Oscar buzz for Oldman

After a warmly received debut at the recent Venice Film Festival the much anticipated espionage thriller "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" is getting plenty of early Oscar buzz - and so is leading man Gary Oldman.
But the British star isn't dusting off the mantle just yet.
SOUNDBITE Gary Oldman, actor, saying (English):
"I don't follow it but -- it's nice if people are saying it. I mean it's -- better than them not saying it. Lets put it that way, but -- lets see we got a long -- way to go -- Colin Firth can tell you that. It's a big -- it's a campaign, isn't it."
Co-star Colin Firth is no stranger to Oscar buzz, having been at the centre of it for the past two Award seasons with nominated performances for "A Single Man" and "The King's Speech".
Last year's Academy Award winner said an Oscar for Oldman would be well deserved - and long overdue.
SOUNDBITE Colin Firth, actor, saying (English):
"Quite rightly -- I don't want to feed it cause I know what it's like but -- I think it's been a long time coming. You know -- he is among the very best that there's ever been I think."
Oldman stars in the film as retired Cold War agent, George Smiley, who is asked to return to the fold to expose a Soviet mole at the top of the British intelligence service.
Based on John Le Carre's classic spy novel, the complicated story was adapted into an acclaimed 1970s television mini-series starring Alec Guinness as Smiley.
Le Carre himself was on hand at the premiere to explain why it took more than three decades to tell the tale on the big screen - in half the time of the TV series.
SOUNDBITE John Le Carre, author, saying (English):
"It is a complex story with a lot of back story and the novel uses George Smiley's memory and you can't do a lot of memory on screen. Flashback becomes a bore. So actually to bring the whole thing into primary sequence -- was a real work of art."
Helmed by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" hits British cinemas on September 16.
Doug MacLaurin, Reuters.