DANIEL CRAIG IS JAMES BOND

It’s official: Daniel Craig is the new James Bond!

Eon Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment made the announcement today at a London press conference, ending more than 18 months of rampant speculation after four-time Bond Pierce Brosnan was dropped from the role in Feburary of last year.

The actor has been signed to a three-picture deal starting with the upcoming 007 film, Casino Royale.

Craig arrived at the press conference via speedboat escorted by the Royal Navy. “I’d like to thank the marines for scaring the shit out of me,” he joked.

The press conference was attended by Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, and director Martin Campbell. Wilson said they looked at over 200 actors, but Craig was the only one they offered the film to. Campbell called his new Bond “fantastic.”

Craig said he found out on Monday that he had the role. “I need a drink,” was his first reaction. Craig then added, “Together, with Martin, I want to make the best film we can. The most entertaining film we can. And it’s not a question of redefining, but it’s a question of taking it somewhere maybe where it’s never gone before.”

Wilson confirmed that Casino Royale would be James Bond’s “first mission” as a double-oh agent and that the central relationship with the Bond Girl is more serious and will effect Bond’s character at the end. Campbell said it is “definitely a darker film, more character, less gadgets.”

The official Casino Royale logo (click to view) sat behind the filmmakers and star as they answered questions from the world press.

Daniel Craig’s road to Bond has been a curious one.

In April, the 37-year-old British actor was suddenly and mysteriously touted by media the world over as having landed the role. However, no official confirmation was forthcoming and reports later confirmed the Bond search was still ongoing.

Craig then revealed to IGN Filmforce that he had been offered the role by the studio, but not by Eon Productions. Later, trade paper The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Barbara Broccoli wanted Craig, but co-producer Michael G. Wilson did not. Craig is said to be a close personal friend of the Broccoli family.

Craig’s candidacy disappeared amid reports of younger candidates until CBn exclusively broke the news in its monthly podcast that Craig was back in serious contention for the role, despite comments by screenwriter Paul Haggis and Martin Campbell that Bond in Casino Royale would be a rookie agent of just 28 years old.

The rumblings and rumours about Craig’s candidacy intensified throughout September and October until the Daily Mail announced on Monday that Craig had, indeed, landed the part. A flurry of unconfirmed press reports followed…ending today with Craig’s official appointment to Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Bond fans have been split down the middle about Daniel Craig’s suitability for the part. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Fans advocating for Craig believe the actor would bring a new edge to the character, with many highlighting his physical likeness to Hoagy Carmichael, whom Ian Fleming said was his ideal model of how 007 should look. Other fans have been less enthusiastic, arguing the actor to be a far cry from the heretofore standard for the cinematic James Bond.

Daniel Craig was born in Chester, England in 1968. After growing up in Liverpool and moving to England, he joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 16 and later secured a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1992 he made theatrical acting debut in the filmic adaptation of Bryce Courtenay’s The Power Of One. Craig’s filmography includes Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Road To Perdition, The Jacket and his critically-acclaimed turn as an unnamed drug dealer in Layer Cake. He will next appear alongside Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush in Steven Spielberg’s new film, Munich.

And in 2006, Daniel Craig will make his debut appearance as James Bond, 007 in Casino Royale.

Casino Royale will be the 21st James Bond film produced by the franchise holders, EON Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production begins shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on November 17, 2006. It will be filmed in the Czech Republic, the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Click to view more photos from today’s event in the CBn ‘Casino Royale’ Gallery

Watch the full ‘Casino Royale’ press conference

Discuss the announcement we’ve all been waiting for in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

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CBn Forums Hit 5,007 Members

Twenty-four hours before the new James Bond is due to be announced at a London press conference, the CommanderBond.net forums have reached the milestone number of 5,007 members with over 451,000 posts, making CBn by far the largest James Bond forum and fansite anywhere on the internet.

In addition, the CBn RSS feed now syndicates CBn news stories all over the world.

Congratulations to butterhook007 for being CBn’s 5007th member. As thanks, we will be sending butterhook007 a FREE Tomorrow Never Dies mini poster, courtesy of the CBn Team.

Not a member of the CBn forums yet? Simply register here. It’s free and it only takes a minute. Then join in on the fun!

Keep watching CBn for full coverage of Casino Royale, the Young Bond Series, EA’s From Russia With Love, and be sure to back here in less than 12 hours for the official announcement from Eon Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment as who will play 007 in Casino Royale.

CBn — Where all other Bond sites end…this one begins!

To discuss this milestone please visit this thread on the CBn Forums.

007 Press Conference to be Held Aboard 'HMS President'

Variety.com reports that tomorrow’s press conference — in which the identity of who will play James Bond in Casino Royale will be revealed by Eon Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment — will be held at 12 noon aboard the historic HMS President, a World War I spy vessel moored on the River Thames near Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London.

According to the official website, the HMS President is a static moored ship and a favorite tourist attraction along London’s Victoria Embankment. Dinners are served aboard the ship which boasts spectacular views of the river as well as some of London’s most famous landmarks such as the London Eye, The South Bank Centre, The National Theatre, St Paul’s Cathedral, and The Tate Modern.

The ship contains a magnificent spacious Ball Room that it offers 2500 square feet without columns. This versatile space is most likely the location of tomorrow’s press conference.

During it’s service in the first World War, the HMS President was part of Britain’s fleet of “Q-boats.” The Q-boats were Britain’s answer to German U-boat attacks. These fighting vessels were actually ordinary ships built as decoys. The ships had guns under dummy lifeboats or hidden under fake funnels and awnings. Some of the ships used paint to hide their cache of weaponry. The idea was to lure the U-boat into attacking these decoy ships which would then unleash their hidden weaponry.

The HMS President, the last surviving Q-boat, was very much a maritime Aston Martin DB5.

Certainly a very fitting place to unveil the new 007.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

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Official Announcement Friday

Sony Pictures Entertainment has just announced via Reuters that the official announcement as to who will play James Bond in Casino Royale will be made at a news conference in London this Friday, October 14.

Media reports continue to swirl that Daniel Craig will be the man named the new 007, but no official source has yet confirmed. Variety.com reported yesterday that Craig’s agents ICM in London couldn’t comment until Eon made an announcement, but that they expected that producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson would “let the cat out of the bag by the end of the week.”

Last week CBn reported that a decision as to who would play Bond would be made this week. Looks like we will at last have our new James Bond on Friday.

Update (13 October, 2005)

CBn has confirmed that tomorrow’s press conference will be held at 12 noon aboard the HMS President, which is moored on the River Thames near Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London. CLICK HERE for the full story.

Tomorrow is also Sir Roger Moore’s birthday.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

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Gypsy Girlfight!

Ok boys, here’s what you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to thank EA as they’ve provided CBn with nine exclusive screenshots of the classic catfight between the two gypsy girls, Vida and Zora, which is to appear in their new James Bond game From Russia with Love this November.

Click Here for CBn’s FRWL Gallery to view hot Gypsy Girl fight action.

Level 6 (Gypsy Camp): James Bond and Kerim Bay show up at the Gypsy camp only to witness a catfight between two Gypsy girls in love with the same man. The fight is interrupted by the arrival of Keilencu’s men who start ransacking the camp. Bond must join the gypsies (follower & squad AI will watch your back) in the fight against these men and rescue hostage gypsy girls as well.

Stay tuned to CBn for the latest breaking news on From Russia With Love.

Warner Bros Plans 'Fleming' Film

While Sony and EON have yet to give us any official news as to who will become the next James Bond in Casino Royale, here’s some other news that Bond fans can get excited about. Warner Bros with executive Greg Silverman have made a deal to make a movie about Ian Fleming, James Bond’s creator. British-born Oxford grad Damian Stevenson has written the script simply entitled, “Fleming“.

Fleming tells the story of how the author’s own experiences with womanizing and spying shaped his signature secret agent creation. Born into a privileged English family, Fleming began as a comparative underachiever until a stint as a journalist covering the Soviet Union led him to begin spying on that country for the Foreign Office. Fleming was the mastermind of numerous clever spying schemes, some deemed too outlandish to use. He dreamed of becoming a daring secret agent and adapted his own womanizing feats and the stories he heard to craft the Bond novels. He unveiled 007 in “Casino Royale” in 1953.

– Variety.com

Fleming will be produced by Andrew Lazar who has made such films as 10 Things I Hate About You, Space Cowboys and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Lazar is also currently producing another spy flick for Warner Bros, Get Smart due out in 2006 with Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart (Yay!).

Earlier screen adaptations based on Fleming’s life include Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1989), Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) and BBC’s Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005). Stay tuned to CBn for more details of this exciting new WB Film.

To discuss WB’s Fleming visit this thread on the CBn forums.

Bond #6: Is it Daniel Craig?

British tabloid "Daily
Mail" today reports that Daniel Craig is about to become James Bond #6 in the
upcoming Bond movie Casino Royale. According to the paper, Craig "won" the
re-audition against 22-year-old Henry Cavill. Both were invited for a second
screentest, the tabloid claims.

The "Daily Mail" claims that "Craig, 37, will be confirmed
by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson later this week. He will be the
sixth Bond, but the first blond."

What is interesting about this piece of news is the fact that it was written by Nicole Lampert, the woman who first reported that
Pierce Brosnan was out back in February 2004. At the time, the news
was seen as "just another tabloid rumour", but we all know how the story went. Nicole Lampert was accused of being a "liar", but she affirmed the
reliability of her source "near the production" several times.

Has her source hit again? Is 37-year old Daniel Craig the successor of Pierce
Brosnan? And what about the
consequences for the script? Last week, director Martin Campbell

confirmed that the script was written for a "28 to 30 years old James Bond".

Last week CBn reported that a decision as to who would play Bond would be made this week. Has that decision been made?

If the "Daily Mail" is genuine, we should know within the next few days. Stay tuned!

Update (10:50AM):

Variety.com is reporting Craig’s publicist only offered a “no comment” and the PRs at Eon Productions, the producers of the Bond franchise, were said to be “in a meeting.”

Craig’s agents ICM in London said they couldn’t comment until Eon made an announcement but expected that 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson would let the cat out of the bag by the end of the week.

Daniel Craig as James Bond? Join the discussion in this thread on the CBn Forums. Many thanks to forum members ‘Marquis’ and ‘lorna99’ for the tip-off!

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IFP Declassifies 'The Moneypenny Diaries'

Ian Fleming Publications has today revealed the truth behind the mysterious new book The Moneypenny Diaries on their official website:

10/10/05 – Moneypenny Diaries – declassified

‘The Moneypenny Diaries’

The first volume of the The Moneypenny Diaries, edited by Dr Kate Westbrook, is published today by John Murray. This project has been the source of much speculation and counter-intelligence, but the full story has now been cleared for public release: The Moneypenny Diaries is and has always been an official IFP project.

Dr Kate Westbrook is the pseudonym of Samantha Weinberg, award-winning author of LAST OF THE PIRATES – THE SEARCH FOR BOB DENARD, the international bestseller A FISH CAUGHT IN TIME – THE SEARCH FOR THE COELACANTH and POINTING FROM THE GRAVE which won the 2003 CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction.

The Moneypenny Diaries, in which fact flows seamlessly into fiction, beautifully and intelligently create a fascinating picture of a world with which we are already familiar from Fleming’s James Bond novels. What is not familiar is the unique voice of the woman who was at the heart of that world.

The Moneypenny Diaries were launched last week with a party at Smythson’s in Bond Street.

Of further interest to fans of the literary 007 is the revelation that James Bond WILL appear in the pages of The Moneypenny Diaries. An excerpt published yesterday in a UK newspaper featured a scene in which Jane Moneypenny (yes, Moneypenny’s first name is “Jane”) tries to rescue Bond from a yacht using techniques learned in a self defense class, but ends up being rescued by James.

The Moneypenny Diaries is the first book in a trilogy.

Purchase The Moneypenny Diaries by Samantha Weinberg from Bond and Beyond or Amazon.co.uk.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums.
Thanks to Zoë Watkins and “marktmurphy.”

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Sources Say Bond Decision "Expected Soon"

After reviewing a final series of screentests shot by director Martin Campbell and director of photography Phil Meheux during the last week of September, sources close to the production are telling CBn that a decision on who will play 007 in Casino Royale is “expected soon,” despite Campbell’s comments last week that there is currently “no frontrunner.”

What does “soon” mean? “This week,” reports the source.

Furthermore, because the news will no-doubt “get out,” an official announcement by Eon and Sony is expected to be made as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle former James Bond Pierce Brosnan sounded a highly conciliatory note in his answer to the question of whether he’d be willing to return as Bond.

“No question; it’s unfinished business,” said Brosnan, who was in Mill Valley to introduce his new film The Matador, which opened the Mill Valley Film Festival. “Would I go back if they asked me back? Sure I’d go back.”

The four-time Bond actor, who was sporting a grey beard for his upcoming role in the Civil War film Seraphim Falls, added, “Michael and Barbara, our families have known each other for many, many years — it’s very hard to talk about their feelings or why they had a crisis of confidence in doing a fifth. There have been preposterous ideas that I was asking for $40 million and $30 million, which is not true. There was certainly a salary there that was not out of the ballpark, that other men and women have received for the same (type of film). Everything’s movable and doable. Nothing’s set in stone.”

However, despite rumours that Sony wants Brosnan back, CBn sources contend that the only thing all parties have consistently agreed on is the need for a new 007 for this 21st adventure, which will portray an early formative mission in the career of Agent 007.

In related news, director Martin Campbell has screened his new film, The Legend of Zorro, for producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. According to a source, the James Bond bosses are said to have “loved it.”

Likewise, Ain’t It Cool News has given this sequel to 1998’s The Mask of Zorro (also directed by Campbell) the thumbs up in one of the first online reviews.

Campbell is currently on a press junket promoting his new Zorro film which opens October 28. However, from the flurry of stories that appeared last week, it seems most reporters are more interested in talking about the man in the gunbarrel than that the man behind the mask.

To discuss all aspects of Casino Royale and the search for the new 007, check out the Casino Royale section of the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

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Campbell Continues Talking 'Casino Royale'

"Expect Casino Royale to remain a hot topic as the
Zorro press junket continues." – CBn yesterday. Today, movie magazine
"Empire"
has spoken to Campbell – right, not about The Legend of Zorro, but about – Casino Royale.

First off, Campbell repeated what he has said in the last three days: "We’re
still working on the script, we’re casting," he said. "We’ve tested actors and
we’re looking at tests to see how they come out, doing all that. As yet, nobody;
we haven’t decided on anybody — and I don’t think anybody is the front-runner. I
think we’re looking at the tests very objectively, and taking our time with it
because the point is that whoever plays it has to do three movies, it’s a huge
commitment."

He added, that there are currently not two or four names in the row, but
rather "eight to ten. What you do is you test and you cut and you look, and you
try to divorce yourself from any prejudice you may have, so that when you see
the test you can just look at it as, ‘There’s an actor, up for Bond’. That’s how
you’ve got to do it."

More interestingly, "Empire" also spoke to Campbell about the nomination of
Paul Haggis as a script polisher. Campbell: "If you read the book, the
relationship between Bond and Vesper was a very complicated one. The idea was to
get some character into her, to make her a very strong girl so she stands up to
Bond; she’s his sort of equal. Certainly, psychologically speaking — and it
needs someone like Paul to pull that off."

So what exactly is expected from Haggis? Campbell: "To bring out genuine
character — and also to bring the humour. Gone will be the awful one-line
clunkers. Hopefully there will be a little bit of wit in this one. I don’t think
it [Bond] needs reinvigorating. I think what it needs is a fresh coat of
paint. I think the last Bond got so out there, with the action and stuff — so
what do you do from there? This will be grittier, more realistic. It’s when he
just earns his double-O stripes, so he’s kind of raw. He’s got an arrogance, he
thinks he can do what he wants to do — he thinks with his heart instead of his
head, so he gets a few of the rough edges knocked off him on the way through the
story. So by the end of it he becomes the Bond that we all know."

So, Bond Begins then? "Sort of, yeah. There’s a little bit of that. But it’s
certainly more gritty and realistic, no doubt about that."

CBn will keep up with all the Campbell interviews to follow. Stay tuned!

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums.

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