It’s conceivable that Tomas Alfredson‘s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Focus Features, 11.18) might play the New York Film Festival following its Venice Film Festival debut, but it definitely won’t play the Toronto Film Festival. Deadline‘s Pete Hammond reminded me this morning that he reported this four days ago (on 7.26) in his piece about Oscar-season shufflings. My bad — I focused that day only on Paramount’s decision not to put Jason Reitman‘s Young Adult into any of the fall festivals.

On the other hand Hammond buried his revelation about Tinker, Tailor in the fourth paragraph of his story, so I’m not entirely out to lunch.

I asked yesterday if Tinker Tailor might eventually be confirmed as a Toronto Film Festival attraction or perhaps as a New York Film Festival closing-nighter or centerpiece. It would make sense to screen it at one of these two festivals following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, or concurrently with Venice at Telluride.

I asked the Focus Features gang and the N.Y. Film Festival crew for help, and they both stonewalled me. Even when I asked them to at least confirm yea or nay about Toronto being a no-go…silence. Focus played hide-the-ball last year with Sofia Coppola ‘s Somewhere, showing it at Venice but otherwise dodging the fall festivals. Will they repeat this strategy for Tinker Tailor? Possibly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a NYFF deal is announced soon.

I wonder what ESPN’s Bill Simmons thinks about Young Adult side-stepping the festival circuit. On 7.6 he said during an ESPN B.S. report with Chris Connelly that he’d caught a screening of Adult and felt it was “tremendous.” I need to write or call him.