The spectacles Gary Oldman wears as secret agent George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy come from the same Pasadena, California store where Colin Firth found his stylish frames for A Single Man.
Oldman admits he was taken by the glasses his co-star Firth wore as George Falconer in the 2009 Tom Ford film and made a mental note of where his fellow Brit had found them.
And when it came time to get into character to play John Le Carre's Mi6 spy, he tracked down the specialist store, Old Focals, to perfect his look.
Oldman tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, "To Smiley, those glasses are as important as (James) Bond's martini."
But director Tomas Alfredson admits his leading man became a little obsessive about his character's spectacles.
He tells the publication, "At some point I decided I'm going to support whatever Gary picks so we can get these bloody glasses on his nose and start working."