Conversations with Kingsley Amis due out in December

A new book focusing on British author Kingsley Amis will be arriving early next month.

Although he’s known around the world for his many novels, poetry collections and short stories and has been called ‘the finest British comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century’, James Bond fans best know Amis as the man behind the first 007 continuation novel, 1968’s Colonel Sun.

Conversations with Kinglsley Amis, edited by Thomas DePietro, is set to be published in paperback by the University Press of Mississippi on 1 December 2009 in the US. A release in the UK is scheduled to follow on 1 January 2010.

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing” – Kingsley Amis

Soon after Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) published his first novel, Lucky Jim, in 1954, he became an object of literary and journalistic scrutiny. This attention would continue until his last days, four decades and forty books later. Conversations with Kingsley Amis includes both the first and last interviews Amis gave. Celebrated by reviewers and critics for his wit and irreverence, Amis rose to the occasion whenever interviewed. His clever and common-sense views covered everything from the state of the novel and current intellectual trends to the circumstances of his domestic life.

Not many writers can hold the interest of inquisitors from both Penthouse and the Economist as Amis does. Not many writers, for that matter, articulate views worth recording on sexual relations, about which Amis is something of a failed expert, and on the modern university, about which he could claim a greater authority. English periodicals of all varieties sought out Amis for his opinions on culture, both high and low. Along the way, Amis also entertained literary interrogators from the Paris Review and other journals, including talks with a number of distinguished men of letters such as Clive James, Michael Barber, and John Mortimer.

Conversations with Kinglsley Amis will retail for $22.00 / £21.00. Order online:

• Order Conversations with Kinglsley Amis from Amazon.co.uk
• Order Conversations with Kinglsley Amis from Amazon.com

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Sir Roger Moore's PETA foie gras campaign a success

Earlier this month, CommanderBond.net reported that former James Bond star Sir Roger Moore had aligned with PETA UK to protest against the sale of foie gras as Selfridges markets.

In a new press release today, the campaign has been declared a success, with Selfridges finally announcing that they will stop stocking the product.

The PETA release follows below:

Sir Roger Moore’s Campaign Proves Successful As Selfridges Drops Foie Gras

Two years ago, PETA UK began urging Selfridges to drop foie gras from its shelves so that it would stop contributing to the fatal force-feeding of ducks and geese. PETA UK and its supporters dauntlessly demonstrated, sent more than 5,000 e-mails to Selfridges, and placed thousands of phone calls to the retailer. We are thrilled to announce that all this hard work has paid off: Selfridges has pledged to stop selling foie gras forever.

The splendid news comes from Sir Roger Moore, PETA UK’s committed celebrity spokesperson, who received the call directly from Selfridges. Moore’s unwavering dedication, along with the inspiring passion of PETA UK’s campaigners, attracted endless attention on television, in newspapers, and around the Internet—wherever you turned, PETA UK was there, spreading the message to give up foie gras.

This towering triumph is proof that every e-mail, phone call, and letter matters. Please help spread the success by writing to managers of local restaurants that still sell the vile food. Alert them to the gross cruelty behind foie gras, and ask them to remove it from their menus.

Keep your browsers locked on the CommanderBond.net main page and our Twitter feed for all the latest news on James Bond-related events occurring around the world.

James Bond Art Prints – The Robert McGinnis Hollywood Edition

Art prints from the Robert McGinnis Hollywood Edition collection are now available to order online at www.rmg-artwork.com.

As first reported on CommanderBond.net back in December 2006, the Robert McGinnis Hollywood Edition art prints are highly prized by James Bond fans and classic movie artwork collectors alike.

007 fans best know McGinnis as the man behind the memorable poster campaigns for Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, and more.

The Robert McGinnis Hollywood Edition

Robert McGinnis is one of the most admired and influential illustrators working today. A member of the Society of Illustrators, McGinnis is best known for his astonishingly prolific career as a paperback cover artist. But he also painted numerous iconic movie posters—from exciting James Bond movie imagery to the illustrations for Barbarella and Breakfest at Tiffanys.

FACTS/SPECULATIONS

Limited edition of 500 copies each
Each print personally hand-numbered and signed by Robert McGinnis
Size: 17″ x 23″ (42,50 cm x 58 cm)
Four-colour printing on museum-quality paper
Professionally matted and ready to frame
Certificate of authenticity
Price: €159 each excluding postage (special rates for wholesalers!)

Click here to view images of the two newest art prints in the collection: ‘Fit To Kill’ and ‘A Man Of Affairs’

POSTERS MAY BE ORDERED FROM

RMG Artwork Ltd.
Gellertstr. 7
30175 Hannover, Germany
Phone: ++49-511/70 33 22
email: [email protected]

SPECIAL BONUS

If you order two or more art prints, you will receive a Robert McGinnis colour sketch print free of charge.

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SyFy to host Thanksgiving weekend James Bond marathon

Syfy Channel will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with a three-day 007 film marathon featuring 16 James Bond films.

The curtain goes up on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, 26 November, at 8AM (ET/PT) with the first ever 007 movie, Dr. No. Seven more Bond films air that day, including the network premiere of Casino Royale at 9PM (ET/PT), which introduced Daniel Craig into the franchise.

Syfy’s Bondfest continues Friday, 27 November, with eight more films, beginning at 8AM (ET/PT) with Thunderball and ending with Never Say Never Again at 2:30AM (ET/PT), both starring Sean Connery.

CommanderBond.net brings you the complete schedule of 007 films to be aired…

Thursday, 26 November:

• 8:00am – Dr. No: James Bond’s investigation of a missing colleague in Jamaica leads him to the island of the mysterious Dr. No and a scheme to end the US space program. Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman.

• 10:30am – Licence To Kill: James Bond leaves Her Majesty’s Secret Service to stop an evil drug lord and avenge his best friend, Felix Leiter. Starring Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell and Robert Davi.

• 1:30pm – Live And Let Die: 007 is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organization and a reliable psychic tarot card reader. Starring Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto and Jane Seymour.

• 4:00pm – The Spy Who Loved Me: James Bond investigates the hijacking of British and Russian submarines carrying nuclear warheads with the help of a KGB agent whose lover he killed. Roger Moore, Barbara Bach and Curd Jurgens.

• 6:30pm – Tomorrow Never Dies: James Bond heads to stop a media mogul’s plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce and Michelle Yeoh.

• 9:00pm – Casino Royale: With the assistance of Vesper Lynd, James Bond engages Le Chiffre in a high stakes poker game at Casino Royale. Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green.

Friday, 27 November:

• 12:00am – For Your Eyes Only: Agent 007 is assigned to hunt for a lost British encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Starring Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet and Lynn-Holly Johnson.

• 2:30am – The Man With The Golden Gun: Bond is led to believe that he is targeted by the world’s most expensive assassin and must hunt him down to stop him. Roger Moore, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland.

• 8:00am – Thunderball: James Bond heads to The Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme. Starring Sean Connery, Claudine Auger and Adolfo Celi.

• 10:30am – From Russia With Love: James Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE. Starring Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi and Pedro Armendariz.

• 1:00pm – You Only Live Twice: Agent 007 and the Japanese secret service ninja force must find and stop the true culprit of a series of spacejackings before nuclear war is provoked. Starring Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama.

• 3:30pm – Diamonds Are Forever: A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas, where he uncovers an extortion plot headed by his nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Starring Sean Connery, Jill St. John and Charles Gray.

• 6:00pm – Casino Royale: With the assistance of Vesper Lynd, James Bond engages Le Chiffre in a high stakes poker game at Casino Royale. Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green.

• 9:00pm – GoldenEye: James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent believed to be dead. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean and Famke Janssen.

Saturday, 28 November:

• 12:00am – Goldfinger: Investigating a gold magnate’s gold smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve. Starring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman and Gert Frobe.

• 2:30am – Never Say Never Again: A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated. Starring Sean Connery, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Max von Sydow.

For further details, visit the SyFy website.

Stay tuned to CommanderBond.net and our Twitter feed for all the latest news on James Bond-related events occurring around the world.

Variety: What's next for MGM?

Variety – Can Leo the Lion survive?

That’s the question Hollywood’s mulling as MGM heads into a potential asset auction over the next several months—without much optimism. Friday’s announcement that would explore a possible sale, merger or remaining as a stand-alone was met by a combination of skepticism and resignation.

‘It’s sad because there’s probably going to be one less buyer,’ one tenpercenter at a major agency noted.

MGM also disclosed that bondholders, in a Friday conference call, had agreed to hold off receiving debt payments for seven more weeks until Jan. 31. The exemption on an undisclosed amount of interest payments on its $3.7 billion in debt was the second in two months.

The first step toward an auction is for investment bankers Moelis & Co., hired in May by MGM, to send non-disclosure agreements to possible bidders as a prelude to seeing MGM’s internal books.

In the meantime, current MGM leadership will stay in place and production chief Mary Parent will continue to shepherd a small production and development slate. Here’s how the future stacks up for the Lion:

– Friday’s exemption interest payments will allow MGM to continue to complete a quartet of films already set for release: Hot Tub Time Machine in March, The Zookeeper in October, Red Dawn in November and a 3D version of Cabin in the Woods in early 2011.

– MGM remains co-financier with New Line on The Hobbit, set to go into production around spring in New Zealand with two films shot back-to-back by Guillermo del Toro. Exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are still working on the script and no cast has been announced. The two pics have tentative release dates of late 2011 and late 2012.

– MGM continues to develop the 23rd James Bond film. The most recent announcement on the Bondpic came in June when Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Prods. and MGM disclosed Peter Morgan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were writing the script for the film, which does not have a director attached yet. Purvis and Wade most recently worked on Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale.

Daniel Craig said a month ago he believes shooting will start in late 2010.

– Development work continues on a reboot of Poltergeist,” but no production start’s been set.

MGM had no comment beyond Friday’s announcement, which said the debtholders agreed to hold off receiving interest payments ‘in support of the company’s ongoing efforts to develop and evaluate long-term strategic alternatives to maximize value for its stakeholders.’

Granting MGM debt relief until Jan. 31 will enable it to find out how much the assets are actually worth. The maneuver also prevents creditors from forcing MGM into an involuntary bankruptcy.

MGM was taken private in 2005 for nearly $5 billion by a consortium led by Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony and Comcast Corp. Likely buyers include Time Warner, News Corp. and Lionsgate.

Stay up-to-date with all the latest James Bond news by visiting CommanderBond.net’s main page and our Discussion Forums.

Pinewood Studios achieves world record movie screening

Pinewood Studios achieves World Record Movie Screening

Pinewood Studios, together with QED Productions, set a new world record for the biggest ever movie projection with its Drive-In showing of Mission: Impossible on Saturday 7 November 2009.

The film was projected at 41.8 metres wide by 17.8 metres high onto Europe’s largest outdoor screen.

This feat forms part of Pinewood’s current Drive-In series for the public, having temporarily converted our vast outdoor water filming facility to accommodate the screenings. The screen—measuring 73 metres wide with a total surface area of 1337.73 square metres—allows the latest computer technology to key in scenes during the edit behind the live action taking place in the water. Originally built in 1959 for the war film Sink the Bismarck!, the water tank has been used to shoot scenes for Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and The Boat That Rocked plus most recently for upcoming features Robin Hood, Gullivers Travels and Clash of the Titans.

The largest movie screenings ever recorded have been to mass audiences in Norway and Japan. In 1996 the Oslo Spektrum’s 70mm film screening of Independence Day measured 40.24m in width, and in 2008 the Tokyo Dome played host to a 37m wide IMAX premiere of Speed Racer.

Comments Pinewood’s Group Corporate Affairs Director Andrew Smith “We’re delighted to have played host to this world record which demonstrates our unique and unrivalled filming facilities here at Pinewood. Our Drive-In offers a spectacular movie experience and it’s proving a great way for the Studios to engage with the public. A very special thanks to QED for their wonderful technical production enabling this world record attempt to take place.”

Filmed at Pinewood Studios, Mission: Impossible stars Tom Cruise as spy Ethan Hunt, whose mission, should he choose to accept, is to prevent the theft of a computer file from American double agents.

Pinewood’s Drive-In is open every weekend until Sunday 6 December 2009. From The Bourne Ultimatum to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Slumdog Millionaire to Superman, Pinewood and its sister studio Shepperton have helped create each film in the Drive-In series.

Tickets £35 standard / £55 VIP priced per car with up to 4 persons, available from www.seetickets.com.

More info at: http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/gen/drivein.aspx.

To view the entire schedule of films to be presented, visit the official Pinewood Studios Group website.

Keep your browsers locked on the CommanderBond.net main page and our Twitter feed for all the latest news on James Bond-related events occurring around the world.

For sale: MGM Studio

Struggling studio MGM says it’s looking for buyer

Struggling movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is looking for a buyer.

The home of the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises said Friday it has begun to explore strategic options including “a potential sale of the company.”

In a statement, MGM also said its lenders have agreed to grant the company another respite until Jan. 31 from interest payments on nearly $4 billion in debt.

The decision, reversing its refusal to sell a year ago, came during a conference call Friday between restructuring expert Stephen Cooper, now MGM’s vice chairman, and the 140 lenders owed some $3.7 billion in bonds maturing in mid-2012, according to a person close to the situation.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The lenders agreed to seek outside investors for a new partnership, investment or sale of part or all of the company. Its most valuable asset is its library of 4,000 movie and TV-show titles including such as Rocky and Dances With Wolves. It also owns subsidiary United Artists, headed by Tom Cruise, whose film Valkyrie grossed a respectable $200 million worldwide after its release last year.

But the company has fallen on hard times and the home video market has shrunk.

MGM’s latest release, a remake of the 1980 musical Fame, was panned by critics and quickly vanished from most theaters after its Sept. 25 release, making just $27 million worldwide.

Financial adviser Moelis & Co. is expected to send out non-disclosure agreements and detailed financial information to interested parties by early next week, the person said.

Potential buyers include Time Warner Inc., the parent of the Warner Bros. studio, and News Corp., home of 20th Century Fox.

On Thursday, with rumors swirling of its potential sale, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Vice Chairman Michael Burns also said his company was interested in taking a look.

“They have fantastic franchises like James Bond, they have half of The Hobbit. Of course it’s interesting to us,” Burns told CNBC’s Fast Money.

Although MGM had the cash on hand to make the interest payments, pushing back the interest payments allows it to complete three movies it has in the pipeline for next year: Hot Tub Time Machine, Red Dawn, and The Zookeeper, the person said.

MGM was taken private for nearly $5 billion in 2005 by a group led by Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group.

In 2007, MGM made $558 million alone from its library of titles, but since then DVD sales have declined industrywide, and a large chunk of those sales has likely vanished.

Besides the bonds, has a $250 million revolving credit facility with JPMorgan due in April.

Cooper, a restructuring guru and former chief executive officer of ailing businesses from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. to Enron Corp., joined MGM as a member of an “Office of the CEO,” replacing Chief Executive Harry Sloan in August.

Stay up-to-date with all the latest James Bond news by visiting CommanderBond.net’s main page and our Discussion Forums.

Sebastian Faulks to present The Secret Life Of The Novel

In 2010 the BBC will be celebrating the power of the British novel with a major four-part documentary series presented by best selling novelist and James Bond centenary author Sebastian Faulks (The Girl At The L’ion Dor, Birdsong, Devil May Care).

The Secret Life Of The Novel will look at the history of the novel through its characters—each episode focusing on a different archetype and looking at how they have developed over the centuries: The Hero, The Lover, The Snob, The Villain.

Journeying around the country, with the occasional foray abroad, Sebastian will use his unique personal knowledge of characterisation to get under the skin of some familiar and not-so-familiar characters of British literature.

From Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe to Martin Amis’s John Self; Jane Austen’s Emma to Monica Ali’s Chanu; Sebastian will put them all on the psychiatrist’s couch.

Mark Bell, Arts Commissioning Editor, commented: “Sebastian is an insider, a novelist with a real understanding of the craft. Booking him to front a four-part series on BBC Two about how characterisation works is really exciting. It demonstrates the type of bold arts programming the BBC is committed to delivering.”

The Secret Life Of The Novel is a four x 60-minute series produced by BBC Vision.

Executive producer is Basil Comely and the commissioning editor is Mark Bell.

The series is expected to transmit in Spring 2010 and will start shooting this Autumn.

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page and our Twitter feed for the most up-to-date literary 007 coverage on the web.

Lions Gate expresses an interest in buying MGM

Lions Gate Entertainment has expressed an interest in purchasing the ill-fated MGM Studio.

This news follows up yesterday’s report on CommanderBond.net that the James Bond studio home may be headed to the auction block soon. The Los Angeles Times writes that Lions Gate vice chairman Michael Burns said they would consider buying—but only if the price is right.

‘It’s all about price,” Bloomberg quoted Burns telling investors, adding, ‘We’ll know sooner rather than later’ what it’s going for. Under their current financial hardships, insiders are pegging MGM’s value at between $2 billion to $2.5 billion, a steep decline from the $5 billion that a group of investors paid for the studio several years ago.

‘Obviously, we’d look at any complimentary asset at the right price where we can leverage our infrastructure,’ Burns added.

Of particular note is MGM’s library of more than 4,000 titles, including the always lucrative 007 series as well as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

MGM is currently dealing with restructering some $3.7 billion in debt. It was announced in early October that the studio had secured a forbearance agreement which exempted them from interest payments to lenders until 15 December.

Keep turning to CommanderBond.net for all of the latest news from the world of James Bond.

Meet two Bond girls at the Vintage Magazine Shop on 14 November

James Bond fans will have the chance to meet up with two Bond girls at the Vintage Magazine Shop in the UK later this month.

Eunice Gayson, effectively the first Bond girl in the Eon-produced series thanks to her role as Sylvia Trench in Dr. No and From Russia with Love will be joined by Madeline Smith, the first Bond girl of the Roger Moore era resulting from her role as Miss Caruso in Live and Let Die.

They are scheduled to meet and greet and sign autographs for fans on Saturday, 14 November from 12:00 to 2:00pm.

Visit the official Vintage Magazine Shop website for further details on this upcoming 007 signing.

Keep your browsers locked on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest news on James Bond-related events occurring around the world.