FILM · 2001
The Tailor of Panama
83 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (83)
- #001
According to director Sir John Boorman's audio commentary, Geoffrey Rush smoked while Pierce Brosnan did not, and Brosnan's character Osnard smoked while Rush's character Harry did not. As a result, between takes Brosnan often put out his cigarette at the same time as Rush.
- #002
Filming began on Gatun Lake with scenes featuring Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Lee Curtis in the water near one of the lake's small islands. Curtis commented: "There were oil tankers in the background, a camera crew floating in the water and two security guards in the water against crocodiles. I thought, 'Ah, yes, I'm in a John Boorman film,' because John makes more vivid adventure films than anyone."
- #003
Geoffrey Rush could not drive, so in every scene in which Harry drives, the car is either pushed or towed, or a double or background plates are used.
- #004
Prominent Panama locations in the film include the Presidential Palace, the main lock at Miraflores on the Panama Canal, the Canal Commissioner's house and the Panama Canal Control Center; the last was a highly sensitive location where only strictly necessary crew members were allowed inside.
- #005
Local police and private security personnel hired by the production tried to keep crowds a little away from the action on set, and they always had more trouble in Panama's wealthy districts, where residents showed far less respect for their authority.
- #006
It is one of the few major Western productions shot entirely in Panama (apart from interiors filmed at Ardmore Studios in Ireland). Films shot there in the past had been made mainly in the Panama Canal area, or Panama was one of a group of international locations. At the time, Panama was mostly used for television and documentaries. The Naked and the Dead (1958) was one of the older films shot only in Panama.
- #007
Jamie Lee Curtis and Sir John Boorman and his family had been friends since Curtis and Boorman served on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in the early 1990s.
- #008
Pierce Brosnan had once auditioned for Sir John Boorman's earlier film "Excalibur (1981)." According to Boorman's audio commentary, it was a bad audition and Brosnan did not get the role. Boorman apologized to Brosnan for not casting him.
- #009
Academy Award-winning Best Actor Geoffrey Rush brought his usual preparation and diligence to the role of Harry Pendel. With the enthusiastic support of his wife Jane Menelaus, Rush found himself taking lessons from a tailor in Sydney, Australia. He packed his bags and flew to join Sir John Boorman and the assembled company in Panama City, Panama. Rush met a second tailor, who taught him the essential mechanics of chalk and cutting. Rush explained: "The knowledge you acquire for a film is incredible. In Shine (1996) I mimicked Rachmaninoff, and then for The Tailor of Panama (2001) I sewed a waistcoat."
- #010
Britain's leading playwright Harold Pinter gave one of his very rare acting performances as Uncle Benny, Harry Pendel's (Geoffrey Rush's) late mentor, who "appears" to him in times of crisis.
- #011
Daniel Radcliffe completed this film before playing his breakthrough lead role in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), which was released the same year as this film.
- #012
Andy Osnard (Pierce Brosnan) was originally to be killed by Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) at the end of the film. In the end, Sir John Boorman felt that such an act would cast a shadow over Harry's character and that it would be far more realistic for Osnard to get away with it.
- #013
Jamie Lee Curtis said of the film's rehearsal period: "Pierce Brosnan and I are more instinctive actors; we've both done work where you just handle things yourself. John Boorman and Geoffrey Rush have an intellectual approach to the rehearsal process, and I found I had an emotional curiosity about that. I found it very interesting to talk about it in a room as intensely as John and Geoffrey do. I thought, 'Okay, I can do that. Go there.'".
- #014
One of the most important differences between the novel and this film is that the book takes place before the United States handed over sovereignty of the Panama Canal to the Republic of Panama, while the film takes place afterwards.
- #015
In the novel the spy Andrew Osnard is twenty-seven years old. Since Pierce Brosnan was forty-eight at the time, the part had to be changed.
- #016
Sir John Boorman had always imagined Geoffrey Rush as Harry Pendel. Boorman said: "Even if he does terrible things, you never lose your sympathy for Geoffrey on screen. There's something worn but innocent about him. He has an enormous range, and I knew he had the technical equipment to play Harry."
- #017
Pierce Brosnan said that the most important sex scene in this film was the moment he appeared completely naked on camera for the first time.
- #018
Brendan Gleeson (Mickie Abraxas) is Irish. He dyed his natural red hair black and wore brown contact lenses to complete his transformation into a Panamanian.
- #019
The producers and production crew hired more than a hundred eager extras and background artists to appear in the film, drawing on poor Panama communities in Casco Viejo as well as Panama's wealthy suburbs.
- #020
Pierce Brosnan became the second and, to date, most recent actor to play James Bond in a film adaptation of a John le Carré spy story. Sir Sean Connery was the first, in The Russia House (1990). Connery did so after his time as Bond, whereas Brosnan did so while he was Bond. This film was released between The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). The MI6 building seen in the film is the real MI6 headquarters in London, England, and its use here is consistent with the Bond films of the period, which also used the real MI6 headquarters.
- #021
The film was released five years after the novel was published.
- #022
John le Carré visited Panama five separate times to research the novel.
- #023
Before principal photography began, Sir John Boorman held two weeks of intensive rehearsals with Geoffrey Rush and Pierce Brosnan, and a few days later Jamie Lee Curtis joined them, followed by Leonor Varela and Brendan Gleeson.
- #024
The DVD shows an alternative ending in which Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) shoots Andy Osnard (Pierce Brosnan). Neither the studio nor the director, Sir John Boorman, liked this pessimistic ending, so in the final cut Osnard is alive at the end, on a plane leaving Panama, flirting with a flight attendant.
- #025
Pierce Brosnan and Brendan Gleeson are Irish, and Sir John Boorman moved from Los Angeles, California, to Ireland in 1969 while directing Leo the Last (1970), buying a Georgian rectory in County Wicklow for £21,500. At the time the location was quite remote. Today his neighbours include figures such as Paddy Moloney (frontman of The Chieftains), Paul McGuinness (U2's manager) and Daniel Day-Lewis.
- #026
The film featured a large number of local Panamanian actors, including the former diplomat Adolfo Arias Espinosa, who plays the President of Panama, and the local theatre director Bruce Quinn, who plays an American tourist.
- #027
The role of Sarah Pendel is played by Sir John Boorman's daughter, Lola Boorman.
- #028
The film is set in late 1999, during the handover of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama.
- #029
The tailor's shop was based on Douglas Hayward's tailor's shop in London.
- #030
Jamie Lee Curtis was cast in this film seven years after appearing in another spy film, True Lies (1994). In both films she plays the wife of a spy who lies to her.
- #031
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the production brought millions of dollars into the Panamanian economy, but it also gave many locally hired workers experience, their most valuable asset.
- #032
There was great local excitement about the arrival of nearly a hundred technicians, and even greater excitement about the arrival of "James Bond" Pierce Brosnan, whose presence always drew a crowd on location. Brosnan was at the time more famous than most people on the planet and was mobbed wherever he went. Unlike many other cities, Panama City was not yet used to seeing major movie stars in its midst. Brosnan took it all in good humour.
- #033
This is the first film on which executive producer John le Carré took a producer credit.
- #034
General Manuel Antonio Noriega's "Dignity Battalions" were nicknamed "Dingbats."
- #035
Pierce Brosnan was the current James Bond when this film was made. One Bond film was shot in Panama: Quantum of Solace (2008). That Bond film was shot in locations in Panama including San Felipe, Panama City and Casa Viejo in Colon. Casa Viejo was also a filming location for The Tailor of Panama (2001).
- #036
When Columbia Pictures first approached Sir John Boorman about making this film, studio executive John Calley told him there was a very long script written by John le Carré. Boorman recalled: "I found it full of vitality. I met le Carré and got on extremely well with him. He is wise, funny and a wonderful storyteller. I shaped the screenplay from the book and from le Carré's script. The story had all these elements of drama and humour set in an exotic place seething with love, hate and corruption. And then at its core there is a strange relationship between Osnard and Harry. They come together, they feed off each other. Harry is bullied and flattered by Osnard, and Harry cannot escape him because Osnard knows Harry's secret past."
- #037
This is the first of four feature films on which Daniel Radcliffe and Brendan Gleeson worked together. After this film the pair worked together three more times in the Harry Potter film series: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010).
- #038
The hotel where Andrew Osnard (Pierce Brosnan) stays in Panama was called the "Gamboa Rain Forest Resort."
- #039
The exterior of Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) and Louisa Pendel's (Jamie Lee Curtis) house is in a residential district of Panama, but the moment you walk through the doorway you find yourself on a soundstage at Ardmore Studios in Ireland. The same applies to the exteriors of Harry's tailor shop and Andy Osnard's (Pierce Brosnan) apartment. These were three main sets built at Ardmore Studios. There was also an elaborate Pentagon Control Room set there, completed with dozens of state-of-the-art IBM computers.
- #040
The actors and actresses agreed that the transition from shooting on location in Panama to shooting at Ardmore Studios was a difficult adjustment. Geoffrey Rush commented: "In Panama it is easy to feel you have character. But when you are in Ireland it is not so easy to convince yourself that you are in Panama."
- #041
It is the only filmed adaptation of John le Carré's source novel, which is also a comedy.
- #042
The "F" word is used twenty-eight times.
- #043
The film was selected to be shown in competition for the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2001. Star Geoffrey Rush also attended this film festival.
- #044
One of John le Carré's characters says of Panama in the novel: "We have everything God needed to create paradise. Wonderful agriculture, beaches, mountains, wildlife you would not believe, stick a stick in the ground and you get a fruit tree, people so beautiful they make you cry."
- #045
Filming consisted of more than six weeks in Panama, followed by four weeks of interior work at Ardmore Studios. At the time this film was shot, Sir John Boorman had regarded Ireland as his home for thirty years. The picture's post-production also took place at Ardmore Studios.
- #046
Harold Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) and Louisa Pendel's (Jamie Lee Curtis) code names were "BUCHAN" and "BUCHAN TWO" respectively. These are references to John Buchan, the master spy novelist.
- #047
The Marriott Hotel in Panama, the newest high-rise then opened in Panama City and the host hotel for the entire cast and crew, allowed its lobby and bar area to be used as a set. Within a few days the hotel's lobby and bar were transformed into the "Two Oceans Club," a private meeting place for the wealthy Turks in the film's story. It is here that Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) explains the city's hierarchy to Andy Osnard (Pierce Brosnan), the new man at the British Embassy in Panama.
- #048
Shirley Henderson, the art department's set dressing buyer, who went to Panama for three weeks and ended up staying there for three months, then bought a great deal of Panama bric-a-brac that was used on the sets at Ardmore Studios. These props and cinematographer Philippe Rousselot's warm lighting helped the actors, actresses and technicians send themselves back to Panama's steamy heat. Even the unusually hot weather in Ireland during the studio shoot helped the illusion.
- #049
During the six weeks of filming, Sir John Boorman's production put magnificent Panama on the map. Permits were sought, and ultimately granted, to shoot in some of Panama's rarely seen locations.
- #050
In real life Pierce Brosnan and Brendan Gleeson are Irish.
- #051
It is one of two theatrical films starring Daniel Radcliffe that were first released in 2001. The other is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001).
- #052
Basic (2003) and this film, released only a few years apart, are intrigue films set largely in Panama and featuring scenes from the Panama Canal area. While Basic (2003) did a small amount of filming in Panama, this film did far more filming there. At least five crew and technician staff worked on both films.
- #053
The book was John le Carré's fifteenth novel.
- #054
Sir John Boorman commented at the time the film was shot in Panama: "I have made four films in the tropics, so Panama was not entirely unexpected. Glamour, beauty, corruption, drug trafficking; it was a powerful and exotic mixture."
- #055
The film unit shot in Casco Viejo, Panama's picturesque old city reminiscent of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly among dilapidated buildings where the poor live. In Casco Viejo the film crew also staged the excitement of Carnival with steel bands in exotic costumes, floats and hot music. During the several nights of filming, many local residents, even those not officially hired as extras, joined in the fun. The street children of Casco Viejo got little sleep on the days and nights their neighborhood was turned into a film set.
- #056
While the main production unit was shooting exteriors in Panama, following production designer Derek Wallace's instructions, art director Sarah Hauldren was working with her team to prepare several complex interior sets at Ardmore Studios.
- #057
Responding to the novel's unusual and different comic tone, partly comedic and reflected in this film, which does not openly represent the humor in a John le Carré book, le Carré said: "I think I am in the same mood as always, but in some ways more mature. I think at sixty-five you can say there are only two things you can do when you see the world shaping up the way I do: laugh or kill yourself. I think my character does both. In some ways, this is a very personal book. I was exploring the relationship between myself and my own maker. Everyone in the creative industry has some degree of guilt about the fact that you steal, that all of life is material for your fabrications. That was certainly Harry Pendel's attitude, and I had not felt it since A Perfect Spy (1985)."
- #058
The U.S. military arsenal available for the military operation in Panama included rapid-response resources such as an aircraft carrier named the U.S.S. Alaska; eight F-22 Raptor fighter jets; twelve warships; and a battalion of Marines.
- #059
According to TCMDb, co-screenwriter Andrew Davies had previously occupied the director's chair before Sir John Boorman was hired as the film's director.
- #060
On its initial release, the picture was distributed theatrically only in a limited release in the United States.
- #061
During the rehearsal period, differing approaches to the work came together into a coherent whole. Unlike the rehearsals of some actors and actresses who were worn down by other demands on their time, the rehearsals on this film were regarded as too important or too valuable to be interfered with.
- #062
The reason all the principal actors and actresses made the film and every member of the crew signed on can be summed up in a single name: Sir John Boorman. He is meticulous but demands the most of himself. A master of economy, he shoots not one step more than necessary, and very little at that.
- #063
John le Carré took on dual duties on this film as both executive producer and co-screenwriter.
- #064
Neither this film nor the novel features John le Carré's famous character George Smiley.
- #065
The amount of money Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) owed the bank was 50,000 US dollars.
- #066
It is one of two spy films starring Catherine McCormack that premiered in 2001. The other is "Spy Game (2001)."
- #067
The code name of the American military mission in Panama was "Operation Straight Arrow."
- #068
The film's opening prologue reads: "Often called the eighth wonder of the world, the Panama Canal was built by American engineers and operated by the US Army for 85 years. At the end of 1999 it was controversially handed back to Panama, leading to intense speculation about the future of this vital passage. Meanwhile, plying his trade in a corner of Panama City… THE TAILOR OF PANAMA."
- #069
The novel was the second of John le Carré's novels to use the word "tailor" in its title. The first was "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (1974), which was filmed twice, making three le Carré film productions featuring the word "tailor."
- #070
The opening title card of this major motion picture states: "MI.6 HQ LONDON."
- #071
Naomie Harris, who played the character Miss Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond film series, became the sixth major actor to appear in feature films adapted from the works of both famous spy novelists John le Carré and Ian Fleming. Harris's role as Gail Perkins in Our Kind of Traitor (2016) followed her earlier roles in the Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Pierce Brosnan and Sir Sean Connery had previously played James Bond on the big screen and had appeared in film adaptations of le Carré, in this film and The Russia House (1990) respectively; the latter had a title evoking Fleming's From Russia with Love (1963), in which Connery played Bond. Connery's unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), one of his 007 Bond films, co-starred Klaus Maria Brandauer, who also appeared in The Russia House (1990). Connery and Brandauer appeared in the same two Bond and le Carré spy films. Harris and Brosnan also appeared together in After the Sunset (2004). Bernard Lee, the first actor to play the character "M" in the Bond films, was the first actor to play both a Bond and a le Carré character. Lee took the role of Patmore in le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), the first filmed adaptation of a le Carré novel. In the le Carré film The Constant Gardener (2005), Ralph Fiennes played Justin Quayle and went on to play the Bond series' new "M" character "Gareth Mallory" in Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), in both of which Harris also played Miss Moneypenny. James Bond actor Daniel Craig's wife Rachel Weisz had previously played Tessa Quayle in The Constant Gardener (2005), winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for that film, in which Weisz and Fiennes played husband and wife.
- #072
The spy gadgets featured in the film include a gold-colored cigarette lighter spy camera used to photograph documents and a black single-lens telescopic spy glass (the latter appeared on the film's posters).
- #073
The following characters and the actors who played them had these nicknames: Andrew Osnard (Pierce Brosnan) - "Andy"; Harold Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) - "Harry"; Louisa Pendel (Jamie Lee Curtis) - "Lou"; Michelangelo Abraxas (Brendan Gleeson) - "Mickie"; Mr. Braithwaite (Harold Pinter) - "Uncle Benny"; and Ernesto Delgado (Luis Antonio Gotti) - "Ernie."
- #074
Harold Pendel's (Geoffrey Rush's) prisoner number was "906017."
- #075
The names of the watercraft in the film were as follows. The large Princess passenger ship was named "Sun Princess," while the small motorized canopied passenger boat was named "Bella Louisa."
- #076
Tailor Harry Pendel's (Geoffrey Rush) initials are the same as those of playwright Harold Pinter, who played Pendel's late mentor and business partner Uncle Benny.
- #077
The film's production notes stated in promoting the picture: "In the first days of the new millennium, excitement reached fever pitch in the Central American country of Panama, and especially in its capital, Panama City. Sir John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama (2001), the first major motion picture to choose Panama as its main location, brought the focus of international attention with it."
- #078
While writer-director Sir John Boorman focused on getting the screenplay right and casting the film, producer Boorman grappled with the logistics and practicalities of bringing a major film production to Panama, which had no expertise in the field.
- #079
Boorman assembled key members of his production crew, many of them veterans of his other films, including co-producer Kevan Barker, a longtime colleague, and production accountant Con Cremins. Among them were production designer Derek Wallace, Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, "A" camera operator Des Whelan, editor Ron Davis and costume designer Maeve Paterson.
- #080
The production unit shot throughout Panama City during the main filming period.
- #081
In the crowded city streets at the heart of Panama City's banking district, a colorful traffic jam indistinguishable from the real thing was staged.
- #082
After filming in Panama was completed, the production company headed to Ireland to begin studio shooting, which in some respects was the hardest part of the film. Interiors were shot at Ardmore Studios in the Wicklow countryside outside Dublin, Ireland.
- #083
The film's cast includes two Oscar winners, Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis, and two Oscar nominees, Brendan Gleeson and Harold Pinter.
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