Nicolas Cage Plays A Real-Life James Bond In Trailer For New Spy Thriller Fortitude

Published Sep 2, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. 

Nicolas Cage brings an incredible true story to life in Fortitude.

In the upcoming film, Cage plays Dusko Popov, a real-life spy who served as one of the major inspirations for Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. During World War II, Popov was part of an ambitious, crucial mission to fool Adolf Hitler's Nazi Army with a fictitious army, fake tanks, aircraft and ships, and false radio messages in the days before D-Day.

A trailer for Fortitude has now been released, which opens with Dudley Clarke (Ed Skrein), an officer in the British Army, acquiring a code while undercover and putting it in his mouth after getting arrested. It's then established that Hitler needs to believe that the biggest attack from the Allies is coming at Pas-de-Calais, when it will actually be in Normandy, which is where the real D-Day takes place. To pull this off, an elite team is needed, which includes Popov. Check out the trailer below:

Cage channels Bond when he says, "Vodka martini, shaken not starred," as the footage cuts between him in combat and looking suave as he orders his drink of choice. He also describes the overall venture as "risky, thrilling, unpredictable... exactly how I like missions" before the trailer concludes with him choking Hitler.

In addition to Popov and Clarke, other key members of the team of spy-soldiers and double agents include Thomas Argyll “TAR” Robertson (Matthew Goode), Juan Pujol (Jordi Mollà), and Nancy Armstrong (Alice Eve). Operation Fortitude is supported by Winston Churchill (Michael Sheen) and Fleming (Art Malik). The cast also features Ben Kingsley as Chuck Murphy, Ron Perlman as General George S. Patton, Paul Anderson as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and Adrian Topol as Wulf Schmidt.

While there are many D-Day movies, Fortitude tells another lesser-known, but vital story about how the invasion that changed the course of World War II came to be. Earlier this year, Pressure was released, which is centered on expert meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott) attempting to convince General Dwight Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) to alter the timing of D-Day due to perilous weather conditions. With an 86% score from critics and 95% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, Pressure was well-received.

Fortitude was directed by Simon West, whose prior credits include Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video, Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and The Expendables 2. The new spy thriller serves as a reunion for Cage and West after working together on Con Air 29 years earlier.

The new movie was written by Simon Afram, was produced by Simon Afram Productions and Op-Fortitutde, has a runtime of 103 minutes, and does not have a rating yet. The release plan for Fortitude is uncertain after Netflix was sued for $105 million by Afram due to the streamer allegedly losing a hard drive containing the movie. Netflix was reportedly interested in acquiring the film, which does not have a set distributor or release date yet.