Operation Mincemeat Trailer: Two Mr. Darcys Team Up For Some Wartime Trickery
"Operation Mincemeat" has gathered the most British group of actors you've ever seen for what I imagine will be an immensely British occasion. Prepare yourself for long wooden tables, lots of maps, Jason Isaacs looking displeased, and Colin Firth trying his best. Also, Winston Churchill is there, because of course he is! All of these factors combined help tell the extraordinary true story of two intelligence officers who hatched an outlandish scheme to trick some Nazis and ended up altering the course of World War II.
As if movies about WWII aren't already profoundly British, "Operation Mincemeat" (which has the word mincemeat in the title) pulls together a bunch of English all-stars — including not one, but TWO Mr. Darcys — and sticks 'em all together in stuffy rooms to exchange sarcastic banter and unhappy looks. Along with Firth, the film stars Matthew Macfadyen, who has been one to watch ever since his 2005 turn as Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice," but has since reclaimed his cultural footing as the hilarious Tom Wambsgans on HBO's "Succession." Now sporting a mustache and glasses, he even gets to keep his actual accent, along with fellow brits, Johnny Flynn, ("The Outfit," "Emma"), Dame Penelope Wilton ("Downton Abbey"), Jason Isaacs ("Mass"), Simon Russell Beale, Paul Ritter, Mark Gatiss and more. In their scheme to win the war, they're also joined by an unlikely accomplice: a dead man. Uh ... I'll let the trailer explain.
Operation Mincemeat trailer
Is this an ingenious strategy from a gaggle of experienced MI5 agents, or the greatest wartime prank the world has ever seen? The trailer for "Operation Mincemeat" just proves my point about this being the most British movie to ever Brit: Matthew Macfadyen has an incredibly bushy mustache, Johnny Flynn is smoking by a typewriter, and Colin Firth ... is present. Even better, Firth is playing Ewen Montagu, who kicks things off by declaring to his team, "we're going to play a humiliating trick on Hitler." Arguably, the perfect start to any story. From there, "Operation Mincemeat" reveals the details of this rarely-told story, as a small group of agents band together for some wartime trickery. The plan? To feed the Nazis misinformation by planting fake documents on a dead body dressed as a Royal Marines major. Per Netflix, here's the synopsis:
It's 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler's grip on occupied Europe, and plan an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge – how to protect a massive invasion force from potential massacre. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war – centered on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to alter the course of the war – defying logic, risking countless thousands of lives, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point.
From conception to execution, Operation Mincemeat was a risky gambit. Outwitting the german troops was no easy feat, and their plot was as daring as it was absurd. It pulled through on the merits of the many minds involved, which the film will spend its time digging into. In some ways, "Operation Mincemeat" has all the makings of a typical WWII thriller, but the intriguing story it tells opens the door for something more unique that promises great performances from its all-star cast. The film hails from "Shakespeare In Love" director John Madden with a script from "Masters of Sex" scribe Michelle Ashford.
"Operation Mincemeat" arrives on Netflix and in select theaters on May 11, 2022.