Spy/Master

Last updated

Spy/Master
Genre Spy thriller
Created by
  • Adina Sadeanu
  • Kirsten Peters
Written by
  • Adina Sadeanu
  • Kirsten Peters
Directed by Christopher Smith
Starring
Composer Lukasz Targosz
Country of originRomania
Original languagesRomanian, English, German, Arabic, Russian
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Ioanina Pavel
  • Viktória Petrányi
  • Tudor Reu
  • Judit Sós
Production locationsHungary, Romania
EditorStuart Gazzard
Running time50 minutes
Production companies
  • Mobra Films
  • Proton Cinema
Original release
Network HBO Max
Release19 May 2023 (2023-05-19)

Spy/Master is a Romanian fictional Cold War spy thriller television series created by Adina Sadeanu and Kirsten Peters and starring Alec Secareanu. [1] Set in 1978 and filmed in Hungary and Romania, the series is loosely based on the real-life defection of Romanian spymaster Ion Mihai Pacepa. [2] [3] The series was produced by Mobra Films (Romania) and Proton Cinema (Hungary) for HBO Romania and Warner TV Serie and premiered on HBO Max in May 2023. [1] [4]

Contents

Plot

Victor Godeanu (Alec Secareanu) is the director of the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs and a trusted confidante of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu (Claudiu Bleonț) and his wife Elena (Elvira Deatcu). [5] Godeanu is secretly working for the Soviets but, with Romanian counter-intelligence about to expose him, decides to defect to the West. [1] [6] Whilst on a diplomatic trip to Bonn in West Germany to negotiate the repatriation of ethnic Germans living in Romania, Godeanu hands himself in at the American Embassy. [7] [8] CIA agent Frank Jackson (Parker Sawyers) is tasked with interrogating Godeanu who demands that the Americans extradite his daughter Ileana (Alexandra Bob) from Romania before he reveals classified information. An enraged Ceaușescu sends a team of spies to West Germany to kidnap and kill Godeanu as Jackson struggles to persuade his superiors to allow Godeanu into the USA. [9] Intelligence agencies from five countries - Romania, USA, Soviet Union, East Germany and West Germany - become embroiled in the defection. Meanwhile, in an intertwined plot, a group of Egyptian militants try to scupper the Camp David peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel by bombing an Israeli target in Bonn. [10]

Production

Spy/Master was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and Bucharest, Romania. [5] [11] All external scenes set in Bonn were filmed in Budapest with notable landmarks such as Déli station, Keleti station, Margaret Island, Frankel Leo Street Synagogue and the University of Technology and Economics doubling for locations in Bonn. [12] [13]

Cast

Broadcast

The first two episodes of Spy/Master were premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2023. [14] [15] The entire series premiered globally on HBO Max on 19 May 2023. [14] The series premiered in Germany on Warner TV Serie on 16 November 2023. [16] [17] The series premiered in the UK on BBC Four on 4 May 2024. [1] [2]

Awards

Spy/Master was nominated for the inaugural Berlinale Series Award in 2023. [18] [19] The series won NEM Award for Best Drama TV Series in the Central and Eastern European region at NEM Zagreb in December 2023. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolae Ceaușescu</span> Leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian communist politician who served as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989. He was the second and last communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967 to 1989, and widely classified as a dictator, serving as President of the State Council and from 1974 concurrently as President of the Republic, until his overthrow and execution in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part of a series of anti-communist uprisings in Eastern Europe that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Koepp</span> American screenwriter (born 1963)

David Koepp is an American screenwriter and director. He is the ninth most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a total gross of over $2.3 billion. Koepp has achieved both critical and commercial success in a wide variety of genres: thriller, science fiction, comedy, action, drama, crime, superhero, horror, adventure, and fantasy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ion Mihai Pacepa</span> Romanian general (1928–2021)

Ion Mihai Pacepa was a Romanian lieutenant general in the Securitate, the secret police of the Socialist Republic of Romania, who defected to the United States in July 1978 following President Jimmy Carter's approval of his request for political asylum. He was the highest-ranking defector from the former Eastern Bloc, and wrote books and articles on the inner workings of communist intelligence services. His best-known works are the books Disinformation and Red Horizons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaley Cuoco</span> American actress (born 1985)

Kaley Christine Cuoco is an American actress. She is known for starring as Bridget Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules (2002–2005), Penny on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) and as the title character in the HBO Max comedic thriller The Flight Attendant (2020–2022). The latter earned her nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hardy</span> British actor (born 1977)

Edward Thomas "Tom" Hardy is an English actor. After studying acting at the Drama Centre London, he made his film debut in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001). Hardy had supporting roles in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and RocknRolla (2008), and went on to star in Bronson (2008), Warrior (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Lawless (2012), This Means War (2012), and Locke (2013). In 2015, he starred as "Mad" Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road and both Kray twins in Legend, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Revenant. Hardy has appeared in three Christopher Nolan films: Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) as Bane, and Dunkirk (2017). He has since starred as the title character in the 2018 film Venom and its 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romola Garai</span> British actress (born 1982)

Romola Sadie Garai is a Hong Kong-born British actress and film director. Known for her extensive work on stage and screen, she often acts in period films. Her early film roles include Nicholas Nickleby (2002), I Capture the Castle (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004), and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004). She has gained prominence for her performances in the critically acclaimed costume dramas such as Vanity Fair (2004), As You Like It (2006), Amazing Grace (2007), Atonement (2007), Glorious 39 (2009), and Suffragette (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Offerman</span> American actor (born 1970)

Nicholas David Offerman is an American actor. He became widely known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), for which he received the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy and was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">László Krasznahorkai</span> Hungarian novelist and screenwriter (born 1954)

László Krasznahorkai is a Hungarian novelist and screenwriter known for difficult and demanding novels, often labeled postmodern, with dystopian and melancholic themes. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been turned into feature films by Hungarian film director Béla Tarr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Plemons</span> American actor (born 1988)

Jesse Plemons is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a breakthrough with his role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011). He subsequently portrayed Todd Alquist in season 5 of the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2012–2013) and its sequel film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019). For his role as Ed Blumquist in season 2 of the FX anthology series Fargo (2015), he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination and won a Critics' Choice Television Award. He received a second Emmy nomination for his performance in "USS Callister", an episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror (2017).

Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO programming until 2025. It also broadcasts many original British produced Sky dramas. It is exclusively available on the Sky satellite TV platform and Sky's Now TV platform. Unlike the other channels from Sky Group, Sky Atlantic is not on Virgin Media. On 15 January 2024, select programming begun being simulcast on Sky Showcase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Hardy (actor)</span> English actor (b. 1991)

Ben Hardy is an English actor. He is known for playing Peter Beale in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2013–2015). Hardy made his film debut as Archangel in the superhero film X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and played Roger Taylor in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Alexandru "Alec" Secăreanu is a Romanian actor. He gained international recognition for playing Gheorghe in the 2017 film God's Own Country.

The Flight Attendant is an American dark comedy drama mystery thriller television series developed by Steve Yockey based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian. It stars Kaley Cuoco in the title role and premiered on HBO Max on November 26, 2020. In December 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on April 21, 2022. In January 2024, the series was canceled after two seasons.

<i>Dune: Prophecy</i> Upcoming American television series

Dune: Prophecy is an upcoming American science fiction television series created by Diane Ademu-John. It serves as a prequel to the film Dune (2021), which was based on the 1963–1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, and focuses on the origins of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusive and powerful sisterhood who undergo intense physical training and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman abilities, taking place approximately 10,000 years before the events of the film. The series is produced by Legendary Television, with Alison Schapker serving as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max (streaming service)</span> American video streaming service

Max, formerly and still known in some regions as HBO Max, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The platform offers content from the libraries of Warner Bros., Discovery, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, TBS, TNT, Eurosport, and their related brands. Max first launched in the United States on May 27, 2020.

The Last of Us is an American post-apocalyptic drama television series created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for HBO. Based on the video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog, the series is set twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures and causes the collapse of society. The first season, based on the 2013 game, follows Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting the immune teenager Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. The second season is expected to adapt the 2020 sequel, partly following Abby.

<i>The Tourist</i> (TV series) Internationally co-produced television series

The Tourist is a drama thriller television series. It stars Jamie Dornan as the victim of a car crash who wakes up in a hospital in Australia with amnesia.

The Veil is an American thriller television limited series written by Steven Knight, produced by FX Productions, and starring Elisabeth Moss and Yumna Marwan. The series premiered on FX on Hulu on April 30, 2024.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cannon, Nicholas (28 March 2024). "Spy/Master: release date, cast, plot, trailer, interviews and everything you need to know". Bath, UK: What to Watch. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Romanian espionage with Spy/Master on BBC Four". Crime Fiction Lover. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "Spy/Master: 5 Sizzling Secrets About the Cold War Spy Thriller". New York, USA. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. ↑ Balaga, Marta (21 February 2023). "'He is an Unreliable Narrator of His Own Story': Creators Adina Sădeanu and Kirsten Peters Talk HBO Max Espionage Drama 'Spy/Master'". Los Angeles, USA: Variety. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  5. 1 2 Mușat, Laura (16 May 2023). "Alec Secăreanu on Spy/Master: „I didn't want to make an impersonation of the real person"". Bucharest, Romania: Films in Frame. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "BBC acquires Romanian espionage drama Spy/Master". BBC Media Centre. 27 March 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  7. ↑ "Berlinale Series 2023: Spy/Master". Berlin, Germany: Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  8. ↑ Heidmann, Patrick (15 November 2023). "Ein liebender Agent" (in German). Berlin, Germany: Die Tageszeitung. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  9. ↑ Pickard, Michael (16 February 2023). "Master minds". London, UK: Drama Quarterly. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  10. ↑ Edwards, Belen (18 May 2023). "'Spy/Master' review: An enthralling Cold War thriller". New York, USA: Mashable. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (27 September 2022). "HBO Max Sets Cold War Drama 'Spy/Master' as Streamer's Central and Eastern European Production Winds Down". Los Angeles, USA: Variety. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Bence, Inkei (25 June 2023). "Sose láthattuk olyan bénának a CIA-t, mint a Ceaușescu kémfőnökéről készült sorozatban" (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: 24.hu. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  13. ↑ Anna, Nagy (19 May 2023). "Spy/Master kritika – Bástya elvtárs nagyon irigykedne erre a román kollegára" (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Roboraptor. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  14. 1 2 Maria, Ioana (19 April 2023). "Spy/Master, HBO Max lansează trailerul serialului produs în România. Când e premiera" (in Romanian). Bucharest, Romania: TV Mania. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  15. ↑ Roxborough, Scott (16 January 2023). "Berlinale Series to Premiere Shows From HBO Max, Amazon, Disney+". Los Angeles, USA: The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  16. ↑ "Spy/Master" (in German). Munich, Germany: Warner TV Serie. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  17. ↑ Weis, Manuel (7 September 2023). "Warner TV Serie zeigt HBO-Max-Koproduktion ab November" (in German). Cologne, Germany: DWDL.de. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  18. ↑ Goldbart, Max; Whittock, Jess (27 March 2024). "BBC Buys HBO Max Thriller 'Spy/Master'; Kano & Tamara Lawrance Win RTS Awards; Premier League To Prime Video Nordics; ITV Theresa May Doc – Global Briefs". USA: Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  19. ↑ "Spy/Master – the first Romanian series nominated at the Berlin Film Festival". Q Magazine. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  20. ↑ "BBC Acquires Hungarian/Romanian Cold War Thriller Series Spy/Master". Prague, Czech Republic: Film New Europe Association. 3 April 2024. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  21. ↑ Economou, Vassilis (8 December 2023). "Spy/Master wins the inaugural NEM Awards". Brussels, Belgium: Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.