Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman make a surprise visit in New York

Daniel Craig

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey got quite the surprise at a recent live taping of her show in New York’s Central Park when Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman showed up unannounced for a surprise visit.

As the two stars took to the stage, a stunned Oprah exclaimed ‘I had no idea that two of the sexiest men alive would be here today!’

As Craig and Jackman explained, they showed up to make a brief mention about their new Broadway show, A Steady Rain, which is currently playing previews and is set to debut on 29 September at Manhattan’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

To view surprise visit, visit this YouTube link.

A Steady Rain tells of two seasoned cops whose lifelong friendship is severely tested when a seemingly routine domestic disturbance call results in the death of a young boy. When the horrific truth of the situation is revealed, one of the two must take the blame for the fatal mistake. For further details, visit this CBn article.

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Golden Gun's AMC Hornet Hatchback on display at Eastern States Exposition

The 1974 AMC Hornet Hatchback, best known for the corkscrew jump in Roger Moore’s The Man with the Golden Gun, is currently on display at this year’s Big E – Eastern States Exposition event in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Examiner reports that the 007 car is featured courtesy of stuntman W.J. Milligan.

Milligan’s collection, including the Hornet will be available for public viewing throughout the entire event, which comes to a close on 4 October 2009.

The annual Big E – Eastern States Exposition features a variety of exhibits, food and entertainment. For further information about attending, including ticket details, visit the official website.

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James Bond: Shaken not Stirred concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan

A series of concerts celebrating James Bond will be taking place this upcoming weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Beginning, Friday, 25 September, the Grand Rapids Symphony will host their James Bond: Shaken not Stirred concert, featuring past and present themes from the 007 films, including Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and many others. The event will mark the opening of the symphony’s pop series at DeVos Performance Hall.

In addition to the orchestra led by conductor John Varineau, Jeans ‘n’ Classics, a rock group from Ontario, will be joining in on several songs, such as Nobody Does It Better.

‘Everybody knows this stuff,’ said guitarist, arranger and bandleader Peter Brennan.

‘It’s just about impossible to have only an orchestra doing the music of James Bond,’ added John Varineau.

The James Bond: Shaken not Stirred concert will take place at 8:00pm on Friday and Saturday and 3:00pm on Sunday. Tickets cost $18-$90. To attend, phone Ticketmaster at 800-982-2787 or visit Ticketmaster.com. Season tickets are available for the Pops Series. Call the Grand Rapid Symphony at 454-9451 or go to grsymphony.org.

For further details, visit the Grand Rapids Symphony website.

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Pinewood Studios considers move to the Far East

Pinewood Shepperton, the studio home of the cinematic James Bond series, is considering a move to the Far East.

According to the Telegraph, the company is examing the possibilities of opening a new studio location in China or a neighbouring country such as Malaysia, after increasing appetite from Hollywood for Asian film sets.

If given the go-ahead, the move would follow Pinewood’s recent expansion into Toronto with Pinewood Toronto Studios, which is currently used for film and high-budget television shoots.

In Pinewood Shepperton’s interim results statement, the company said: ‘In our market, the Pinewood brand is highly regarded and as part of our long term strategy, we continue to look to leverage its reputation by developing wider opportunities that benefit the group.’

Keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—as well as our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest James Bond news and coverage.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service DVD inspires pop song

While the extra content of James Bond special edition DVDs has provided hours of entertainment to millions of fans around the world, the documentary material on the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service DVD went a step further and provided the inspiration for a new song, written by Norwegian indie rocker Sondre Lerche, who is best known for his work on the soundtrack “Dan in Real Life”.

“Like Lazenby”, a track from Lerche’s recently released 5th studio album “Heartbeat Radio”, was written after the musician watched the supplemental materials on the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service DVD, according to an interview with National Public Radio:

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Mr. LERCHE: I got the idea after watching On Her Majesty’s Secret Service again.

NPR: Which is a very respectable Bond film.

Mr. LERCHE: Absolutely. I think it’s terrific. And I guess the one thing that people say is that it’s a shame about the guy playing James Bond. You know, they give him a hard time, but he was not an actor. He was a model.

And a lot of these actors in the film are sort of Shakespearian, British actors, you know? And I saw these interviews in the bonus material that came with the DVD, and I thought it was so interesting to see interviews with both the young George Lazenby at the time of shooting the film and also the contemporary version, you know, him looking back. And there is the sense that he sort of messed up his opportunity, you know, because he got very cocky, I guess, and he admits to this himself. He got very cocky.

So the song isn’t directly about him, but the protagonist identifies very much with the dynamics of George Lazenby’s career that didn’t really happen the way he was maybe hoping or that it was just looking for a while.

Mr. LERCHE: (Singing) Like a fairy tale with blood on every page. My failures brought about some blessing. Someone must be watching over me. Even though I wonder why I did some of my doings, I’d do it all again if I had the chance, just like Lazenby.

Click here to listen to the interview, with a clip from the song (the Lazenby portion begins at 5:01 into the interview).

Click here to read the entire interview transcript.

• Order Heartbeat Radio from Amazon.com
• Order Heartbeat Radio from iTunes

You too can get inspired:

• Order On Her Majesty’s Secret Service from Amazon.co.uk
• Order On Her Majesty’s Secret Service from Amazon.com

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Muse: 'we'd probably say yes' to recording a James Bond song

Even though Bond 23 is barely a speck on the horizon at the moment, suggestions for who should perform the film’s title song are already coming in.

One musical group currently up for discussion is British alternative rock band Muse. Composed of members Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard, the group has released numerous albums thus far with their latest, The Resistance, due out this month.

‘It’s something we’d probably say yes to, or at least give it a good go,’ drummer Howard told the BBC News.

‘Certainly some of our music fits with the James Bond vibe—and I think it could work,’ Howard said. ‘The last few [007 title themes] have been pretty good, but I think we could do a good job.’

Adding that bassist Wolstenholme was a big Bond fan, Howard also made mention that one of their latest tracks from The Resistance album had that Bondian sound. ‘United States of Eurasia could have worked but it’s probably a bit late for that now,’ he said.

Do you think Muse is the right choice for a James Bond theme song? Voice your opinion here on the CommanderBond.net Forums.

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007 composer John Barry to receive Life Achievement Award next month

11-time James Bond composer John Barry will be honoured next month with the Max Steiner Life Achievement Award in Vienna, Austria.

Barry, who has won five Academy Awards for his many classic film scores, has been selected to receive the award at the Hollywood in Vienna gala concert event, scheduled for Wednesday, 14 October 2009.

Barry is best known in the world of 007 for essentially creating the James Bond sound following his 11 scores for the films, beginning with 1963’s From Russia with Love and concluding in 1987 with The Living Daylights.

The concert itself will open with the Warner Bros Fanfare and Casablanca and then move into several film classics from Lawrence from Arabia and Out of Africa to James Bond and Star Wars.

Ticket prices range in price from 29 – 78 € and can be purchased by phoning 43 1 242002, emailing [email protected] or from the Vienna Concert Hall website.

The Vienna Concert Hall (Wiener Konzerthaus)address is: Lothringerstraße 20A-1030 Vienna, Austria.

For further information, visit the official website.

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Bond items from Shirley Eaton to feature at upcoming charity dinner/auction

Shirley Eaton

Numerous items from Bond girl Shirley Eaton will be featured at an upcoming charity dinner and auction next month in the UK.

Eaton, who starred as ‘golden girl’ Jill Masterson in 1964’s Goldfinger opposite Sean Connery, has kindly donated an 8×10 signed colour photograph of herself from the film plus copies of her books Golden Touch, an intimate diary of poems, and Golden Girl*.

The auction and dinner will be in aid of Robyn Higgins, the eight-year old daughter of a British Metropolitan Police officer who contracted a rare form of cancer earlier this year and is now receiving extensive treatment including chemotherapy and stem cell harvesting. Funds raised will go towards Higgins and her family.

For those interested in making a bid on the above 007-related items, please send an email to [email protected] or contact:

The charity auction and dinner will take place on Thursday, 15 October 2009 from 7:00pm. This will consist of dinner, a comedian, live band and during the evening an auction of items kindly donated. These include signed football shirts, music memorabilia, a day out to Brawn Formula One factory and the above mentioned James Bond items. Any person wishing to make a bid can do so as above.

*please note that Shirley Eaton will autograph and dedicate her donated items to the winning bidder. She has stated that she does not want these items to be resold on the internet via eBay.

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Sir Roger Moore continues campaign against sale of foie gras

Former James Bond star has renewed his campaign against the production and sale of foie gras, a controversial food product made from the liver of a duck or goose.

Full details follow in the press release below:

Sir Roger Moore

Actor and former 007 Roger Moore renewed his campaign against foie gras, slamming the process of making the delicacy as “vile” and eating it as “ridiculous”.

The ex-super spy has written to the chairman of London’s upmarket department store Selfridges, offering to buy its entire stock of the product, which is created by force-feeding ducks.

“It’s called foie gras which is fatty liver which is a diseased liver,” the 81-year-old Moore told Channel 4 news on Sunday.

“The idea of eating something that is diseased is absolutely ridiculous but when you think of the way it’s produced then it’s vile.”

“I would be very happy to buy his (the chairman’s) existing stock of foie gras if he would give me the undertaking that he wouldn’t restock.

“There’s been no response whatsoever to that. I presume maybe he can’t afford the stamps,” he added.

Selfridges said it would investigate any suggestion of illegality in the production of its supplies of foie gras.

But the store told Channel 4 it planned to keep selling the product, citing huge public demand especially in the months leading up to Christmas.

Moore first achieved worldwide fame by starring in the television show The Saint as smooth-talking Simon Templar.

He took over the Bond film duties from Sean Connery in 1973, making his debut in Live and Let Die before completing the sequence with A View to a Kill 12 years later.

In recent years Moore has become well known for his humanitarian work, most notably through his activities as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, helping raise funds for under-privileged children.

He has also lent his support to animal activists People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which campaigns against foie gras, the making of which it says is cruel.

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Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier extract online

The Young Bond Dossier website alerts us that an extract from Charlie Higson’s highly anticipated Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier is now available to read online.

Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier

Literary 007 fans can get their first preview of the book, due out on 29 October, by clicking here: Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier — EXTRACT.

Touted as the complete and definitive guide to Higson’s Young Bond, the aptly-titled Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier will include in-depth character profiles, information on the cars, weapons and exotic locations, plus photographs, maps, and illustrations by artist Kev Walker.

As an added bonus, the book will also feature a brand new Young Bond story by Higson entitled A Hard Man to Kill. For more details on that story, click here.

• Order the UK hardback edition of Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier from Amazon.co.uk

Be sure to keep checking the CommanderBond.net main page and our Discussion Forums for all the latest Young Bond-related news.

Discuss this Young Bond news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond 007 forum in the world.

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