Dutch website NU.nl are reporting a purported connection between 007′s 23rd adventure and Frenc Jany Temime – the costume designer famed for her work on the Harry Potter franchise.
Her other credits include Children of Men and In Bruges.
MI6 reminds us that if true, it will be the third designer in as many James Bond adventures, with Lindy Hemming designing Craig’s outfits in Casino Royale and Louise Frogley dressing the 007 star in Quantum of Solace.
We’ve heard them all before… but they’re back. French website www.terrafemina.com is reporting Freida Pinto and Olivia Wilde as hot Bond girl candidates, along with the appointment of Sam Mendes.
Followers of the rocky Bond 23 pre-production will recall that both these names have emerged before.
Pinto has admitted she sees herself as “too young” for a James Bond girl role in the upcoming film, but the internet is persistent and in March 2010 the UK paper The Mirror trotted out the rumor once more.
Wilde – cast in the upcoming extravaganza, Cowboys and Aliens – emphatically denied any links to 007 and Bond 23 via twitter the same month as the Pinto rumours recirculated.
No. Anthony Hopkins was never offered a Bond 23 role. This is the news from the star of new psychological thriller, The Rite himself.
When asked if there was any truth to the rumour, Hopkins said “You must ask my agent because I know nothing about it.” He then leaned over to his agent who said “First I’ve heard of it too!” It appears Hopkins and agent are not regular readers of The Sun who coughed up such a rumor last week.
According to British Bond site MI6 the Welsh star was offered a role in the action-packed Tomorrow Never Dies but declined when he heard the script was still in flux despite shooting being scheduled.
The award winning actor of No Country For Old Men-fame is reportedly being offered a big role in the new James Bond film.
The news comes from Deadline, who are almost always the first and most reliable industry blog to break the news.
Whilst it is not clear which role Bardem will take up – most are suspecting it will be that of the lead villain in Bond 23.
An offer to star in the new James Bond movie was reportedly made by EON Production’s heads, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to the Spanish star last week, coinciding with a Best Actor nomination for Bardem.
Deadline reminds fans that the actor is known to take offerings seriously and consider these at great lengths. For instance, he was rumored to have turned down a role in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street sequel.
The Sun recently reported that Bond 23 was underway and that the new James Bond movie was rumored to star Rachel Weisz and be entitled Red Sky At Night.
The scoop, it turns out, comes from an anonymous “friend-of-a-friend” tip James Bond fan forum. British James Bond website MI6 were quick to rebuff the story and humiliate its authors.
The piece, editors point out, is largely cobbled together from old rumors writing: “You can expect to see this garbage recycled on movie blogs and reported as un-sourced ‘fact’ in tabloid newspapers over the coming days…”
Stay tuned for scandal.
Fiore Mastracci of the Examiner claims that only one of the two battles confronting the makers of Bond 23 has been won. That of the MGM financial situation. The author claims that backroom talk suggests that certain parties planned to oust Daniel Craig from the role and replace him with Clive Owen – the English star of Children of Men and The International – as, in Mastracci’s words, before Craig was announced as Bond #6, Owen “coveted the role”.
However, it is our understanding that whilst internet rumor and fan support was strong for Owen winning the role, he was never in the running. In 2006 Owen himself dismissed the possibility that he’d priced himself out of the market or was in any way in talks with the Bond producers.
The author of this suspect piece continues to suggest that Craig told Broccoli and Wilson (the film’s producers) that he wished Bond to explore the topic homosexual relationships …No comment!
Owen, it is claimed, is asking for a three picture deal which the article’s author suggests is not in the interests of the film’s distributer – MGM. However, it is widely known that both Craig and Brosnan were offered 3 picture deals in their initial contracts with the Bond franchise. It is hard to imagine that it would not be in the interest of the producers to secure an actor for multiple outings.
Bloggers (as are we) are rightly skeptical about this smoke and mirrors “rumor”.
It was all but a few short days between Bond 23 confirming pre-production (a release date, Daniel Craig returning to the lead role, and a new screenwriter thrown in) that the UK tabloids began their wild speculation about casting Bond 23.
The Mirror’s headline “Michael Sheen poised to be Bond villain Blofeld” is one such shot in the dark.
The article claims that the estemed actor (who has appeared in a number of Peter Morgan-penned hits including Frost/Nixon) is considered by Bond producer Barbara Broccoli the “prefect choice” for the role, backed up with quotes from another unknown source suggesting the producers are considering Sheen.
The rest of the information is scrounged from the earlier rumor that Bond 23 may feature Simon Russell Beale, the MGM bankrupcy fiasco and a Judi Dench quote, which she gave the press in December 2009, that she understood she would be needed in the Spring of 2011. The quote has been conveniently changed to “2012″.
As always, take these and the other rumors we bring to the table with a grain of salt.
A number of our fellow Bond fans were writing in with links to blogs all over the world running a story that reported (a) no director was attached and (b) MGM had put James Bond on hiatus – again!
Thankfully this story proved to be a misnomer. A prominent industry website was cited as the source of this news but the source page was quickly removed from the website once the error was noted.
The giveaway was that the sources cited Peter Morgan as attached to the production, however, the famed writer departed the Bond family some months ago. Some proactive blogs have since retracted the story, however, equally as many have yet to adjust their articles.
Bond fans do not despair!
DreamWorks funded flick Cowboys and Aliens will see James Bond star Daniel Craig take the lead in this fantasy adventure film.
The film has been muted for some time and was waiting on Hollywood sensation Robert Downey Jr to be available to take the lead. Ultimately this has not been possible and the producers have turned to 007 star, Daniel Craig, who is of the same calibre but seemingly already available.
Entertainment Blog HitFix is claiming that this production schedule (shooting in mid 2010 for a release in 2011) may impinge on the new James Bond film. This prediction is in light of Dan’s unfavorable comments about the very tight shooting schedule on Quantum – going so far as to predict a very conservative summery 2012 release. At Bond 23 we have reservations about all speculation of this kind and advise fans to be wary of jumping to conclusions.
That said – the Bondsphere has gone dark since the leaking of Sam Mendes’ involvement in the Bond 23 production and very little is known about the exact shooting schedule of James Bond 23.
The latest rumors that hit the tabloids and internet sources in January was that if Mendes’ involvement was to be confirmed, we could be looking at a shooting schedule commencing in the summer of 2010. Before this revolation, Craig said it was his understanding that the production was to take place in late 2010.
HitFix also explain to us that it is their belief that a “Nov. 18, 2011” release date has been penciled in by the production. In general we have been expecting a late November release but we are yet to see a day in the 11th month muted by a reliable source. At this stage any fan might as well join a lottery and pitch in with release date predictions. At Bond 23 we are surprised that the tabloids have yet to predict a 11/11/11 release.