MTV To Host James Bond Part At Cannes

Ananova has reported that MTV will host a special James Bond 40th anniversary party at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Recently CommanderBond.net reported on the possibility of a teaser poster and trailer being revealed at Cannes.

The event will take place on May 18 at Le Palais Bulles on the Cote d'Azur, France.

According to Ananova On display will be the Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR and Range Rover cars from the current 007 film Die Another Day. It seems strange to have Range Rovers in Die Another Day. Rover is owned by BMW, hence the vehicles appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies. We'll see!

Organisers are planning to offer guests vodka martinis – shaken, not stirred – and the chance to gamble in a special Bond-style casino.

The MTV Cannes Movie Special will premiere on MTV UK on Friday May 31 at 7pm.

The Cannes Film Festival begins on May 15.

If anyone can send in details of the MTV special or they are going to Cannes and can send in details please contact me.

Update:

Rob has written in to let me know I got something wrong. Range Rover is no longer owned by BMW, but it was during the production of Tomorrow Never Dies as it was sold about 18 months ago. BMW sold Land Rover to Ford before selling Rover to private investors, which became MG Rover. So Land Rover, which manufactures the Range Rover model, is NOT a part of the new Rover company called MG Rover.

Hence, Land Drover (which is owned the Premier Automotive Group company, which is owned by Ford, and owns Aston Martin and Jaguar) will feature their vehicle, the Range Rover, in Die Another Day.

Confused? Hope not!

Spy Report: Details On That Photo And London Filming

Recently a photo was published with James Bond in a group of photographers. Well only CommanderBond.Net has the full details thanks to our source 'Bond VS. Bond'.

I can’t reveal full details on the scene, however, I’d like to question parts of the information we’ve been told.

So to recapp the scenes. Graves touches down in a Union Jack parachute, holds a press conference attended by Bond. Now furthermore, in the photo you’ll note that Bond is wearing the same clothes as he does when he visits the MI-6 section in The Underground. Which makes me believe that this scene will follow next, afterall the entrance to The Underground is nearby.

Some great details in there, that clears up a lot of confusion that has been rife in the past few weeks.

There are more details on this scene, but we'll reveal those when the time comes.

Until then you can discuss this news in this thread of the Die Another Day Forums.

Jeff Marshall Wins Award For Thunderball Package Design

JEFF MARSHALL WINS PHILLY GOLD 2002 AWARD FOR THUNDERBALL ASTON MARTIN DB5 PACKAGE DESIGN

Jersey City, New Jersey, 02 May 2002 – Spy Guise, the Internet’s largest seller of spy entertainment memorabilia, is pleased to announce that artist Jeff Marshall’s design for the Thunderball Aston Martin DB5 limited edition collectible vehicle released by Spy Guise and Corgi Classics has been awarded the top prize for over-all package design at the prestigious Philly Gold 2002 Awards — one of the East Coast’s top advertising awards ceremonies.

The award was announced at the ceremony and Jeff Marshall was presented with the traditional engraved gold bar as recognition of his work. Marshall’s design faced stiff competition from many different product mixes and designs.

His award-winning product was designed for the exclusive Spy Guise and Corgi Classics limited edition of the Corgi Thunderball 1:36 scale Aston Martin DB5. Only 1,000 of these were produced in hand-numbered, specially designed boxes featuring classic artwork from the 1965 original release of the film. The car, which sold for $75, has skyrocketed in value on the collector’s circuit and recently sold at auction in England for over $400.

Lee Pfeiffer, President of Spy Guise said, “Many of our most successful projects can be attributed to the talents of Jeff Marshall. We’re very grateful to him and extremely proud of his achievement. For Spy Guise to receive this award above such strong competition from major manufacturers is an great honor and a tribute to Jeff’;s remarkable skills.”

Marshall’s latest design for the company is the limited edition Corgi Lotus Esprit which is now available at spyguise.com.

New 'Die Another Day' Scene uncovered!

Yet another time CBn is the first to report a new scene which was recently filmed in London.

According to the French James Bond Club, Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) James Bond is hiding himself in a crowd of photographers standing in front of the Buckingham Palace, to identify a pretender in the royal family.

Wow, what amazing news!

It's finally the confirmation for the London filming which took place last week, and which was covered by CBn. But Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) a pretender in the Royal Family, that’s the first thing we hear of. So could it be that the Face Maniputator is used for becoming a Royal?.

To add your own theories to this report, please go to this thread in the Die Another Day Forums!

And thanks to 'Level007' for the tip-off!

The New CommanderBond.net Literary 007 Section Officially Opens

CommanderBond.net is proud to introduce the new CBn Literary 007 Section.

Much more work will need to be done to complete the whole section, but for now Phase I is complete. This first phase is the completion of 'Summaries' of all of the Ian Fleming books. These summaries are more of a quick look at each book rather than a plot run down. Each contains the first paragraph of the book, a short introduction, a bit that we are calling 'The Blurb' which contains the text from either the back or inside which was used to sell the book for one of its editions, a bit titled 'Better Than The Film' that holds a few paragraphs of the book that fits the category. Also each will list the chapter titles of the books, the dates the events of the book occurred (thanks to Walter von Tagen III), and a list of links to help find more information about the book.

The Summaries:

• Casino Royale (1953)
• Live And Let Die (1954)
• Moonraker (1955)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1956)
• From Russia, With Love (1957)
• Doctor No (1958)
• Goldfinger (1959)
• For Your Eyes Only (1960)
• Thunderball (1961)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1962)
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963)
• You Only Live Twice (1964)
• The Man With The Golden Gun (1965)
• Octopussy & The Living Daylights (1966)

While we are not trying to re-invent the wheel with the CBn Literary 007 Section, but we are trying to reverse engineer it. The James Bond Internet is full of lists with the villains, the girls, and the locations and of reviews with four, five, or ten star ratings. While these things are good and we will provide links to some of the better ones, we will be striving to put something a bit different on CBn.

With the Fleming summaries complete you will start seeing articles that will attempt to take a new look at the literary James Bond; including some examinations of the details, looks at the subtext, and whatever else just there seems to be a need to be said about this collection of books. Sure, we will have reviews also, but we won't be going to go out of our way just to post a collection of reviews of books that have been sitting on the shelves for forty to fifty years already. If the three hundred reviews written so far haven't encourage a die hard fan to pick up (or put down) a book that can be had from a used book store or eBay for a dollar, one more review is not going to help either. Plus we must suspect that the majority of the readers of CBn's Literary 007 Section will have read at least most of Fleming's output. We hope to present articles that might give these readers an alternate perspective to the books, perhaps encourage them to read the books again.

And for those who have not read some or all of the books, perhaps we'll present an article that holds the spark to crack the cover that none of the myriad of reviews have.

The next phases of the section will be as follows:
Phase II: Amis
Phase III: Benson
Phase IV: Gardner
(The Gardner phase will follow the Benson phase because, frankly, it will be a lot more work to complete.)
In all of these phases 'Better Than The Film' snippet will be replaced by 'A Fleming Moment'.

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

Rumour: David Arnold's Homage To John Barry

Forum user Stringfellow has checked in to tell us a rumour he has heard.

Appearently, Die Another Day chief composer David Arnold is going to use the alternate 007 Theme in the next James Bond movie. This is the music that hasn't been heard since the amazing boat chase in Moonraker.

As Stringfellow tells us, Arnold wants to update this music with an electronic sound with glass handbells as background to this music. Anyway, apparently a representative of David Arnold or Eon have worked out an arrangement with Fenton Art Glass Factory in Williamstown, West Virginia, to have these glass handbells produced.

Furtheron we are told that these glass handbells being made to create an icy sound, which means, this music could be part of the Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) Car Chase in Iceland. Aaccording to one source, Stringfellow tells us, there is a scene where Brosnan jumps into his Aston Martin while being pursued by Zao. He pushes a few buttons and the instrument panel lights up on the dash. The handbells will begin at this point. Very slow at first and then the music takes off when Brosnan hits the gas.

If there are any updates, you will hear it on CommanderBond.Net first!

If you want to discuss this news, check out this thread in the Die Another Day Forums!

However, fan artist Renard created an image last year;

A big 'Thank You' to Renard!

Spy Report: What You Can Expect At Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival kicks off mid-May and according to our source Chase we can expect some Die Another Day related material to be seen at the festival.

To begin with Chase tells us that we'll get our first glimpse of the Teaser Poster. The poster will feature at the Carlton Intercontinental. Simon tells us in the Die Another Day Forums that, in the past, the hotel has played host to the Bond poster which has usually been arranged over and around the main entrance.

Also it seems we may get our first glimpse of the Teaser Trailer at the festival. We have very little news on this at the moment, but we're told that this will be where we see it. And with the amount of footage from Die Another Day already available, why not!

If anyone will be travelling to Cannes and would like to send in news please contact our editor, Daniel Dykes, through [email protected]

If you'd like to discuss this news then you can do so in this thread of the Die Another Day Forums.

Dame Judi and Eunice Gayson Share A Role

'MoonThunder' has been kind enough to send in this report about a forthcoming production of the musical Into the Woods and it's relation to an older production of the same musical.

Dame Judi Dench has scored a role in the 2002 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim’s best, and damn funniest, musical Into the Woods. It is a musical-comedy about childrens fairy-tale characters (Little Red, Jack, 3 little pigs, Cinderella, etc…) who all want their wishes granted, as it revolves around the Baker and the Baker’s Wife trying to lift a spell preventing them from having a child. The Baker must travel into the woods to lift the spell that the witch who, ironically, lives next door had placed on his lost, mischievous father. The first act has the cast getting their wishes granted, while the second act takes a much darker turn for the worse. It shows the side effects of their wishes, as a female giant has reeked havoc on their village and forced them all back into the woods so that she can seek revenge on Jack for killing her Husband. The lady giant, of course, is played by the voice of Judi Dench.

But what really caught my eye was that Eunice Gayson, AKA Sylvia Trench, played the same role in the 1990’s London production! This makes me wonder if Stephen Sondheim is a fan of James Bond, just like us…

Thanks for sending that report in MoonThunder!

Further Details On Filming In London

Earlier today we reported on the possibility of filming for Die Another Day taking place in London.

Rob has just written in to tell us (news which won't be new to anyone in the UK) that the report about Buckingham Palace garden may actually be preparations and practice for the Jubilee celebrations, these are to celebrate the fifty year reign of our current Queen, Queen Elizabeth the second.

A strong possibility. However, the news still does meet with all previous news we've heard to date. So I still have confidence in it.

Spy Report: Set Happenings At Pinewood Studios

There are some big happenings at Pinewood Studio's right now and two sources have checked in to give us the details.

First off is a new set. Spoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) For quite some time CommanderBond.Net has reported that Die Another Day will have action set in Hong Kong. Well Vanquish has just checked in letting me know that there’s now a set a Pinewood labelled ‘Hong Kong Street’. It seems that the First Unit won’t be travelling to Hong Kong as certain media outlets had previously suggested.

Hong Kong will reportedly feature in the film as an escape route for Colonel Moon as he attempts to evade James Bond. .It is rumoured that Bond will travel to the location, however, nothing has been officially confirmed.

And in news about the Ice Palace, our source Max has just checked in to let us know that the palaceSpoiler Warning (Highlight To Read) was recently flooded to simulate the ice palace ‘melting’ on screen. Flooding, as opposed to melting, as required as the Ice Palace isn’t really constructed out of ice.

Some great bits of news there. Thanks to 'Max' and 'Vanquish' for sending the information in.

If you'd like to discuss it you can do so in this thread of the Die Another Day Forums. See you there!