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  1. The CBn Dossier

    The CBn Dossier, March '06

    By Heiko Baumann on 2006-03-31

    Heiko Baumann

    Welcome to the March 2006 CBn Dossier, a wrap-up of all the James Bond 007 news and rumours for the month. Wellwellwell, folks, wasn’t March a really interesting month? All kinds of book news, and tons of information – real information, as in pictures, interviews and TV coverage – on Casino Royale. Putting this dossier together proved to be a real task, so here we go. It does not contain spoilers (but some of the links do) or April Fools jokes.

    This month’s CBn Dossier will be delivered by Heiko Baumann.

    Enjoy.

    The Literary 007

    Despite a release date of April 1st 2006, copies of the US paperback edition of SilverFin have slipped out early not only on eBay, but also – later in the month – on amazon.com. Good news for collectors, such as John “zencat” Cox of YoungBond fansite The Young Bond Dossier, who revealed that the US edition of Blood Fever (scheduled for release in June 2006) will look completely different (which can be viewed here) to the UK edition and, unlike the US edition of SilverFin, will be unedited. Speaking of SilverFin: Collectors should take note that there are obviously two different versions of the US paperback available. The German edition of Blood Fever, Zurück kommt nur der Tod, was finally released in mid March. UK based fans of the Young Bond series, however, should not miss the opportunity to discuss all things Young Bond with author Charlie Higson at Foyles bookstore in London on April 12th.

    Good news as well for fans of the the illustrated 007: Titan books revealed the final cover artwork for their The Golden Ghost story collection (to be released on April 21st) and confirmed to CBn that the next volume of their James Bond graphic novels will be Trouble Spot, additionally containing the stories Isle of Condors, The League of Vampires and Die With My Boots On. The release of Trouble Spot is scheduled for September 2006 in the UK. Titan’s Colonel Sun, due for release on May 1st in the USA is now available for pre-order on amazon.com at a discounted price.

    Further book news include the announcement that James Bond – The Legacy is to be reprinted in August 2006, and also, Deborah Lipp’s The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book is finally scheduled for release on May 30th 2006.

    Casino Galore / I must be dreaming…

    Remember the old times when we had a new Daniel Craig and/or Casino Royale bashing in the tabloids every day? Didn’t we all love this? While some less confident members of the fan community used the opportunity to further elaborate their concerns on the direction the franchise is going, other Bond fans stood startling in disbelief about how many buckets of malice were poured over their beloved franchise and the current embodiment of everyone’s favourite superspy. Deep down inside, everyone knew that most stories were just the usual made-up tabloid rubbish. Just look what was made out of a “press release”, sent to the right (or wrong, if you prefer) places by some teenage fanboys (and girls) and their infamous website, which the author refuses to name here. Nothing more of this humbug! Still, a bitter taste remains with serious Bondophiles about the image that was pinned on all Bond fans throughout the world. The quintessence of venting the fans’ anger over the misdoings of tabloids and rabid naysayers was worded by CBn’s own Paul Dunphy, first in the CBn podcast from March 8th, and a few days later in written form in his great editorial ‘Daniel Craig Ate My Hamster’. The piece almost became redundant, because between writing, recording and publishing the article, Barbara Broccoli herself stepped up to the plate and commented in Variety magazine on some of the nonsense: “His teeth are fine, his driving is fine, he doesn’t have heat rash and he’s not afraid of the water.” The article did also shed some interesting light on the working relationship between Eon and Sony.

    And then, Casino Royale really hit the media, and it seemed like the whole bickering of the past few weeks was forgotten after some “distinguished representatives of the world press” were invited to a visit of the Casino Royale set in the Bahamas. Fans and detractors were literally flooded with not only interesting, but also positive reports and headlines from major news outlets all over the world. And this time, it wasn’t just rumours or blury spy pictures… Set pictures, cast pictures, behing the secenes footage and loads of interviews. Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, Martin Campbel, Eva Green, Caterina Murino and others spoke out in interviews, setting the record straight on many things and false rumours that had been reported before, but also revealing lots of interesting news and tidbits. Frankly said, it’s a bit too much to summarize it all in this Dossier, especially as there would be tons of spoilers in it – and frankly said, I don’t really want to put together all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle. Many of us will know more than enough about this movie, come November 17th – I, for one, wouldn’t mind having at least a few surprises when I finally get to see the finished product. Instead, CBn gives you the opportunity to decide for yourself what you want to read (and more important: what not) with this choice of links to Casino Royale stories of the past month:

    WARNING: Some of the following links may contain spoilers.

    The News Is Not Enough

    Still not enough for this month? Oh, this insaturable Bond bunch with their thirst for news, news and more news… Okay, what else did we have? A number of stories that would have gained more attention in other times, but found themselves burried by the Casino Royale media blitz.

    It almost went unnoticed that one of the reports mentioned a new name in the Bond family: Alexander Witt, who has previously worked on movies like Hannibal and The Bourne Identity is 2nd unit director for Casino Royale, replacing Bond veteran Vic Armstrong.

    German actor Ulrich Matthes (known for the portrayal of Joseph Goebbels in the 2004 movie Downfall) has told German weekly paper “Die Zeit” that he was offered to play Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, but had to decline as he was already commited otherwise. Eon then hired Mads Mikkelsen for the job.

    The release of the latest James Bond game, From Russia With Love, for Sony PSP has been pushed back to April (14th in the UK, 4th in the US).

    Role of Honour

    CBn wishes to congratulate Sir Tom Jones for his knighthood, which he received on March 29th from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

    Congratulations also to Timothy Dalton, who celebrated his 60th birthday on March 21st, and last but not least to the first Bond girl, Ursula Andress – Honey Ryder in Dr. No – who turned 70 on March 19th.

    And that’s all for this month.

    Or maybe not…

    Just in case you want to know what didn’t happen: Unfortunately, SilverFin did not win the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year.

    With over 500,000 posts and endless discussion topics, there has never been a better time to join the CBn Forums to discuss Casino Royale and all other James Bond topics. Registration is free and only takes a minute. It’s safe to say that as Bond fans, we have a lot to look forward to. As always, stay tuned to CBn for daily coverage of all things James Bond.

    To discuss this month’s CBn Dossier visit this thread on the CBn Forums.

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