Amph 60+ Years of James Bond 007

The opening sequence of Mooncrapper is the only good scene. The rest is pure garbage.

 

It has to be better than 90% of the Moore era. It just has to be.

 

After watching the trailer, I wonder if...

Spoiler

Mr. White is on SPECTRE's hit list

 

Quantum and SPECTRE, in SPECTRE Speculative #4.

 

'Christoph Waltz denies he is playing Blofeld in 'SPECTRE'

Actor Christoph Waltz has denied he's playing Blofeld in the upcoming James Bond film 'SPECTRE' and insists his character is called Franz Oberhauser.

That may be technically true, but the statement is contrary to all of the commentary on the script leaks and script notes that emerged during the Sony hack late last year.

Furthermore, it was officially denied that Ben Whishaw would play Q in 'Skyfall' and Naomie Harris was not playing the character of Miss Moneypenny. Both, of course, were. And for the pedants out there, Daniel Craig could have claimed he wasn't playing 007 for the first 10 minutes of 'Casino Royale'.

Here are some quotes from the interview with Christoph Waltz in the new issue of British GQ:

On whether he hesitated in doing a Bond film:
"I did, yes. I always hesitate... You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about? The thing about Spectre is that it is not the work of hack writers. It does not have a hack director. The actors are not hams. The action sequences in Mexico are extravagant to say the least. The scenes in Austria are traditional Bond action in the snow. These films with Daniel Craig have shifted the tone. They don't depend on a set formula that forces actors simply to go through the motions."

On whether he is playing the classic Bond villain Blofeld:
"That is absolutely untrue. That rumour started on the Internet, and the Internet is a pest. The name of my character is Franz Oberhauser."

On whether a Bond film can be artistically fulfilling:
"A James Bond film can be artistically fulfilling. Absolutely it can. It can be complex and it can be interesting. I consider Bond movies to be an extension of popular theatre, a kind of modern mythology. You see the same sort of action in Punch and Judy, or in the folk theatre of various cultures, like Grand Guignol."'

 

If he's not Bond, I wonder if he'll be this film's Emil Largo.

The pattern for the first four Bond films were: Spectre, Spectre, non-Spectre, and Spectre.

Now, if Quantum was always a part of Spectre in the new continuity and not a separate organization, here's the pattern for the Craig Bond films: Spectre/Quantum, Spectre/Quantum, non-Spectre, Spectre.

Could that mean Blofeld is waiting in the wings, waiting for the next Bond film? That's assuming a Harrison/Khan-type situation isn't being pulled here.

 

I can totally see Waltz referring to the internet as "a pest".

 

Why would he be Largo?

 

Interesting to see Jesper Christensen return after declaring the first two Craig-era Bond films were ****.

 

He presumably enjoys money.

 

Maybe not literally Largo, but the villain right before Blofeld makes an appearance ala Largo.

That's assuming, of course, that Waltz isn't actually playing Blofeld.

 

'Daniel Craig has knee surgery in NYC, returns to filming on April 22nd

James Bond star Daniel Craig has flown to New York for surgery on a knee problem. He will not return to filming 'SPECTRE' until April 22nd 2015.

"During a scheduled break, Daniel Craig had arthroscopic surgery to repair his knee injury. He will rejoin production on April 22nd at Pinewood," a spokesperson for EON Productions told the BBC.

They denied Craig had missed any planned filming, but a three week break without the lead actor is almost unprecedented.

Back in 2002, EON had to suspend filming of 'Die Another Day' whilst Pierce Brosnan also underwent a procedure on a knee injury. It was the first time a Bond movie had to put shooting on hold mid-production.

Almost all of the location work for 'SPECTRE' has been completed. Shooting will continue at Pinewood Studios in the UK before a brief trip for the first unit to Morocco in June.'

 

Blofeld appeared in FRWL though?

 

And relishes the idea of hiring someone to knock Daniel Craig in the balls again...by a male...as a means of torture.

 

More about SPECTRE in SPECTRE, in SPECTRE Speculative #5.

 

Hope Craig recovers from his surgery!

 

The Bond Brand - on the promotional partnerships 007 has formed over the last 50 years, and on the brand of Bond himself.

 

Number of factual errors - Casino Royale did not feature Tom Ford clothes. The suits were made by the Italian brand Brioni, who made suits for the Brosnan films. I don't believe Turnbull & Asser made the shirts, though they do offer replicas now.

 

Sony Pictures previews 'SPECTRE' at CinemaCon

Every year, the cinema industry gets together in Las Vegas to preview the slates of major studios.

Tonight, Sony screened a scene from early in the next James Bond film 'SPECTRE' as well as a montage of some of the action audiences can look forward to later this year. Director Sam Mendes recorded a video to beg the attendees not to spoil the identity of one character in the scene.

Cinema Blend has reported on what was shown:

Spoiler

"The extended clip began with James Bond (Daniel Craig) – out of his suit jacket but still wearing a shoulder holster – standing in his dimly lit apartment and staring out the window. A ringing sound starts and 007 makes his way over to the door, where he finds Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) standing in the hallway with a box. She calls the mysterious parcel "your delivery," hands it over to Bond, and follows him into his apartment. Though she says that she can’t stay long, it quickly becomes clear that she’s not only there to hand over a package.

Moneypenny’s voice gets much more dramatic as she asks what is going on with Bond, and while he plays dumb, she explains that everyone at MI6 is talking about what went down in Mexico (though it’s never explicitly explained exactly what happened). Rather than believing that he’s finished as a spy, however, she instead tells him that she thinks he’s just getting started, and that he has a secret that he has been keeping from everyone – including those closest to him. It’s at this point that Bond turns on a television and begins playing a video message – and while I won’t give away who is featured on the tape due to potential spoilers, I will say that it gives Bond explicit orders to perform an assassination.

The super spy then reveals that he has been tracking his target for a while, but has found his movements limited by the clandestine organization of which he is a part. He then asks Moneypenny to operate as a mole for him within MI6, specifically to do a bit of research about a name that he heard in Mexico: The Pale King. She questions why Bond would actually trust her with this job, to which 007 has a one word response: "Instinct."

ComicBook reported on some of the action montage that played after the scene:

Then, the montage played. In it, Bond is presses a woman [Monica Bellucci] against a wall and she says, "If you don't leave now we'll die together, Mr...?" He responds, "Bond. James Bond." Finally, action sequences round out the footage. A plane bursts through snow, not in a crash landing manner, but almost as if it were being used as an enormous sled, followed by car chases with one car eventually have its tail end engulfed in flames.

The identity of the 'surprise appearance' in the early scene won't be too shocking to regular fans, and will extend the run of a certain Bond alumni for another film."

 

Spoiler

Mr. White could be the surprise appearance?

 

I don't think so... Mr. White was even in the teaser trailer.

 

Assuming that this quote:

is referring to this scene:

makes me wonder if the surprise appearance isn't

Spoiler

M (Judi Dench) on a prerecorded message.

That would certainly extend the run of a certain Bond character, and outside of Ray Fiennes, there's not many others I can imagine giving Bond orders...