Spectre is Coming!

SPECTRE is Coming!

December 4, 2014-

Breaking News: Penelope Cruz To Star in SKYFALL Sequel?

Breaking News: Penelope Cruz To Star in SKYFALL Sequel?

April 15, 2014- NY Daily News reports Penelope Cruz to be female lead in Skyfall sequel starring Daniel Craig.  Here is the article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/penelope-cruz-leave-daniel-craig-bond-girl-report-article-1.1755564

The World of Bond was among the first to report this in June 2013.  See that post here:

http://www.worldofjamesbond.com/2013/06/your-favorite-bond-is.html

CineFix Now's The Future of Bond Video

CineFix Now's The Future of Bond Video

April 9, 2014- A great update video on the next Bond film and more.....

SKYFALL Effects Man Wins Lifetime Achievement

SKYFALL Effects Man Wins Lifetime Achievement

January 8, 2014-  SKYFALL's award winning visual effects artist, Steve Begg, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Academy of Film (BAFTA) last month, for his 31 years of film excellence.  Begg was the artist responsible for the haunting images of Javier Bardiem's villain, Raoul Silva's detachable jaw in the most successful James Bond film of all time.  Congratulations to Steve Begg and the entire SKYFALL team of professionals.

8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol. 2

8 Fun Facts About James Bond-Vol. 2

July 26, 2013-  Here is our second installment in the 8 Fun Facts About James Bond series.  Enjoy.

1.   Ian Fleming's novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, (1962) has the distinction of being one of the least popular and most critically despised novels in the James Bond series.  This experimental tale is told from the perspective of the lead character, Viv Michele, a Canadian woman.   007 does not even appear in the story until the final third of the novel.  The 1977 Roger Moore film of the same name has no plot or character elements from the novel whatsoever.

2.   Christopher Lee, British film actor who began his career in the 1940's, and has starred as such great film characters as Dracula, Saramun the White, Count Dooku and 100's more, played James Bond villain, Francisco Scaramanga in 1974's The Man With The Golden Gun.  Lee was the first cousin to James Bond novelist, Ian Fleming, who never lived to see Lee play the part.

3.  The voices of the actors playing Bond villains, Auric Goldfinger and Emilio Largo, played by Gert Frobe and Aldolfo Celi, respectively, in the films Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965), were dubbed for the films due to the belief that audiences would find their think accents difficult to understand.

4.  Here is some insight into the universal impact that one movie series can have on the world.  It is estimated that more than one half of the entire world's population has seen, at least, one of the James Bond films.  This statistic may make James Bond the single most recognizable fictional character in the history of the world.

5.   Two universally recognized associations of the James Bond character are that his drink of choice is  a martini, "shaken, not stirred" and that he drives an Aston Martin, yet neither appears in any of the Sir Roger Moore films.  Moore felt distancing himself with certain associations of Sean Connery's version of the character would allow him to carve out his own, distinct persona as Bond.

6.   Sean Connery faces the issuance of an arrest warrant in Spain if he fails to appear to testify, before the end of the year, in a corruption investigation involving the sale of a home in Marbella, Spain to developers several years ago.   The property was later demolished and a scandal over zoning laws, money laundering, and political corruption ensued.   To date, Connery has refused to appear.

7.   George Lazenby, star of 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was a Used Car salesman prior to being selected to fill Sean Connery's shoes in the role of the world's most famous secret agent.

8.   Skyfall (2012), the 23rd installment in the James Bond film series just surpassed Avatar (2009) as the highest grossing film ever in the history of Great Britain.  

I'd love to hear from you with any Fun Facts, or story ideas....

Your Favorite Bond Theme Song Is...?

Your Favorite Bond Theme Song Is...?

There are few things more signature to James Bond Films than their theme songs.  Introduced as part of the "Bond Formula" after Dr. No, the theme song, built around the film's title has become synonymous with each of the Bond films.   In fact, many of the theme songs have been more popular and well received than the films they support.    In response to our reader poll you have selected a theme song which is associated with the most popular James Bond film in movie history, Skyfall.  

With the critical and financial success of both the film and the theme song it is no surprise that Skyfall would be the winner.  This 2012 hit song was co-written and performed by the world famous, Adele.  The song's release preceded the film's and it instantly became an international musical hit, topping the UK Charts and becoming the eighth ranked all time hit on the Billboard 100 rankings.  

The song's accomplishments were not limited to the music world.  It garnered a Brit Award, a Golden Globe and, even, an Academy Award at the 85th Academy Awards, where Adele performed it live during the 50th Anniversary Tribute to the James Bond Film series.  Adele, an already accomplished singer and songwriter, has established herself as the most iconic Bond musical persona since Shirley Bassey and has been invited to return with the theme for Bond 24.  As a fan we can only hope the song, as well as the film, will come close to the success of Skyfall.

Your Favorite Bond Is.....

Your Favorite Bond Is.....

The votes have been cast and tabulated in The World of Bond's Which Bond Is Your Favorite contest.  For some this may be one of the most significant elections of the 21st Century (For James Bond Fans that is).  Our readers were asked to choose their favorite actor, who played James Bond, from among the Eon Productions' film Bonds; from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig.  Our readers have, overwhelmingly, selected Daniel Craig as their favorite Bond Actor.

What does Craig's selection tell us about the modern Bond audience?  It may reveal that the modern Bond fan appreciates the dramatic, gritty, course that the series has embarked upon since Craig's elevation to the role with 2006's Casino Royale.  It may be evidence that the current crop of Bond fans are traditionalists that harken for the three dimensional, flawed character of the Ian Fleming novels and short stories founded on a bedrock of strong spy stories, rather than the the two dimensional Roger Moorish character films that degenerated into formula films relying too heavily on one liners, gadgets, and gimmickry.  Craig, in only three film installments, delivers this traditional Bond for the new age.

This selection of Daniel Craig is not a huge surprise when one looks at the financial and critical success garnered by Skyfall, the 23rd installment in the James Bond movie series, and the most successful by any standards used to measure success.   It is also not a surprise when one looks at the current actor and winner who, to some, not only plays Bond but is Bond.   Despite the early skepticism over the selection of Craig as Pierce Brosnan's replacement, he quickly won the attention of fans, film critics and the broader movie audience by playing the role with believable grit, intelligence, and masculine sex appeal.  Perhaps it was Craig's training on the British stage, television, and films that prepared him to fill the role so adeptly.  Regardless, as we approach the 24th installment of the franchise and rumors of the return of Sam Mendes as the film's Director and the casting of the beautiful, Penelope Cruz as the latest "Bond Girl" circulate, one thing is for certain, Daniel Craig will return as James Bond.

On an additional note, the beloved and iconic Sean Connery was the runner up in our reader poll.  There is no doubt, had he not made such a indelible contribution towards launching the film franchise and molding our impression of Bond, there would have been no place for any of the other five actors who filled his very large shoes.  Thank you, Sir!

Which Bond Theme Song Is #1?

Which Bond Theme Song Is #1?

While I pride myself in knowing a bit about James Bond, I know almost nothing about music.  My musical knowledge is paltry and my tastes are usually out of sync with just about everyone and anyone.  What I do know is that the Bond song theme has become as associated with the culture of the Bond films as the Walther PPK.  Major musical powerhouses from Paul McCartney to Madonna have been been entrusted to create and perform a memorable theme song that captures the essence of the film title and the spirit of the world's most famous secret agent.  Some of these experiments have resulted in theme songs that transcend the genre and become popular hits in their own right; others not so much.  Below are some of the more recognizable Bond Theme Songs by popular artists.   Vote and decide your favorite.  I will reveal the winner on June 8, 2013.

Which Bond Theme Song is #1?
	Goldginger- Shirley Bassey
	Thunderball - Tom Jones
	You Only Live Twice-Nancy Sinatra
	Live & Let Die-Wings
	Nobody Does It Better (The Spy Who Loved Me)-Carly Simon
	For Your Eyes Only-Sheena Easton
	A View To A Kill-Duran Duran
	Goldeneye-Tina Turner
	Die Another Day-Madonna
	Skyfall-Adele
pollcode.com free polls

The opportunity to sing the Bond theme is so coveted that the next Bond film project has not even been announced yet and Bonnie Tyler has been rumored to have reached out to producers to request the opportunity to get a crack at the song even though Adele is widely considered the favorite, as the Craig Era's answer to Shirley Bassey.

An Open Letter of Apology to Jeffrey Deaver

An Open Letter of Apology to Jeffrey Deaver

Let's start out with the admission of my guilt:  I was wrong!.  There, I have said it (or written it).  I waited three years from it's publication to read Jeffrey Deaver's authorized James Bond novel, Carte Blanche,  because I, stubbornly,  refused to allow myself to buy into the notion that anyone other than Ian Fleming could write a good Bond spy novel.  I foolishly believed that reading a Bond novel written by anyone but Fleming was, somehow, a betrayal of the legacy; that reading a non-Fleming work was buying into a cheap attempt to cash in on the Bond-starved fan base's desire for ANYTHING Bond.

So why the change of heart?   What motivated my sudden interest in finding out what all the fuss was about?   Why now?  The answer is simple and can be summed up in one word:  Skyfall.   After watching (and re-watching) Skyfall, I found myself redefining what it meant to be close to Bond's source material, which is the standard I always judged Bond material by.  Skyfall is not named after, nor is based upon, specifically, any Fleming work; however, it is truer to the character, essence and spirit of the original work than any number of Eon Film productions which take their titles directly from Fleming novels.  So I found myself faced with the possibility that someone other than Fleming could still do justice to Bond and Fleming's monumental legacy.  On that basis I cautiously picked up a copy of Deaver's Bond novel from 2011 and cracked the cover with an open mind.  Am I glad I did.

In Deaver's contemporary setting we meet a younger Bond, in his 30's, who still carries his "00" status but within a re-tooled agency more fitted to the post 9/11 world than to the Cold War of Fleming and the early films.  Bond's directive seems to be broader and his role more suited to identify and eliminate threats to the country by extraordinary means" than his historical "license to kill" directive.   The adventure brings him to Serbia, London, Dubai and South Africa in an attempt to uncover and foil a terrorist strike whose complexity unfolds as the novel progresses, climaxing with an exciting plot twist.   Deaver returns back to the Fleming tradition of using contemporary world settings as a backdrop for third party madmen and financially driven terrorists to flourish as they create their own brand of  Chaos.  Severan Hydt and Nial Dunne hearken back to the days of Dr. No, Goldfinger, and even Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

No Bond book or movie would be complete without its iconic female characters and Deaver's is no exception.   Whether's it's a fixture, like Ms. Moneypenny, or a newcomer like Bheka Jordaan, the Female characters, and there are many, are strong, dynamic, three-dimensional women.  These woman are not mere wallpaper, but integral parts of the story.  They are the new breed of Bond Girls and I think they are here to stay.

The book is also rich with some staple characters, such a the M, Felix Leiter, Mary Goodnight, and a retrofitting of the classic "Q" character in the rich, energetic Sanu Hirani.  The presence of these foundational, source characters do a lot to anchor the reader in the fact that even though the setting and the agency have been updated, that we are still in the world of Ian Fleming's James Bond.  Deaver's treatment of these characters are fitting tributes to the iconic characters.

No treatment of Carte Blanche would be fair and complete without a discussion of Deaver's treatment of Bond himself.   The novel rises, or would have fallen, on Deaver's interpretation and presentation of the character.   In an interview about this very topic Deaver discussed the difficulty of finding the balance between the Fleming Bond of the original novels and the Bond of film.   The public's exposure to fifty (50) years of Bond films makes the film presentation of the character far more familiar; however, which film Bond was Deaver to present: Connery? Craig? Moore? or, maybe, Dalton or Brosnan?  Finally, Deaver is an American writer and Fleming wrote in a distinctly British tone.  Could Deaver capture a British tone without the work becoming satirical?

So how did Deaver overcome these issues in order to create a viable Bond true to the Fleming legacy, that would still satisfy movie aficionados?  He accomplished this in two ways.   First, he stayed very true to the basic nature of Bond; light on the gimmicks, serious but with a sense of humor, flawed, a loner, passionate with a strong moral center, unmatched skills, and intellect.  He also left enough of the character's edges undefined that the reader, if familiar with the Bond films, could individually plug in their favorite James Bond and the story would still work.  I actually experimented with this concept in the midst of my reading by consciously envisioning Roger Moore's Bond in the lead, despite the fact that I was naturally envisioning Daniel Craig as I read, and, I must admit, I was able to comfortably do so.  This is the gift of artful writing and I could see this work being easily converted into a screenplay for a future Bond motion picture.

In the final analysis, Jeffrey Deaver delivered a well written, intriguing, exciting, gritty, James Bond Novel that made it hard to put down.  I found myself sad to finish it and, equally sad with the knowledge that Deaver will contribute no other novels to the Bond Collection.  William Boyd's Solo, the next authorized James Bond novel, will return the Cold War Bond.  If he is able to capture the essence of the character nearly as well as Deaver, the book will be a huge success.

• ISBN-13: 9781451620696
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 6/14/201

The Top 5 Bond Films of All Time

The Top 5 Bond Films of All Time

In 1977 my parents took me to the, now demolished, Westbury Drive-In Movie Theater in their Country Squire Station Wagon to see my first James Bond Film, The Spy Who Loved Me, with Roger Moore.  It was a transformative experience for me that commenced a 35 year relationship with the character and culture of James Bond.  Along the way, aside from becoming a huge fan of the written works of Ian Fleming and his Estate's hand picked successors, I reveled in viewing each and every one of the films several times over the years and, whether, in theaters, on television, VHS Tape, DVD, or Blu-Ray, I must confess, that I enjoyed them all.   

Now, in contemplation of the 50th Anniversary of the movie franchise, I went back and watched them all over again.  I must confess, that while they all have merits, I was truly surprised at how many of the films I was critical of in their portrayal of the characters and their execution of the storyline.  I think this is partly a product of maturity, and partly a result of becoming so much more familiar with the source material of Ian Fleming.  As I have come to appreciate the writing of Fleming, it has colored by bias towards the films that are closer to this source material.

With that foundation being laid out, and considering only the Eon Productions Films, here is my breakdown of the top five (5) James Bond films of all time:

5.  Goldfinger (1964):      Goldfinger finds itself highly ranked on virtually everyone's list of Best Bond Films.   Sean Connery, by this third film, is completely comfortable in the Bond persona and it shows.   Gert Frobe shines as the lead villain, Honor Blackman steals her scenes as Pussy Galore, and Harold Sakata sets the standard for henchmen that will become the archetype in and out of the Bond genre.  It features the classic Shirley Bassey theme song, which all subsequent Bond theme songs are compared to.  The film is well paced, has a good sense of humor, and retains some key aspects of the source material. Everyone seems to love this film, including me.

4.  Dr. No (1962):     This film masterfully sets the stage for the longest running movie franchise in the history of the world.   Sean Connery's balance of humor, intellect and masculinity captured the essence of the Fleming character and won the affections of movie-goers around the world.  While much of the Fleming novel was modified to accomplish the goals of making the film more "family friendly" than its racy source material it insured subsequent installments of the film series.  While the storyline varies from the original work in ways that are negative, the limitations of the times, the budget, and film making of the era make them understandable.

3.  Skyfall (2012):      To call Skyfall a well made Bond movie is a disservice to everyone involved in its production.  Skyfall is a well made movie.  The acting of the Daniel Craig, Judi Densch,  and the supporting cast transcend the genre.  The direction of Sam Mendes is flawless.  The theme song by Adele is among the best in the franchise's history.   Javier Bardiem plays the part of, a most memorable, sinister villain without making a mockery of the role.  Finally, the plot is original and engaging but stays true to the foundational roots of the source work.  This is Bond at his best.

2.  From Russia With Love (1963):      Before the Daniel Craig era, I believed no Bond film could ever top From Russia With Love.  This film weaves all of the best elements of the Bond films and novels.  It is Connery's grittiest, most masculine performance as Bond.   The Cold War, espionage, sexual seduction, violence, exotic location, and SPECTRE are all interwoven into a top notch spy movie that holds it's own against any others of any series.  Daniela Bianchi, as Tatiana Romanova, is the most underrated Bond girl in the history of the franchise.  Lotta Lenya plays the part of Rosa Klebb masterfully and Robert Shaw is perfection as Red Grant.   Shaw's execution, without camp, and without being "over the top" as the antagonist is truly terrifying.   This is the best of the Connery Era.

1. Casino Royale(2006)/Quantum of Solace (2008):      I understand that many people list Quantum of Solace very low on their rankings of favorite Bond films.  The film is completely unrelated to the Fleming short story of the same name; however, I think it is a great movie.  I do believe that in order to really appreciate it you must view it in connection with Casino Royale-as, essentially, one film.  On that basis I have listed these two films as the Best of the Best.  If I was forced to separate them, Casino would still be #1, without hesitation.  Casino Royale marked the beginning of the Daniel Craig era in the Bond series by doing something bold and intelligent-going back to the first Bond novel penned by Ian Fleming of the same title.  Many people were a little Bond weary by the time the film was released, having believed the franchise was past its prime.  The critics also questioned the choice of Craig, a blond 007, to play the role.  They were so used to Bonds in the Roger Moore likeness that this complete departure seemed doomed to disappoint.  Craig shocked everyone by not only being a good actor, but by being a great Bond; for some, he is even considered the best (even Roger Moore says so).  His dramatic, engaging, earthy performance in the film captures the true essence of the character and the film.  This film is, by far, the closest film adaptation of any of the Fleming novels-it varies ever so insignificantly from the written source.  It is low on gimmicks and gadgets, strong on action, violence, drama, and real acting.  Most importantly, Craig's Bond is a three dimensional character.  Craig's Bond is imperfect, human, but still the best hope for Queen and Country.  This film gets better every time I see it.   One doesn't need to be a Bond fan to appreciate this as a winner.

The Five (5) Most Disappointing Bond Films Coming Soon!

JAMES BOND GOES "SOLO"

JAMES BOND GOES "SOLO"

After the overwhelming success of the latest installment of the James Bond film, Skyfall, Jonathan Cape, Ian Fleming's original publisher unveiled the title of the latest, authorized sequel to the James Bond legacy, Solo, by renowned author, William Boyd.  

Bond fanatics and purists were thrilled to hear the author talk about his meticulous research of, not only James Bond, but of his creator Ian Fleming, in approaching this work.  He was hand selected by the Fleming Estate to continue the storyline.  While all of the details are not revealed, here is a summary of what was disclosed:

1. The book involves an unauthorized, Solo mission which takes place on three continents including a large concentration in Africa;
2. The year in 1969 and Bond is 45 at the start of the novel;
3. The book involves a new Villain and various antagonists;
4. The book involves two love interests, or Bond Girls as they have come to be known.

On the 60th Anniversary of the writing of the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, the author has referred to this work as a "a real spy story", heavy on the espionage and low on the gimmicks.  For Bond purists this is refreshing and lays the groundwork for a possible film adaptation in the Connery-Craig tradition.

Mark your calendars, September 26, 2013 in the U.K. with an October 8, 2013 U.S. and Canadian release with HarperColins.  Major booksellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, have foreshadowed the release for sometime, including the release date and author, but both have listed the title as James Bond: The New Mission 10/8/2013.  As of this morning, neither site has update the listing.