BOND... JAMES BOND!

[cron]

you're just jealous cos he hugged sienna.

[MacGuffin]

Daniel Craig Unveiled As New James Bond



Daniel Craig was introduced Friday as the first blond James Bond and only the second Englishman to star as Agent 007 in the movie series.

Craig's selection was revealed as he was whisked down the Thames River aboard a military boat to a news conference.

Craig replaces Pierce Brosnan in the role of the suave spy in "Casino Royale," due in theaters next year.

"I'm speechless," the star said, after posing for photos with producer Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell.

"Daniel is a superb actor who has all the qualities needed to bring a contemporary edge to the role," Broccoli and Campbell said in a statement.

Producers announced last year that they were seeking a replacement for Brosnan, who has played Bond in the last four films.

Craig, 37, is the first blond actor to play agent 007. Relatively unknown outside Britain, he has had a busy career that includes roles in the landmark 1990s British TV drama "Our Friends in the North" and films including "The Mother," "Enduring Love" and "Layer Cake."

He played Paul Newman's sinister son in "Road to Perdition," was poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia" and appeared in this year's thriller "The Jacket" with Adrien Brody.

Craig is also the tabloids' dream Bond. He once dated headline-grabbing model Kate Moss and has been linked to Sienna Miller, his "Layer Cake" co-star and on-off fiancee of Jude Law.

Earlier this year, Craig praised 007 as "an iconographic figure in moviemaking."

"I think you'd have to be stupid not to consider something like that," he said, but added that he hadn't given the role "any serious thought."

The film's producers tried to keep their decision secret, but Craig's mother told the tabloid Sun newspaper she was "thrilled to bits."

Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, originally published in 1953, "Casino Royale" is one of the few Bond adventures not to feature the MI6 gadget-maker Q. It was previously filmed as a 1967 spoof starring Peter Sellers.

Before Friday, speculation about the new Bond also included British actors Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gerard Butler and Ewan McGregor, Irishman Colin Farrell and Australians Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger and Eric Bana.

[Gamblour.]

Hmm, I was going to say I've never seen this guy act but I did see the Jacket (and remember him, i don't remember him in Road to Perdition). He seems like a good candidate, but unless they make the other parts of the Bond series better (writing, directing) I think he'll be out like Dalton, pretty quick.

[diggler]

he has the best line in Road to Perdition, at the wake when the boy asks why he's laughing, and he says "cuz it's all so fuckin' hysterical".

[Gold Trumpet]

Hmm, I was going to say I've never seen this guy act but I did see the Jacket (and remember him, i don't remember him in Road to Perdition). He seems like a good candidate, but unless they make the other parts of the Bond series better (writing, directing) I think he'll be out like Dalton, pretty quick.

He had an intimidating and rough presence in Sylvia. I found it successful for the role. I'm still not sure about him as Bond. A return to a Timothy Dalton type of Bond is needed, but can he pull it off? Who knows. I'll await until I see the film considering it will be radically different from previous Bond efforts.

Also, word is he is signed for 3 Bond films. Either way, he outlasts Dalton. Its sad Dalton is never given his due credit though.

[MacGuffin]

Michell may join 'Bond 22'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

As the world awaits the debut of Daniel Craig as the latest Agent 007, the producers of "Casino Royale" are busy making plans for the next chapter in the James Bond franchise.

U.K.-based helmer Roger Michell is in negotiations to direct the follow-up to "Casino Royale," which has a working title of "Bond 22."
 
Columbia Pictures, which is producing "Casino Royale" and "Bond 22" alongside MGM, declined comment. And while plot details for "Bond 22" remain sketchy, sources say the film is based on an original idea from Bond producer Michael Wilson. Eon Prods. is looking for a writer to adapt.

Michell and Craig are no strangers, having teamed on the 2004 drama "Enduring Love."

Michell's helming credits also include the Ben Affleck-Samuel L. Jackson vehicle "Changing Lanes" and the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant romantic comedy hit "Notting Hill."

[MacGuffin]

BOND 22 needs a director
Source: Variety

Creative differences have stalled negotiations with Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Changing Lanes) who was in talks to direct BOND 22. The negotiations have now fallen through and the film is once again searching for a director.

The film is the planned sequel to CASINO ROYALE, which Sony is releasing on November 17, and will also star Daniel Craig. Bond 22 has a release date of May 2, 2008.

[squints]

I'll direct it! I'm sure whatever i can come up with will be better than Changing Lanes

[polkablues]

I'm sure whatever i can come up with will be better than Changing Lanes

*spews a mouthful of Coke all over monitor*

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?

[MacGuffin]

From Bean to Bond?
Bond 22 screenwriter rumor.

The online rumor mill is buzzing with word that Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) may have been tapped to write the next James Bond movie.

The New Zealand-born screenwriter – who worked with former Bond 22 directing candidate Roger Michell on Notting Hill – wrote for Rowan Atkinson on the series Blackadder and Mr. Bean (including the 1997 feature film) before seguing to romantic comedy features such as the Bridget Jones films and Love Actually.

Curtis also made his feature directing debut on Love Actually. Word of Curtis' rumored involvement with Bond 22 first appeared at the MI6.co.uk fansite.

MI6 also claims that veteran Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade "have been dropped from the project."

The story premise for the follow-up to Casino Royale is reportedly based on an idea by Bond producer Michael G. Wilson.

[MacGuffin]

Faulks writes new Bond novel
Book to be released in May
Source" Variety

LONDON — Brit novelist Sebastian Faulks has been commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to pen "Devil May Care," a James Bond book to mark the centenary of Fleming's birth next year.

The new book has the blessing of 007 pic producer Barbara Broccoli, who's had a sneak peek. A rep for Eon Prods. told Daily Variety that an impressed Broccoli believes the book, which is set in 1968, could well pass for a Fleming manuscript discovered in the attic by a relative.

The Fleming estate disclosed last year that it had commissioned "a well- known and highly respected" author to pen a fresh Bond book but few watchers suspected that Faulks, whose work includes "Birdsong" and "Charlotte Gray," would get the nod. John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth were considered the most likely candidates.

Although careful to reveal few details, Faulks said, "He is slightly more vulnerable than any previous Bond, but at the same time, he is both gallant and highly sexed, if you can be both. Although he is a great seducer, he really does appreciate the girls he seduces and he doesn't actually use them badly."

Faulks wrote "Devil May Care" in six weeks and joked that his writing habits differed considerably from Fleming's cavalier approach: "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkeling."

Faulks' book will be published May 28 to coincide with what would have been Fleming's 100th birthday.