Sometimes it takes a little bit of trickery to overcome a dangerous enemy. That's the theme of the upcoming Netflix movie Operation Mincemeat, a new movie heading to theaters and Netflix in May. Ahead of its release, Netflix has released the official trailer, giving us a peek at stars Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen as soldiers in World War II plotting a creative plan to fool Nazi forces, and it involves a corpse. Watch the trailer below to see what we mean.
John Madden directs Operation Mincemeat using a screenplay by Michelle Ashford. The film is produced by Charles S. Cohen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Kris Thykier. Simon Gillis and Christian McLaughlin executive produced. Along with Firth and Macfadyen, the movie stars Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, and Johnny Flynn.
Though set during wartime and dealing with very serious issues, the trailer shows that there are plenty of comedic moments as well in the movie. Per Netflix, you can read the official synopsis for Operation Mincemeat below.
"It’s 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe, and plan to launch an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge - how to protect the invasion force from potential annihilation. 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 turn the tide for the Allies - taking impossibly high risks, defying logic, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point."
Operation Mincemeat Is Inspired by True Events
Operation Mincemeat is, oddly enough, based on a true story. It is inspired by the story of Ewen Montagu, a spy and Naval intelligence officer who helped organize and carry out the titular operation during World War II. While seemingly a plan that was doomed to fail, it was ultimately a success, leading to the liberation of Sicily from Nazi forces. Involving planting fake documents on a dead body, the ruse wound up tricking Adolf Hitler, who bought into the hoax. It wasn't hard for the filmmakers to see the potential in adapting the true story as a feature film.
“In the context of WW2 narratives, the story of Operation Mincemeat is unique – a bizarre and seductive cinematic blend of high-level espionage and ingenious fiction, where the stakes could hardly be higher," director John Madden said about the real story, per Deadline. "Michelle Ashford’s script fuses multiple strands and moods: tense, romantic, thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and endlessly surprising. It tells a richly human story of the soldiers we seldom see, who fight a different kind of war in shadows and deception, haunted by the knowledge that certainty and guarantee of success are nowhere to be found."
Operation Mincemeat will have a theatrical release on Friday, May 6, followed by its streaming release on Netflix on Wednesday, May 11.