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Saturday, April 30, 2011
The James Bond International Fan Club News Letter April, 2011
Posted on 1:48 PM by Barbara Thimen
Dear colin
Will Africa feature in the next 007 adventure? Various Bond fan websites, together with other internet sources such as 'Business Insider', reported in early April some intriguing news about a possible African dimension to Bond 23, which is expected to start main filming in November this year. They noted that former England international cricket player Darren Gough revealed on 6 April that he had sat next to Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and director Sam Mendes ('what a lovely bloke', said Gough) while on a first class Virgin Airways flight to Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa. They apparently told Gough that they were 'scouting locations'. A rumour that Wint and Kidd were sitting a few seats behind the pair on the same flight has been strenuously denied, however! 
It has now reached that stage in the Bond film cycle when pre-production rumours go into overdrive, driven by those who want a piece of the action (a Bond connection can boost marketing for tourism enormously). Unconfirmed reports have mentioned India as another possible location for Bond 23 filming (India was first used as a Bond film location in 'Octopussy' in September, 1982). On 16 April the Times of India carried a report claiming that talks had taken place about location shooting down the famous Konkan Railway, which runs along the coast of the Indian subcontinent. The route of the railway runs through some particularly rugged landscape. 
Rumours about Bond 23 casting possibilities have also continued during April. As we noted in our previous Newsletter, Baz Bamigboye of the UK's Daily Mail newspaper carried interesting reports on 4 February and 25 March that acclaimed actor Ralph Fiennes is being lined up as one of the stars in Bond 23. Bamigboye repeated this again on 22 April, when he did a piece on Fiennes being approached to play the mysterious Magwitch in a new big-screen version of Dickens's 'Great Expectations'. At one point Bamigboye noted that: 'Talks continue for Fiennes to be in Sam Mendes's Bond film, and there are several other film projects that the actor is keen to do'. Moreover, in the same edition, in an article on distinguished actor Simon Russell Beale, Bamigboye added that Russell Beale 'will also play an unspecified role in the next Bond movie'. One thing seems pretty clear, though: the JBIFC has learnt of increased pre-production preparations in recent weeks at Pinewood Studios, which suggests the famous studios will be utilised for Bond 23 later this year. 
The distribution arrangements for Bond 23 are certainly gathering speed. In a press release from Los Angeles dated 13 April, 2011, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) announced that it will remain in the Bond business after reaching an agreement with MGM to co-finance, market and distribute Bond 23 worldwide. Sony and the new MGM Co-Chairmen and CEOs, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, also publicly reinforced their faith in the future of the Bond franchise by stating: 'Sony Pictures and MGM look forward to Sony Pictures co-financing and distributing Bond 24 on a similar basis'. Barber and Birnbaum added: 'Sony Pictures is the ideal studio partner for us as MGM re-enters the film-making business'. One of Sony Pictures' Co-Chairs, Amy Pascal, said in response: 'After successfully working on the re-launch of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, we could not be more proud or privileged to continue our association with Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, and the talented teams at EON and MGM'. 
In a press release issued in mid-April, it was announced that Sir Roger Moore will follow up his bestselling autobiography 'My Word Is My Bond' (2008) with a new book titled 'Bond on Bond' to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond films. The new volume, to be published in September, 2012, will be a guide to the cars, gadgets and girls of the James Bond movies, together with Sir Roger's thoughts on the evil villains of the series and some personal reminisces about his own time as the world's most famous secret agent. The third man to play James Bond, who still rates 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977) as his favourite Bond movie, commented in characteristic tone: 'I'm greatly looking forward to delving into my memory box again and rummaging through the photo albums to admire my great physique, dashing good looks and full set of teeth'. 
Pressure of space in recent editions of the JBIFC Newsletter meant we were unable to mention an interview given by James Bond no.4, Timothy Dalton, held to tie in with his recent role in the US spy-spoof TV series 'Chuck', made by NBC. The interview, given to Christian Blauvelt of Entertainment Weekly, contained some interesting reflections on Tim's time as 007, and on the legal problems between Danjaq and MGM/UA in 1989 (Danjaq sued MGM/UA and its parent company Qintex in 1989 for selling TV rights to the Bond film back-catalogue without Danjaq's approval). Dalton said: 'I think I was starting what would have been my third Bond film in '89 or '90. It had been written, we were talking directors, and then the lawsuit came. It held for five years, and I certainly didn't want to carry on after having been associated with Bond for almost 10 years at that point'. The Shakespearian star also added that he thought the first 25 minutes of 'Casino Royale', Daniel Craig's first Bond movie, 'was the best 25 minutes I've seen in any Bond movie. I thought it was a fantastic opening'. Dalton also recognised the irony that Craig's Bond is the type of Bond that Broccoli originally wanted Dalton to portray in the late 1980s, but that audiences at that point were perhaps not yet ready for the harder-edged Fleming Bond of the type he played. Dalton said when they made his two Bond films, 'everybody by then was so used to something else. I think people like to stay with what they're comfortable. So I think Cubby and I were fairly lonely voices!' 
While Bond fans wait patiently for the eagerly anticipated release in May of 'Carte Blanche', the new Bond adventure by Jeffery Deaver, Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) recently announced the release of new editions of John Gardner's 007 novels. To celebrate the 30 th Anniversary of Gardner's first Bond novel 'Licence Renewed' in 1981, all fourteen of Gardner's Bond books will be reprinted by Orion in the UK, starting with the first three ('Licence Renewed', 'For Special Services', and 'Icebreaker') on 23 June, 2011, followed rapidly by the next two ('Role of Honour' and 'Nobody Lives Forever') on 7 July. As an added bonus to collectors, the first five titles in the Gardner series will be reprinted in hardback, with their original UK cover designs. The rest of the Gardner collection will be released in paperback format in the UK during the course of 2012-13, with redesigned covers. When it appeared in 1981, 'Licence Renewed' carried a dust-jacket designed by Mon Mohan, based on an original commissioned watercolour by Richard Chopping, who had famously designed some of the most memorable of the dustcovers for the Ian Fleming Bond books first published by Jonathan Cape. Gardner's first 007 adventure, which was originally titled 'Meltdown' by the author, was well received by most reviewers at the time, and became an immediate bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. The main plot, which involved the villainous Laird Anton Murik planning to trigger meltdowns at six nuclear power stations, seems even more prescient thirty years later. 
The sheer visual look of an EON Bond movie was often a feast for the eyes of cinema audiences in the 1960s and 1970s.The legendary set designer Sir Ken Adam created many of the most famous and lavish sets on these early Bond movies, including the nuclear control room in 'Dr. No' (1962), the Fort Knox bullion depository set for 'Goldfinger' (1964), and Blofeld's massive volcano rocket base in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967). The Fort Knox set, described by some as a 'cathedral of gold', was so convincing to cinemagoers that United Artists received numerous letters asking how Adam had got permission to see inside the depository. But it was all from his imagination! In the 1970s his highly distinctive designs were also on display in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977), with the famous sea-going Lotus Esprit, the submarine-swallowing super-tanker, and Stromberg's eerie underwater lair Atlantis, while in 'Moonraker' (1979), Adam' distinctive vision gave us a possible glimpse of the future with its space-age hide-outs for megalomaniac industrialist Sir Hugo Drax. The latter movie saw Sir Ken at his 007 film design zenith, as the last Bond feature of the 1970s used more location interiors than on any previous 007 movie, with a story that ranged from California to the Amazon jungle and, ultimately, climaxed in a space station circling the earth. On Monday 4 April, Sir Ken received a special BAFTA tribute and belated 90 th birthday party in celebration of his extraordinary career in film design, and the JBIFC inserted one its spies into the event. The special evening, held at the Institute of British Architects in central London, was supported by The Albert R. Broccoli and Dana Broccoli Foundation, and kicked off with a champagne reception. Guests included Lewis Gilbert, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Peter Lamont, Don Black and David Arnold. There was also a host of former Bond women present, including Eunice Gayson, Shirley Eaton, Caroline Munro and Valerie Leon. Unfortunately, Sir Roger Moore was unable to attend the evening due to his injury on set a few weeks ago, but sent a very humorous message. Film historian and major Adam fan Sir Christopher Frayling, who has written two studies of Adam's work, also added his voice to the well-deserved celebrations of Sir Ken's iconic movie design portfolio. 
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