Amazon Studios’ The Report is released in UK cinemas this week, and it’s a spy thriller based on real-life events.

Written and directed by Scott Z Burns, it follows the true story of whistleblower Daniel J Jones (Adam Driver), as well as the Senate Intelligence Committee, as they investigate the CIA's use of torture following the September 11 attacks.

Driver doesn’t bear a physical resemblance to Jones, but Burns says he can’t imagine anyone else in the role.

“One of the great things that Adam brings is a Jimmy Stewart quality that I really love. There’s an openness to him, and his ability to react to things the way a human being would and should is a real gift,” Burns says.

“So there was that, and the fact that Adam had been a marine after 9/11, he went into the marines much in the same way as Dan, who was going to graduate school at Harvard, he changed his trajectory and wanted to serve the country after 9/11, so there’s a parallel there.”

Scott Z. Burns, right, writer/director of "The Report," posing with former FBI investigator Daniel J. Jones, left, and actor Adam Driver. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) More

“But even beyond that, I think being in the marines taught Adam a lot about chain of command and how you can’t just walk in and start pounding a table in outrage, because you’ve found out something outrageous. You have to draw within the lines of your position. Adam brought that understanding with him.”

“He does a remarkable job of the Kafka-esque arc of his character, of having one obstacle after another get in the way of him accomplishing a task he was sent to do. I think he’s really great at allowing that frustration to accumulate. You see it on his face, you see him pushing down his anger.”

Read more: Phoebe Waller-Bridge says she added 'little spices' to No Time to Die

Despite its dark origins, The Report is actually fast-paced and entertaining, much like another spy series that’ll be returning to cinemas next year: Bond.

And Burns was involved in 007’s new adventure, No Time To Die, after being hired as a script doctor by director Cary Joji Fukunaga. The film is credited being written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Scott Z. Burns and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

But what’s it actually like to write a Bond film?

Cary Joji Fukunaga, Léa Seydoux and Daniel Craig pose as they arrive on set of the James Bond last movie "No Time To Die" in Matera, Italy. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images) More

“It sounds really corny,” Burns tells Yahoo Movies UK, “but if you’re a screenwriter, and you’re working in Final Draft, and you type in the character ‘Bond’ and you get to write dialogue: You do have to chuckle.”

“To me, it’s the most significant movie character of all time. It’s a privilege to work on that. You just can’t be cynical about it. And the work that Daniel has done to evolve the character is so great.

“Cary has all sorts of ideas about where he wants to take the story, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge and I overlapped a bit, and I’m a huge fan of hers.”

Daniel Craig is Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in No Time To Die, previously codenamed Bond 25. (Universal Pictures/EON Productions) More

Story continues