Frank Ilfman has signed on to score the upcoming spy thriller The Operative. The film is written and directed by Yuval Adler (Bethlehem) and stars Diane Kruger, Martin Freeman and Cas Anvar. The movie is based on the Israeli best seller The English Teacher written by former Israeli intelligence officer Yiftach Reicher Atir and tells the story of a woman recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran who becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject. Anne Carey (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Mr. Holmes, 20th Century Women) is producing the project for Archer Gray, alongside Match Factory Production’s Michael Weber & Viola Fügen (Foxtrot) and Spiro Films’ Eitan Mansuri (The Congress). Teddy Schwarzman (The Imitation Game, Mudbound) serves as an executive producer. Ilfman will be recording his music for the thriller at TELDEX Studio in Berlin in late December/early January. The composer’s previous scoring credits include the Martin Freeman-starring Ghost Stories (which was released in the U.S. earlier this year), the 2013 Israeli thriller Big Bad Wolves and this year’s The Etruscan Smile. The Operative is expected to premiere in 2019.
