The November Man - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The November Man or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The November Man

[bryan]

Production designer Kevin Kavanaugh said of this movie's making: "We really wanted to mix it up, and not just stick with one style, so we used a lot of different 'character' buildings, different color palettes, and a mix of the old and new for dressing the sets. Detail is everything, even if the audience doesn't spot it, the actors need to be working in a set that feels authentic, and with director of photography Romain Lacourbas' influence, we had many different lighting schemes too. So I came up with as much variety as I could, and that was a direct influence of Belgrade itself. We had the city as a huge backlot, and it's an incredibly appealing place to shoot."

[sylvia]

Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek started with a considerable amount of research and development. Not only did they read all thirteen of Bill Granger's books to get into the heads of the key characters, but they also looked at the political realities of the 1980s, when the author was writing the book, to compare, and then update to where we are today in an exciting way.

[kenzi]

Producer Beau St. Clair optioned the rights to the novel "There Are No Spies", which is book number seven in the spy series of novels written by Bill Granger. It was not only perfect for film adaptation, but by this stage in the series, protagonist Peter Devereaux has become a more mature, experienced and questioning man, and having withdrawn from active service, needs some powerful persuasion to re-enter the game.

[kyle]

David Mason (Luke Bracey) shares the name of the lead protagonist in Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012), who's also working for the CIA.

[victoria]

The movie had no shortage of edge-of-your-seat action, so both the stunt and the special effects team were kept busy on-set. Award winning stunt coordinator Mark Mottram, who had previously worked with Pierce Brosnan on three of his Bond films, also served as his stunt double. Mottram had a core team of four, which included two additional stunt doubles, a stunt rigger, and a stunt utility bike, and car specialist. Some scenes were so elaborate, that thirty Serbian and Russian stuntmen joined the British team, particularly for car chases which required real precision driving through the often narrow streets of Belgrade, Serbia. The stunt team also worked with the cast members to rehearse and perfect fight scenes, as well as dropping off high balconies and simulating the impact of explosions and gunshots.

[tom]

One of the more complex and tricky effects sequence to pull off required a van exploding ten meters from the nearest building, while Pierce Brosnan and Luke Bracey had to walk away unharmed. The vehicle was rigged to have two carefully timed detonations, one on each side, and for the sake of safety, the vehicle was fixed so that no debris flew off. The explosion was rigged to blow twice. In the film, it's caused by Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) cutting a fuel line and shooting into the car to set it off, so the power of the blast not only needed to lift the car, but also cause a fireball. This set-up involved two stuntmen, as CIA agents, approaching the car, so accurately estimating the reach of the flames was vital.

[kristen]

This movie was released in cinemas in the same year as numerous other Spy, espionage, intelligence, and secret agent movies, with a couple of them also comedies. The movies include Spy (2015) (a Bond spoof); Spectre (2015); Sicario (2015) (F.B.I.; which has a title which is almost an anagram of Ian Fleming's "Risico" (1960) James Bond short story, bar the letter "A"); Survivor (2015) starring Pierce Brosnan; Black Mass (2015) (F.B.I.); Mortdecai (2015) (has an MI5 Agent lead character); Queen of the Desert (2015) (central character was a World War I attaché to the British Secret Service); the Bondian Furious 7 (2015); Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) (which shot in three of the same countries as Spectre (2015): Austria, England, and Morocco); Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015) (a cold war espionage thriller); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) (Ian Fleming was an original co-creator); MI-5 (2015); and even Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) (a Bondesque homage), a 2014 film, but which was mostly widely theatrically released in 2015. Also, in theaters in 2015 from 2014, was Pierce Brosnan and Quantum of Solace (2008)'s Olga Kurylenko in The November Man (2014); and the heavily Oscar nominated World War II espionage film, The Imitation Game (2014). First released in 2014 were 3 Days to Kill (2014) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014).

[lynn]

The promenade in Lausanne, Switzerland was filmed in the small village Perast, Montenegro.

[jesus]

Pierce Brosnan said of this movie: "I think it's extremely relevant. The world we live in congealed now with secrets and politicians, and they're jockeying for power on the global stage, the geopolitical situation is very volatile." While based around their current times, spy films of the past have been based in the fantastic; impossible gadgets, cars that can drive into the water, and time bombs with digital clocks. This is the real spy film that is long overdue. It is gritty, it is real, and it tackles issues that are relevant in our day and age. It places the audiences into the life of an actual spy, and tracks as he must outsmart and out maneuver his targets.

[jessie]

Even though most of the film's action is done through physical stunts, special effects were used for slightly trickier set-ups; specifically, two impressive vehicle explosions and a car crash. As there were no rehearsal explosions, special effects supervisor Jason Troughton and his special effects team had to work closely with Roger Donaldson to ensure that he got everything he needed from one take.

[wallace]

Pierce Brosnan is well known for playing James Bond. This movie features the setting of Montenegro, which was used in Casino Royale (2006), the first Bond film that was made after Brosnan's tenure.

[addison]

Of the central character of Peter Devereux, Beau St. Clair said: "Devereaux's not trying to save the world, he's a guy who knows exactly what he sees, what the game is and everyone sees, what the game is and everybody's agenda is. But he thinks that maybe he can keep things a little more in balance. It's not where the whole scenario world is going to explode, and there's only one man who can save it. So our sensibility is much more what the real world is about."

[violet]

Not only did Roger Donaldson get to work with some of the best talent that Hollywood had to offer, he also had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of people along the way. Donaldson said: "I enjoyed making this film on-location in Serbia and Montenegro. Working with an extraordinary crew from all over the world, in incredible places, and with our talented cast, this turned out to be one of the most interesting and enjoyable experiences of my directing career."