The CBn Dossier, August '05
Welcome to the August 2005 CBn Dossier, a wrap-up of all the 007 news and rumours for the month. In this month’s column, we’ll be examining the never-ending rumours and news of Casino Royale, the current status of the upcoming videogame, From Russia With Love, the adult Bond novel announcement and release information for Charlie Higson’s Young Bond book series. Plus the news of Titan tackling Colonel Sun next for their comic strip adaption releases, the news that Roger Moore will be recording commentaries for the upcoming 2006 DVD’s and much, much more.
This month’s CBn Dossier will be delivered by Devin Zydel.
Enjoy.
All Things Casino Royale
Since the news of the James Bond contenders being “whittled down to four”, there has been discussion pertaining to all of the four contenders, but still no official announcement of who 007 #6 will be. One of the four contenders, Alex O’Lachlan confirmed the news that he was one of the four actors who performed an audition for the main role in Casino Royale, saying, “I’m spinning out of my brain about it, I flew to London, stayed on Piccadilly and was looked after beautifully. [I was] fitted out at Hugo Boss for a tuxedo, had my hair cut and filmed two scenes.” He says a final decision was expected in 20 days, which worked out to be late August. Hmm…
Other news pertaining to Casino Royale is that Oscar-nominated screenwriter Paul Haggis has been reportedly announced to be rewriting the screenplay crafted so far by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Haggis’ past work includes the acclaimed Million Dollar Baby as a screenwriter and 2005 sleeper hit Crash, which marked his directorial debut.
Meanwhile, there is also news that Eon Productions may have difficulty in securing their planned locations in South Africa, which was confirmed by Michael G. Wilson as a shooting location. While locations doubling for others is no new thing for the Bond films, many fans long for a time when the shooting location featured in the film is the actual location featured in the story. We can hope…
Finally, we move onto Pierce Brosnan and the endless rumours that he’ll be back as Bond, despite all else said and all other news. Brosnan telling the public that he’s done bonding with the 007 franchise is nothing new, but this time, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he went to further extents to explain that it really is all over, lashing out at the producers, one-liners, image, and more related to the cinematic 007:
“It never felt real to me, I never had complete ownership over Bond. Because you’d have these stupid one-liners ? which I loathed ? and I always felt phony doing them. I’d look at myself in the suit and tie and think, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’.”
Two things to note about Brosnan’s interview was him citing the producers (currently Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson) as “the most frustrating thing about the role: [the producers] play it so safe. The pomposity and rigamarole that they put directors through is astounding,” as well as Brosnan’s wish for the project to someday film Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale – something he won’t be apart of now.
Literature
Starting off the month, members of the Blades Library Book Club started reading Ian Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved Me. You just have to be a CBn member and add your name to the sign-in thread to join in! Also, the CBn “Looking Back…” series continued with John Gardner’s Death Is Forever, Never Send Flowers, and SeaFire.
The big news this month is by far the announcement that Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) is planning an adult James Bond novel in 2008, 100 years since the birth of the creator of 007, Ian Fleming. Names such as Lee Child, John le Carré, and past Bond author John Gardner have been mentioned, with Gardner ruling himself out. This would be the first time fans would be seeing an adult Bond continuation novel since Raymond Benson’s The Man With The Red Tattoo, which was released in 2002. This will without a doubt be one of the most followed stories in the upcoming months!
Keeping up to date with the recent Young Bond series by author Charlie Higson, a Large Print edition of SilverFin is now available for pre-order on Amazon. (And in the words of CBn’s zencat, pre-ordering these editions is a must.) The SilverFin audiobook will also be available in the US (in March 2006) according to a listing on amazon.
If keeping up with SilverFin wasn’t enough, Higson’s second Young Bond novel, Blood Fever is appearing up for bid on eBay in the advanced/uncorrected proof copy format. The novel won’t be published until 5 January 2006. Not to mention the release of “essential information” on Amazon.de on Blood Fever: “a Mediterranean mystery, one kidnapped girl – feisty, blond, superfit Amy Goodenough, sister of James’ best friend Mark, one villainous pirate – Zoltan Magyr, mysterious Latin-speaking men lurking near Eton, and one fast car.” Sardinian bandits and an Italian Count trying to restore the Holy Roman Empire also play a major part in the novel.
In the illustrated 007 department, there comes news that Colonel Sun and River Of Death will be making up the next highly anticipated release from Titan Books in December 2005. The most recent collection, The Spy Who Loved Me was released on the 26th of August. Be sure to read Red Grant’s review of the collection on the CBn main page.
CBn: Bond At Its Best
Two new CBn Podcasts were also made available on the mainpage, the first covering the 007 news in July, and the second featuring an interview with CBn’s own, Paul Dunphy. The CBn Podcast now has over an amazing 1500 listeners. Be sure to check them both out! How the Podcast works can be read here.
CBn wishes to congratulate CBn member thuffner for winning the CBn Remington Steele DVD competition. Congrats!
I was also able to interview author Michael Di Leo on his book, The Spy Who Thrilled Us: A Guide To The Best Of Cinematic James Bond. Check the book out if you haven’t already, it is available on the US and UK amazon websites. Read the CBn Interview here.
From Russia With…Connery, Bedingfield, Menounos, and more
August brought more news, screenshots and information centering around the upcoming EA videogame, From Russia With Love. It was officially announced by EA that Maria Menounos will be starring in the game as ‘Eva’, Red Grant’s henchwoman – a character not featured in the original novel or film. Natasha Bedingfield is also confirmed to appear in the game as original character Elizabeth Stark, the British Prime Minister’s daughter. Bedingfield previously performed the end-title song for the previous EA installment, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
Both are “honoured” to be starring alongside Sean Connery – lucky guy.
The From Russia With Love cover art was revealed and confirmed to CBn to be “99% final”. James Bond and Tatiana Romanova are featured prominently on the cover. The videogame’s release date is 28 October in the UK and 1 November in the US according to Amazon.
Be sure to check out the CBn Exclusive screenshots as well.
Sir Sean & Sir Roger
CBn wishes a happy birthday to Sir Sean Connery, who celebrated his 75th on 25 August 2005.
There also came the terrific news that Sir Roger Moore is planning to record DVD commentaries for all of his seven James Bond films in time for their release in late 2006. Things are shaping up nicely for these 2006 DVD releases. Keep watching CBn for all further reports.
It’s safe to say that as Bond fans, we have alot to look forward to. As always, stay tuned to CBn for daily coverage of all things James Bond.