Personal favorites include Helena Bonham-Carter's banshee-like Bellatrix LeStrange, Gary Oldman's stalwart Sirius Black and Maggie Smith's dotty but redoubtable Minerva McGonagall.

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Mr. Oldman's emphasis is on self-containment, but what his Smiley seems to contain is all the wisdom of a blighted world.

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But its monsters grow tackier by the minute first giant metallic ladybirds, then gun-toting rhinos, while Gary Oldman's space buccaneer cradles a familiar that is part Dumbo, part Babar the elephant.

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And while they talked Oldman clocked le Carre's mannerisms and speech patterns.

BBC: Gary Oldman's Smiley: 'A little sexier, a little crueller'

Oldman shares some of Smiley's precision and perception.

BBC: Gary Oldman's Smiley: 'A little sexier, a little crueller'

Tomas Alfredson, who made his name with the hauntingly good vampire film Let The Right One In (2008), sat Oldman down and opened a page in le Carre's book.

BBC: Gary Oldman's Smiley: 'A little sexier, a little crueller'