From James Bond movies to Spy Kids to Netflix’s The Recruit, audiences of all ages and backgrounds have always been fascinated by the world of espionage. While some genres have waned in popularity over the years (westerns, for instance), spy films and shows never really seem to go out of style.
Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag has all the makings of a modern classic. Packed with an all-star cast, the spy thriller follows renowned intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), whose loyalty is put to the ultimate test when his wife, fellow agent Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), is suspected of betraying the nation. In addition to Fassbender and Blanchett, the film stars Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton), Marisa Abela (Industry), Naomie Harris (No Time to Die), Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), and Pierce Brosnan (aka James Bond himself). David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible) penned the script.
When asked about the everlasting appeal of the spy genre, Fassbender says he believes audiences are fascinated by the secretive nature of this “highly exclusive club” that agents belong to.
“It’s extraordinary circumstances these people operate in, and they’re usually extraordinary people,” he tells The Nerds of Color. “They don’t operate like most of us do. I think that alone is fascinating. And then if you’ve got a group of them that are working within the same organization, and one of them is treasonous, there’s great opportunity for drama and tension.”
“The real power that spies have is getting people to open up when they shouldn’t,” Page adds. “It’s creating intimacy with strangers, creating a trust between people so that they tell you things they shouldn’t. That’s most of the job, far more than running around punching things or blowing things up.”
The spy genre may be timeless, but that’s not to say it hasn’t evolved over the years. For decades, spy flicks largely centered white male protagonists, with women usually only there to serve as sexual partners and BIPOC characters few and far in between. Black Bag is well-aware of these tropes and doesn’t hesitate to play around with them to divert expectations and keep audiences on their toes.
“Kathryn is seen through George’s lens objectively for quite a bit of the movie until she becomes her own actor, so it was important to realize that was the gaze that she was being looked at and behave accordingly,” Blanchett explains. “I didn’t base her [character] on anyone in particular. It was more about looking at spy films from the ‘60s and ‘70s to see what those tropes were and how we might employ them, not only in the way that the characters were dressed, but how they moved, how they interacted with the environment.”
Ahead of the movie’s release, The Nerds of Color chatted with Fassbender, Blanchett, Page, Abela, Harris, and Burke about filming Black Bag, what drew them to their respective characters, and the complexities of the spy genre. Check out the full interview below:
Focus Features’ Black Bag hits theaters on Friday, March 14.