Welcome to Section F, Spybrary's Spy Movie Podcast! Join us on a special journey through espionage cinema, from the classics to the hidden gems and the rough diamonds.
Introducing the hosts of Section F, the dedicated Spy Movie section of Spybrary, we hope to become your premier spy movie podcast for all things espionage in film.
Your Section F hosts are:
Jonathan Melville
Michael Huie
Eric Newsom
Steve Lichtman
Shane Whaley
Section F are committed to delving deep into the fascinating realm of spy films, offering insights and analyses that are as intriguing and dare we say it, as entertaining as the spy movies themselves.
Our Spy Movie Podcast, Section F, is hosted by a panel of spy movie fans whose passion for espionage cinema is second to none. These aficionados come from different backgrounds with diverse tastes of spy movies, ensuring that every episode is not just informative but also incredibly engaging. Join us as we embark on a cinematic journey, exploring classic spy thrillers, uncovering hidden gems, and discussing the latest blockbusters in the spy genre.
Whether you're a long-time fan of spy movies or just discovering this exciting genre, Section F strives to put quality spy movies on your radar. Get ready to dive into in-depth discussions, interviews with filmmakers, and behind-the-scenes peeks, all while reveling in the intrigue and suspense that only spy movies can offer.
Let's meet the masterminds behind Section F, the Spy Movie Podcast!
Section F – Spy Movies
Personnel File of Spy Movie Podcast Co-Host Jonathan Melville – Declassified.
If you could go back in time and be a part of any classic spy movie, which one would it be, and what role would you play?
Austin Powers in Austin Powers: Man of Mystery.
If you could visit any location from a famous spy movie, where would you go and why?
I've visited the Bottoms Up club and Scaramanga's island from The Man With the Golden Gun, but Piz Gloria from OHMSS is top of the list.
Which five spy movies would you choose for an all-night marathon and what snacks would you prepare for the event?
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Goldfinger
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Three Days of the Condor
The Conversation
All are accompanied by champagne and a spot of Beluga caviar (and Doritos).
What's one iconic line from a spy movie that you'd love to say in real life, and in what situation?
“Red wine with fish. I should have known.” At any dinner party, I happen to get invited to.
If you could host a dinner party with any three characters from spy movies, who would you invite?
Imagine you're directing your ultimate spy movie. Which three actors, past or present, would you cast as the lead roles?
Sean Connery
Robert Redford
Gene Hackman
What song would you choose as the main theme for a spy movie?
Every Breath You Take – The Police
Section F – Spy Movies
Personnel File of Spy Movie Podcast Co-Host – Michael Huie – Declassified
If you could go back in time and be a part of any classic spy movie, which one would it be, and what role would you play?
Definitely THE IPCRESS FILE and Harry Palmer
If you could visit any location from a famous spy movie, where would you go and why?
I'd say the Istanbul of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE or the Berlin of FUNERAL IN BERLIN. I love the mystery of Istanbul then, the feel of it being the crossroads of the Cold War. As for Berlin, well it's spy city in the 60s so who could resist?
Which five spy movies would you choose for an all-night marathon and what snacks would you prepare for the event?”
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011),
THE IPCRESS FILE
OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES
CASINO ROYALE (2006)
Is bourbon a snack?
What's one iconic line from a spy movie that you'd love to say in real life, and in what situation?
“I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating“. Anytime my family asks me to play Monopoly.
If you could host a dinner party with any three characters from spy movies, who would you invite?
Harry Palmer,
Vesper Lynd,
John Hurt's CONTROL
Imagine you're directing your ultimate spy movie. Which three actors, past or present, would you cast as the lead roles?
Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Eva Green
What song would you choose as the main theme for a spy movie?
I have to choose John Barry's theme for IPCRESS FILE. It's perfect.
Section F – Spy Movies
Personnel File of Spy Movie Podcast Co-Host – Eric Newsom – Declassified
If you could go back in time and be a part of any classic spy movie, which one would it be, and what role would you play?
I genuinely think I could be a cooler Felix Leiter than Cec Linder in Goldfinger. Cooler than Jack Lord? Nope. Cooler than Rik van Nutter? Literally impossible. Nor David Hedison, Bernie Casey, Jeffrey Wright…not even Norman Burton or John Terry. But I could be a cooler Felix Leiter than Cec Linder.
If you could visit any location from a famous spy movie, where would you go and why?
Piz Gloria is on my bucket list to visit, but I'd love to live full-time in Castel del Monte, the Italian town where George Clooney holes up in The American.
Which five spy movies would you choose for an all-night marathon and what snacks would you prepare for the event?
A theme night! Five Tales of Berlin:
- The Man Between
- For Eyes Only / Streng Geheim
- The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
- Funeral in Berlin
- The Lives of Others
As a doctors-orders vegetarian, I'll sadly have to avoid schnitzel. Instead, I'll have cheese spätzle with Berliners for dessert!
What's one iconic line from a spy movie that you'd love to say in real life, and in what situation?
I would love to say “Hello. We're teachers on sabbatical and we've just won the lottery,” while on sabbatical, having just won the lottery. Otherwise, I would love to possess the general dry wit of Harry Palmer during performance reviews!
If you could host a dinner party with any three characters from spy movies, who would you invite?
I feel as though the following would make for a riotously entertaining party, or perhaps just a riot:
- Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk), The In-Laws
- Leo Newbegin (Karl Malden), Billion Dollar Brain
- Milos Columbo (Chaim Topol), For Your Eyes Only
Imagine you're directing your ultimate spy movie. Which three actors, past or present, would you cast as the lead roles?
- Montgomery Clift as the disgraced ex-spy with a head full of secrets
- Suzanne Pleshette as the woman he loves but can't quite trust
- John Cassavetes as the assassin hired to silence him
What song would you choose as the main theme for a spy movie?
“I Want You” by Elvis Costello or “Soul Lament” by Kenny Burrell!
Section F – Spy Movies
Personnel File of Spy Movie Podcast Co-Host Steve Lichtman – Declassified
Steve Lichtman is an American television writer-producer who has written for many U.S. t.v. series, including THE GOOD WIFE and MEDIUM, and sold one-hour pilots to CBS, ABC, and Disney. His most recent project is a television adaptation of Tim Powers’ supernatural spy thriller DECLARE.
If you could go back in time and be a part of any classic spy movie, which one would it be, and what role would you play?
Harry Lime in THE THIRD MAN.
If you could visit any location from a famous spy movie, where would you go and why?
The Glienicke Bridge, the real-life “bridge of spies” as seen not only in BRIDGE OF SPIES but also in FUNERAL IN BERLIN. It’s such an intense and dramatic embodiment of the Cold War divide, even more so than Checkpoint Charlie (as seen in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD). I’d want to visit so I could try to imagine what it must have felt like to stand on one side of it when it was a bridge between two starkly different worlds.
Which five spy movies would you choose for an all-night marathon and what snacks would you prepare for the event?
I’d host a binge-watch of all six episodes of Park Chan-wook’s director's cut of THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL miniseries starring Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon and Alexander Skarsgaard.
I’d prepare snacks from Len Deighton’s Action Cook Book (beignets, mousse, cheese) and at dawn I’d serve Omelettes a la Len.
What's one iconic line from a spy movie that you'd love to say in real life, and in what situation?
“If you don't mind, I'm gonna pass out.” — Robert DeNiro in RONIN.
When I’ve just had to tell one of my untrained accomplices how to remove a bullet from my stomach without the benefit of anesthesia.
If you could host a dinner party with any three characters from spy movies, who would you invite?
HARRY PALMER
MILES KENDIG (Walter Matthau in HOPSCOTCH)
BILL HAYDON
Imagine you're directing your ultimate spy movie. Which three actors, past or present, would you cast as the lead roles?
Richard Burton
Florence Pugh
Philip Seymour Hoffman
What song would you choose as the main theme for a spy movie?
HURT by Johnny Cash
Section F – Spy Movies
Personnel File of Spy Movie Podcast Co-Host Shane Whaley – Declassified
If you could go back in time and be a part of any classic spy movie, which one would it be, and what role would you play?
Harry Palmer – Funeral in Berlin
If you could visit any location from a famous spy movie, where would you go and why?
I am lucky to have visited most Berlin locations, but I would love to have visited Checkpoint Charlie and crossed into East Berlin before the wall came down, maybe with Alec Leamas or Charlie Muffin.
Which five spy movies would you choose for an all-night marathon and what snacks would you prepare for the event?
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
The IPCRESS File
Funeral In Berlin
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
A Deadly Game – Charlie Muffin
There are some heavy spy movies on that list so a bottle of Oban paired with Waitrose Turkish Delight and several large bags of McCoys crisps.
What's one iconic line from a spy movie that you'd love to say in real life, and in what situation?
‘She picked me up last night, and – with my irrestible charm – I want to know why, and who she's working for.'
In my dreams, I would say this after every industry trade fair! Would love to see the bosses face!
If you could host a dinner party with any three characters from spy movies, who would you invite?
Charlie Muffin
Colonel Stok
James Bond (Sir Roger Moore, naturally!)
Imagine you're directing your ultimate spy movie. Which three actors, past or present, would you cast as the lead roles?
Richard Burton
Eva Green
Jack Lowden
What song would you choose as the main theme for a spy movie?
The Thrill Of It All – Roxy Music
[…] to the first episode of Section F – our Spy Movie track on the Spybrary Spy Podcast. Our handpicked hosts and guests discuss […]
[…] Meet Your Spybrary James Bond After Fleming PanelistsGuest Host – Matt RaubenheimerMark Edlitz – author of James Bond After FlemingBill KanasBrian McKaig – The Bondologist BlogProducer: Shane Whaley […]
[…] His journalism has been published in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, Time Out and elsewhere. Free Agent was one of the Daily Telegraph’s ‘Thrillers of the year’ in 2009, and was praised by William Boyd as ‘a wholly engrossing and sophisticated spy novel set against a forgotten corner of 20th century history’. The Times called Song Of Treason ‘a masterly excursion back to the bad old days of the Cold War’, while The Guardian said it was ‘a treat for fans of traditional Len Deighton-style spy thrillers’. Oleg Gordievsky called Dead Drop an ‘excellent book’ that ‘contains lessons that are still valid in the 21st century’ and Francis Wheen called it an ‘irresistible real-life thriller’.Producer: Shane Whaley […]