‘Skyfall’ Teaser Trailer Breakdown

CBn brings you a complete break down of the Skyfall Teaser Trailer.  Spoilerific content ahead, so read at your own risk.

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Christopher Nolan keen to direct a Bond movie

Christopher Nolan has expressed a very serious interest in directing a future Bond installment. The Batman director recently told Empire Magazine that he has already met with the Bond producers, but stated that “It would have to be the right situation and the right time in their cycle of things.”

It is no secret that Nolan is a very big Bond fan, and has claimed at the 50 year old franchise has influenced his work on the Batman Begins trilogy, as well as Inception. (Nolan even mentioned that the finale of Inception owed a lot to ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, the 6th Bond movie in the series, with one time Bond George Lazenby)

This hasn’t been the first time Nolan has expressed his desire to helm a Bond movie. The release of Inception in 2010 even sparked rumours that Nolan would be directing the then titled ‘Bond 23’, in which Nolan showed an interest. Will the Producers give Nolan a shot? This isn’t the first time that a director as big as Nolan has wanted a crack at Bond. Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg have both expressed their interest in telling their own James Bond story. Would you like Nolan in the directors chair for a future Bond movie? Join the CBn forums today and tell us what you think.

To help you make up your mind, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the long awaited conclusion to Nolans Batman Trilogy will hit theatres July 20th.

Daniel Craig talks Skyfall for Total Film

The next issue of Total Film will give Bond fans some solace next month as ‘Skyfall’ fronts the Summer issue.  Daniel Craig has given an interview on his 3rd James Bond outing, which is for the time being, strictly confidential. But for now, let CBn tease you with a little snippet…

Licence to thrill as James Bond shoots back onto Magazine Stands.

When asked how himself and director Sam Mendes decided on Skyfalls tone, Craig said.

“I reread the books, he read the books, we watched the movies, we talked about the Roger Moore movies, the Sean Connery movies, the whole thing. There’s a sort of tone that’s in all those movies that you can’t try to recreate. If you do, then it’s a pastiche. Neither Sam nor I want to make a pastiche of an older movie. But you have flavours of it.”

On prepping Skyfall during the MGM crisis, Craig said:

“The MGM thing was a silver lining situation where, for the first time, we had a lot of time to work on the script. We weren’t publicly allowed to say we were doing anything, but we were secretly meeting. It wasn’t full bore until everything was given the green light, but we were very optimistic it would happen.”

Little else is known about the contents of the article, but unseen pictures have been promised. So make sure you pick up the next issue of Total Film, to read the rest of the interview and get unseen global access on Skyfall and James Bonds golden anniversary.

New Skyfall image released

A new image from the latest James Bond epic ‘Skyfall’ was released last night. The image is thought to be from the latest issue of Total Film, which is featured extensively in the next issue. The image shows a suited Bond, brooding in the National Gallery, a location which is featured in the 23rd James Bond adventure. Make sure you all keep your eyes peeled for the July issue of Total Film, as more unseen pictures are set to be released.

Skyfall is released October 26th 2012.

Thanks to Marketto007 for the alert.

Skyfall videolog: Costume

In the latest official videolog, costume designer, Jany Temime, talks about how she worked with Tom Ford on suiting up 007 for Skyfall.

Omega announces Skyfall Seamaster watch

Omega are to produce a special edition Seamaster watch to conincide with the release of Skyfall in October.

5,007 of the Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M SKYFALL watches will be produced, which feature the 007 logo in place of the number 7 on the watchface.

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Sony will return

Sony Pictures and MGM announced a distribution partnership today that includes future James Bond films, notably Bond 23 and presumably (at least) Bond 24. Also included in the deal is Daniel Craig’s next project The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as well as a remake of Total Recall, both of which MGM will now co-finance.

“After successfully working on the re-launch of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, we could not be more proud or privileged to continue our association with Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, and the talented teams at EON and MGM.”
-Amy Pascal

For more inside news on the deal check out Deadline’s writeup. MGM’s press release below.

Press Release

LOS ANGELES, CA., April 13, 2011 – Sony Pictures Entertainment will remain in the James Bond business after reaching an agreement with MGM to co-finance and theatrically market and distribute Bond 23 worldwide, it was announced today by MGM Co-Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum and Sony Pictures Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and Co-Chairman Amy Pascal. Sony will release the next film in this iconic franchise on November 9, 2012 throughout the world except for select International territories, where MGM will directly oversee distribution.

Sony Pictures and MGM look forward to Sony Pictures co-financing and distributing Bond 24 on a similar basis.

Additionally, MGM and Sony Pictures have agreed to explore co-financing opportunities on future motion pictures produced by each of the respective studios for the next five years.

The two studios have collaborated directly and indirectly in recent years on numerous films, including Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, 21, Yours, Mine and Ours, The Pink Panther, and the forthcoming Kevin James comedy Zookeeper.

The announcement of the agreement to distribute Bond 23 adds another high-profile title to Sony’s 2012 slate, which also includes Men in Black 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as I Hate You, Dad, starring Adam Sandler, Here Comes the Boom, starring Kevin James, 21 Jump Street, Resident Evil 5 and Total Recall.

“Sony Pictures is the ideal studio partner for us as MGM re-enters the filmmaking business. We have longstanding relationships with Michael and Amy and look forward to what promises to be a prosperous future together,” said Barber and Birnbaum.

“In addition to working together on Bond, this deal expands our relationship with MGM as we explore co-financing opportunities on other high-profile projects,” Lynton said. “Gary and Roger are incredibly thoughtful and experienced leaders who are outstanding creative executives and respected moviemakers. While we are excited to be back in the Bond business, we also look forward to future collaborations and I am confident that this agreement will be long-term, lucrative, and beneficial to both studios.”

“After successfully working on the re-launch of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, we could not be more proud or privileged to continue our association with Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, and the talented teams at EON and MGM,” said Pascal.

When Sony released Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the films had record-high grosses for the Bond franchise, with Casino Royale taking in $599 million in worldwide ticket sales and Quantum of Solace generating $577 million.

Bondathon: 25 films. 3 Days. No Substitutes.

Written By Brad Hansen

Everyone’s thought of trying it, but few take the plunge to watching the entire James Bond movie collection in a row with almost no stops.

My girlfriend (CBn’s Athena Stamos) and I decided that her birthday would be a great excuse to finally give it a try: 25 movies (including the three “non-canon” entries) over the course of three days. We would watch them all in chronological order and only stop for a few hours of sleep in between each day. There would be no escape, for us at least. We invited our friends and fellow LA Bond fans, keeping an “open door” policy so that guests could come and go as they wished. We made a Facebook event with the schedule so that the more casual fans could decide when they’d like to show up. All in all we had over 30 people attend throughout the event. We also had a webcam so those who couldn’t make it would be able to “join” us.

To shake things up, we introduced an Olympics-style ratings system in order to answer that immortal question: Which Bond movie is the best of all? We printed out score cards, 0 through 10 (10 being perfect). After each film each audience member gave a score to the movie they just watched. It didn’t matter if they were Bond veterans or rookies (we had plenty of both), everyone’s score counted the same. The rankings were then averaged and inserted into our time-lapsed video.

You can see results below in the video we put together:

Bondathon Poster

For a Bond fan, the biggest reason for watching a Bondathon is that it forces you to reconsider your opinion of each film. Watching them in order, with an audience, on a new format (like Blu-ray) can all change how you view each film. Movies that you previously dismissed might surprise you, and old favorites might not hold up so well. Some observations about the films and the event:

• The shock of our Bondathon was how well Never Say Never Again held up. Many of us, myself included, have always ranked it near the bottom. But watching the film, none of us could figure out why. Perhaps the languidness of Thunderball was still fresh in our memories, perhaps it was the excitement of seeing Sean Connery again after so many Roger Moore films, but no one could stop smiling. It’s still not a perfect film, as everyone agreed that the ending runs out of steam and that the music leaves a lot to be desired. But there were so many applause-worthy Bond moments that it got a big score. Even the dated elements -The wink at the end, the video games, the leotards- only added to the charm and entertainment. 
• Films that followed very high-scoring films suffered more than expected. On their own, flicks like Diamonds Are Forever seem to play much better. Whereas here, following the majesty that is On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, it seemed like a U-turn in the wrong direction towards goofier, lighter fare.
• When you watch all the films in order without stop, you’ll find your patience wearing thin for the slower films. A Bondathon only highlights problems in pacing and plotting. This at least partly explains how Casino Royale (1967), Thunderball, A View To A Kill, and The Man With The Golden Gun got ranked on the low end.
• The series has amazing changes in tone, but none is as big as the switch from Die Another Day to Casino Royale (2006). When you go from the villain in the robo-suit fighting Bond on a jet liner that’s been inflamed by a space mirror-laser, to a gritty noir scene of an assassination in an office, you can’t help but think this is the biggest change in tone of the series (and all for the better, judging by the scoring). Casino Royale (2006) was also one of the few films that had the power to bring the audience to complete silence (the end of OHMSS had a similar effect).

Overall, it was a wonderfully memorable weekend, and I would highly recommend a Bondathon for those crazy enough to host one. When you’re done, you’ll feel like a member of an exclusive club of die-hards. It’s a great way to catch up with friends, swap opinions with fellow fans, and expose people to the fantastic world of 007.

Roger Deakins is Bond 23's likely cinematographer

Roger Deakins is one of the most respected cinematographers in the business. He’s one of the best. How respected? He’s been nominated for 9 Academy Awards. True he’s never won one, but that could all change this year. Deakins is up again for his work on True Grit and could very well be headed to Bond 23 for his next project according to an interview with Collider.

[…] when I asked him about what’s coming up next, he said, “I’ll probably do a film with Sam Mendes next.” When I asked him if that meant he was shooting Bond 23, he said, “it might, yeah.”

Deakins has worked with director Sam Mendes before. Recently he worked on Revolutionary Road in 2008.

Curious what films Deakins’ was nominated for?

• True Grit (2010)
• The Reader (2008)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• Kundun (1997)
• Fargo (1996)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Bond 23 will be released on 9 November 2012. The film will be directed by Sam Mendes from a script written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. So far Daniel Craig and Judi Dench are the only actors known to be cast.

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MGM distribution deal includes Bond 24

More details about the Sony-MGM deal have come to light. Under the deal not only would Sony get the distribution rights to Bond 23, but Bond 24 as well according to the LA Times. Sony will fund half of Bond 23 and 25% of Bond 24. As suspected, the deal also includes theatrical distribution of other MGM films including Dan Bradley’s remake of the 80’s cult classic Red Dawn which has been completed.

Additionally, MGM’s huge library of 4,000 films will be taken over by Sony for home distribution which should include the entire James Bond franchise. Currently those rights are held by 20th Century Fox.

Bond 23 will be released on 9 November 2012. The film will be directed by Sam Mendes from a script written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. So far Daniel Craig and Judi Dench are the only actors known to be cast. According to MGM’s Chapter 11 petition filed in November 2010, Bond 24 should see release in 2014.

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