Martin Campbell to Return for Bond 21?

Rumours surrounding the forthcoming Bond film continue to swarm across the Internet, and today is no different with directorial rumours coming out of the blue. A respected insider has reported that Martin Campbell, director of GoldenEye (1995) is “close to signing” to the film.

He would join the hallowed ranks of Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert and John Glen to direct more than one Bond film if this rumour turned out to be fact.

The New Zealand born director, since helming Brosnan’s more than successful debut, has taken the director’s chair on The Mask Of Zorro in 1998, icy action movie Vertical Limit in 2000 and most recently Beyond Borders (2003). Vertical Limit featured Bond beauty Isabella Scorupco, Bond’s Russian programmer and lover Natalya Siminova in GoldenEye.

The news, however, comes a few months after Campbell was quoted as saying he’d rather not return to helm a Bond film as he was sick of ‘blowing things up’.

Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori went on record several times during the production of DAD to state that he felt Campbell had set the standard for future Bond films.

CommanderBond.Net must reiterate that this ‘news’ is merely a rumour and, as yet, has no grounding in fact as it has neither been confirmed nor denied by Eon Productions or MGM.

If you would like to discuss this news, then please take advantage of this thread of the CBn forums.

Bond Stuntman Fell To His Death

Safety advisor and stuntman on Die Another Day and former Royal Marine Richard Marsh plunged to his death from Snowdon.
The body of the 33-year-old commercial diver was found by rescuers on February 25, this year on Fantail Gully below Crib y Ddysgl.

Two days earlier during a mobile telephone conversation with a friend he said he was descending a scree slope but had lost the path in poor visibility. He later called the emergency services and a massive rescue operation was launched.

A self-employed diver by trade, Mr Marsh also acted as a safety adviser for the film industry and had worked on the hit movie Saving Private Ryan.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team member Charlie Graham told the inquest North Wales Police had contacted them on the Sunday to say Richard Marsh was stuck on an ice ledge.

“He said he was about 500m from the summit but had slipped down some rocks.”

Former National Park head warden John Ellis Roberts, who joined in the search, said there was a possibility inexperienced climber Mr Marsh had got lost.

“There is a strong possibility he did not know where he was at all. It would have been a very confusing place for him unless he had a very detailed knowledge,” he added.

Recording his verdict of accidental death at an inquest in Caernarfon yesterday, the coroner, Dewi Pritchard Jones, said: “This highlights the risk of mountainous places. There is no such thing as a safe mountain – there is always a risk.”

As a member of the Bond community, Richard Marsh will be missed, and our condolences go out to his family and friends at this sad and undoubtedly difficult time.

CBn Forums Hit An All Time High!

Just to let everyone know that the CBn Forums has achieved it’s busiest day ever of 106 users online at the same time, earlier today.

This was helped mostly by the How about South Africa… thread, which includes news of Bond 21 pre-production details. The thread is only two and a half days old, but it’s already had over 1,000 views with 100 posts.

All the forum members, please give yourself a pat on the back.

Amazing what some news on the next Bond movie can do.

Remember, this is just the begining! CBn will keep you informed of all the latest developments in the next James Bond movie as they become known.

Sideshow Unveils Q Figure

Sideshow Collectibles, who exclusively make James Bond 12″ figures, have unveiled a Q figure.

The 12″ figure is based upon Major Boothroyd, the former head of Q Branch, immortalised by actor Desmond Llewelyn. Llewelyn appeared as Q in 17 of the James Bond films, 1999’s The World Is Not Enough being his last. He passed after shortly after the films release.

Sideshow Collectibles released the following information on the figure;

Major Boothroyd, a.k.a. Q, is the man responsible for the creation of all the spy gadgets used by James Bond. Bond often frustrated Q by not paying attention during his briefings of gadget operation. However, James could always count on Q’s inventions to save him and the mission.

To date, three actors have played the part of Q. It is Desmond Llewelyn, however, that made the role his own by appearing as the character in 17 Bond films. Llewelyn died tragically in an automobile accident shortly after the release of ‘The World Is Not Enough’ in 1999.

This Limited Edition 12 inch Q is a US domestic web site exclusive and can only be purchased directly through Sideshow Collectibles. He comes with over 30 points of articulation allowing for full human movement. He is outfitted in his signature suit seen throughout most of the 17 missions he appeared in. Q comes with a box full of his signature gadgets that he created throughout his career.

The figure will be released in limited quantity, with a number yet to be determined. It will retail for US$50.00.

Further information can be found at SideShow Collectibles.

More Details Of Recent Rumours

Insider "Morton Slumber" has added more to the information he gave us two days ago:

• Finished first draft script
• The art department have been at work since April on concept art and set design
• Location hunting underway
• Construction at Pinewood to take place through the autumn
• Short list of directors exists
• Filming to start in January 2004

Again, CommanderBond.Net must state that at this time this news is only rumour, and must be considered as such. There has been no official comment from either MGM or Eon Productions as to the production status of Bond 21.

Be sure to discuss the news in this thread of CBn’s Bond 21 forums! And a big ‘thank you’ to ‘Morton Slumber’!

Unofficial Confirmation of Location Scouting

Previously CBn reported that South Africa was a rumoured possible location for the next Bond film, well the same has been echoed over at the Absolutely James Bond Forums by Bond insider Pierce-B, who has proved in the past that his information is usually bang-on.

Pierce-B has also made an interesting addition to the rumour; that Liverpool, England, home of the ‘scouser’ is also being scouted as a possible 00-destination. Which will be the third time in a film that Bond has been seen out of his home town in England if this rumour turns out to be fact.

It is possible, however, that the team are merely scouting for areas in Liverpool to double for certain locations, as Holywell Bay in Cornwall and Aldershot in the UK doubled for Korea in Die Another Day.

Morton Slumber has also just reported that filming on the next Bond film will start in January 2004, presumably for a November 2004 release, even though the next film had been projected for a 2005 release, continuing the three-year gap that existed between The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. This is exciting news!

As usual, Commanderbond.net will keep everyone informed as further details come to light that confirm or deny these rumours. No official announcement has been made about any of this as yet.

Thanks to Pierce-B over at Absolutely James Bond for the information, and also thanks to Morton Slumber. Please feel free to discuss this in this thread of the CBn Forums.

Rumour on Bond 21 location scouting

Just a quickie to say that it is possible that locations in South Africa may currently be scouted for the next Bond movie designated for the time being as just Bond 21.

CBn Forum member, Morton Slumber, has posted a small note to say that “Locations are being scouted there now, apparently.”

Many fans have wished for Bond to travel to the southern part of the “Dark Continent” in one of his next adventures. The last time that Bond visited Africa was in 1987’s The Living Daylights when Bond was in Tangiers, Morocco, and before that, in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me in which he was chasing after the submarine tracking microfilm in Egypt. However, both were in northern Africa, while the only other movie to be partly set on the continent was Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, which featured a diamond smuggling operation in South Africa, but Bond was never in that part of the world.

Commanderbond.net will keep everyone informed as further details come to hand that may confirm or deny this “rumour,” which unfortunately, is all it can be called at this stage as no official anouncement has been made about this yet.

Thanks to Morton for bringing us this tidbit of information, and please feel free to discuss this in this thread of the Bond 21 (2005) Forum in the CBn Forums.

Everything or Nothing: Exclusive Interview

Recently I had the oppurtunity to talk directly to Scot Bayless, Executive Producer at EA for Everything or Nothing and was able to ask him some questions on the upcoming game.

Dave: Is “Everything or Nothing” coming to the PC?

Scot: No, we don’t have plans to bring Everything or Nothing to the PC this year. Everything or Nothing is designed as a console experience and the PC is such a completely different platform that we felt it simply wouldn’t be fair to our fans to bring this game to the PC. We do, however, have some pretty ambitious plans for the future. I’ll just have to ask you to be patient and stay tuned.

Dave: Has Bruce Feirstein completed the story for the game?

Scot: The story has actually been done for some time now. Bruce is working with our level design team now to scrub up the last of the in-game dialog. My original thought in approaching Bruce was to ask him to focus on the cinematics. After all, that’s his expertise. When we got him on board, he was captivated. He asked to be involved in the in-game scripting as well. We’ve been working the poor guy to death, but he’s having a ball.

Dave: Will the console versions be identical in terms of levels, gameplay, features, etc?

Scot: We’re delivering the same game on all of the consoles, but each version will have its own unique bits of polish.

Dave: Will multiplayer feature levels from the original films, as we saw in NightFire?

Scot: Our multiplayer offering is quite a bit more ambitious this time around. We’re adding a host of game modes, including Co-op, something our fans have been craving for a long time. We’re bringing in a long list of classic characters too. As to levels from the films, I guess I’ll have to tease you and say, “Wait and see.”

Dave: Fans were disappointed with the skins for multiplayer as they didn’t really resemble to characters from the films. Will we see more realistic looking skins?

Scot: Definitely. We have some of the best modelers and animators in the world on this team. I think you’ll be amazed at what they’re accomplishing.

Dave: Do you plan on creating any games for the previous films now that your license has been extended to 2010? The fans that have been talking about this loved the idea of having a series of games based on the films, Dr. No through to License To Kill and of course Die Another Day.

Scot: Can’t give you a straight answer on this one yet, but I can tell you that the same notion has occurred to us.

A big thankyou to Scot, once again for taking the time to answer my questions.

EA Reveal Cast For EoN

A few hours ago EA announced the cast of characters and the actors portraying them on their offical website, along with Pierce Brosnan and Shannon Elizabeth, who we already know will feature in the game through both lending their voices and cyber-scanned likenesses we have:

• Willem Dafoe as Nikolai Diavolo
• Richard Kiel as Jaws
• Heidi Klum as Katya Nadanova
• John Cleese as Q
• and Dame Judi Dench as M

Interestingly, Richard Kiel we know has lent his image to the game, but his voice as well? Only time will tell. The game seems to be shaping up to be an epic! CBn will keep you informed with developments as they happen.

Australian Release Date For Everything or Nothing

Dvdorchard.com.au is listing the release of Everything or Nothing as the 17th of November, 2003.

Australian customers can pre-order Everything or Nothing from DVDorchard for the following prices:

• Gamecube – 80.95 $AUS
• X-Box – 80.95 $AUS
• PS2 – 80.95 $AUS
• Gameboy Advance – 73.95 $AUS