MGM announced this week that the next James Bond movie will be released within the next three years. The Guardian reports that actor Daniel Craig has signed on to at least two more stints as 007 before his contract expires. The original production company of the Bond film series, United Artists, is now a subsidiary of the privately-held MGM.
The news of the planned 24th sequel to 1962's "Dr. No" comes after studio leadership held a conference call with investors. MGM tripled its planned revenue last year due to the overwhelming success of "The Hobbit" and "Skyfall," and executives are eager to cash in on another spy hit. While the next Bond movie will not feature acclaimed "Skyfall" director Sam Mendes, who bowed out of the role recently, fans can expect quite a good feature nonetheless. Additionally, those who saw "Skyfall" likely distinctly remember the loss of another 007 mainstay, M.
Dame Judi Dench's M. character was killed in the climax of "Skyfall," which will likely lead to comparisons of her tenure as 007's boss to the previous longstanding heads of MI6, the former Sir Miles Messervy (Bernard Lee), who portrayed M from the series' inception in 1962 through Moonraker in 1979, and Admiral Hargreaves (Robert Brown) who led the intelligence agency from "The Spy Who Loved Me" through "License To Kill."
Ironically, the actor tapped to succeed Dench as the head of the "good guys," Ralph Fiennes, recently portrayed the evil Lord Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" series.
The late original series producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's family will also purportedly be a part of the next film as well. Following his death in 1996, Broccoli's daughter Barbara and stepson Michael G. Wilson have helmed the series well over the last 20 years.
There are also rumors that singer Adele has been tapped to write the next James Bond title song. She will join veteran artist Shirley Bassey as the only other artist to be a part of more than one James Bond title. Bassey, who appeared onstage at this year's Oscar awards ceremony, is well known in Bond circles for her work on "Diamonds Are Forever," "Moonraker," and most notably 1964's "Goldfinger."
In addition to this musical quirk, many fans believe the "urban legend" that renowned Welsh singer Tom Jones allegedly fainted when performing the final fermata of "Thunderball." Additionally, some Bond films' title sequences do not match their assumed theme song. For example, in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," Louis Armstrong's "All The Time In The World" is indeed not the title theme for the movie.
Series composer John Barry's orchestral melody heard throughout the movie in a fast 2/2 tempo, eponymous with the film's title, is considered the true title theme of the Bond movie. In addition, "Dr. No" had no official title track other than Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme." Matt Monro's "From Russia With Love" is the first official Bond title track, featured in the second film in the series.
In addition to a lack of a working title, fans also have no idea what type of villain James Bond will encounter in the next movie. While a "bond villain" may just seem to be a "bond villain," there are a number of unique personality traits that set some bad guys apart from one another and in other ways bracket them together.
Will the 24th official Bond film ("Never Say Never Again" is not considered part of the series for a number of reasons) feature a humorless villain or one that engages Bond in his quick wit? [Ex: After feeding Dr. Kananga a carbon dioxide pellet and watching his body bloat up and explode, Roger Moore's Bond quips: "He always had an inflated opinion of himself."]
While all Bond villains share the same evil traits, there have been a number of stern, humorless villains in 007's past: Joseph Wiseman's portrayal as title character Dr. Julius No was that of a man of few words and many actions. SPECTRE's chief, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, was similarly subdued-- the image of Donald Pleasance calmly stroking his cat while explaining to a captured Sean Connery how he will carry out his devious plot in "You Only Live Twice" may come to mind. Robert Davi's Franz Sanchez was also a quiet, evil presence in "License to Kill."
On the other hand, a number of villains only seem to be James Bond's malevolent equal when it comes to wit: Most notably, 1995's "GoldenEye" was full of humorous yet devious bad guys: The former 006, Alec Trevelyan, traded quips with Bond throughout the whole film, Russian programmer Boris Grishenko's "I am invincible!" is probably still repeating in many fans' heads today. And, who can forget the former KGB agent Valentin Zukovsky's (played by a pre-Hagrid Robbie Coltrane) repeated exchanges with Bond regarding the British agent's 'gift' of a partial limp to the Soviet.
Gert Frobe's Auric Goldfinger was likely the first comical villain, likely known best for the exchange with Bond upon his capture in Goldfinger's lab when he famously answers 007's inquiry:
"Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," Goldfinger smirks.
And though it's hard to imagine the future jovial CIA Agent Jack Wade plotting James Bond's death, Joe Don Baker's original criminal portrayal of Brad Whitaker in "The Living Daylights" was equally comical.
Fans have not seen Felix Leiter recently. There is no word whether Bond's best American ally, originally played by "Hawaii Five-O"'s Jack Lord and most recently Jeffrey Wright, will return in any capacity next time. Some say they also would love to see CIA Agent Jack Wade yelling "Hey, Jimbo!" once again.
While it is not known what type of villain will be portrayed in "Bond 24," one actor said it would be a dream to play the foil to 007. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said recently that he would love to be the next villain in the series.
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