If you were a child who grew up before video gaming began you likely joined in on neighborhood games of “Cops and Robbers”, “Cowboy and Indian” or even a game of “Spies”.  Do you remember how the spy was perceived?  He was the “bad guy”, the guy who everyone was trying to find and make surface.  

Would you have defended the spy?

“Bridge of Spies” is a film based on real-life events from the 1950s when the worst thing someone could be was a spy.  After the FBI arrests Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Soviet agent living in New York, James Donovan’s (Tom Hanks) assistance is requested to represent him in a trial.  Donovan’s stance is that Rudolf Abel was a good solder, doing what was asked of him by his own country.

Later, after an American U-2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet airspace, Donovan is asked to take on the task of negotiating a prisoner exchange between the counties.   These negotiations are extremely dangerous for Donovan and his family.  He is told that he is “on his own” and that the countries cannot be involved.

“Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet government can have any involvement in the operation…the German Democratic Republic will broker the exchange directly with him.”

This amazing, based on real-life events, story will be released this Friday in theaters across the U.S. It is the only movie my husband has been waiting on this year.  He cannot wait to see it because he knows this is going to be THE movie of the year!

“When I heard the story, it knocked my socks off,” says producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, who was a co-producer on “Lincoln” and is based at DreamWorks. “Not many people know the story of James Donovan and what he accomplished during this period of U.S. history, but it sounded like something that was right up Steven’s alley.”

Directed by Steven Spielberg

“As a youngster growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, I had a tremendous amount of awareness of what was happening during the Cold War, but I didn’t know anything about the exchange of Rudolf Abel for Francis Gary Powers,”says Spielberg. “I knew about Powers because growing up everyone had heard that his U-2 spy plane had been shot down and that he had been put on public display at a very public trial, but the story kind of ended with a spectacular shoot down. I didn’t realize that something had happened subsequent to his capture, which was this very backroom exchange, this spy swap between Abel, a Soviet spy, and Powers, the American spy pilot. So there was a lot to this story that really pulled me in.”

Starring Tom Hanks

“There is no one better suited for this role than Tom Hanks.”

~ producer, Kristie Macosko Krieger.

Genre: Dramatic Thriller

Rating: PG-13

U.S. Release date: October 16, 2015

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Scott Shepherd, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch, Alan Alda

Director: Steven Spielberg

Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger

Executive Producers: Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King

Written by: Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen