“The value of photographs of any famous young women at the time went up if they were of a very negative nature,” she told Robbie Collin, in reference to the media circuses that burst around such headline-grabbing stars as Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. “So if you weren’t already having a mental breakdown, they were trying to push you into doing things that kept your value as high as those who were.
- 10/19/2019
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
English actress Keira Knightley, Academy Award-nominated for “Pride & Prejudice” and “The Imitation Game,” understandably did not handle public attention well after the release of her 2003 breakout, Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Or with the many hits that followed. According to a new interview with The Telegraph, Knightley said that at age 22 — with “Love, Actually,” “King Arthur,” and “Atonement” all under her belt — she suffered a “mental breakdown” in the wake of being shadowed by paparazzi.
“The value of photographs of any famous young women at the time went up if they were of a very negative nature,” she told Robbie Collin, in reference to the media circuses that burst around such headline-grabbing stars as Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. “So if you weren’t already having a mental breakdown, they were trying to push you into doing things that kept your value as high as those who were.
“The value of photographs of any famous young women at the time went up if they were of a very negative nature,” she told Robbie Collin, in reference to the media circuses that burst around such headline-grabbing stars as Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. “So if you weren’t already having a mental breakdown, they were trying to push you into doing things that kept your value as high as those who were.
- 10/19/2019
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Knightley gives a sympathetic performance as Iraq war whistleblower Katharine Gun in this shrewd and relevant spy drama
• Keira Knightley: ‘Iraq was the first time I’d been politically engaged’
There’s something interestingly tough and forthright about this slow-burner from director and co-writer Gavin Hood. It is a beady-eyed spy drama that has shrewd things to say about the British establishment’s tendency to spite under pressure, about the eternal duality of cockup and conspiracy, about the Kafkaesque problems involved in defending yourself legally against a treason charge, and, importantly, about the kind of young, vulnerable people that we end up depending on to tell us how we are governed.
Official Secrets shows that spy dramas from real life are very often not action thrillers such as Bond or Bourne or Homeland – or indeed Hood’s last movie, Eye in the Sky, from 2015 – but something more like nuclear-level office politics.
• Keira Knightley: ‘Iraq was the first time I’d been politically engaged’
There’s something interestingly tough and forthright about this slow-burner from director and co-writer Gavin Hood. It is a beady-eyed spy drama that has shrewd things to say about the British establishment’s tendency to spite under pressure, about the eternal duality of cockup and conspiracy, about the Kafkaesque problems involved in defending yourself legally against a treason charge, and, importantly, about the kind of young, vulnerable people that we end up depending on to tell us how we are governed.
Official Secrets shows that spy dramas from real life are very often not action thrillers such as Bond or Bourne or Homeland – or indeed Hood’s last movie, Eye in the Sky, from 2015 – but something more like nuclear-level office politics.
- 10/18/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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