Irish Beauty Jean Butler Up For Bond Girl Role

Showbiz Ireland has reported that red-headed beauty Jean Butler "is flying to London this week to talk to the Bond 20 producers about a role in the movie."

Jean, a friend of Pierce Brosnan and his new wife Keely Shay Smith, hinted that her relationship with the star of the movie may give her the advantage over others after the role.

The ex Riverdance star said to Irish press: “The producers want to talk to me immediately, so I’m flying to London this week. I’m actually an old friend of Pierce’s. I did a number of variety shows with him.”

I have an interesting suggestion about Butler. You'll recall the Variety news that Darcey Bussel is still a part of Bond 20, despite her denying it as an April Fools back in April. Well both Bussel and Butler hold one thing in common; they are both dancers. While they dance different styles it is an undenyable connection. It seems the speculation can only now begin. Will the Bond girl in Bond 20 be a dancer? Or is this mere conincidence?

A big thank you to Rolf van der Vlist from the Netherlands for e-mailing this article into me! You can discuss this news in the Bond 20 Forums where Walther has started this thread on Jean Butler.

Kournikova Denied, Casting Is Going On

The BBC has spoken with EON Productions and confirmed that tennis star Anna Kournikova will not have a role in Bond 20. Heck, we didn't even bother reporting the news because we knew it wasn't true.

A spokeswoman for Eon Productions told BBC News Online that the story was absolutely untrue.

The spokeswoman added: “We do not now where this story has come from but it is not true.

“The film is in pre-production and we are casting but Anna Kournikova has not been in any talks with us.”

In the meantime Dark Horizons has made this brief statement

The script is currently being re-written in the wake of September 11th.

I'm not fully sure where Dark Horizons has got that news from as they give no source. It could be mere speculation.

You can discuss all of this in the Bond 20 Forums as per usual, including this thread which Tim007 had started about Kournikova several days ago.

BKD Suggests Three Filming Locations

The German James Bond Club has revealed what they they believe are three filming locations for Bond 20. I should mention that in the title of this article I used the word 'suggest' because this news isn't proven fact yet.

BKD knows more! The locations for Bond 20 will be Iceland, Spain & South Korea!

As Scaramanga has pointed out in the Bond 20 Forums this doesn't mean that these will be locations in the film. For instance, in A View To A Kill a filming location was Iceland, however, in the film the scenes were set in Siberia. The same happened in Tomorrow Never Dies. While filming took place in Thailand the scenes were set in Vietnam.

Furthermore, the mentioning of South Korea further indicates that James Bond will be heading to an Asian location, as we revealed in late September.

In the same article the BKD hvae also said that Nigel Haves and Arnold Vooslo could both become the villains in Bond 20.

We'll have more for you as it comes in. Till then feel free to join in the discussion in the Bond 20 Forums where Tim007 first let us know in this thread. It would be great to hear some suggestions of locations in Iceland, South Korea and Spain where the crew could film. See you there!

Variety Revise Bond 20 Listing

Variety have updated their listing of Bond 20 as Bond 20 Forum user Zencat tells us in this thread:

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As expected, VARIETY has revised their strange listing for "James Bond 20" from last week, but not as much as you'd expect. Gone is the name of Mandalay Pictures as co-producer (I KNEW this had to be a mistake) as is the mention of Alaska and Washington as locations (too bad, I say). However, England and Ireland remain as locations, as does the name of Darcey Bussell as a cast member! What does all this mean? I haven't a clue.

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Zencat is right in asking what does this all mean. While Manadalay, Washington and Alaska are gone why has Darcey Bussel remained? Afterall, she herself said through her official website it was a simple April Fools joke.

All we can do right now is speculate about this. And the best place to do that is in the Bond 20 Forums thread that Zencat started, which can be found here. See you there!

And remember, you read it here first!

News Brief: All The Same In The Hollywood Reporter

Just a quick news brief as not everyone visits the Bond 20 Forums.

You may recall the news from Variety where they presented a very confusing listing as it included what we have always considered pure rumour. In complete contrast the Hollywood Reporter presented what we all knew to be accurate details. This Tuesday's listing in the Hollywood Reporter has remained the same forum user Zencat tell us, which was what was expected.

Attention will of course focus on this Friday's listing in Variety. As soon as something crops up, we'll let you know! Till then you can discuss this in the ongoing thread in the Bond 20 Forums!

Bond 20 Goes Under The Working Title of Bond XX

Just a short bit of news here. Shocktroop22, webmaster of http://www.secretagent.cjb.net, has let us know

Pinewood Studios, the traditional filming location of the Bond films, has updated its website’s “latest news” section (link below). Included in their report is a project underway by Eon Productions named: “Bond XX”. Although this has already been confirmed (on JamesBond.Com) filming begins in January. James Bond Will Return!

You can view the page yourself at http://www.pinewood-studios.co.uk/pages/newslatestbody.html

It's interesting that it's been titled as 'XX' rather than '20'. A very nice move. We're not sure if it's actually being used by EON Productions though, perhaps just Pinewood. You can discuss all this in the Bond 20 Forums in this thread where ShockTroop22 first let us know of the news!

What The Hollywood Reporter Had To Say About Bond 20

Yesterday we revealed information from Variety on James Bond 20. You'll recall some of the information that Variety reported seemed strange. The involvement of Mandalay Pictures, the casting of Darcey Bussel who admitted her 'stake' on Bond was only an April Fools Joke, Alaska and Washington as filming locations.

Zencat, who provided us with the original Variety article, has now provided us with this information from The Hollywood Reporter;

I tracked down a copy of last Tuesday’s The Hollywood Reporter (10/2/01) and in their production charts was a listing for “James Bond #20”. But their listing was quite a bit different from Variety’s and much more in lines with what you would expect.

1. Location-wise there’s only reference to the film “shooting in the United Kingdom.”

2. There is no mention at all of Mandalay as a co-producer and the listing correctly identifies Eon as “Eon/Danjaq, Inc.”

3.There is no mention of Darcey Bussell. Also, Purvis and Wade are listed as the screenwriters as is casting agent Debbie McWilliams.

It's very different from the Variety report, which failed ot mention that Purvis and Wade have written the first draft.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more news or visit this thread in the Bond 20 Forums for more details and a great discussion! Finally, a big thanks to Zencat for dropping that news off in the forums!

Variety Reveals Information On Bond 20

Zencat has posted a scanned image from today's (10/5/01) issue of Variety. Variety, as Zencat points out, not like the IMDB — their info comes directly from the company and tends to be accurate. However, there is some strange information in this news:

Titled 'James Bond 20' by Variety it will apparently be produced by both EON Productions and Mandalay Pictures. Mandalay is Peter Guber's (of BATMAN fame) company at Paramount. Why are EON Productions co-producing Bond 20? Zencat points out this could very well be a mistake.

Variety also reveal some filming locations. Washington, Alaska, England and Ireland.

And aside from the usual cast who else is starring in Bond 20? Darcey Bussel! Does that ring a bell? She is the principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet in London. But she also has been mentioned with connections to Bond 20 before. Back in April this year rumour spread around the Internet that Bussel would be the new Bond girl, the only thing is that Bussel put the news on her official website on April 1, April Fools Day. Days later she admitted it was an April Fools Joke. So why is she now connected?

Could Variety have possibly got some infrotion wrong? We've never heard of the Mandalay Pictures involvement before but Washington, Alaska and Ireland have all been long rumoured as filming locations. We'll do some investigation and let you know more as we find out. As Zencat points out in the forums Variety "post every Friday. We'll see if any changes or revisions are made to this listing next week." If there are we'll let you know, and if we find out anything beforehand you'll be the first to know!

Until then be sure to visit the Bond 20 Forums, we're Zencat started this thread. You'll be bound to hear speculation, opinion and news there!

Kelly Brook Asked To Audition As Bond Girl

The news that actress and model Kelly Brook has been asked to audition for the role of the new Bond girl appears to have originated from an interview between Kelly Brook and Maxim Magazine and is currently circulating throughout the media. Ananova reported this;

Kelly Brook has been asked to audition for the new Bond girl.

She says she will give the role serious consideration if Pierce Brosnan
agrees to return as James Bond.

Kelly told Maxim magazine: “Before I would have been unsure, because
Bond girls tend to disappear without a trace straight after the film’s
release, but now I’m more interested.

“It depends if Pierce Brosnan is in it. He’s such a great Bond you know
it’ll be a good film. You know what they say – never say never.”

The news about Brook, pictured above, has been circulating throughout other news sources as well, Bond 20 Forum user 007_Fanatic reports having heard the news on either "BBC News or GMTV". As for which edition of Maxim the news appears in, I'm yet to find out. However, the official website makes no reference to it.

This news appears similair to that about Arnold Vosloo who revealed during an interview recently he was being considered for the role of the Bond 20 villain. Of course, this news is a lot more ambiguous as the interview never actually reveals if Brook was asked to audition for Bond 20, and it definetley doesn't mention who asked her. For all we know it could be her parents.

News is scarce on the topic at the moment but we'll tell you more as we find out. Until then visit this thread in the Bond 20 Forums where people are discussing Kelly Brook (pictures included!). Feel free to leave your own opinion.

John Cleese Doesn't Know His Involvement As Q

While having been confirmed as being in the next three Bond films and also that he will play Q and not R it seems John Cleese isn't too sure about the role beyond that Dark Horizons has reported.

During an interview with TV Week, Clese says: “I wasn’t Brought into the Bond films to replace Desmond but to support him – to be his assistant. I have no idea what my involvement will be with the next Bond film. I don’t expect to know anything until a few weeks before they start filming. That’s how it was With ‘The world is not enough'”.

That said, it seems Cleese hasn't seen the Bond 20 script and knows very few details about Bond 20. You can of course discuss this in the Bond 20 Forums, see you there!