Kevin Todd Haug Is 'Bond 22' Visual Effects Supervisor

A recent ComingSoon.net interview has confirmed the IMDb listing that Kevin Todd Haug will be the visual effects supervisor for next year’s James Bond film.

Speaking to the website was Zach Helm about his current film, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (he also wrote the screenplay to the Marc Forster-directed Stranger Than Fiction.

When asked if Bond 22 director Forster had mentioned anything about the film, Helm said: ‘He is good at keeping a secret. We used the same visual effects supervisor Kevin Haug, a genius, and so Kevin has gone from Than Fiction to this movie to Kite Runner and now he’s doing Bond. I’ve heard quite a few of the details, and it’s pretty exciting actually… but I’m good at keeping a secret, too.’

Like Bond 22 cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, Haug has had a history of working on Forster films. He held the visual effects supervisor position for Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger Than Fiction and Forster’s newest film, The Kite Runner.

In Casino Royale, the position was held by Steven Begg. The film later went on to win a Visual Effects Society (VES) award in February 2007.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest Bond 22 coverage.

Eva Green Will Not Appear In 'Bond 22'

In a superb cover story in The Observer Magazine, Casino Royale‘s Eva Green revealed that, contrary to earlier speculation, Vesper Lynd will not reappear in next year’s Bond 22.

While her fate in Casino Royale is unequivocal, reports suggested she would reappear in some capacity; in particular, a “pre-recorded video message” was mooted.

“There will be pictures [of Vesper] and things like that. I don’t know who the Bond girl’s gonna be. I’m a bit jealous! I hope it will be terrible,” Green said, facetiously. “I will be the love of his life!”

The article goes on to state that the threads of Casino Royale remain and that James Bond will have his revenge in pursuing Vesper’s traitorous Algerian boyfriend (Green herself suggested this late last year, while Bond 22‘s screenwriter Paul Haggis recently refused to deny the report).

The actress discusses her time on Casino Royale with pure excitement in the in-depth article. “My agent called and said it: ‘Oh, it made how-many-millions in the opening weekend in America.’ This is how it works. We were promoting it somewhere, in New York I think, and Barbara Broccoli was excited because the journalists had responded well to it. And to Daniel! Because of all the shit that was happening at the time, so they were very relieved. But yeah, in England it was,” Green whispered, ‘the best Bond ever!'”

Additionally, Green expressed praise for Daniel Craig, with whom she also co-stars in the upcoming film, The Golden Compass. “He’s working like a dog. He really wants to prove that he can do other stuff. He’s working on [second world war resistance drama] Defiance at the moment. It’s great for him. I mean, everyone wants him. Independent movies, Jim Jarmusch, anything. He doesn’t have ‘the Bond curse’ at all. He’s great. He deserves it.”

Green herself feels the lucrative offers are flowing in, but she is very selective about the roles she accepts. “It’s so difficult to find good parts, really, really hard. People don’t know how to place me. Now I receive a lot of… Like, I received something so similar to the Bond thing: ‘she ends up in an elevator under water’ – it’s a f***ing joke. ‘She’s very mysterious…’ No no no no no!”

“I need to earn some money,” she sighed.

For the full article, check out this week’s Observer Magazine.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the New York Daily News, Daniel Craig discussed the intense pressure while making Casino Royale and what it means for Bond 22. “[Casino Royale did all right,” Craig laughed. “But therein lies the rub.”

“I’m not getting quite so much abuse from the English tabloids – but that could still change! But the pressure is there. If I only make a couple of Bond films, I’d like to be able to look back on at least one of them and think ‘Oh, that was a good [one].’

“I know that sounds like a simplistic way of looking at it, but in terms of moviemaking, we want to make something that looks beautiful, looks stylish. I want this to be a Bond movie, and Bond movies, to me, are Dr. No and From Russia With Love – they had a style about them that was amazing and different.”

“I was very happy with the outcome [of Casino Royale]. I saw it on the small editing screens with no sound effects, no music of any sort and watched it from beginning to end and thought, ‘The story works.’ At that point I thought that we were going to be okay. ‘Cause when you start adding the music and the special effects, the movie starts expanding out – and it did. [It] pulled together in a way that I don’t think people were expecting… That was where we set the bar. Now we have to go for it again. And hopefully go higher.”

In one last brief snippet, Oscar-winning screenwriter, Paul Haggis revealed to Variety that Bond 22‘s production start date was shifted from December to January “for production reasons”.

According to the trade paper, Haggis, currently on strike with the Writers Guild of America, was unable to complete his final polish of the picture’s script, “mostly to adapt it to locations.”

Daniel Craig’s second James Bond film, for which he is currently rehearsing stunts, will now begin filming on 4 January 2008.

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

Activision Merger Makes It World's Largest Video Game Publisher

According to a report from K1Bond007, Activision, the new owner of the James Bond video game licence, will be merging with Blizzard Entertainment owner Vivendi Games to form Activision Blizzard–the largest and most profitable video game publisher in the world (a title that was previously held by former 007 game company Electronic Arts).

As previously reported on CommanderBond.net, Activision has committed themselves to revitalising the James Bond brand and currently have two 007 titles in development, one of them planned to be an adaptation of Bond 22, and due for release in 2008.

The full press release on the merger:

VIVENDI AND ACTIVISION TO CREATE ACTIVISION BLIZZARD – World’s Largest, Most Profitable Pure-Play Video Game Publisher

Combination Brings Activision’s Best-Selling Video Games, Including Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and Tony Hawk, Together With Vivendi Games’ Portfolio of Leading Franchises, Including Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, and Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft, Diablo and Global #1 Subscription-Based World Of Warcraft

Vivendi to Contribute Vivendi Games Valued at $8.1 Billion, Plus $1.7 Billion in Cash in Exchange for Approximately 52% Stake in Activision Blizzard at Closing; Total Transaction Valued at $18.9 Billion

Activision Blizzard Will Commence Post-Closing Cash Tender Offer for Up to 146.5 Million of its Shares at $27.50 per Share, Representing 31% Premium for Activision Stockholders Based on 20-Trading Day Average

Transaction Will Unlock Value of Blizzard Entertainment’s Massively Multiplayer Online Games Business and Will Be Accretive to Stockholders of Activision and Vivendi

Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Vivendi (Euronext Paris: VIV) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi’s interactive entertainment business — which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, the world’s #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise — with Activision, creating the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

Activision, one of the world’s leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, is best known for its top-selling franchises, including Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man, X-Men, Shrek, James Bond and TRANSFORMERS. Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, has projected calendar 2007 revenues of $1.1 billion, operating margins of over 40% and approximately $520 million of operating profit. Blizzard owns the #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise, World of Warcraft, which currently has over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo games account for four of the top-five best-selling PC game titles of all time. Vivendi Games also owns popular franchises, including Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. Pro forma for calendar 2007, Activision Blizzard expects to generate approximately 70% of its revenues from owned franchises. As a result of the business combination, Activision Blizzard expects to have the most diversified and broadest portfolio of interactive entertainment assets in its industry, positioning the combined company to capitalize on the continued worldwide growth in interactive entertainment.

Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi stated: “This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform. We believe this transaction will create significant value for Activision Blizzard and Vivendi stockholders. In Activision, we have found a partner with a highly complementary business and strong operating team. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly are industry pioneers, well known for creating shareholder value. The combined strength of the existing management teams at both companies will set the stage for further profitable growth of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead.”

René Penisson, Member of the Management Board of Vivendi and current Chairman of Vivendi Games, added: “We are very confident that by combining forces, Activision Blizzard will set the highest standards in quality, reputation and profitability, and will bring together the best creative teams in the industry. The combination of this unique product portfolio with highly professional employees gives us great confidence in the growth prospects for Activision Blizzard.”

Said Robert Kotick, Activision’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: “This is an outstanding transaction for Activision and our stockholders, as well as a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry. By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences. By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business and gain a large footprint in the rapidly growing Asian markets, including China and Korea, while maintaining our leading operating performance across North America and Europe. Activision stockholders will benefit from significantly increased earnings power and the recurring nature and predictability of subscription-based revenues, while also having the opportunity, if they choose, to receive $27.50 per share for a portion of their shares in the post-closing tender offer.”

Kotick continued: “Vivendi Games provides Activision with unique strategic and financial benefits and will allow us to leverage our franchises into emerging online opportunities as Blizzard has done so successfully. Activision has been very focused on margin expansion, and this transaction will meaningfully increase our overall operating margins as we expand our franchises online and in new geographies. Diversifying our revenue base among subscription-based online, console and PC formats, as well as wireless and casual emerging opportunities, gives us the broadest platform to capitalize on industry growth. With Blizzard’s successful franchises, such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft and an exciting pipeline of yet-to-be announced titles, Vivendi Games’ and Blizzard’s management team will join with Activision’s strong and experienced leaders to become an even more powerful force for innovation in online and offline interactive entertainment across a wide range of platforms. This transaction also provides a unique relationship with Universal Music Group – the world’s largest music company – which will benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizable leadership position in music-based games.”

Mike Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, added: “Blizzard’s industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision’s highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before.”

Structure & Terms of Transaction

Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share – a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days – for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.

Within five business days after closing the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share. The tender offer will be funded by Activision Blizzard’s cash on hand at closing, including the $1.7 billion in cash received from the Vivendi share purchase. In addition, Vivendi has agreed to acquire from Activision Blizzard additional newly issued shares for up to an additional $700 million of Activision common stock at $27.50 per share, the proceeds of which would also be used to fund the tender offer. Any remaining funds required to complete the tender offer will be borrowed by Activision Blizzard from Vivendi or third-party lenders. If the tender offer is fully subscribed, Vivendi will own an approximate 68% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive in its first year post-closing for Activision’s stockholders and slightly accretive for Vivendi’s stockholders. Activision Blizzard is targeting pro forma operating income of $1.1 billion and pro forma earnings per share (EPS) in excess of $1.20 in calendar year 2009. The transaction is expected to be at least $0.20 accretive to Activision stockholders in calendar year 2009.

Governance

Activision Blizzard’s board of directors will be comprised of eleven members: six directors designated by Vivendi, two Activision management directors and three independent directors who currently serve on Activision’s board of directors. René Penisson, currently a member of the Management Board of Vivendi and Chairman of Vivendi Games, will serve as Chairman of Activision Blizzard. Brian Kelly, currently Co-Chairman of Activision, will serve as Co-Chairman of Activision Blizzard. The three independent directors will be Richard Sarnoff, Robert J. Corti and Robert Morgado. Other Activision Blizzard directors will be Robert Kotick (President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard), Bruce Hack (Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard), Jean-Bernard Lévy (Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi), Doug Morris (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Music Group), Philippe Capron (Member of the Management Board and Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi), and Frédéric Crépin (Senior Vice President, Head of Legal, Vivendi).

Management

Following the completion of the transaction, Robert Kotick will be President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. Bruce Hack, current Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi Games, will serve as Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard, accountable for leading the merger integration and the finance, human resources and legal functions. Mike Griffith will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Publishing, which after closing will include the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions in addition to the Activision business. Mike Morhaime will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard Entertainment. Thomas Tippl, currently Chief Financial Officer of Activision, will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard and Jean-Francois Grollemund, currently Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi Games, will be appointed Chief Accounting Officer of Activision Blizzard.

Conditions to Closing

The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of Vivendi, Vivendi Games and Activision. The transaction is subject to the approval of Activision’s stockholders and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including expiration of applicable waiting periods and receipt of applicable approvals under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and European Union merger control regulations. Pending regulatory and stockholder approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed in the first half of calendar year 2008.

Financial and Legal Advisors

Activision’s financial advisor on the transaction is Allen & Company LLC and its legal counsel is Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Vivendi’s financial advisor is Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is acting as legal counsel to Vivendi.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The management of both companies will host a joint conference call and live webcast on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. Paris time, 1:30 p.m. London time to discuss this announcement. The companies welcome all members of the investment community to listen to the call live by dialing into (888) 765-5554 in the U.S. or (913) 312-1235 outside the U.S. The live webcast of the call can be accessed at www.vivendi.com and www.activision.com.

For those unable to listen to the live conference call, an audio replay of the call will be available through December 17, 2007, approximately two hours after the call’s conclusion and can be accessed by calling (888) 203-1112 in the U.S. or (719) 457-0820 outside the U.S. and entering the pass-code: 5648597. In addition, a webcast replay also will be archived on the Investor Relations section of each company’s website.

Activision Broadcast Media Center

Broadcast quality video and web-streaming video is available in PAL and NTSC formats on Activision’s Broadcast Media Center at http://activision.pondeserver.com. Pathfire users can download video to their Digital Media Gateway by choosing the Pathfire Enabled file. All video is free of charge and its use is unrestricted.

About Vivendi

Vivendi is a global leader in digital entertainment with activities in music, TV, cinema, mobile, internet, and games through its ownership of Universal Music Group, Canal+ Group, SFR, Maroc Telecom and Vivendi Games. In 2006, Vivendi had revenues of over €20 billion and a global headcount of 39,000. Listed on the Paris Stock market, Vivendi is a member of the CAC 40. More information about Vivendi is available at www.vivendi.com.

About Vivendi Games

Vivendi Games is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multiplatform interactive entertainment. The company is the leader in the subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) category and is building on its position in the PC, console and handheld games markets. Vivendi Games has a global presence, a history of franchise success, development teams around the world and a catalog of its own original and licensed material. Vivendi Games has approximately 4,000 employees and is driven by four creative divisions: Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile. Irvine, California-based Blizzard, creator of the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo games series, is by far the largest of the four entities with approximately 2,300 employees.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

About Activision, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Activision has more than 2,000 employees worldwide.

Activision maintains operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s World Wide Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.

CBn will keep you updated with all the latest news and details regarding the upcoming James Bond games from Activision.

First Edition 007 Novels Going Up For Auction In London

A massive collection of first edition James Bond 007 novels by Ian Fleming, John Gardner and Raymond Benson, many of the books signed and/or inscribed by the author, will be going up for auction this upcoming Thursday.

The Bond novels are being sold by Bloomsbury Auctions and a little bit of everything is featured; whether it’s an ultra rare first edition/first impression of Fleming’s Casino Royale or some of the later continution novels, such as Gardner’s COLD and Benson’s The World Is Not Enough.

The lot numbers, collected under the appropriate title of ‘The Property of a Lady’, run from #42 to 80. Some of the select lots include:

42. Fleming (Ian) Casino Royale, first edition, first impression , full-page inscription from the author on front free endpaper, original boards, slightly cocked, first state dust-jacket without Times review, slightly chipped at head of spine, otherwise an unusually good example, 8vo, 1953.

£18000 – £22000

The inscription reads “To / the power behind / the publishers’ throne! / from / the author / May 1953”, presumably referring to somebody related to the publishers Jonathan Cape.

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43. Fleming (Ian) Live and Let Die, first edition, full-page inscription from the author on front free endpaper, original boards, first state dust-jacket, slightly rubbed at joints, rubbed at corners with minor fraying to spine ends, 2 small closed tears, otherwise a very good example, 8vo, 1954.

£8000 – £12000

Inscription reads “To / Donald Crowther / Who helped with the coin!” / from / the author / 1954″. Donald Crowther seemingly worked at Spink at this time, before becoming Head of Coins at Sotheby’s, and must have advised Fleming on the 17th century gold coins being sold by “Mr Big” in the plot of Live and Let Die.

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44. Fleming (Ian) Moonraker, first edition , issue with ‘shoot’, near full-page signed presentation inscription from the author on front free endpaper , 1955, original boards, dust-jacket, slightly rubbed at corners, spine slightly dulled, otherwise a very good example, 8vo, 1955.

£5000 – £7000

The inscription reads: “To E.B. Strauss / This ‘Tagebuch eines / halbwüchsigen Spiones’! / Ian Fleming / 1955.” [Journal of an adolescent Spy].

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48. Fleming (Ian) Goldfinger, first edition , full-page signed presentation inscription from the author on front free endpaper, original boards, dust-jacket, slightly browned at spine, light marking visible on lower panel, rubbed at corners and spine ends wit small hole on upper fore-edge, 8vo, 1959.

£3000 – £4000

This inscription is to a Donald, possibly Donald Crowther again, who might have advised on the gold coins that feature on Richard Chopping’s design.

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50. Fleming (Ian) Thunderball, first edition , near full-page inscription from the author on front free endpaper, original boards, dust-jacket, slightly rubbed at tips of corners, but overall an unusually fine copy , 8vo, 1961.

£3500 – £4500

The inscription reads “To / Jack. / By appointment, / M.O. to the SIS! / Ian” – possibly to Jack Whittingham, who worked on a treatment of Thunderball with Fleming for a film version; the idea was scrapped and the treatment converted into the novel instead. ‘SIS’ is the Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI6.

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52. Fleming (Ian) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, first edition, number 125 of 250 copies signed by the author , colour portrait of Fleming by Amherst Villiers, bookplate of Colonel H.C.C.Newnham on front pastedown, original vellum-backed buckram, t.e.g., in original plastic jacket, a fine copy, 8vo, 1963.

£3000 – £4000

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54. Fleming (Ian) You Only Live Twice, first edition , signed presentation copy from the author inscribed on front free endpaper, said endpaper backed with card, minor spotting to extreme edges of some ff., original boards, dust-jacket, in excellent condition , 8vo, 1964.

£1500 – £2000

The inscription here is “To / Dear Julie / from / Ian Fleming.” A previous similar inscription from Fleming to a ‘Julie’ was apparently to the lady who hand-rolled his cigarettes…

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79. Gardner (John) Cold, first edition , signed by the author on title, original boards, slightly rubbed at extremities, dust-jacket, in excellent condition, 8vo, 1996.

£150 – £200

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80. Benson (Raymond) The World is Not Enough, first edition, signed by Goldie on front free endpaper, 2 cut signatures of the author loosely inserted, original boards, dust-jacket, a fine copy, 8vo, 1999.

£120 – £180

Drum & Bass legend Goldie, signed here both as Goldie & “The Bull” (the character he played in the movie), with bull monogram.

Literature, Manuscripts and Modern First Editions

to be sold by auction on
Thursday 6th December 2007
at 11.00am & 1.00pm

Viewing beforehand on
Tuesday 4th December from 9.30am to 5.30pm
Wednesday 5th December from 9.30am to 8.00pm
Thursday 6th December from 9.30am to 10.30am

For further information on the sale and the complete list of James Bond novels up for sale, visit http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/auction/634.

Keep watching CBn for all the latest on James Bond-related events happening around the world.

'Bond 22' Director Marc Forster To Appear On 'Tavis Smiley' Show

Director Marc Forster, who is currently working on the 22nd James Bond film is set to appear on PBS show Tavis Smiley on Friday, 7 December 2007.

While discussion is likely to center on The Kite Runner, Forster’s latest film which gets a limited release in the US on the 14th of December and then expands onto a general release in several other countries later this month, might we also get a few details on Bond 22? Guess one will just have to watch and find out.

The episode with Forster is set to air on Friday, 7 December at 12:00 AM (midnight), EST. Click here to visit the official Tavis Smiley website.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest Bond 22 coverage.

'James Bond: A Legacy Of Excellence'

James Bond: A Legacy Of Excellence

Written by Matthew Field | Photographs by Ajay Chowdhury

On Friday 3rd November 2006, just hours before the international media were treated to the first official screening of Casino Royale, Promax UK – an annual conference for those working in broadcast advertising and marketing – invited composer David Arnold, title designer Daniel Kleinman and author Charlie Higson, to participate in a discussion titled James Bond: A Legacy Of Excellence at London’s Mermaid Theatre.

The trio gave Promax a fascinating insight into their respective creative worlds, their working methods and processes and how they have adapted and applied these to the ‘James Bond brand.’ It was a unique discussion – particularly in order to listen to individuals from the opposite ends of the 007 spectrum – film and literary – share their thoughts and anecdotes together.

The session was sponsored by The James Bond International Fan Club and chaired by KKBB contributor Matthew Field.

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Matthew Field: Joining us today are three figures who are paramount in creatively shaping the future of one of the most successful film and literary franchises in history: James Bond.

Daniel Kleinman has designed the titles for Casino Royale (his fifth James Bond film) following GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. He has directed music promos for artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Prince and Madonna and in 2004 he founded the production company Kleinman.

Our second guest – David Arnold – has composed, arranged, and produced the score for Casino Royale (his fourth James Bond film). Hailed as one of the most successful British composers of his generation, his scores include Changing Lanes, 2 Fast 2 Furious and most recently Venus and Hot Fuzz.

We’re also joined by writer and performer Charlie Higson, who is currently writing a series of novels based on the childhood exploits of James Bond. Charlie first came to public attention in the BBC comedy The Fast Show and [currently works on the hilarious BBC Radio 4 comedy show, Down The Line http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/downtheline.shtml. His Young Bond books have been huge hits.]

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Daniel Kleinman, David Arnold, and Charlie Higson.

(Applause)

Matthew Field: It’s a dream job isn’t it – working on James Bond? Were you all fans of the movies and books whilst you were growing up?

Charlie Higson: Not really no.

(Laughter)

Daniel Kleinman: Yes.

David Arnold: (jokingly) No.

Charlie Higson: We wouldn’t be here would we, if we weren’t? I think we’ve all grown up as kids going to see James Bond films thinking ‘This is just brilliant.’ Yeah, I think we’ve probably all became his fans.

Daniel Kleinman: I’m certainly a fan. I collected all the bubblegum cards. I’ve still got them – I think I’ve still got the set. I remember the Thunderball bubblegum cards – you had to chew your way through about five tons of very sickly bubblegum to get to them. I also had the car with the man who flies out of the roof.

Charlie Higson: I bet you still haven’t got the man.

Daniel Kleinman: I had the man, but my wife invited over some kids and let them play with it and then the man got lost.

(Laughter)

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Matthew Field: Creatively, does it get harder with each new film – thinking what you can do next?

David Arnold: Well in my experience, when I did Tomorrow Never Dies, I figured no one’s ever going to ask me to do this ever again. So I kind of did everything I ever wanted to do in that film and then at the end of it, when they did ask me to do the next one, after the initial period of elation, it became a sort of blind terror, because at that point if you’ve climbed Everest once and you’ve found a way up it and you’ve stuck your flag in the top. All of a sudden you’re being asked to do it again by a different route, using different methods but still trying to get to the top.

Charlie Higson: The great thing about working on Bond is that you’ve got this fantastic set of elements to work with. He has been around for over fifty years now and it’s totally part of our culture. You’ve got all these fantastic building blocks that you can knock about with. You can have echoes of what’s gone before but you can build something new with it – which I think is what we’re all doing. Danny’s title sequences nod back to what Maurice Binder was doing with his sequences. David’s work echoes that of John Barry and of course still uses The James Bond theme. You’ve got all that fantastic stuff that you can use and yet you can still build something new and exciting with it – which is fun.

Daniel Kleinman: I think that’s right. I think the challenge for all of us, is to make it the same but different which seems anomalous. It’s certainly true that with a fairly tight brief, in a strange way it gives you a freedom to do sort of variations on the theme – be increasingly more inventive within that fairly tight constraint.

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Daniel Kleinman: It’s kind of gamble actually isn’t it to say none of those films before existed and we’ve started again.

David Arnold: There’s always been a conundrum with the timeline anyway…

Matthew Field: Bond kept getting younger and Q kept getting older!

(Laughter)

David Arnold: He meets Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Blofeld doesn’t recognise him and yet in the previous film he had a fight with him at the end of the movie. The point at which you start deconstructing it that much, it’s just pointless.

Matthew Field: In conclusion we couldn’t have a conversation about Bond without me asking you all who your favourite James Bond is….

Charlie Higson: We’re all going to say exactly the same thing, my first film, I remember going to see in a cinema was Thunderball. David you remember You Only Live Twice, and I should think Daniel would probably say the same thing. So it has to be…George Lazenby!

(Laughter)

Daniel Kleinman: How about Bob Holness who actually played Bond on the radio I think.

David Arnold: Was he the first ever?

Charlie Higson: No, he wasn’t, Barry Nelson was the first ever on TV in America, but yes, Bob Holness was James Bond before Sean Connery.

Matthew Field: Thanks very much guys. That was great.

(Appaluse)

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Promax UK 2006 James Bond: A Legacy Of Excellence produced by Grant Campbell (late of the BBC 2 reality show, The Restaurant). Thanks to Nick Roberts. For more information, see www.promax-uk.org

MATTHEW FIELD is the author of ‘The Making Of The Italian Job’ and ‘Michael Caine, You’re A Big Man’, both published by BT Batsford. He has co-written his next book ‘Deer Hunters, Blade Runners And Blowing The Bloody Doors Off’ which is the autobiography of Academy Award winning film producer Michael Deeley, to be published by Faber & Faber next year. His is a contributing writer to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang magazine. Ajay Chowdhury is the editor of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang magazine.

Text © 2006, Matthew Field. All rights reserved.
All photographs © 2006, Ajay Chowdhury. All rights reserved.

The full version 7 page article and exclusive photographs appear in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang #4
The publication of the James Bond International Fan Club
http://www.007.info/ClubMagazine.asp

Audio Interview: Lyricst Don Black On Writing James Bond Songs

As one of the most successful lyricists throughout the past four decades, Don Black’s extraordinary career continues strongly to this very day. Over the past 40 years, he has become an Academy Award and Tony Award-winner, been awarded the O.B.E. for his services to musical theatre and became a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee earlier this year.

He is best known by James Bond fans for his lyricist credits on Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With The Golden Gun, Surrender, The World Is Not Enough and Only Myself To Blame.

In a brand new audio interview posted at Stage & Screen Online, Black discusses his varied career with Tommy Pearson. Recorded this month, part one (42 minutes) focuses on how he first got started, working with Matt Monroe, the ever-popular Born Free and his association with the James Bond series–with both John Barry and David Arnold.

Part two (24 minutes) takes a look at Black’s involvement in musical theatre, specifically his work on shows with Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Barry. Billy, Tell Me On A Sunday and Bombay Dreams are just a few of the shows that are discussed.

Thunderball

When first asked about how he came to be involved with the Bond songs, Black tells how John Barry approached him one day wondering if he wanted to do the lyrics for Thunderball, which was the upcoming James Bond film at the time.

‘The first thing I did when I wrote Thunderball was to look it up in the dictionary and it wasn’t there,’ says Black. ‘So, there isn’t a word called Thunderball and I didn’t know what to do … in the film, it’s kind of a code word, so I used the “strikes like thunderball” bit. It doesn’t bear close examination, but it has that kind of danger and law of the forbidden thing that is essential in any Bond song.’

Black also mentioned that when working, Barry would create the melody and Black would come up with the words that delicately sit on top of it. ‘God knows how many hundreds of songs I’ve written with him over the years. It’s so easy to write with John Barry…’

‘The first thing is that you have to serve the movie. And then, of course, you do have one eye on the charts. The Bond people want to get a hit; very much so now, particularly today. Whoever is the hottest person in the world’s record business, they want to hire them to sing the new Bond song.’ – Don Black

Diamonds Are Forever

For Diamonds Are Forever, Black remembered that producer Harry Saltzman was not at all keen on the Shirley Bassey tune, calling it too provocative and filthy. ‘Well, John Barry said “well, what the bloody hell do you know Harry?” and Harry went out slamming the door and that was that.’

When asked what it was like to work with Bassey, Black delightfully replied: ‘All you want to do is give her a song that she can rip to pieces.’

The Man With The Golden Gun

Speaking about his third Bond assignment, Black recalls that John Barry was never as happy with The Man With The Golden Gun musically as the others. ‘I don’t know why because I think it stands up as the right Bond song for the moment and Lulu did a great job of it,’ he adds.

Surrender

‘I hate to say this really, but why not, you get to a certain stage in your life where you say what you feel, but I do think one of the best things I’ve written is Surrender from Tomorrow Never Dies that I wrote with David Arnold. It became the end-title and k.d. Lang sang it and it’s such a good piece. A lot of people have emailed me and said it should have been the title [song]. That sort of thing aggravates you because it was written for the front-title and then Sheryl Crow was brought in to write it. I mean… no hard feelings about it, but that is life.’

‘If I had my way, I think Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey should sing all the Bond songs. Don’t bother with all the Sheryl Crows and the Madonnas because, with all due respect to these people, it’s a Tom Jones or Bassey job. You need someone like that.’ – Don Black

And lastly, which of the Bond songs is Don Black’s favourite? ‘I think it would have to be Diamonds Are Forever because as soon as it starts with John Barry’s wonderful introduction–that’s another signature of Barry–you don’t have to wait for the song to start. As soon as you hear the first note or two, you’re there.’

What if Shirley Bassey performed The World Is Not Enough? What was Black’s first encounter with Steven Spielberg like? There’s much more… Head over to Stage & Screen Online to listen to this outstanding interview in it’s entirety. The interview is also available to download as an MP3 file.

Keep watching CBn for all the latest James Bond news.

'Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History Of The James Bond Films'

A brand new revised edition of James Chapman’s Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films is due for release in February 2008.

First published in 1999 in the UK, Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films aims to show that there is more to the 007 franchise than just girls, guns and globe trotting adventures. The original blurb:

“The James Bond” epic is the most popular film series in silver screen history: it is estimated that a quarter of the world’s population has seen a Bond feature. The saga of Britain’s best-loved martini hound (who we all know prefers his favorite drink “shaken, not stirred”) has adapted to changing times for four decades without ever abandoning its tried-and-true formula of diabolical international conspiracy, sexual intrigue, and incredible gadgetry. James Chapman expertly traces the annals of celluloid Bond from its inauguration with 1962’s Dr. No through its progression beyond Ian Fleming’s spy novels to the action-adventure spectaculars of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. He argues that the enormous popularity of the series represents more than just the sum total of the films’ box-office receipts and involves questions of film culture in a wider sense.

Licence to Thrill chronicles how Bond, a representative of a British Empire that no longer existed in his generation, became a symbol of his nation’s might in a Cold War world where Britain was no longer a primary actor. Chapman describes the protean nature of Bond villains in a volatile global political scene – from Soviet scoundrels and Chinese rogues in the 1960s to a brief flirtation with Latin American drug kingpins in the 1980s and back to the Chinese in the 1990s. The book explores how the movies struggle with changing societal ethics – notably, in the evolution in the portrayal of women, showing how Bond’s encounters with the opposite sex have evolved into trysts with leading ladies as sexually liberated as Bond himself. The Bond formula has proved remarkably durable and consistently successful for roughly a third of cinema’s history – half the period since the introduction of talking pictures in the late 1920s. Moreover, Licence to Thrill argues that, for the foreseeable future, the James Bond films are likely to go on being what they have always been, a unique and very special kind of popular cinema.

The revised paperback edition of Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films will be published by I B Tauris & Co Ltd and will be released in January 2008 in the UK and the following February in the US.

• Order Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films from Amazon.co.uk
• Order Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films from Amazon.com

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

Daniel Craig Honoured With Variety Award At BIFA Ceremony

Daniel Craig was honoured on the 28th of November with the Variety Award at the annual British Independent Film Award (BIFA) ceremony, which took place at Roundhouse in north London–reports Hello Magazine.

The star of Casino Royale and next year’s Bond 22 is was awarded this honour due to his contribution to bringing the international spotlight to the British film industry.

In the past, Craig has been nominated three times at the British Independent Film Award (BIFA) ceremonies, winning the best actor award for 2000’s Some Voices. His other nominations include 1999’s The Trench and 2004’s Enduring Love.

It turns out that Craig wasn’t the only actor from the 007 series honoured last night. Dame Judi Dench picked up the Best Actress award for her role as a conniving history teacher in 2006’s Notes on a Scandal.

When asked who she thought was the best James Bond so far, Dench replied: ‘Daniel’s amazing but I couldn’t possibly have a favourite.’

The awards were established in 1998 to celebrate and promote achievement in independently-funded British film. This year’s ceremony will take place on 28 November at Roundhouse in north London.

Keep watching CBn for all the latest James Bond news.

Timothy Dalton To Make Appearance In Los Angeles

Former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton will be making an appearance at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles this upcoming December for a film screening of Flash Gordon.

The Double O Section reports that Dalton will be discussing his role as Prince Baron in the cult classic.

The film is being screened as part of Edgar Wright’s (who directed Dalton in Hot Fuzz earlier this year) ‘The Wright Stuff’ festival of films:

The New Beverly Cinema has The Wright Stuff

December 2-17, 2007

The New Beverly Cinema is proud to announce that Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, will be programming a special festival of films, The Wright Stuff, at the theater in December of this year.

After selling out a screening of his films in August, Wright is returning to the New Beverly to show some of his favorite movies. Wright will be at the theater to introduce the screenings, schedule permitting. In addition, the festival will also include several surprise special guests. Painstakingly handpicked, the films cover a wide spectrum of decades and film genres. From horror to comedy, musicals and more, the festival is sure to have something for every taste.

This Flash Gordon screening featuring Timothy Dalton in attendance will take place on Wednesday, 5 December 2007 at 7:30 PM.

The New Beverly Cinema is located at 7165 West Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. For further information, phone 323-938-4038 or visit the official website.

Keep watching CBn for all the latest James Bond 007 news.