“The Dry Cleaner”
My goal with “The Dry Cleaner” was to write and direct a realistic feeling contemporary spy drama.
I have been a fan of political thrillers and spy films since I watched the movies “Three Days of the Condor”, “Spy Game”, “The Conversation” and “All The Presidents Men”, to name a few.
The film was awarded an “Honourable Mention” in 2021 by the SpyFlix Film Festival. “The Dry Cleaner” will screen online for one week from 8th August 2021 as part of the festival.
Judges for the film festival include Simon Cornwell (son of John Le Carré) producer of BBC hit The Night Manager, Joe Wisenberg creator of hit spy show The Americans Alex Cary producer and writer of hit tv shows Homeland and Legends, former CIA officer John Sipher, and actor Laila Robins from Homeland, The Boys and The Blacklist and Hedda Archbold producer of Kermode on Film, Girls on Film and Film Stories Magazine. -- Which is pretty cool!
“The Dry Cleaner” was acquired by Shorts International and is now available to watch on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
Trailer
A British intelligence officer attempts to convince a Middle Eastern student to spy on a revolutionary group operating in her university which may have ties to a terrorist group.
Behind the scenes
Take a look at the making of “The Dry Cleaner”.
The film was shot over 8 days, filmed with a RED Epic Dragon, Shooting in 5k, using Cooke S4 prime lenses.
We shot on locations around London ranging from Canary Wharf, Paddington, Olympia, Shoreditch, and Westminster. Some of the locations we used in the film have featured in other spy films such as The Ipcress File, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Skyfall.
What the professionals are saying about the film
“The Dry Cleaner could be used by the security services as a training film on espionage.
The tradecraft is brilliantly executed, and the sense of betrayal grabs you from the beginning.
Chris Carr has done a wonderful job of setting the tone for something that you learn early on in the world of intelligence, i.e., there are no friendly intelligence services."
— Fred Burton, former State Department special agent and New York Times best-selling author.
“The Dry Cleaner is an excellent short film. Fascinating plot.
Very well executed. Few post-9/11 spy thrillers show the dangers and risks of counterterrorism work through the perspective of the asset as well as the handler. The Dry Cleaner raises the bar for the spy movie genre.
I look forward to seeing more good things from director Chris Carr.”
— Yaya J. Fanusie, former CIA Counterterrorism Analyst
“The film shows excellent tradecraft.
It depicts the difficulty of walking the line between cultivating and protecting a human being who is placing his/her trust in you, but also recruiting a source who is needed to provide key information. It also shows the importance of operational security.
The counter surveillance scenes in the film are well done, in fact, there aren’t very many pop culture representations of SDRs that I can say are better than this.”
— Dr. Vince Houghton, Historian & Former Curator at the International Spy Museum
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Interviews and press about the making of the film
Interview on Spybray Podcast.
Shane Whaley interviews Chris about the making of his spy film “The Dry Cleaner”. This interview goes into the making of the film, its spy cinema and literature roots.
Interview on Stratfor’s “Pen and Sword” Podcast.
Chris is interviewed by former DSS Special Agent & Best Selling Author, Fred Burton.
Fred speaks with Chris about how his film "The Dry Cleaner" stacks up to Burton's own experience as a counterterrorism agent with the U.S. State Department, and about the tactics spies often employ to ensure their sources aren't being tailed by someone who could jeopardize their operation..
Little Black Books takes a look at “The Dry Cleaner”.
Article takes a look at the post production process of making of Chris’s film “The Dry Cleaner”
Feature on the post production of “The Dry Cleaner”.
In depth look at the colour grading of the film “The Dry Cleaner” written by the films post production sponsor LEAP