Nicolas Cage takes on the spy who inspired James Bond in 'Fortitude'
Nicolas Cage is ditching polished spycraft for a cocktail-soaked, chaos-first spin on the secret-agent game.
Slip on a tux, pour a martini, and then toss both in the backseat: the first look at Fortitude finds Nicolas Cage swaggering through World War II espionage as real-life double agent Dusko Popov while an entire fake invasion is built out of decoys. The trailer leans into the Allied ruse known as Operation Fortitude — think bogus armies, inflatable tanks and a web of double-crosses — with Cage toggling between polished charm and barely contained chaos.
Director Simon West frames it as a caper rather than a solemn history lesson, giving Cage room to play Popov’s cool operator one moment and an agent of mayhem the next. It’s tuxes and tailfins on the surface, with the comic snap of a wartime con underneath.
Cast roll call
- Matthew Goode
- Ed Skrein
- Ben Kingsley
- Alice Eve
- Art Malik — Ian Fleming
- Michael Sheen
The cheekiest touch lands with Art Malik as Ian Fleming, the future creator of James Bond — a wink to Popov’s place in 007 lore baked right into the cast list.
From Popov to 007
Popov wasn’t just a spy; he lived like the fictional agent he helped inspire: wealthy, multilingual and notoriously reckless, moving through luxury hotels, fast cars and dangerous assignments. Fleming reportedly watched some of it up close, then poured those details into Bond — from the appetite for risk to the hard drinking to a legendary scene rooted in Casino Estoril, where Popov once rattled an opponent by slapping down $50,000 at the table.
Popov’s $50,000 gamble at Casino Estoril later echoed through Fleming’s Casino Royale.
The Fortitude trailer is out now; a U.S. release date has not been announced.