Daniel Craig in between Bond films

In a recent interview, Daniel Craig was asked if Bond 23 was going to be the final part in a trilogy involving the group Quantum. To this he replied, “No *#$&!@% way. I’m done with that story. I want to lie on a beach for the first half an hour of the next movie drinking a cocktail.” Now the final sentence was obviously a joke, but the interview has led to all news media definitively stating that Bond 23 will be completely different.

While the staff at Universal Exports is torn between this being good or bad news, the fact of the matter is that this was just a random interview with a man tired of James Bond at the moment. There is no script, nor any idea of what the plot will be. All that has been confirmed is what Daniel Craig HOPES for the next film. Granted, he does have more than a little pull, but still, the interview should be taken at face value.

For the full text of the interview, which goes on to discuss the roles of Moneypenny and Q and the return of Bond’s gadgets, check out “This One’s For All the Impatient Bond Fans Out There.”

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Judi Dench as M

The 73 year old Dame Judi Dench has said in an interview recently that she is not too keen to play M in the next James Bond movie, stating that she doubts her return.

According to ContactMusic, Dench has often threatened to walk away from the role but is usually convinced to do another one by Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.

According to Broccoli, “She had such a great relationship with Pierce on the screen and she has such a great relationship with Daniel. She is our anchor. She is the real Bond girl – the one that keeps it all going, and I don’t want her to leave. She keeps threatening to leave but I will not let her!”

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Akon

In recent days, both Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan have thrown their support behind casting the first black Bond. These statements have come hot on the heels of Barack Obama being elected the first African American President of the United States of America. Well, now rapper Akon has tossed his hat into the ring, stating that he would love the chance to be the next Bond.

According to The Hindu, Akon is quoted as saying “my ideal Bond girl would be Nicole. I think she’d be perfect. Lewis wouldn’t mind if I borrowed her for a minute. He seems like a pretty secure guy. He’s handsome and a world champion. I don’t think he’d be worried”.

The report goes on to say, “Akon is even making plans to fund his own Bond venture if the present producers refuse to sign him. He said, “a lot of people don’t know that I’m heavily trained in martial arts. And when it comes to cars – that’s my thing. I was raised on cars. I could do acting. It would probably take me six months to a year of training to make sure I’d get the role. I could handle that role, no problem. If I don’t ever get the opportunity then I’m gonna shoot my own”

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Barack Obama

Last week, Daniel Craig caused a stir when he said that now that Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the USA, the time was perfect for a black James Bond. Well, Pierce Brosnan has taken that statement one step further by saying that Obama himself would make a quality 007.

According to ET Online, “He’s cool enough. He’s definitely got the walk and the talk, yes,” the actor told People magazine at the second annual Jane Goodall Institute Global Leadership Awards Celebration in Washington, D.C. “But I think he’s going to make a greater president,” Brosnan said, adding, “And Mr. Daniel Craig is a great Bond of his time.”

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A new deal was just inked between MGM Studios and YouTube that will allow the popular streaming video site to offer visitors full-length movies. MGM is the first movie company to sign a contract and it is currently not known exactly what films it will provide YouTube. All that is known for sure is that none of the Bond movies will be amongst those put online.

According to TechRadar, Jim Packer, MGM’s Co-President of Worldwide Television, admitted: “I don’t think you are going to be seeing a James Bond movie on YouTube. That’s a very special franchise for us. We are very cautions about where we put those movies.”

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Given the recent US presidential election victory by Barack Obama, Daniel Craig has gone on record saying that he now believes the world is ready for a black James Bond.

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America

According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I think the role could easily be played by a black actor, because the character created by Ian Fleming in the 50s has undergone a great deal of evolution and continues to be updated.”

However, the idea might not be well received by Fleming, Craig said.

“I think he’d probably turn in his grave … [at the thought of a black Bond],” said Craig.

Craig last month suggested Senator Obama himself might make a good James Bond. At the least, he’d make a better Bond than opponent John McCain, he said.

“Obama would be the better Bond, because, if he’s true to his word, he’d be willing to quite literally look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them,” he told American magazine, Parade.

“McCain, because of his long service and experience, would probably be a better M. There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.”

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Pierce Brosnan with children...it just looks wrong if he is 007

Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster has recently revealed that the plot of the movie almost revolved around James Bond looking for Vesper Lynd’s orphaned son. It was later decided to eliminate that plot point from the movie in an effort to not deal with questions such as what to do with the son after Bond finds him. Would 007 feel like he had a responsibility to take care of the child? Would he just abandon it? These were questions that, thankfully, would never need to be addressed as writer Paul Haggis was outvoted on the idea.

According to the Coventry Telegraph:
Forster said: “Haggis had an idea they weren’t fond of, and I didn’t know if it would work or not. The idea was that Vesper in the last movie, maybe she had a kid, and there would be an orphan out there. It wasn’t anything to insult the franchise. But they felt it wasn’t particularly Bond – him looking for the kid. I think Paul thought he just leaves the kid, he doesn’t deal with it.

“But [the producers] thought that would be really nasty, too, because Bond was an orphan himself. If he would find a kid, would he just leave it? They were so vehemently against it. That was the only time I saw, really, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ They said, ‘Once he finds the kid, Bond can’t just leave the kid. It’s not right.’”

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In a plan worthy of James Bond himself, Sony Pictures is using night vision goggles in theaters in Sweden to find anyone using a camcorder to bootleg Quantum of Solace. These are unprecidented measures meant to ensure that the film does not wind up on the Internet weeks before it’s US release.

According to The Local:
“This isn’t some sort of PR-stunt, believe me, it’s simply self defence,” said the head of Sony Pictures in Sweden, Zoran Slavic to TT-Spektra.

Slavic explained that the audience is informed of the surveillance before entering the theater and that it involved security personnel equipped with night vision goggles standing in the aisles.

“It’s not something you record, it’s sort of like night binoculars which don’t cause any disturbance whatsoever,” said Slavic, who refused to divulge whether or not the measures had netted any would-be bootleggers.

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While it has long been known that Sean Connery was not Ian Fleming’s first choice to play James Bond, it has just been revealed that things were far worse than anyone ever knew. During an October 15 interview with the South Bank Show, Connery told interviewer Melvin Bragg that he had “little time” for Fleming and that 007′s creator was initially angered that a “working class Scot” had earned the role.

Sean Connery and Ian Fleming on the set of Dr. No

These recent revelations come on the heels of another 50 year old secret: that Ian Fleming had a list of seven actors for the part including Cary Grant and David Niven, but not Connery. In fact, according to Connery, he and Fleming never met until they were on the set of Dr. No. After running through a list of his preferences, they came to Connery because they “couldn’t afford most of the people they wanted.”

This is all especially interesting, as Fleming certainly warmed up to Connery during his final years of life, to the extent that in his final Bond novels Fleming gave 007 a Scottish background.

According to the Daily Express:
Now Sir Sean has revealed more about tension behind the scenes as cameras started rolling on the first Bond film in 1961. In an interview with Melvin Bragg to be shown on the South Bank Show on Wednesday, Sir Sean says he had little time for the secret agent’s creator.

He says: “I never got introduced to Fleming until I was well into the movie but I know he was not happy with me as the choice.

“What was it he called me, or told somebody? That I was an over-developed stunt man. He never said it to me. When I did eventually meet him he was very interesting, erudite and a snob – a real snob.

“But his company was very good for a limited time for me.”

Fleming’s first choice of actor to play 007 in Dr No, the first Bond book to reach the big screen, was Cary Grant – but he was too expensive. David Niven, James Mason, Patrick McGoohan, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton and Stewart Granger were also on his list. Niven turned down the role because he felt he was too old.

Sir Sean, who confesses he was surprised to get the part, says: “They couldn’t afford most of the people they wanted. That was the start. They were seeing people, they were advertising in the papers. Then they brought me in to see them and they wanted me.”

Sir Sean’s performance won Fleming over and in later books he gave 007 a partly Scots ancestry. Sir Sean tells the South Bank Show he was convinced that the Bond movies were doomed to failure.

“Anybody that says it was going to be a success is lying. I must say that from the beginning. I think about it quite a bit. If I see it on a screen I think, yeah, they could have done this better or that better.”

He says he believes now that the series can continue for years. “The ingredients are all there for a kind of movie that people want to see. It’s very good, entertaining value. It’s a spectrum of actors, from myself to Daniel Craig, who I thought was fantastic in the role.”

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