Goldmember Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Wanted: 007 Babe & Baddie By Josh Grossberg James Bond likes his women beautiful, his nemeses megalomaniacal and his martinis shaken, not stirred. These days he's drinking alone. Filming on the new 007 adventure, Casino Royale, kicked off last Friday in the Czech capital of Prague with newcomer Daniel Craig taking over for Pierce Brosnan as the suave secret agent. But intelligence sources reveal Bond is currently sans babe and baddie. According to the Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers made the decision to roll cameras on the long-delayed film in order to make a planned holiday release date--even though the two key components of a Bond film are notably missing in action. For now, their absence is being handled by shooting around them. Crucial scenes featuring the would-be villain and Bond's latest paramour aren't scheduled to be filmed for at least a month, leaving coproducers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell a little wiggle room. "They're talking to three to four girls right now," Casino scribe Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Million Dollar Baby and is nominated again this year for writing and directing Crash, told the Reporter. "Every week I read there's a new Bond girl, and I call them and they say, 'No, you idiot.' " The trade reports Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2) and Rachel McAdams (Red Eye and The Wedding Crashers) are the several high-profile actresses currently in the running to join the pantheon of Bond babe. (The sometime rumored likes of Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, however, are not serious contenders.) As for the next bad guy, the Casino brain trust is reportedly much closer to cast that role than the love interest, but no names have specifically mentioned by reliable sources. The announcement of Craig as the sixth actor to don the tuxedo was made with great fanfare at an October press conference. But because it took so long to cast the role, the production was delayed from November to January. Campbell & Co. promised Casino Royale, the 21st installment in cinema's longest running and most successful series, would take the iconic character back to his roots. The film is said to feature a character-driven script exploring Bond's past and eschewing the big special-effects and gadgets that have come to define the later Bond flicks, particularly the ones starring Brosnan and Roger Moore. The director, who also helmed GoldenEye, Brosnan's first outing as Bond, said Casino Royale will show 007 at age of 28, when he's just starting out on Her Majesty's Secret Service, and purportedly explain such mysteries as to why he likes his vodka martinis prepared incorrectly. It will also be the first Bond mission since Live and Let Die not to feature the character of Q, most recently played by John Cleese. Neither the Bond production company, the U.K.-based Eon Productions, nor its U.S.-based studio, MGM, would comment on the casting situation. However, one Hollywood agent with an inside track on Casino's casting told the Reporter that Sony, the film's distributor, will probably have to cough up a lot of dough to get the actors given the fact that shooting has already begun. "To be that exposed is unheard of," the agent said. "[The actor or actress] can have them over a barrel. Not to have your two principal leads [by now] is awfully strange." With the amount of money at stake, a tight deadline and the prestige of the franchise in the balance, producers are expected to be willing to spend as much as needed to secure the right actors. After the Czech Republic, production moves to the Bahamas, Italy and Pinewood Studios near London. Casino Royale is being targeted for a Nov. 17, 2006 release. linko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Looks like they got the same screenwriter as Die Another Day. In other words, it will be a s***ty movie regardless of who the Bond Babe and Villain are (or what Daniel Craig does). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RibbieRubarb Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(CrimsonWeltall @ Feb 1, 2006 -> 10:42 PM) Looks like they got the same screenwriter as Die Another Day. In other words, it will be a s***ty movie regardless of who the Bond Babe and Villain are (or what Daniel Craig does). Actually Paul Haggis, who wrote "Million Dollar Baby" and is nominated twice for directing and writing "Crash", is writing the current Bond film. He didn't write "Die another Day" Edited February 2, 2006 by RibbieRubarb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodAsGould Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Pierce Brosnan even though he wasnt the original Bond will always be the only Bond to me... I just cant picture anyone else playing the role even though Ive seen the older ones to me they arent the real Bond its all about Pierce. But hey if Brosnan is going to make movies like the Matador which i thought was awesome than maybe im glad he is done with Bond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Feb 1, 2006 -> 11:20 PM) Actually Paul Haggis, who wrote "Million Dollar Baby" and is nominated twice for directing and writing "Crash", is writing the current Bond film. He didn't write "Die another Day" Actually he is correct and you are semi correct. Neal pervis and robert wade both wrote the world is not enough and die another day and they are writing casino royale. Paul haggis is just being brought in to ''polish'' the story up... script has not been touched in over a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Btw, thandie newton is likely gonna be the bond chick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juddling Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Maybe put Tara Reid in the new movie. In James Bond fashion, her character name could be "Skanky Galore"!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Feb 2, 2006 -> 01:46 AM) Pierce Brosnan even though he wasnt the original Bond will always be the only Bond to me... Get thee to the asylum, Man. I do understand the sentiment. Growing up with the Roger Moore incarnation, I always thought of him as the "real" bond. When I was older and caught up on all the Connery installments I realized my earlier opinions were those of an idiot. However, Goldfinger will probably always be one of my two favorites. I haven't seen a single Bond film since before Timothy Dalton, though, so I have no real basis for bashing Brosnan now, do I? I do know that not having your leads cast when you start shooting is likely a recipe for disaster ("Alan Smythe Directs"?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Speaking of Die Another Day... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_en_...le_lee_tamahori Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 10:57 AM) Speaking of Die Another Day... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_en_...le_lee_tamahori Weird. Sure, he was derssed in drag that night, but I'm sure he'll be Guy Another Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldmember Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 3, 2006 -> 09:57 AM) Speaking of Die Another Day... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_en_...le_lee_tamahori Weird. "I feel pretty, Oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gay! And I pity, Any girl who isn't me today..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Critic Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I've never seen a James Bond film. Not even accidentally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldmember Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 Bond Mads About Baddie By Josh Grossberg It's taken a while, but James Bond has finally met his match. After months of searching, and with filming on Casino Royale already underway in Prague, the 007 brain trust finally hired a nemesis for Daniel Craig's super spy. The alliteratively named Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen will play the villainous Le Chiffre. Martin Campbell, who helmed GoldenEye, announced the casting at a Wednesday night press conference at the Czech Republic's Brandov Studios flanked by Craig, Judi Dench (who's returning as M) and the film's producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. Mikkelsen, 40, is best known for his role as Tristan opposite Clive Owen and Keira Knightley in the 2004 version of King Arthur. After an eight-year stint as a professional dancer, he became one of Denmark's biggest stars with his breakthrough role as a junkie in 1996's Pusher. Other credits include 2000's Flickering Lights, 2001's Shake Your Heart, the 2003 Dogma film Open Hearts and 2004's Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands. He will play Le Chiffre, the character Ian Fleming variously called "the Number" and "the Cipher" in his franchise-launching novel, Casino Royale. Le Chiffre is a banker for terrorists and criminals who enjoys torture and gives Bond a run for his money at the baccarat tables. The casting wasn't entirely unexpected. Reports surfaced this week that the Dane's taxi driver father had told his customers that his son was selected to follow in the footsteps of such seminal Bond baddies as Dr. No, Goldfinger and Blofeld. What wasn't announced, however, was who is going to play the newest Bond babe, Vesper Lynd, in the $100 million production. Campbell said there are "two or three" finalists and he expects a final decision in the coming days. "You'll just have to wait and see." Actresses reportedly in the running include Eva Green, who starred in Kingdom of Heaven, and The O.C.'s Olivia Wilde. Other names previously mentioned but since discounted were Thandie Newton, who recently starred in the Oscar-nominated Crash, and Rachel McAdams, who's coming off The Wedding Crashers and Red Eye. After filming is completed in Prague, cast and crew are scheduled to jet to the Bahamas to film a chase sequence, then move on to additional shoots in Italy before wrapping up in the U.K.'s Pinewood Studios, where earlier Bond installments have been shot. Although the script has been for filmmakers' eyes only, Casino Royale is expected to take the iconic character back to his early days, when he first joins Her Majesty's Secret Service. We'll learn why he prefers his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred." M's backstory will also be elucidated, with a scene supposedly set in her London apartment. One thing the film will not feature is a scene in which Bond shoots a man he mistakes for a terrorist. British tabloids have been gnashing their teeth at the supposed plot point, saying it echoes the real-life incident in which London police gunned down Brazilian national Charles de Menezes in the aftermath of last July's subway bombings. Broccoli and Wilson's Eon Productions released a statement this week saying, "In the script of Casino Royale James Bond does not kill any innocent people." Meanwhile, in other Bond news this week, Irvin Allen, who played Blofeld henchman Che Che in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service and had a bit part in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me was acquitted this week in a London court of murdering his estranged wife. The 71-year-old actor and retired boxer was found not guilty of killing Thai-born Chamlng Allen, 49, in April, 2005 due to insufficient evidence. The murder occurred just days before she was scheduled to contest custody of the couple's three kids in a family court proceeding. Allen says he hopes police will attempt to find the "true killers." http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060216/en_movies_eo/18378 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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