Raymond Benson will appear in London for a book signing —
Saturday, June 29
2:00pm
Adrian Harrington Bookshop
64A Kensington Church Street
Kensington
London W8 4DB
(20) 7-937-1465
I'll definetely be there! Be sure to post in the forums if you're going – may see you there!
In brief news, 'mrmoon' has let us know in the forums that ITV1 will be showing Live And Let Die next Wednesday at 8pm.
He's also included this cool fact; Live and Let Die holds the record for largest terrestrial audience of any Bond film with 23m people tuning in to watch it back in 1980.
The worlds leading credit card and the worlds leading secret agent are to team up once again for Die Another Day.
Visa International has announced an international marketing tie-in with Die Another Day. Perviously the company has had marketing tie-ins in Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough.
Working with its six international regions, Visa will have movie-based promotions underway in a number of countries around the world prior to the release of the film.
International marketing and advertising programs are expected to take place in many or all of Visa’s six regions – Asia Pacific; Canada; Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA); the European Union (EU), Latin America and the Caribbean; and the U.S. Visa Members, their merchants, and their cardholders will be able to take advantage of many of the international promotional programs that will be developed around the film.
CommanderBond.Net will keep you informed as more news on the tie-in comes to hand.
Until then, you can discuss the tie-in promotion in this thread of the Die Another Day Forums. See you there!
Source: WorldNews
JamesBond.com has updated with a new article featuring Rosamund Pike (Miranda Frost).
Check out the article here for more details.
Thanks to "Mourning Becomes Elektra" for the tip off…
'robster006' has told us that Madonna has apparently completed the Die Another Day theme song. While the video clip for the song is yet to be recorded 'robster006' tells us that Madonna fans are reporting the song is in the pocket, done, ready to be heard, video can be shot.
News reports have previously indicated that the films video clip will be filmed sometime this month.
If you'd like to discuss the news please do so in this thread if the Die Another Day Forums.
Die Another Day has had some very 'interesting', if not completely pathetic, news attached to it over its time in production. It seemed that the most insane of those ideas was the report that Sean Connery would be starring in the film and James Bond's father!
However, recent news outdoes such reports with the suggestion that Die Another Day will see Halle Berry's character, Jinx, kissing Madonna in Madonna's small cameo on the film.
The news came from the NY Post who said, The gal-on-gal action would add some serious sizzle to the Lee Tamahori-helmed flick that might also feature nudity. But a rep for Madonna, who sings the theme song, says, "She hasn't seen the script yet. Nothing's been shot, I can assure you."
And in that statement is the confirmation that the news is fake. If Madonna hasn't filmed any cameo for Die Another Day yet and Halle Berry is already filming X-Men 2… Well, the logistics speak for themselves.
Still, it's an interesting rumour to add to the 'strange' file.
If you'd like to discuss this news please visit this thread of the Die Another Day Forums. See you there!
Finally, a big thanks to DerrickD for sending that news into us!
“Three blind mice in a row
Three blind mice there they go
Marching down the street single file
To a calypso beat all the while
They’re looking for the cat
The cat that swallowed the rat
They want to show the cat the attitude
of three blind mice
Three blind mice here and there
Three blind mice everywhere
Searching all around for the cat
All over Kingston town pitter pat
They got the carving knife
To cut the pussycat’s life
The puss will get the knife for triflin
with three blind mice
So beware, Three blind mice
Watch your step, Three blind mice
Deadly mice”
Sorry, but I just had to put that song in, the song in the opening of Dr No, leading into our first viewing of the killers. The Three Blind Killers, unlikely assassins, ruthless professionals, the first characters to appear in the James Bond film series. The Chinese Negros, disguised as blind beggers shuffle along the dusty roads under the hit sun of Jamaica. The first begger holding a stick in front to feel his way, the second begger holding his stick to the first, and the third to the second. They don’t suggest a deadly presence, but within two minutes they have killed Strangways, his secretary and stolen the files on Crab Key and Doctor No without any trace or clue to reveal they were ever there.
The Three Blind Killers return later on in the film, hoping to also assassinate Bond, but don’t get a clear shot in. Then they disappear, they are absent from the Crab Key half of the film and are never seen again, leaving them along with Irma Burt, Baron Samedi and in a select group of Bond villians to escape punishment. But what happened to the Three Blind Killers? Yeah, some people seem to think they were in heasre that was chasing Bond and fell of the cliff to a firely demise, but sorry, that doesn’t quite cut if for me. How many films have you seen where the opening characters with their own song and everything die such an insignificant death? My theory is that, like all successful groups, they eventually split up and went their separate ways, but I’m sure that they all had revenge on their mind, revenge on Bond for the death of their manager Doctor No. For the sake of this theory, lets give the Three Killers the names Larry, Harry and Barry, and take a glance at their lives after Doctor No.
Larry – It appears that Larry was planning his solo carrer when the ‘Killers’ were still together, Larry is ofcourse also Felix Lieter. Yes, that’s right, Larry is Lieter. He used a revolutionary surgery to change his skin colour, and was perhaps the inspiration for Michael Jackson. But back then the surgary was only temporary and had to be constantly reapplied. This explains why Leiter has dark skin in Never Say Never Again, he was waiting for his next appointment with the surgeon. Larry orginally went undercover as Lieter with hopes to kill Bond, but soon abandoned his wicked ways when he found religion, and made a new life for himself on the side of good as the CIA Agent we all know. You may scoff at that initially, but I challenge you to find a better way to explain to explain the weird, twisted world of Felix Lieter.
Harry – It’s not known for certain what Harry did after the group broke up, but there are plenty of rumors. A popular anectdote is that Harry found his femmine side and became one of Octopussy’s island girls, but historians believe that he took to gambling in Cairo and is the one who Bond whacks in the opening of Diamonds Are Forever. Others claim to have spotted him in Thunderball, but this appears to be merely an urban legend not unlike the ones of Maud Adams being in A View to a Kill, or Blofeld’s cat being the real SPECTRE mastermind (I don’t know who came up with that one). Even Harry’s mother doesn’t know what because of him, but says she’s pround of her little assassin no matter what. Researchers are still devoting their lives to trying to discover what really became of Harry.
Barry – Barry’s story is perhaps, the most intriguing of the three. He was the skinny one of the Three Blind Killers, but he didn’t stay slim for long. Barry wanted to continue on as a villians henchman, so he picked up the job guides one day and spotted a vacant position working for Kananga. He put in a resume and went for an interview as you tend to do when trying to get a job as a villains henchman. Kananga had an eye for spotting henchman talent, having already picked up Baron Samedi and the dude with the hook, and he was impressed with young Barry, offering him a job, but on condition that he beffed up, gained some wieght. Barry did just that, but he soon because addictted to fried chicken and became rather overweight. He changed his name to ‘Whisper’, and kept quiet to avoid suspicion.
Garry – It is not well known, but there was indeed a fourth Blind Assasin. Garry is the driver of the getaway car used after the other three shoot Strangways. He was the apprentice and had hopes of becoming a fully fledged assassin himself. It was never to be. After the break-up Garry lost direction, trying his hand at several jobs. He the tried his luck as a solo hitman in the early 70’s, but apparently ended up with a golden bullet between his eyes, courtesy of Scaramanga, who, in his early days as a hitman, didn’t like the competition.
The Blind Killers certainly left a mark on the James Bond series, they deserve far greater than the Dr No footnote mention that many people give them. I propose that from now, June 14th shall be known as “The Three Blind Killers Day” and on this time every year, we take a moment to remember the three characters that are the unsung heros of the Bond world.
Until next time,
Freemo
EDP 24, a regional Norfolk Website, has published an interesting article on filming scenes for Die Another Day in Norfolk:
It's name is Deepdale. Burnham Deepdale.
But it's appearance on the big screen in the new James Bond movie is unlikely to leave local film-goers either shaken or stirred.
Locations in the quiet corner of rural north-west Norfolk are set to feature in the latest the new 007 blockbuster – Die Another Day – after Hollywood studio bosses became the latest to shoot footage in the county.
In scenes shot just weeks ago at Deepdale Farmhouse, Burnham Deepdale, near Hunstanton, a stunt double for the current 007 actor Pierce Brosnan, was involved in a shoot for the latest instalment of the spy thriller.
But if the film crews have done their jobs, Bond fans looking to point out familiar Norfolk landscapes will have an impossible task on their hands – because the farmland was made to look like Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) an Asian paddy field!Locals will know the farmland, owned by Alister Borthwick, is very low lying salt marsh, which makes parts susceptible to flooding at low tide – perfect for scenes doubling as Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) a flooded rice field in Cambodia.
David Shepheard, head of company development at the region's film commission Screen East confirmed the location's unusual role.
He said: Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) “It was shot as if it was a rice field in Cambodia”.
The film, which opens on November 22, has the usual high speed chases in various exotic locations including Korea, Hong Kong and Cuba, although the exact plot is a closely-guarded secret, and it is rumoured to involve Bond tracking down a traitor to prevent a war of catastrophic consequence.
With its release set to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Bond films, it features Brosnan as 007 with other lead characters including Judi Dench in her familiar role as 'M', John Cleese, Halle Berry and Rick Yune with Madonna signed up to sing theme song Die Another Day.
A spokesman for the production company for Die Another Day, EON Productions, would only confirm that an "action unit" had filmed at the Burnham Deepdale location towards the end of April.
The spokesman said: "A stunt unit was used at Deepdale Farmhouse and during the shoot a James Bond double was used. We can't give any more details about it at this time."
Today two websites have published an official EON/MGM "Making of DAD" video. German TV Station RTL, who brought us already a lot of footage and Australian NineMSN have both the new Die Another Day Video online for download.
Well, let's summarize the video; a full transcript of what is being seen can be found at Commanderbond.Net later today.
As there are many Spoilers contained in the video, you will have to highlight the following text to read it.
There are a lot of interviews with Cast and Crew, and a lot of Plot Information is revealed. Additionally some dialouges can be seen.
First of all: Miranda Frost is an MI6 Agent! We can watch her being briefed by M in M’s office. Pierce Brosnan tells, “Rosamund is playing Miranda Frost, an MI6 Agent.” It seems that the producers noticed the wishes of 007 fans worldwide to see a female MI6 agent playing together with James Bond. We can also see Miranda attening the Press Conference of Gustav Graves, and the impression, that she’s the privat secretary of Graves, gets stronger!
Toby Stephens explains his role: “It seems that Graves is mining, dugging for diamonds – it’s an economy friendly guy, but in reality he isn’t.”
We are also shown the face transformation of Zao. It’s interrupted by Bond and a wild fight is the result.
Well, it's definately the best Video we've seen so far! Enjoy watching it, it's worth it!
The official James Bond site has updated with a sweepstake competition that lets visitors be in the draw to win a James Bond teaser poster. The competition is open to residents on the United States and the United Kingdom.
And just a reminder, that CommanderBond.Net's own competition for the teaser poster is still open. Click here for full details on our competition.
The official site has also made a minor update to the top graphics. It's no an animated version of the teaser poster and add just a tad more 'flavour' to the site.