Everything To Know About Black Bag, the Spy Drama Starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender
Find out when the Steven Soderbergh film debuts, what it's about, who's in the cast, and what it's rated.
Can two spies sustain a marriage with all the lying and moral gray areas involved with their work? Add suspected treason into the mix, and you've got the makings for one doozy of a lover's quarrel.
That's the conceit behind director Steven Soderbergh's latest effort, Black Bag (opening in theaters only on Friday, March 14; click here for tickets), a winding and star-studded espionage thriller full of enough reveals and double-crosses to fill an entire trilogy of Ocean's movies.
Here's a rundown of everything you need to know about the Focus Features title — from plot details to the ensemble cast and release date.
RELATED: Cate Blanchett Should Win an Oscar for This "Emotional Interview" with Jimmy Fallon
What is Black Bag about?
A tense spy drama written by legendary scribe David Koepp (Jurassic World: Rebirth, Panic Room), Black Bag centers around a top British intelligence agent, George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), who has an extraordinary talent for rooting out liars. That skill is put to the ultimate test when George is tasked with finding out whether his spy spouse, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), betrayed her country and, more importantly, their marriage.
The film's title is an allusion to the highly covert operations carried out by members of the intelligence community. To be more specific, a "Black Bag" operation refers to "secret entry into a home or office to steal or copy materials," according to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
When does the spy film Black Bag come out?
Black Bag opens in theaters only on Friday, March 14. (Click here for tickets!)
Koepp apparently got the idea for the movie while writing the script for the first Mission: Impossible movie all the way back in the 1990s and spoke with intelligence operatives. In particular, the veteran Hollywood scribe was utterly fascinated with their personal lives.
“All the spy craft stuff was very cool, but I learned more than I ever expected about the people,” Koepp says in the Black Bag production notes. “One woman told me that her job made it impossible for her to sustain a relationship. A line in the movie was inspired by my conversations with her. ‘When you can lie about everything, how do you tell the truth about anything?’"
He continues: "Think about it. If you want to have an affair, it couldn’t be easier. You just say, ‘I’ll be gone for three days and you can’t ask me where I’m going because you don’t have clearance.’ You can’t trust people and people can’t trust you. For George and Kathryn, the confidential information they can’t share goes into what they call their ‘black bag.’"
Who stars in Black Bag?
Black Bag features an ensemble cast comprised of Michael Fassbender (The Killer), Cate Blanchett (Tár), Marisa Abela (Barbie), Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Naomie Harris (Skyfall), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton), and Pierce Brosnan (GoldenEye).
RELATED: Pete Davidson & Mikey Day Made Bridgerton's Love Scenes Weird in SNL's Sketch
What is Black Bag rated?
Black Bag has received an R-rating "for language including some sexual references, and some violence," according to FilmRatings.com.
