The British tabloid has committed another journalistic faux pa by headlining their story about the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, with a major plot spoiler.
The news, if true, will be a phenomenal shakeup in the Bond universe as we know it.
Dossiers tagged with "James Bond rumors"
According to reports of rumors sent in to Bond23.net today Brianna Meighan is in the running for the villain’s girlfriend role. Meighan might have already been a Bond girl, having had a cameo part in Quantum of Solace. As fans of the franchise will know, Bond has frequently been one for repeat castings with actors such as Shane Rimmer appearing in multiple Bond films as different characters.
Meighan is a 29 year old native of Virginia and has found work on E! Entertainment channel as well as fashion modeling.
Our source claims insider knowledge and to be connected to Pinewood, but details are scarce.
Two gorgeous girls are already known hot contenders for a role.
The article run on the NOTW website
does not cite a source, nor have very much to say about the new James Bond movie, Bond 23, at all. Most of the article is padded out with old personal quotes, information about the current blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean, most likely to cash in on the fourth Jack Sparrow adventure.
UPDATE: MI6 has received a tip, at a UK publicity interview for The First Grader one twitter user spoke to Harris and she mentioned was “offered [a] Bond role” but wont tell the reporters if she is joining the cast.
UPDATE 2: Entertainment Weekly have been chatting to a “spokesperson” at EON Productions who confirmed Harris has been in talks. It is a good day for our initial assessment of the rumor to be wrong!
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.
Another possible location has made its way into the press rumor cycle.
According to The Times of India, James Bond may be location scouting on the stunning Konkan Railway, which runs from Mangalore to Mumbai. The scenery along the line is purportedly stunning.
The information is scant and as MI6 reminds us, India has managed to be rumored as a location for every film since, and including, Die Another Day.
What details there are come in the form of an uncited quote from an insider:
It’s at a nascent stage. Everything is being kept under wraps now. Permissions are being sought from the ministry. There have been talks about location scouting down the Konkan Railway line. If all goes well, the shoot might begin end of this year.
Bond fans will recall 007′s adventures in India in the 1980s for the stunning production of Octopussy.
The trade press, Variety, casually dropped the following paragraph into an article that covers the casting of Fiennes in Trevor Nunn’s new West End Shakespeare…
Fiennes’s movie commitments mean the run will be strictly limited. He is skedded to start filming on the Sam Mendes helmed “Bond 23″ In December. The latter is scripted by John Logan who also scripted Fiennes’s recent movie helming debut “Coriolanus.”
It is curious that such big news has made such a small splash but Variety has a good reputation for accurate reporting and insider scoops.
Fiennes was recently rumored to have a role as a James Bond villain in the new Bond movie. This coupled with December being a likely time for Bond 23 to kick off production, lends extra credentials to this rumor.
Keep your eyes peeled.
As ever, the news media can be sure to drum up a few “rumors” of Bond 23 casting in the weeks and months leading up to Bond 23.
A couple of the more humorous are collected below for you:
Anthony Hopkins Narrowly Misses Out On A Villain Role
The Sun are quoting an unspecified source that suggests the famous Welshman might have joined the cast:
“The only stumbling block seems to be the number of films he is signing up for. There is a chance the character they want him to play could become a regular feature, like Blofeld back in the day.”
Some blogs ever picked up on the Sun’s story and ran with it…
A slow news day, clearly.
Sharon Stone Wants To Be A Bond Villain
“I would love to play the villain in a James Bond movie, better if with Daniel Craig” says the 52 year-old “Basic Instinct” star.
MI6 reminds us Sharon Stone was previously considered for a leading Bond girl role by MGM during the scripting stage of “The World Is Not Enough” in 1999.
Rare has been the date that 007′s Bond girls are older than the incumbent 007.
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.
The acclaimed director behind the re-booted Batman series has expressed an interest in getting involved in the James Bond franchise.
Whilst Sam Mendes is still the favourite for the director’s chair once product recommences, Nolan has put his name in the hat, says Deadline.
In an interview with the BBC, Nolan was reported to say:
I’ve loved the Bond films since I was a kid. For me, they’re always about the expansiveness of cinema. The first Bond films set up infinite possibilities about the world they create. I’d love to do a Bond film.
His newest pic, Inception, has recently opened amongst much hype. This is the film that the director previously described as his On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Nolan also commented that Bond films had always “stood for the promise of being taken to some place bigger than you could have imagined”.
In the past the London-born superstar has joked to the press the she was interested in the Bond role, now Cinema Blend claim to have a tip from “a reliable, proven source who’s broken numerous, since confirmed stories”. Read the rest of this entry »