'A Call to Spy': Meet Stana Katic, Radhika Apte and Sarah Megan Thomas from the WWII women spy thriller coming on VoD
Sarah Megan Thomas has a flair for women-centric films. From athletes to businesswomen, Thomas' characters have been layered to a certain extent where one would chide their own selves for overly sexualizing these characters the way most of the titles populating the woman-in-a-man's world do. And while that might be credited solely to the fact that the person behind the pen and paper and idea is a woman, this time Thomas comes armed with the dual role of starring and producing alongside writing the script for her latest brainchild, 'A Call to Spy'.
The official synopsis details the period drama as a World War II story where the Churchill administration calls for undercover civilians with the added benefit of nobody doubting them purely because of their sex. "At the dawn of World War II, a desperate Winston Churchill orders his new spy agency to train women for covert operations. Together, these female agents help undermine the Nazi regime in France, leaving an unmistakable legacy in their wake," reveals the synopsis. It is no secret that Thomas did her fair share of a deep dive to pen these ladies, but with great characters comes the great responsibility of executing the role to a T. So here are all the familiar faces bringing some remarkable women like Virginia Hall, Vera Atkins, and Noor Inayat Khan to life.
Stana Katic
The 'Castle' icon plays the role of Vera Atkins, an undercover Jewish woman battling anti-semitism at the time as she makes way through the ranks of the government for her plot. Katic was more recently seen in the Amazon Prime Video thriller 'Absentia' where she played the role of Emily Byrne, a former FBI special agent who disappeared on the job and returns six years later with no memory of her abduction. Katic's character in 'A Call to Spy' is based on the real-life Atkins, a Romanian-born British intelligence officer who worked from 1941 to 1945 in the France Section of the Special Operations Executive.
Radhika Apte
The Indian actress is widely acclaimed within the Bollywood film industry for her works in several independent films, such as 'Parched' and 'Phobia'. With her directorial debut 'The Sleepwalkers' currently competing at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2020 under the Best Midnight Short category, Apte is about to become a household name worldwide as she embraces the role of Noor Inayat-Khan. Also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, the real-life Noor was the first female wireless operator to be sent from the UK into an occupied France to help the French Resistance during World War II. She was later captured and executed at the Dachau concentration camp in 1944.
Sarah Megan Thomas
The writer-producer is also playing a significant part in the golden trio of women spies taking center stage in her movie. Thomas plays the legendary spy Virginia Hall in her film that ha already premiered at festivals and won several awards as well, including an Audience Choice Award, and the ADL "Stand Up" award at the Santa Barbara International Film. Her character, Hall, code name: Marie and Diane, was an American woman working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and also the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II.
'A Call to Spy' will be available to video on demand from this Friday, October 2.