Bridge of Spies is a story based in real life during a very trying time in America when spies were busily gathering information back and forth between countries and threats of war were abundant. In the midst of this Tom Hanks’ character became embroiled in something that could have sparked another war had it gone sideways. Worse for him however was the fact that he and his family were thought to be traitors after he was asked to defend a Russian spy by the US government in what could only be called a travesty perpetrated by those claiming to serve the public’s best interests.
The spy game doesn’t have a lot of winners it would seem.
10. The arguments in the movie follow very closely to those presented in real life.
The dialogue that Tom Hanks uses closely matches that used by the real Jame Donovan when discussing his client, Rudolf Abel.
9. The hollow nickel case was very real.
This is how Russian spies would transfer information back and forth to one another. It was only discovered by accident when someone tried to pay with one.
8. Photographers back in those days would discard their flash bulbs onto the floor.
The bulbs were too hot to put in one’s pocket and as a result were simply discarded. That had to have been quite a mess.
7. For six days of shooting on the Glienicke Bridge it took permission from 23 different agencies.
It also cost well over $11 thousand dollars to gain the necessary permits so that they could get the filming done.
6. Francis Gary Powers wasn’t instructed to commit suicide upon capture.
Suicide was only an option if his captors were attempting to wrest any information from him through means of physical torture.
5. Powers’ son was very concerned about getting the accuracy of the movie right.
His father was the one they were showing after all, so it would behoove a dutiful son that loved his father to want to see thing done right. He sat in as counsel for the movie.
4. Rudolf Abel wasn’t as important as the US government made him out to be.
He was a message handler, really no more than that. But the US government needed someone to be the bad guy and he was available.
3. Tom Hanks came on board without ever reading the script.
He had a feeling that the movie would be something special and after reading the script he was fully assured that it would be.
2. Subway shots were filmed in actual subway cars that are to be found at the New York City Transit Museum.
They wanted to make sure that everything looked authentic as possible and it was probably better than relying on CGI for everything.
1. The cast members were very comfortable with each other.
Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance were seen to get along great since Hanks had attended Rylance’s theatrical performances before and given him and his costars high praise for their talents.
Spy movies tend to favor no one most times when it comes to who wins and loses.
