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James Bond News

Ralph Fiennes On the James Bond Novels

Posted January 2nd, 2012

In an interview earlier today with the Daily Record, Ralph Fiennes talked about his love of the James Bond novels, admitting that he "used to be a complete nerd about the books and the detail in them. They are fantastic. There was Fleming's obsession with different kinds of champagne and caviar. He kind of fetishises these things."

Ralph will be playing an unknown character in the upcoming Bond 23 film, Skyfall, released next October. As is expected, he wouldn't reveal much about the character, but he did add that "I'm allowed to say that I'm a government agent." Is he misleading us, or will the Blofeld rumors prove to be wrong...

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Tom Mankiewicz's Autobiography Comes Out Next May

Posted December 29th, 2011

Tom Mankiewicz was a screenwriter, who had a long history with the James Bond series. He was first brought in for Diamonds Are Forever, to rework a screenplay started by Richard Maibaum. The producers thought that having an extra writer to improve the script would help entice Sean Connery back into the role.

Tom wrote the screenplay for the next film, Live and Let Die, alone, before collaborating with Maibaum for a second time on The Man with the Golden Gun. Tom came back to help on The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, but he was uncredited for those two films, and the extent of his work is unknown...

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Daniel Craig On Skyfall and his Break From Bond

Posted December 23rd, 2011

The Guardian has done another interview with Daniel Craig, discussing Skyfall as well as his latest film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Casino Royale director Martin Campbell also discusses his first impressions about Daniel, and his handling of the press.

When Martin Campbell, who had previously directed Goldeneye, came back for Casino Royale, Daniel Craig hadn't been cast yet. "Oddly enough, I wasn't sure about Daniel at first..."

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Screenwriter John Logan Talks Skyfall

Posted December 21st, 2011

John Logan, best known for writing the screenplays for the critically acclaimed Ridley Scott epic The Gladiator, and the tenth Star Trek film Star Trek Nemesis, is also writing for the upcoming Bond 23 film, Skyfall.

John recently did an interview with the Los Angeles based film review website Movieline, discussing his involvement with Skyfall, his collaborations with the crew, and his favourite James Bond films. More recently known for his work on the films Hugo, Coriolanus and Rango, John Logan will bring a lot to the table for Skyfall...

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Daniel Craig May Become The Longest Running 007

Posted December 18th, 2011

Producer Michael G. Wilson recently did an interview with The People, saying "I'd love Daniel to surpass Roger's record and do eight pictures. A lot of people have said Daniel's been their favourite Bond since Sean Connery and I can't argue with them. He's doing a great job."

This would make Daniel Craig the longest running James Bond actor, knocking Roger Moore (who did 7 films) and Sean Connery (who did 6 films for EON Productions, and 1 unofficial film) off the top of the list...

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Skyfall Crew Possibly Filming at Ascot Train Station

Posted December 18th, 2011

A picture posted on twitter suggests that the Second Unit crew on Skyfall are filming at the Ascot Racecourse railway station, in Berkshire, England. Just last month the film crew were shooting at the Ascot itself, using the grandstands to double for the Shanghai International Airport. The two are surprisingly similar architecturally, and the racecourse had also previously featured in A View To A Kill in 1985...

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More Rumors of Naomie Harris Playing Miss Moneypenny

Posted December 16th, 2011

There have been rumors about Naomie Harris playing Miss Moneypenny ever since she was first announced to be part of Skyfall's cast. Daniel Craig had hinted that Moneypenny and Q would return, and we recently revealed that Ben Whishaw is set to play Q. That's one out of the two, what about Miss Moneypenny?

The rumors were thought to be dispelled when Naomie's character was revealed to be a field agent named "Eve". However, according to an article today in the Daily Mail, "she starts as a field operative called Eve and then comes inside the organisation as Miss Money-penny, M's right-hand woman..."

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Roger Moore Reflects on For Your Eyes Only

Posted December 16th, 2011

There's an interesting article in The Telegraph, with Roger Moore reflecting on the filming of For Your Eyes Only, his fifth outing as Bond in 1981. Roger discusses how games of backgammon between himself and producer Cubby Broccoli could keep the crew waiting, and an interesting revelation about Q's role as the bearded priest.

"It is unusual to see a picture of the producer Cubby Broccoli and me on set without a backgammon board in front of us. We used to play during all the breaks from shooting and the directors always had a terrible job getting me back into the set when we were in the middle of a game; if Cubby was winning he absolutely would not let me go..."

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Daniel Craig's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a Hit

Posted December 14th, 2011

The premiere for Daniel Craig's new film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was held last night at the Leicester Square Odeon in London. Coincidentally, this is the same location of many of the James Bond premieres, a tradition that will likely be continued for Skyfall next year.

Daniel appeared with costar Rooney Mara, who was wearing an elegant white backless dress, made by Riccardo Tisci, contrasting Daniel's thick black leather jacket. Rooney Mara plays Lisbeth Salander in the film, a computer hacker who becomes...

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Scottish Castle Scene in Skyfall May be Shot in Wales

Posted December 12th, 2011

With James Bond seeing a possible return to his Scottish roots in Skyfall, the producers have been scouting locations for a suitable Scottish castle for months. Previously, it looked like they had settled on the Duntrune Castle. Pictured right, the castle is one of the oldest in Scotland, and is located across from Crinan, Argyll in Western Scotland.

However, it now looks like they may be settling for a location in Wales. Robin Malcolm, owner of Duntrune Castle, said that...

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Casino Royale Poker

James Bond has always been a great card player. In order to adjust to modern times, the card game of Casino Royale is Texas Hold'em poker, rather than Baccarat or Chemin de Fer. Bond keeps his aggressive style of play though, regardless of which game he plays.

Producer Michael Wilson explained why the shift was made to a more exciting game:

Casino Royale when it was written by Fleming involved a Chemin de Fer game in the South of France and that was a big stakes game in those days. Today the big stakes game is Texas Hold'em. It's not unreasonable for ten, twenty million dollar pots to be seen. So, when we came to think about what the game would be, Chemin de Fer didn't seem appropriate but Texas Hold'em was.

Blackjack is considered a beatable game because there is actually a strategy that works. The main idea behind the blackjack strategy is to determine how many high cards are still available. There was a famous Blackjack team from MIT who used advanced math to beat the system, until they were banned from the casino. For regular people, there is a "cheat sheet" you can find online that will advise you, based on what cards you have and what the dealer is showing, on whether to hit or stand. You can practice today at an online casino.