First 35 seconds of Title Song Leaked!

A sudden discovery of a 35 second clip of the forthcoming song for Die Another Day was found on Kazaa today, and it sent the Bond and Madonna fan communities into a frenzy.

The few bars of the song, presumably are the bars of the introduction, featuring strings by Michael Colombier, as promised, which are then cut up by the producer of the track (and producer of many of Madonna's recent tracks), Mirwais. A jumpy electronic beat is then added in the gaps of the cut string samples.

Reaction to this sudden appearance has sparked controversy, as many fans claim it is "Unbondian," though reaction to it has been positive on the whole.

Unfortunately, due to copyright reasons, we can't link directly to the song, we can merely point you in the right direction. If you wish to hear it, you will have to download Kazaa and try and gain access to a copy.

Feel free to discuss any opinions on the song in this thread.

Ten Minutes Of Footage Shown In Australia!

Garth Franklin from Dark Horizons was lucky enough to catch ten minutes worth of Die Another Day footage recently, and he's posted a report about it on his website.

Of course it does contain certain spoilers, so you'll have to hightlight to read.

The clip started off with Bond and a fellow agent (Colin Salmon) in an office hallway sneaking down and taking out armed guys in black outfits who seem to be conducting a raid. Bond steps into an office and there’s M held at gunpoint in front of one of the men. Bond takes a few steps forward, pauses and then fires (cut to black). Lots of stuff is seen – Rick Yune appears in many scenes with a bald head, pale eyes and these wierd silver metallic stretch mark style rivulets down half his face. M comments to Bond welcoming him ‘back’ as such from what sounds like a retirement, there’s the ice car chase which looks spectacular, Berry popping out of the water in her bikini, lots of scenes involving lasers, and the money shot – an awesome FX scene where it looks like half a forest explodes upwards from a shockwave. A bit of the plot is elaborated upon – a stunt where a man parachutes into Buckingham Palace introduces us to the Richard Branson-esque Gustav Graves whose developing a satellite technology called Icarus which will in effect create a ‘second sun’ of sorts. However like all baddies there’s a lot more to it than that.

The footage screening was organised by Fox in Australia. Garth tells us that tt was mentioned afterwards that the film contains around 400 something CG FX shots, about 20-30 times that of an average Bond film. Expect a trailer using elements from this footage to appear shortly.

Sounds very promising. There are some special effects in there that I'd really love to see!

If you'd like to discuss this news please do so in this thread of the Die Another Day Forums. See you there!

The Passing Of Peter Hunt

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Peter Hunt.

The director of On Her Majesty's Secret Service Hunt's experience with the world of James Bond began in 1962 as he was chosen as Editor on the first James Bond adventure, Dr No.

Born in London in 1925, Hunt studied the violin at the London College of Music and the history of art at the University of Rome before the lure of the cinema made him abandon his original ambitions and become a clapper boy at Denham Studios in 1947. After working as an assistant editor on The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952), he edited his first film, Stranger from Venus, in 1954; his subsequent films as editor included A Hill in Korea (1956), The Admirable Crichton (1957), Ferry to Hong Kong (1959) and Sink the Bismarck! (1960).

After Dr No Hunt went on to edit From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, also working as a second unit director on YOLT.

Hunt passed away on three days ago August 14 in Santa Monica, California. He leaves behind one son and an amazing influence over the world of James Bond, and cinema as a whole.

More Teaser Posters To Come?

After last weeks revealing of a second Teaser Poster for Die Another Day, movie site Dark Horizons have reported that more teaser posters are on the way, as this teaser poster is the second in a series of many.

No word yet on if the news is true, however, we can hope that if we do get to see any other teaser posters, they're a lot better than the second one.

If you'd like to discuss this news please visit this thread of the Die Another Day Forums.

Catherine McQueen Reportedly Part Of Cast

Ananova have reported that model Catherine McQueen is a part of the Die Another Day cast.

Few details have been revealed on the role, however, McQueen will reportedly play a Russian socialite. Chances are McQueen will feature in the Ice Palace scenes of Die Another Day. Other models were hired to feature in the Ice Palace scene and will reportedly be in the Ice Palace to try and find out more about James Bond.

McQueen is currently twenty-four.

Second Teaser Poster Revealed…

Through the official James Bond site MGM have revealed a second teaser poster for the promotion of Die Another Day.

The teaser poster features uses a blue theme, like most of the Die Another Day promotional campaign, and features both Halle Berry and Pierce Brosnan on the poster.

To view it, visit the official site.

Jinx To Receive Bond Treatment As Well

It seems that Halle Berry's character of Jinx will also receive the Bond treatment in Die Another Day. That's according to Lee Tamahori, who is continuing to emphasise Die Another Day's raunchier sex theme.

Empire Online have talked with Tamahori who told how he approached Pierce with the idea, 'We said, "Pierce, what do you feel about being in the first Bond movie where you get laid?" And he said, '"that'd be smashing!" So we did that. We've got Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry bonking away.'

Of course, Lee has earlier conceded that the scene, and another with Miranda Frost, may not make it into the final cut of the film. The final word rests with the films censors. And should they decide to cut it? Well, let just hope that when Die Another Day comes to DVD it includes some good extras, like deleted scenes. Wouldn't that be a novelty!

Signing Event Hints At Possible Premier Attendees

'Memoribilia', Europe's largest collectors fair, was recently held in Birmingham with guests John Glen and Caroline Munro in attendance. In the past the event has attracted other big Bond names including Valerie Leon, Shirley Eaton and Desmond Llewellyn.

Stuart, who attended the event, has written in to tell us that flyers, advertising the next 'Memoribilia', were being handed out.

The next event, to be held in Birmingham on the 16th and 17th of November this year, will be a Bond Special according to the advertising. Star Signings will include George Lazenby, Richard Keil, Maud Adams, Lois Chiles, Eunice Gayson and Valerie Leon with more yet to be confirmed.

So what does this have to do with Die Another Day? Well a lot of those Bond celebrities don't live in the United Kingdom, so they may be in the UK for something a little bit bigger than 'Memoribilia'. And what's bigger than the premier of Die Another Day at the Royal Albert Hall on November 18.

It seems almost a foregone conclusion that these Bond stars, and many others, will be in attendance at the premier!

If you'd like to discuss this news please visit this thread of the Die Another Day Forums.

Thanks to Stuart for sending in the news!

Bond 21’s Aston Martin Revealed?

When Aston Martin signed to have the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish in Die Another Day they signed a three-film contract, so you can expect to see an Aston Martin in Bond 21 and Bond 22.

Well it seems we may have just gotten our first glimpse of Bond 21’s Aston Martin thanks to three Spy photos.

The above photo is of Aston Martin’s latest car (still in development), currently codenamed AM305. It is the car tipped as being the next Aston Martin DB5.

The DB5 is a smaller car than any of the cars Aston Martin are currently producing, and in modern terms is best compared to the Porsche Carrera. And that’s the market that this new car will directly take on, it’s Aston Martin’s competition for the Porsche GT3. Any how better to promote the new car than in a James Bond film?

However, if you’re not to keen on the cars current don’t worry. What you see above is only a prototype known as an “engineering mule”. The actual car will carry the signature Aston Martin horizontal grille opening and side cooling vents not featured on the above model. Furthermore, the final design is expected to draw heavily on the Aston Martin DB4 and DB5, whereas, the above model draws heavily on the DB7.

Production of the new car awaits construction of a new factory on the grounds of the Land Rover technical center in Gaydon, England. The new factory will be dedicated to producing the new car, which is expected on the market for 2004 or 2005.

Such a release date just happens to perfectly co-incide with the release of Bond 21.

If you'd like to discuss the new car please visit this thread of the Bond 21 Forums!

Official Site updates with new Video

The Official James Bond Website, located at www.jamesbond.com has updated with a new Video, showing 2nd Unit Head Vic Armstrong talking about the Hovercraft Sequence.

On a small note, the publishing date is August 1, well – today it's August 6. Something seems to go wrong with this year's MGM Marketing

German-speaking people will know that bit of interview already as it was used in different RTL reports in the past.

Feel free to discuss in this thread of the CommanderBond.net Die Another Day Forums.