Never Sang 'Never Again'

Tim Lucas’ Video WatchBlog has unearthed a James Bond title song that never was.

The blog has been in contact with former actor Stephen Forsyth, who revealed he co-wrote the title track to 1983’s Never Say Never Again with Jim Ryan. The deal was ultimately scuppered by Michael Legrand, who composed the movie’s score.

“Warner Bros informed our attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture,” Forsyth said. “However, shortly before its release, Warner Bros informed us that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. So my song was never released.”

The voice behind the track was Tony Award-nominee, Phyllis Hyman. “The legendary Phyllis Hyman was my first choice to sing the song and working with her is one of the highlights of my musical career. I personally auditioned and sang the song to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office. After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take.”

Hyman, who died in 1995, reportedly called Forsyth the previous year and told him that her rejected title track to Never Say Never Again was “her best and favourite recording”.

For more information, and to hear this lost piece of musical 007 history, check out Tim Lucas’ Video WatchBlog.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the latest James Bond news.

'Quantum of Solace' Press Conference Held This Past Weekend

WARNING: Possible spoilers

A press conference for Quantum of Solace was held this past weekend at Tremosine, Italy.

Focusing specifically on the filming at Lake Garda, the James Bond event featured second unit director Dan Bradley, executive producer Anthony Waye and line producer Guido Cerasuolo in attendance.

According to a report from BadTaste.it (via IESB.net), several details regarding the action-packed opening of the 007 film were revealed at the conference.

First up was the news that the Aston Martin DBS which took a dive into Lake Garda a few days ago did not slow down the production at the location. That specific vehicle was actually intended to make an appearance at the conference.

Second unit director Bradley mentioned that the Lake Garda sequence would make up approximately 11 minutes of the film’s running time. He further stated that this could increase if they were able to film more scenes in the upcoming days, but this was heavily dependent on the weather.

A posted translated email from BadTaste.it also reveals further information:

The scene is described as the first sequence of the movie–15 minutes or so where we see a spectacular car chase, a tremendous crash and then a gunfight. This scene is a Second Unit, directed by Dan Breadley. It’s a car chase along the Gardesana, a famous and beautiful road around the lake (which is the biggest lake in Italy), between Malcesine, Limone and Tremosine: they closed the road and mounted some cameras on some Aston Martins to do some camera car. The scenes involves 40 stuntmen (half italian and half european stuntmen), six doubles of Daniel Craig, many Aston Martin DBS (we published a video of the camera-car) and a Black Alfa Romeo 159 (a famous Italian Car), which was the bad guy’s car.

They’re going to shoot in Gargnano and Limone until 25 April. Daniel Craig is resting in London after filming in Siena and Chile, but he’ll be available to shoot some reverse shots if the weather is good. It’s almost sure he’ll be in Carrara between April 25 and May 13, where they’ll film some important scenes in the very famous quarries of marble, with a flying camera (I think they’ll use cables).

BadTaste.it

Stay tuned to the CommanderBond.net main page for the most up-to-date and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

Gemma Arterton On Mixing Glamour And Geekiness For Bond Girl Role

Gemma Arterton briefly spoke about her role as Bond girl Agent Fields on the red carpet during the recent premiere of comedy Three And Out.

Arterton, who most recently acted alongside Daniel Craig and several other Quantum of Solace stars during the shooting in Panama this past February and March, stated: ‘My Bond girl’s not really a Bond villain. She’s not glamorous or anything–she’s quite geeky. So I don’t know… it’s amazing what a haircut will do!’

‘I just went to work every day, and if I thought about it too much I’d freak out! But it was absolutely brilliant.’

Arterton also denied that she went on a fitness regime to prepare for the role. ‘I actually put loads of weight on,’ she said. ‘Well, not loads of weight–but some weight when I was trying to lose it so I could be all toned. But that’s not my character–she’s not really that sort of Bond girl.’

Commenting on her rapid rise to fame since appearing in 2007’s St. Trinian’s and now in Quantum of Solace, she said: ‘It’s been insane. I can’t really explain it. It’s been actually out of this world and brilliant and scary and exciting.’

Click here for a photo of Arterton on the red carpet.

Stay tuned to the CBn main page for the most up-to-date and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

'Quantum of Solace' – Official Blog Report #5

The official Quantum of Solace blog has been updated today with another crew member from the 22nd James Bond film: director of photography Roberto Schaefer.

Describing his job, Schaefer states: ‘Besides directing the photography, you’re directing the lighting, the camera positions, movement, setting up the shots…’

‘The process is organic, but it also has a base proecedure that’s built into it so that we don’t just arrive here on the day of shooting and start saying “Well, what should we do?”‘

After a brief scene showing Schaefer and director Marc Forster in discussion, he said: ‘Marc and I wil go through a scene and he’ll tell me how he wants to block it.’

‘After about the first week of shooting, looking at the dailies, I was suddenly hit that we were doing a very retro, future kind of Bond film. I guess we’re just trying to make it visually stimulating.’

In addition to working together on Quantum of Solace, Schaefer has been the director of photography on almost all of Forster’s previous films, including The Kite Runner, Stranger Than Fiction and Monster’s Ball.

Stay tuned to the CBn main page for the most up-to-date and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

'John Barry – The Man With The Midas Touch' Postponed

Back in July of last year, CommanderBond.net had reported that a book celebrating the work of famed James Bond composer John Barry was planned for release later that year.

The book, John Barry – The Man with the Midas Touch, has since been delayed due to a ‘variety of reasons’, but publication is expected to occur sometime early this year.

As stated at JohnBarry.org.uk, (where the cover artwork can be viewed), details on how to pre-order at a discounted price will become available as soon as a publication date is made firm.

The biography consists of ‘approximately 260 pages of text split into 30 chapters, 16 pages of colour photos and 16 pages of black and white photos.’ Also included is a definitive film / discography and a foreword especially written by lyricist Don Black (who contributed to several Bond title themes).

007 fans best know Barry for his work as composer on the scores for 11 James Bond films, starting with 1963’s From Russia With Love and finally ending with 1987’s The Living Daylights.

Keep your eyes on the CBn main page for all the latest James Bond news.

Unseen 'The Living Daylights' Artwork To Feature At Fleming Exhibition

A previously unseen painting created by British artist Graham Sutherland more than 40 years ago for the James Bond short story The Living Daylights will be shown to the public for the first time beginning tomorrow.

The painting will be shown along with an extensive collection of other James Bond-related material at the ‘Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design’ exhibition, which opens tomorrow at the Fleming Collection art gallery in central London.

The Times reports that Fleming commissioned Sutherland to create the work in the early 1960s so that it could accompany the debut of his 007 short story The Living Daylights in February 1962.

The pink, green and blue work, depicting an arrow piercing a heart, has not been seen since it was completed 46 years ago to accompany the story in the first edition of The Sunday Times Magazine.

As many fans are well aware, the story was later included into the 1966 Octopussy and The Living Daylights collection.

Fleming, who had been foreign manager of The Sunday Times during the 1950s, was asked to write the 007 story for the new colour magazine.

‘He still was the paper’s most bankable asset although he had by then left the staff,’ said Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett.

Fleming commissioned Sutherland to create the piece in September 1961 after striking a friendship with the artist earlier that year during a summer holiday in Provence.

Sutherland was offered 100 guineas (£105) for his work, well below his usual rate. The resulting Bond artwork did not strike a chord with The Sunday Times founding editor Mark Boxer.

Boxer ultimately rejected the artwork, stating that it lacked the necessary sophistication to accompany the article. Fleming was also upset and tried to persuade Sutherland to have another try–unsucessfully.

Click here for more information on the ‘Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design’ exhibition.

Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest details and coverage on all the Ian Fleming centenary events and James Bond-related releases.

To keep track of all the upcoming 007 releases, events, television shows, and more–just keep your eyes on the CBn Calendar, located on the right panel of our main page.

'Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and The Art of Cover Design'

Following up the recent opening of the ‘For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond’ exhibition at London’s Imperial War Museum, 007 fans will be treated to yet another beginning tomorrow.

As first reported by CommanderBond.net this past December, the ‘Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and The Art Of Cover Design’ will be specifically focusing on the integral partnership of the 007 novels and their cover artwork.

This exhibition, which officially begins on 22 April at The Fleming Collection will run until 14 September 2008.

Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design

A major exhibition ‘Bond Bound: Ian Fleming & The Art of Cover Design’ will be on show at the Fleming Collection from 22 April to 28 June 2008. The exhibition, covering each book published, will also chart the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Bond look. Casino Royale, the first of the Bond novels spanning half a century, established the James Bond brand. It was a compelling mixture of sex, style and violence that soon turned Bond into the most famous fictional secret agent in history. This provided artists and designers with invaluable opportunities to maximise their talents.

The exhibition will be a complete anthology of Ian Fleming’s literacy legacy, including the commissioning of Charlie Higson to write the bestselling Young Bond novels and ‘The Moneypenny Diaries’ by Samantha Weinberg, adding a female perspective to the Bond story though the eyes of the adoring secretary Miss Moneypenny, and the latest instalment in Bond’s adult life written as a tribute to Ian Fleming for the centenary by Sebastian Faulks.

The Fleming Collection
13 Berkeley Street
London W1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 5730
Fax: +44 (0)20 7409 573

Opening hours:
(Admission Free)

Monday Closed to general public
Open by appointment for group visits and educational events
10am-5.30pm
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5.30pm
Sunday Closed

Nearest Tube Green Park

The Bond Bound Exhibition will also be at The City Art Centre in Edinburgh from 5 July to 14 September 2008.

For further information about the ‘Bond Bound’ exhibition:

Cawdell Douglas
10-11 Lower John Street
London W1F 9EB
T: +44 (0)20 7439 2822
F: +44 (0)20 7287 5488

Also check out the official Ian Fleming Centenary website for additional details.

Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest details and coverage on all the Ian Fleming centenary events and James Bond-related releases.

To keep track of all the upcoming 007 releases, events, television shows, and more–just keep your eyes on the CBn Calendar, located on the right panel of our main page.

'The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling' Now Shipping

The third novel in Samantha Weinberg’s James Bond spin-off series, The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling is now shipping from Amazon.co.uk.

The novel completes the series that began with 2005’s The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel and continued with 2006’s The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Servant. The critically-acclaimed trilogy chronicles the ’60s-set adventures of Miss Moneypenny and the contemporary exploits of her niece, Kate Westbrook.

Final Fling combines the excitement of a cold war spy thriller with the mystery of a contemporary detective story. In the 1964/65 volume of her private diaries, Jane Moneypenny reports her demotion from the position of M’s secretary as the British Secret Intelligence Service is hit by a series of defection scandals. Facing considerable personal danger, she combines forces with 007 in a resolve to smoke out the mole she is convinced is buried deep in the heart of the Office. But, when Bond is sacked and M is forced into retirement, Moneypenny finds herself on her own…

Forty-two years later, Miss Moneypenny’s niece and heir, Kate Westbrook, starts to suspect that her aunt’s death was no accident. She is sure the clues to what happened lie in the search for the mole. As she pieces them together, however, she realizes that there are significant forces who are determined to prevent her finding the truth.

From the glamour of 1960s Jamaica to the treacherous beaches of the Outer Hebrides, Final Fling reveals just how far people are prepared to go to defend – or betray – their beliefs, and relates the life and death, and surprising final love, of the world’s most famous fictional secretary.

The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel will be published by Thomas Dunne Books in the US next month.

Stay tuned to CommanderBond.net for all the latest literary James Bond news.

'Double or Die' Now Shipping In US

Charlie Higson’s Double or Die is now shipping from amazon.com.

This follows up the news from a few days ago that Higson’s third Young Bond novel had been spotted at several US bookstores ahead of the official release on 22 April.

As earlier reported on CommanderBond.net, the US hardback edition of Double or Die features brand new artwork from Kev Walker (who also designed the US Blood Fever cover and is behind the upcoming SilverFin graphic novel).

Order online:

• Order the US hardback edition of Double or Die from Amazon.com
• Order the US audiobook edition of Double or Die from Amazon.com

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest Young Bond and literary 007 news.

Scoop: Future Titan Titles Indefinitely Postponed

CommanderBond.net Forum member, “settingtherules”, has provided us with a scoop on the future of Titan’s James Bond comic collections and, unfortunately, the news isn’t good.

According to an email from Titan, the final two collections comprising The Girl Machine, Beware Of Butterflies, The Nevsky Nude, Hot-Shot, Nightbird and Ape Of Diamonds, have been indefinitely postponed due to licence and copyright issues.

The final two collections were due to be fall under the titles, The Girl Machine and Nightbird.

Titan stressed that the fact these two collections remain unreleased was not due to any unwillingness to publish them on their part, but rather because of the aforementioned licensing complications.

CommanderBond.net will keep you updated if any further news breaks on these Titan James Bond collections.

Fans still eager for more illustrated 007 can look forward to the forthcoming The Paradise Plot and Polestar collections, due out later this year.