PRESS ASSOCIATION-- Gary Oldman has revealed the role of George Smiley "would be the perfect casting" for winning his first Oscar.

The Nil By Mouth director stars as the famous spy in Tomas Alfredson's big screen adaptation of John Le Carre's cult novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which premiered at the British Film Institute on London's Southbank.

On the prospect of winning his first Oscar for best actor, Gary said: "I don't follow it but it's nice if people are saying it, it's better than them not saying it.

"We'll see, we've got a long, long, long way to go. Colin Firth can tell you that, it's a campaign isn't it?"

Colin, who won the Academy Award for best actor for The King's Speech earlier this year and who plays agent Bill Haydon in the film, tipped his co-star to win the Oscar.

"I think it's been a long time coming, I think he's among the best that's ever been," he said, adding: "I'd have been throwing awards at him for 30 years."

Le Carre worked with director Alfredson and screenwriter Peter Straughan on the film adaptation, which has an all-star cast including John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy and Kathy Burke.

The author revealed he'd be happy to work with Gary again on making another novel in the series into a film.

He said: "It's always dangerous to start thinking Tinker Tailor 2 as it were. There are other books we can do, but I would love for them to be done separately and with the same originality. I don't want any kind of recycling. I know Gary would love to do another and I'd love to do another but we have to come to it with the proper nervousness and without confidence."

The film is in cinemas on Friday September 16.