James Bond Fan Club The Pre-Premiere 007 SkyFall Newsletter

Newsletter

We’ve Been Expecting You, Mr. Bond Welcome to this special pre-premiere ‘Skyfall’ edition of the JBIFC’s Newsletter. We thought our members, friends and other fans would appreciate some extra news on the eve of the launch of the exciting new 007 film which, as many of you know, receives its Royal Premiere on Tuesday October 23 in central London. In fact, so much James Bond news has been flowing in during the last few weeks, it would be a shame not to share some of it with as many of you as possible, including all our good friends right across the world. Britain at the moment is awash with James Bond news, especially given the fact that this year is the 50 th anniversary of the EON movies and we are also about to see the results of Daniel Craig’s third adventure as a member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And boy are we in for a treat! We are very happy to report that the reactions to the new Bond movie from those who have been lucky enough to see it already have been overwhelmingly positive. Bond Is Most Definitely Back A large posse of excited journalists and other guests were able to see ‘Skyfall’ at a special press preview at the Odeon, Leicester Square, on Friday October 12, and many of the early press reviews of the new movie appeared in newspapers and on movie review websites over the weekend of October 13-14. We don’t intend to give away any major spoilers, but there a number of things we can still highlight about some of the reactions to the latest James Bond thriller. The UK’s newspaper The Times, for example (October 13), in its review, said Bond’s resurrection ‘is one to die for’. The paper called the new Bond movie ‘a great British bulldog of a movie’, which is ‘a triumphant return to classic Bond’. The newspaper, one of Britain’s leading newspapers and probably famous throughout the world, even devoted part of its editorial comment to the return of 007! How many movie franchises can do that? Similarly, the UK’s Independent newspaper was full of enthusiasm for the new movie, calling it one of the best Bonds in recent memory and ‘Craig’s finest’. The UK’s best-selling newspaper The Sun was equally enthusiastic: its review was entitled ‘Another big hit, Mr. Bond’, and it predicted that it ‘is sure to be another box office hit’. And that has been the flavour of numerous other reviews – the vast majority have praised the new 007 film sky high. The Sky is Full of Bond During the final weekend before the premiere of the 23rd James Bond movie, the British media gave us another generous round of what has been a mini-avalanche of Bond-related material in recent weeks. A good example came two days before premiere day, in the ‘Celebs’ magazine of the Sunday Mirror (October 21), which carried an interview with Daniel Craig. The interview opened with the 007 star being asked ‘Do you feel in your comfort zone as Bond now?’, to which Daniel (unsurprisingly) replied: ‘No, not at all. I’d hate to feel in a comfort zone while I was working. That’s not the way I like to do things. You want to be pressurised and you want to be challenged every day’. In response to a question about whether ‘Skyfall’ felt different from his previous two films, the current 007 said: ‘Yeah, definitely – in every way. This has an individual look to it, something I don’t think you’ve seen in any other Bond movie. I think it’s quite special’. The Bond Brand of Humour The ‘Celebs’ interview also touched upon rumours that there is more ‘humour’ in the new Bond movie. In response to this, Craig explained: ‘The humour’s not something we’ve tried to do. The humour comes out of situations ore than it does out of gags. We’ve got some very funny lines in the movie, but who knows how an audience may find them? I think there are funny moments but I have a very dark humour’. On the question of the ‘personality’ of Bond, Daniel was asked where he might take Bond next? He commented that it was a case of wait and see: ‘I mean, really, I’m not going to say that we’ve done something incredibly different here. We’ve done something, I think, which has quality about it and we’ve got a great story that we want to tell. But it is a kind of wait-and-see situation’. Nobody Does It Better Three days before the premiere of ‘Skyfall’, an interview with Daniel Craig also appeared in the weekend magazine of the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper (October 20). Conducted last June, about a week after Daniel completed filming on the new James Bond movie, the interview took place at Claridge’s Hotel in London, where members of the British media had been invited as part of the publicity campaign for ‘Skyfall’. The interviewer, Vicki Reid, noted that, whereas Craig’s first two 007 adventures were ‘quite dark’, his third Bond movie will see a return of what might be called the more traditional ‘cinema’ elements of the film series, such as the wry humour, the gadgets, and the over-the-top villains. All these have featured in the most recent films, but had been played down. Craig said: ‘It’s got some fun in it, but it’s not forced. I’m not winking at the camera. The writing’s really good, and I think that lends itself to humour...’. Craig’s Praise For Rigg Who is Daniel Craig’s favourite Bond woman? The UK’s Sunday Express tackled this interesting question on October 21. The answer may surprise some people, but possibly not dedicated Bond fans: it is Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Di Vicenzo in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (1969). The ‘Skyfall’ star was quoted by the Express as saying: ‘Diana Rigg is kind of my favourite, she’s just great in that movie, she stands out for me’. But the Express spoilt its report somewhat by claiming that the 1969 movie is regarded as ‘the least favoured of the franchise’. Really? We think not. However, the Express then tried to claw back a little bit of credibility by noting that Sir Roger Moore has said (again) that he would like to come back as a Bond villain. The newspaper offered a nice little cartoon of a surprised Daniel Craig discovering Sir Roger dressed as Blofeld, complete with white cat, and saying: ‘Ah, Mr. Bond. You weren’t expecting ME!’ Starburst Celebrates Skyfall Among the large number of Bond-related articles that have appeared in magazines over the last few weeks, there was one magazine that seems like an old friend from the past: Starburst magazine, which was a favourite of many Bond fans for its 007 coverage in the 1970s and 1980s. The glossy British magazine boasts that it is the world’s longest-running magazine of sci-fi, horror, and fantasy, and (pleasingly) it has seen something of a renaissance in recent times. Recent issues have included some great Bond coverage. The latest issue (no.381, for October 2012) has maintained this tradition with style. With Daniel Craig firmly on the front cover, the October issue (a ‘Skyfall’ special) contains a preview of the new Bond movie, an article on the world of Ian Fleming, a ‘Beginner’s Guide’ to Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, a short article on the original American TV version of ‘Casino Royale’ transmitted in the 1950s, an exploration of the Bond strip cartoon that appeared in the Daily Express, a profile of the Bond villains, a look at the 1967 film version of ‘Casino Royale’, a profile of Bond’s vehicles and gadgets, an article on the Charlie Higson ‘Young Bond’ adventures, a profile of the Bond women in the movies, a discussion of the ‘Bonds we never had’, an article on the Bond film that Quentin Tarantino wanted to make, a profile of the ‘Top ten’ Bond stunts, a Starburst readers’ poll on their favourite Bond movie, an interview with Honor Blackman, and an article on ‘Bond at Fifty’. Phew! All that for just £3.95. A bargain, 007. The Car with the Golden Touch It has been called the most famous car in the world. Given that Bond’s iconic Aston Martin makes a welcome return in ‘Skyfall’ (including during the London and Scottish sequences), there has been a lot of interest again in the vehicles of 007, especially in the view of the fact that many of them have been on display at the special ‘Bond in Motion’ exhibition at Beaulieu, in the New Forest area of Britain, which has seen thousands of visitors. ‘Global James Bond Day’ on October 5 also saw Bond’s Aston Martin DBS from ‘Quantum of Solace’ makes the largest amount of money at an auction for charity held at Christie’s in central London. The UK’s ‘Collector’s Gazette’ magazine (no.344, for November 2012) has celebrated the Aston Martin with a special article on ‘Bond Collectables’, by Jim Stevenson, which explores the various diecast and other model versions of the Aston Martin which have appeared since the 1960s. Mint-boxed, the original Corgi Toys Aston Martin is now worth hundreds of pounds. Auric Goldfinger would be proud! Did You Know? Bond’s Aston Martin was spotted at Hankley Common, in Surrey, sitting outside the impressive Skyfall Lodge, a few days after the massive explosion that took place there. It was looking, er, shall we say ‘rather toasted’, and was covered in tarpaulin three days later by the film’s technical crew to prevent curious onlookers taking a peek. Bond Bits: Brief Items of Skyfall News You May Have Missed New Bond woman Berenice Marlohe has revealed how she had just two auditions in a year before landing the coveted role of Severine in ‘Skyfall’. According to the UK’s Sunday Express newspaper (October 14), the 33-year old French actress spent years in Paris struggling to make it on the big screen. She was turned down for countless roles before Sam Mendes saw her potential... Where did Daniel Craig sneek off for a quick rest while filming Bond? According to a report in London’s Metro newspaper (October 17), he would grab 40 winks underwater! Craig was quoted as saying: ‘Underwater scenes are my favourite because no one can find you’. He continued: ‘When we’re not shooting, I swim to the bottom of the huge tanks at Pinewood Studios, which are 30 ft deep. I just sink to the bottom, put the respirator on and hide. It’s so great and sometimes I get some sleep down there’... In the novels, one of James Bond’s favourite stores in London was said to be Harrods. It has become something of a tradition in recent years, just before a Bond film premiere, for the store to mount a special Bond display in its shop windows. Visitors to London can currently see a special ‘Skyfall’ window display at the famous store... The ‘Magic’ radio station in the UK will help celebrate the general release of ‘Skyfall’ on Friday October 26 by playing throughout the day the favourite Bond songs chosen by their listeners... New ‘Q’ actor Ben Wishaw was featured in the ‘Weekend’ magazine of the Guardian newspaper on October 20. He has been making a second series of the well-reviewed BBC drama series ‘The Hour’. It will be transmitted on the UK’s BBC-2 in November, 2012... To help celebrate the imminent launch of ‘Skyfall’, the UK’s cable and satellite music channel ‘Magic’ devoted an hour on the evening of October 20 to screening the Bond song tie-in videos... Congratulations to the singer Adele. With her song for ‘Skyfall’ riding high in the music charts, she has now become a Mum, too! It was announced on October 21 that the ‘Skyfall’ theme-tune singer has given birth to a healthy baby boy. The British media reported that 24-year old singer and her partner Simon Konecki were overjoyed... To help celebrate the release of the 23rd Bond movie, the ‘Celebs’ magazine of the UK’s Sunday Mirror (October 21) featured an article entitled ‘The 007 secrets’, which gave readers seven supposed ‘secrets’ associated with the Bond films. The ‘secrets’ included no. 7, which noted that in a recent ‘Bond Survey’ Sean Connery was the favourite Bond of all time, followed closely by Daniel Craig... Sir Roger Moore has been touring Britain as part of the promotion of his new book ‘Bond On Bond’, giving interviews live on stage at various locations. When he appeared at the Rose Theatre in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, on Sunday October 14, he said he had just seen ‘Skyfall’, and he was full of high praise for Daniel Craig and the new Bond movie. In fact, he returned to the topic a number of times during the course of his interview live on stage... The BBC’s ‘Culture Show’ on BBC-2 will be a 30-minute ‘Culture Show 007 Special’ on Wednesday October 24th at 10.00pm (London time), devoted to an interview with ‘Skyfall’ director Sam Mendes, who is interviewed by Mark Kermode. The show will be repeated the following day, and an hour-long version will be transmitted about a week later... New Bond villain Javier Bardem was interviewed in the weekend magazine of the UK’s Guardian newspaper on October 13. Among the interesting comments was the revelation that he had been approached before about being in a Bond movie but, he said, it was the confluence of a good script and Sam Mendes as director that finally made him say yes to a role in Bond... Set your reminders. Bond fans in the UK will be able to see Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, and Javier Bardem being interviewed on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ on BBC-1 on Friday October 26, at 10.35pm (London time)... Charlie Higson, the author of the ‘Young Bond’ series, who is always up for a challenge, will be tweeting summaries of the plots to the Ian Fleming novels on October 23... Look up! Look down! Watch out for the new issue of the UK’s Radio Times magazine (on sale on premiere day, October 23), which will have an interview with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli... BBC Radio-4’s movie programme ‘The Film Programme’, to be transmitted on Thursdya October 25 at 4.00pm, will include an interview with Daniel Craig... After months of preparation and hard work, you can now check out the JBIFC’s re-launched website, where we will continue to bring you all the latest James Bond news...