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by Cameron Mcgavin
December 12, 2002 Thursday
Pierce Brosnan he ain't, but Cameron McGavin got just as much attention when he took a very famous set of wheels for a spin in St Kilda.
It's early on an overcast Saturday morning and St Kilda is slowly waking up to another weekend. Apart from some hardy souls out for their morning jog, ride or skate, it's eerily quiet. In fact, I can't recall a quieter time in Melbourne's pub and party capital; but then early-morning jaunts have never really been my thing. This day, though, is a little different. Faced with the choice of a few more hours of valuable shut-eye or planting my bum in the Jaguar XKR driven by the villainous Zao in the latest James Bond movie Die Another Day, I've set the alarm for an ungodly hour, pulled my recalcitrant carcass from the bed and made the trip to Silverstone Jaguar in Doncaster for a meeting with automotive stardom. The first sighting of the bright metallic green XKR roadster in the garage is enough to justify the early start. One of eight XKRs built for the film, this one is in Australia so it can be driven by Zao himself (played by Rick Yune) on to the red carpet at the Die Another Day opening night at Crown casino later in the week.
And it's a stunner. Jaguar's XKR roadster is sexy enough in bog-stock form, but add a wild bodykit, quad exhausts, mini-rockets peeking out from the grille, a Gatling gun mounted behind the front seats, a dirty great big "Left Hand Drive" sign on the back and the metallic green colour from the Jag formula one car and you've got a combination guaranteed to stop traffic.
Unlike the four XKRs that were converted to Ford V8 power and four-wheel-drive so they could better handle the icy terrain that features in the film's main chase sequence, our car retains the regular Jaguar supercharged V8 and rear-wheel-drive chassis. So, apart from adapting to its LHD configuration, driving it poses no real challenges. First stop St Kilda then.
On the run down to the bay the Jag's pose value becomes all-too apparent, even at this early hour. Fellow motorists change lanes wildly to get a closer look, buzzing around the XKR like flies around a super-sized dog log, while pedestrians perform double, triple and quadruple-takes before mouthing silent, drawn-out expletives. Then there's the motorcyclist who screams out "it's the Bond car!" so loudly to his pillion passenger his voice is heard from 50 metres away, even though he's wearing a full-face helmet.
As we pull up in front of St Kilda pier, early-morning fitness freaks are pretty much our only company. Most stop as they pass, pausing to get a closer look at the latest in a long line of Bond exotica and asking the odd question. But it's still surprisingly quiet.
Then the floodgates open. Out of nowhere people start to appear, many with cameras at the ready, while others simply stare as if they're trying to burn the image of the Jag into their brains. Even though the film is a few days away from launch, most know already the Jag is one of its stars. Pre-release marketing and Jaguar's latest ad campaign are obviously doing their jobs.
The next stop on our agenda is Luna Park. As we drive past, a horde of boys point and scream excitedly. When we stop outside the entrance they go nuts, crowding around, playing with the Gatling gun and touching the missiles. Their questions are worth bottling.
"Is this your car?" asks one. Er, no. "Are the missiles real?" gargles his friend. Er, no. "Are you rich?" says one earnest fellow. Er, sorry to disappoint you, kid. "Do you know Pierce Brosnan?" asks another. Not in this lifetime, buddy.
When the crowd starts to grow to uncontrollable proportions, we make our escape to the popular Cafe Racer for a caffeine hit with the city's cycling fraternity. Again the reaction is overwhelming.
"As soon as I saw the gun on it I knew what it was. I just love the colour," says one gent excitedly. His opinion is mirrored by just about everybody we speak to.
The rest of our day with the world's most famous Jaguar is just as frenetic. At St Kilda Marina, we are stopped by Jenny and her children, James and Lucy, who have given chase after spotting the XKR. Luckily for them, they have a camera at the ready.
"We saw it coming," says Jenny. "I'm just glad you turned around so we could catch up with you."
Then there's Steve, whose jaw hits the ground when we pull up to a service station for fuel.
"I've actually got some friends who work in Hollywood and they were actually telling me that this thing would be going around Australia," says the American. "I said, 'No way, the Aussies won't go for that'. How wrong I was!"
Berry takes a Break
21 NOVEMBER 2002
Talented Bond babe Halle Berry revealed this week that she is to take a
three-month break from movie making in order to focus on her marriage. The
actress, who picked up an Oscar earlier this year for her role in Monster's
Ball is keen to try and save her 22-month union with R&B singer Eric Benet.
Thirty-two-year-old Eric reportedly had a liaison with an ex-girlfriend while his wife was on location lensing Die Another Day. He has since been treated in a rehabilitation centre for sex addicts.
"We are facing a crisis," admitted the actress, who has adopted Eric's ten-year-old daughter India. "But we're very much united, and are in this for the long haul," she added.
Halle's first marriage to major league baseball player David Justice ended in 1996 after three years, leaving the star contemplating suicide. She has revealed she was so desperate at the time that she sat in her car in the garage and turned on the ignition. As the fumes began to build up she had a change of mind, however. "I'm not proud of that moment in my life, but honestly I was ready to give up. My divorce was really hard on me."
"It's time to take a three-month break, to be with my family and just to regroup," she said this week.
A bond with real-life films
by Terry Armour
December 5, 2002, Thursday
Pierce Brosnan feels a bond with real-world films, reports Terry Armour
HE enters the room looking nothing like James Bond. Pierce Brosnan is dressed casually, wearing an open-collared shirt, blazer and a pair of slacks.
And where are the Bond-like gadgets? A remote-control watch that operates his car or exploding cufflinks or, perhaps, a Palm Pilot that doubles as some sort of missile-tracking device. Stuff like that. "I'm not really a gadget guy," Brosnan admits in his familiar Irish brogue.
"I still go around with a Walkman and tapes in my back pocket. I have a laptop that collects dust. I'm really old-school and I'm feeling it, more and more."
So old-school, Brosnan happens to find himself at a crossroads in his movie career, a crossroads that is magnified with his distinctly different personas in his two latest films.
Of course, he is again suave spy 007 in Die Another Day. Brosnan then bares his gentler side as a father fighting for custody of his three children in 1953 Ireland in Evelyn.
But as he approaches 50, Brosnan is contemplating whether his run as James Bond - this is his fourth turn as Agent 007 - slowly is coming to an end.
Brosnan has agreed to do at least one more Bond flick for MGM.
Beyond that, he really does not know.
After all, it is only a matter of time before he's no longer believable in what has turned into his most popular role.
"There certainly will come a time when I have to move away from Bond," he says.
"One gets older and one can't play the roles one used to play. That's why Irish Dream Time (the production company he formed in 1998) has been such a godsend. It came from the concept and the passion to have control over my own career and to have choices."
The latest of these choices is Evelyn, which also stars Juliana Margulies, Stephen Rea, Aidan Quinn and Alan Bates.
It is based on the true story of Desmond Doyle (Brosnan), a down-and-out Irish labourer whose wife abandons him, leaving him to raise their kids.
But when the Catholic Church finds out Doyle not only has lost his wife but is unemployed, the children are whisked away to orphanages, leading to a court battle as Doyle tries to regain custody of the children.
The role is as far away from Bond as Brosnan can get.
"Was it a stretch? Not really. There was a strong identification with the character.
"The man is a father, I'm a father. The man is Irish, I'm Irish. I grew up in a Catholic community."
That side of Brosnan - devoted husband and father - is a side many, except close friends, rarely see.
He dotes on his wife, Keely Shaye Smith and his five kids and tries to spend as much time with them as possible.
Margulies says the soft, gentle side was the first side of Brosnan she saw.
"I'm really embarrassed to say this - I had never seen him do James Bond," she says.
"What I knew of Pierce's work was The Tailor of Panama and Thomas Crown Affair - two movies that I loved."
And, Margulies says, believable as Desmond Doyle.
It's the same impression Brosnan made on Paul Pender, who wrote the script for Evelyn.
"I can't praise him enough," Pender says.
"The studios want him to always be James Bond - always to be this smooth guy in a suit saving the planet.
"The last thing they want him to do is some small Irish movie.
"Now, of course, they love it, because he's great in it."
For Brosnan, it will always come back to Bond.
He turned out to be the most prolific of the crop of 007s that followed Sean Connery, including Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton.
Brosnan loves being associated with Bond. He takes the role very seriously.
"For me to be playing this role is such a kick in the pants," he says.
"I'm passionate that it should reach as big an audience as possible.
"I go on the road and I sell it as much as I possibly can because I love what I do.
"I want it to carry on being great after I am gone."
Brosnan admits that is something he has pondered a lot lately, life after Bond.
It is a life that already has begun, at least on the big screen.
Die Another Day opens December 12.
It published an image from the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day", in which Bond actor Pierce Brosnan is smoking a cigar.
The decision to feature cigars in the film, which premieres in London on Monday, has outraged the anti-smoking lobby.
Bond, better known for his vodka-martinis than his nicotine habit, smoked in his early films but has not been seen with a cigarette since the 1989 film "Licence to Kill".
When Brosnan took over the role in the mid-1990s he adopted a strong anti-smoking stance but agreed to smoke cigars in the latest movie because it is set in Cuba, the paper reported.
The government is expected to toughen its rules on cigarette advertising next year, outlawing the use of cigarettes in films and television dramas.
The paper said "Die Another Day" is littered with blatant plugs for a variety of brand names, prompting critics to dub it "Buy another Day".
Thu Nov 14, 3:36 AM
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - When MGM wants to let loose, the studio still manages a mighty roar. At least that was the message Monday at its 3,000-guest Shrine Auditorium mega-screening for "Die Another Day."
"This is the biggest franchise in the history of the motion picture business," said MGM vice-chairman Chris McGurk. "You have a premiere that does justice, not just to the movie, but to the entire franchise."
Doing justice to Bond began at arrivals, where evoking the film's frozen Icelandic setting called for a blue carpet and a 150-foot wall where half the 15-foot-wide panels were clear ice embossed with the 007 logo. Nearby were Olympic-style fencing duelists battling on 5-foot-high platforms.
The most spectacular death in Hollywood history almost occurred when one of the duelists toppled backward and nearly landed on MGM chairman Alex Yemenidjian. Imagine the MGM topper skewered by a sword at a Bond premiere. Who needs publicity campaign if something like that happens?
Fortunately, Yemenidjian and the shaken-not-broken duelist lived to die another day.
Meanwhile, guests continued down the carpet to a 40-foot-long, carved-ice bar serving Finlandia martinis. The concept seemed to be: If you can't serve a martini before a Bond movie, when can you?
Inside the Shrine, a screen was set on the stage. Though the house is huge, it worked remarkably well for a screening. However, one source said the hair-pulling hassles MGM had with the Shrine management over everything from ticketing to bringing popcorn into the auditorium (the venue just got an expensive makeover and they're a bit touchy about neatness) makes it unlikely the pair will be doing another screening together soon.
The after-party was in the adjacent exposition hall, which was transformed with acres of white carpet and cobalt blue lighting. The main feature was a 45-foot high, white fabric cube with a four-sided bar, Plexiglas flooring and go-go dancers. One savant said the space had a "techno Ice Capades feel it."
The room did look quite hip, though many of the guests appeared to be from the two-dozen Bond marketing partners. Think of a rave with Ford dealership execs.
And as for as the event's price tag: A survey of other studio party planners (and they were all there) put the cost between $750,000 and $1 million. Which leaves open the question: If that's what a "special screening" costs, what's the tab for next week's London premiere with Queen Elizabeth?
Among those raving about the picture were director Lee Tamahori; stars Pierce Brosnan (news) and Halle Berry (news); plus guests Tim Allen , Sean Astin , Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Tara Reid , Barbara Sinatra, John Salley and Venus Williams.
Reuters/Variety
It will be a case of 'never mind the quality, cum on feel the toyz' when 007 sets off on his new 40th anniversary adventure DIE ANOTHER DAY (12A), starting Wednesday 20 November 2002.
The 20th official instalment of cinema's most enduring franchise is the ultimate touchy-feely Bond movie, part nostalgia trip, part cutting-edge thriller.
Every action word with an 'ing' on the end is here - surfing, sliding, hovering, flying, gliding, diving, shooting, driving, lying and, of course, lashings of bonking...
The bonus is that while you are hanging on to your seats during the stunts, David Arnold's superlative reworking of Monty Norman's original theme will keep your feet tapping firmly on the ground, too.
Unfortunately, Pierce Brosnan's last adventure in the role, The World Is Not Enough, proved that writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade can't control a meandering plot.
Die Another Day, some five minutes longer at 133 mins, also wanders alarmingly as their latest central storyline, taking in everything from diamonds to a hi-tech device in space, stretches credulity beyond the capacity of the production company's computers too.
The digital effects when 007 comes off an ice flow are a disgrace to the time-honoured ethos that if a Bond stunt ain't real, don't film it.
The net result is that Pierce Brosnan, ironically a near-perfect 007, still hasn't made a classic movie in four attempts.
Time is running out, Mr Bond!
Still, if it's noyz, toyz and boyz you want, DAD is great fun to watch, with the action racing breathlessly around the globe from Korea to Hong Kong, Cuba, London and Iceland and back to the Far East again.
At 33, Toby Stephens, the son of Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, plays 007's youngest ever nemesis, Gustav Graves.
And, when he's not worrying about Graves' ludicrously evil plans, Bond has his hands full twice over.
Take your pick between the curvaceous charms of undercover MI6 girl Miranda Frost (Oxford-educated silverscreen debutante Rosamund Pike) and her luscious love rival Jinx, with Oscar-winning Halle Berry effectively Ursula Andress back in black when she emerges from a freezing (Spanish) sea that's supposed to be hot 'n' steamy Cuba.
Die Another Day constantly pays homage to its 19 predecessors in this way, thus giving fuel to those who believe that 007 has actually had his day.
Where is the innovation here?
Yet these retrospective touches, often tasteful and frequently so subtle you won't see them all the first time, will surely enrich the overall viewing experience for fans.
Elsewhere, Madonna enjoys the dual distinction of playing a cameo role as well as singing the title song - fine with the credits but utterly forgettable in a very non-Bond way afterwards.
Dame Judi Dench plays M for the fourth time, though her disjointed appearances reduce her impact, while John Cleese, stepping up to take over as Q from the late Desmond Llewelyn, introduces a very nifty trick which pays off beautifully late on with Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond).
Directed by New Zealander Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors), Die Another Day will blow the minds of younger viewers taking advantage of the new 12A certificate with adult accompaniment.
The hair-raising pre-title surfing sequence, the hovercraft battle and a 'my toyz are bigger than your toyz' chase between a Jaguar XKR and an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish across Iceland's frozen waters are all classic silver screen moments worthy of your admission alone.
With that in mind, the usual promise at the end of the credits that 'James Bond will return' seems assured indefinitely.
But unless Brosnan can really crack it next time, he will go down in history as the man who saved 007 ... yet ultimately achieved less in five movies than the unfortunate George Lazenby did in one with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Rating: * * * * girls, gadgets, action; * * plot
Thursday, November 14, 2002 10:10:29 p.m
Forty years ago in London¹s Pavilion Theater, one lucky movie audience witnessed the beginning of a dynasty. Nobody could have known it at the time, though, that the little movie that premiered the night of October 6, 1962, Dr. No, was the start of something huge.
Who would have guessed that the movie career of James Bond, secret agent 007, would be thriving four decades and five actors later? Not his creator, Ian Fleming, who would see only one more Bond movie before his death in 1964.
Not his producers, Albert R. ³Cubby² Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, even though they had the foresight to negotiate with Fleming a clause that allowed them to invent their own stories and titles once the supply of his Bond books was exhausted.
Not the star, Sean Connery, who got the role because the producers admired his machismo even though Fleming thought the actor too low class to play his suave creation (Connery won Fleming over during production).
Certainly not the studio, United Artists. Executives were so convinced American audiences wouldn¹t care about a British spy that Bond¹s US movie debut was delayed until May 1963.
Originally, Dr. No was to be dumped into Texas drive-ins, but because the Fleming novels had started to climb the bestseller charts (helped by a plug from President John F. Kennedy), the movie got a decent-sized release, though with little fanfare.
Dr. No made a profit in America, but that didn¹t yet matter. Broccoli, Saltzman and Connery already were filming the second Bond movie, From Russia With Love, in Istanbul. Its success would establish Bond as a worldwide hero.
The third film, Goldfinger, elevated Bond to blockbuster status. Goldfinger began a wave of merchandising that rivals what would happen with Star Wars more than a decade later. Bond products were even more ubiquitous. Did Yoda have his own brand of vodka? Did Han Solo have his own line of menswear?
Connery did six Bond movies (seven if you count the rival production Never Say Never Again, but I would rather not). He was followed by George Lazenby (one movie), Roger Moore (seven movies), Timothy Dalton (two movies) and Pierce Brosnan (four movies and counting).
Bond has had his lulls since the 1960s, but the 007 series remains the most venerable and successful in film history. And it just keeps going. Bond officially enters his fourth decade (and second century) when Brosnan¹s upcoming Die Another Day -- the series¹ 20th entry -- opens on November 22 (November 27 in the Philippines.)
Over the years, this James Bond fan has written several stories reviewing the series¹ history. Rather than write another one to mark Bond¹s 40th anniversary, I decided to try something more fun.
Taking a cue from High Fidelity, I came up with a series of top five lists based on 40 years of Bond history and trivia (you would be frightened to learn how many of these lists I compiled without having to consult a book or website).
These lists are based solely on my opinion, and other Bond fans will gnash their teeth as they read them. Moore and Dalton are my favorite Bonds, so I¹ve known for years my views are in the minority.
But what¹s the point of being a Bond fan if you can¹t be adventurous?
The five best James Bond women
1. Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), On Her Majesty¹s Secret Service; 2. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), The Spy Who Loved Me; 3. Honey Rider (Ursula Andress), Dr. No; 4. Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), GoldenEye; 5. Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), For Your Eyes Only. The five best James Bond villains
1. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Forbe), Goldfinger; 2. Red Grant (Robert Shaw), From Russia With Love; 3. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), From Russia With Love; 4. Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman), Dr. No; 5. Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), The Man With the Golden Gun.
Five actors who almost played James Bond
1. Cary Grant (who turned down the request of his friend, Bond producer Cubby Broccoli); 2. John Gavin (who was signed for Diamonds Are Forever, but lost the part when Sean Connery was lured back); 3. Burt Reynolds (United Artists executives wanted him for Live and Let Die, but producers Broccoli and Harry Saltzman insisted Bond be British and hired Roger Moore); 4. James Brolin (who screen-tested for Octopussy before Moore renewed his contract); 5. Sam Neill (everyone else on the production team was ready to cast him in The Living Daylights, but Broccoli had the final word and he picked Timothy Dalton).
Wed Nov 13, 7:51 AM ET
The James Bond film franchise may be 40 years old, but Monday night's
premiere of Die Another Day at the Shrine Auditorium proved that the British
secret agent who prefers his martini shaken, not stirred, is alive and well.
The movie opens Nov. 22.
''I genuinely have not been this excited about a Bond movie in 10 years,''
said Lord of the Rings' Sean Astin, whose second installment, The Two Towers,
opens Dec. 18. ''For a while, the Bond girl was politically incorrect or
something. People have sort of rediscovered this franchise.''
Consider the premiere's venue. When director Lee Tamahori was told it would
take place at the Shrine, ''I thought they were out of their minds,'' he
said. ''To be holding it here where they had the Academy Awards is a pretty
tall order.''
Newest Bond babe Halle Berry inhaled the electric atmosphere. ''This is
amazing,'' she said. ''I've never been to a premiere this big. To know I'm a
part of it is a bit overwhelming.''
She sparkled in a stunning asymmetrical silver mini-dress with a nude lining,
designed by Australian Collette Dinnigan. Hubby Eric Benet had the final say
after she narrowed her choices to two outfits. ''The other one was
fabulous,'' he said, stepping back to admire his wife. ''But this one --
lawd!''
Berry's character, Jinx, an American assassin, already is such a hit that
there's talk of her own spinoff.
''Everyone would love to do it,'' said MGM vice chairman Chris McGurk. ''We
think Halle has created a great character in Jinx that obviously could support its
own movie or series of movies. It's all incumbent right now on us developing an
idea and a script that everybody is excited about and finding the right filmmakers.''
Pierce Brosnan, back for his fourth stint as Bond, had wife Keely Shaye Smith
on his arm. ''This is as good as it gets,'' he said.
Guests included former Bond girl Jane Seymour (Live and Let Die) and
Mulholland Drive's Laura Elena Harring.
"I've always wanted to be a Bond girl,'' Harring said.
The Navan born actor started work on Die Another Day immediately
after his Irish Dream Time production of Evelyn, which he filmed here
in Dublin.
Brosnan told the Daily Mirror: "If I do another Bond I'll try not to
do it after spending time in Ireland. I love pubs, and being Irish,
one does not shy away from a pint or two. I had a trainer but trying
to act and produce a film isn't easy. I was filming in Ireland so
there was the pub thing."
He went on: "I thought, 'F*** it and enjoy the Guinness'. Training is
a pain, but you have to have some discipline if you're going to stay
in the game in you're 50's."
Pierce will turn 50 next May - we hope he has a few pints of Guinness
to celebrate...
The International Spy Museum Store in Washington, DC will be commemorating 40
years of James Bond this Thursday, November 14th with a book signing of "The
James Bond Legacy - Forty Years of 007 Movies" by John Cork and Bruce Scivally
from 1 to 4 pm.
In addition to the booksigning the store will be showing preview clips of the
NEW Bond movie "Die Another Day" and will be offering store visitors numerous
ways to win prizes by participating in an in-store trivia contest, coming
dressed as your favorite Bond character, and entering to win various prizes
including a pair of preview movie tickets, Bond books and other Bond
memorabilia.
A wide array of Bond related merchandise will be featured in the store for the
first time including but not limited to the NEW radio controlled Bond cars,
"Die Another Day" movie poster and t-shirt, Bond and Barbie gift set, magnets,
mugs, limited edition shot glasses and Bond figurines, 007 Martini Set and
more.
The fun will continue on Friday, November 15th beginning at 7 am when
Washington radio station WBIG hosts live spy interviews and call-ins from the
Spy Museum including a live interview with co-author of "The James Bond
Legacy", John Cork. Discounted early admission to the Museum (50% off) and
$1.50 coffee and bagel special at Spy City Cafe will be offered between 7 am
and 9 am.
The International Spy Museum is located at 800 F Stree, NW, Washinton, DC and
is accessible bia the Gallery Place and Chinatown Metro - 9th Street/Museums
exit.
For more information vist www.spymuseum.org or call the museum at 202.EYE.SPY.U
Bond girls are back in style
by Kelly Carter
LOS ANGELES -- Bond girls and those who aspire to be one were on hand.
Sharon Osbourne didn't let a chemotherapy treatment earlier in the day keep
her away. Tennis phenom Venus Williams ducked out of sister Serena's tennis
tournament final to be among the 3,000 guests.
From ShowbizIreland.comBrosnan will Drink Another Day...
11-14-02
Irish actor Pierce Brosnan admitted he's as fallible as the rest of
us, after struggling to get in shape for the latest Bond movie due to
enjoying too much Guinness.
Bond Events @ International Spy Museum Store
November 14-15, 2002
International Spy Museum - Washington, DC, USA
Come to a book signing that will leave you shaken and stirred!
From The Daily Record
I WISH I WAS LIKE 007
But I'm a shy wimp who gets hurt performing stunts says Brosnan
by Lindsay Clydesdale
Aug 11 2002
CHARMING, seductive and brave, James Bond never fails to save the world and
get the girl. But despite winning fans across the globe with his portrayal of
special agent 007, Pierce Brosnan has revealed he's nothing like his
on-screen character.
He's afraid of doing his own stunts, hates drinking Martini and is a shy, bumbling wallflower at the glittering Hollywood parties he's regularly invited to.
As the release of the latest Bond movie Die Another Day nears, Pierce has admitted he'd love to be more like the all-action heart-throb who has made him a star.
The actor, who has two children with his wife Keely Shaye Smith, admits he'd like to take some love tips from the legendary womaniser.
He said: "I would like to be the real James Bond if I could. I think every guy would in real life. I don't know whether I would do very well at it though.
"Every guy would like to know just the right wine to choose, how to handle a woman, and to be able to acquit himself in a tight situation.
"And Bond always wins. Wherever I go, I'm James Bond now. The character is loved all over the world. Everyone has their own favourite, whether it be (Sean) Connery or (Roger) Moore or me. Bond has changed my life. I wouldn't get the quality of scripts I now receive if I hadn't been James Bond."
Pierce turns 50 next year and admits he's getting too old for the fast- paced Bond heroics, but fans have said there's no question he should retire.
After all, Connery returned as Bond at 53, while Roger Moore was still playing 007 at 58.
"I hate doing my own stunts," said Pierce. "I'm confident but - don't get me wrong - acting is hard enough. Doing your own stunts is really hard work. I'm not as quick as I used to be. I may look glamorous but I've got the bruises to remind me about how tough it is."
The action sequences are made even tougher after a back injury left him in agony while filming in New Guinea six years ago.
He said: "If there's one thing I hate, it's my bad back. I was shooting Robinson Crusoe in Papua, New Guinea, and I threw a disc out. I had to have surgery immediately in order to finish the picture. It freaked the hell out of me."
Die Another Day co-stars Oscar- winning actress Halle Berry, who plays Jinx, a siren who gives Bond the lay of his life in what promise to be the hottest sex scenes in the series' 40-year history.
It's also been revealed that after four decades of flirting, Bond finally kisses Miss Moneypenny, played in the movie by Samantha Bond.
AND despite finding the physical demands of the Bond role exhausting, Pierce has signed up for the next film in the series, although No.21 won't begin filming for another two years.
Pierce had an unusual entry into showbiz, running away from his home in Ireland to follow his dream of becoming an entertainer.
He revealed: " I went to work with the circus as a fire-eater. I have always loved the circus."
Pierce's love of acting was in part inspired by Connery, whose Bond movies of the 1960s made a big impact on him. "He was a childhood hero of mine. Because of him, I wanted to play Bond," he said.
As the star of four Bond films and other big-screen hits including Dante's Peak, Mrs Doubtfire and The Thomas Crown Affair, Pierce is now one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, and loves his fame and success.
"Frankly, I enjoy both," he said. "It's great to be recognised. It's been a long haul, not only in my personal life but in my career. I've relished it."
Pierce was devastated when his first wife Cassie died from cancer.
He raised their son Sean alone, also caring for his late wife's two children, before meeting TV journalist Keely in 1994.
At his six-acre estate in Malibu, California, where he lives with Keely and their two children, Dylan Thomas and Paris Beckett, Pierce relaxes by donning an artist's smock and getting out his watercolours.
"Painting is very relaxing, soothing," said Pierce, who was once a professional illustrator. "In recent years, I've sold two paintings for about dollars 5000 each, with the money going to cancer research. It was a nice way of raising money, but I tell myself not to give up the day job."
Despite his fame, Pierce claims to feel shy and unsure of himself in public.
He said: "To this day, I am painfully and agonisingly shy in certain social situations. Even acting hasn't helped me in this department."
Pierce laughed at the idea of being a sex symbol, pointing out the personalised Californian licence plate on his sports car, ICY CALM, was ironic.
"I certainly don't see myself as a sex symbol," he said. "If any actor does, he's shooting himself in the foot. I'm just an actor doing the job."
Pierce takes his paternal role seriously after being abandoned by his own father when he was a child. Raised in a single-parent home, Pierce never heard from his errant dad until years later when he was a successful TV actor.
He revealed: "My father left my mother when I was a baby and I hated him for a long time. That hurt me. Many years later, when I was in Ireland doing one of the last episodes of Remington Steele in the Eighties, he came to my hotel on a Sunday afternoon.
"I had tea and biscuits ready and, when I opened the door, there was Tom Brosnan, a stranger to me. I had expected him to be this very tall man and he wasn't at all.
"He was this wiry bantam-cock of a little man with great energy, very lively. We talked and had a couple of pints of Guinness and then he took off. I never asked him why he'd abandoned me."
PERFECTIONIST Pierce hates watching himself on screen. I find it very difficult to look at myself," he said. "You realise there's nothing you can do once the picture is finished. I tend to be very critical of myself."
But he won't be returning to TV or following the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and treading the boards in theatre.
"TV is too stifling - I always feared getting locked into something," he said. "There's less imagination on television than there is in the movies.
"And you couldn't offer me enough money to get me on stage. I don't have that desire or hunger. My machine's a little rusty anyway."
Pierce won't be celebrating the latest film with Bond's favourite tipple, Martini - shaken, not stirred. "I prefer Jack Daniels, on the rocks, thank you very much," he said.
Die Another Day has its royal premiere in London on November 18 and goes on release four days later.
Jinxed Halle May Get Bond Spinoff
By Josh Grossberg
Apparently, nobody does it better than Halle Berry.
The Oscar-winning actress made such a big splash playing Jinx in the upcoming 007 adventure, Die Another Day, that the filmmakers now want to give the butt-kicking Bond babe her own movie franchise.
Berry confirmed as much in an exclusive interview with E! News Live, revealing that she's in talks with MGM and 007 producers, Eon Productions, about reprising the Jinx role in what would become the first Bond-based spinoff series in the franchise's 40-year history.
"Isn't it just crazy?" Berry tells E! "If Jinx could stay just as she is and evolve even further, and if they'd put the loving care that they put into James Bond--I absolutely would--I'd do it in a heartbeat."
Eat your heart out, Pussy Galore.
MGM did not return phone calls seeking comment on the story, and reps for England-based Eon Productions were unavailable.
Reviewers who have seen early screenings of the new Bond film say it plays much like a franchise-launching film, with Berry's character getting plenty of screen time.
While Die Another Day has Berry slinking sexily out of the sea à la Ursula Andress (news) in Dr. No, Jinx is a highly trained vixen, sort of a female James Bond who battles the bad guys and dispenses one-liners with an aplomb equal to that of the martini-swilling super-spy.
In a recent interview with TV Guide, Berry pointed out that the Bond women are "becoming more stronger and more intellectual," though she admitted having a hard time keeping up physically with Pierce Brosnan (news), who's making his fourth go-round as the suave secret agent.
During filming, Berry said she "saw smoke coming out of Pierce's feet" as the two were running in one scene, and she "just couldn't go fast enough." Of course, that might have been because the Jinxed Berry had debris from a smoke grenade lodged in her left eye in a stunt gone awry last March that landed her in the hospital. The fragment was removed in a 30-minute procedure, and she suffered no permanent damage.
While no details have been set, the Jinx project would be the latest MGM is prepping for Berry. The studio also wants the actress to do a remake of the '70s blaxploitation classic Foxy Brown.
And before Jinx gets off the drawing board, Berry has plenty to keep her busy. She's signed to star in Need, playing a successful New York therapist who learns that one of her suicidal patients is having an affair with her husband. That film, directed by Luis Mandoki, is expected to shoot early next year pending approval of the latest draft of the script.
Berry has also committed to October Squall, an indie drama in which she'll play a rape victim who gets pregnant by her attacker and decides to keep the baby only to find that when the child hits puberty, the boy suddenly looks like he's inherited his father's violent streak.
Plus, she's attached to Paramount Picture's The Guide for Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori. And if the upcoming X-Men sequel does as well as expected, she'd likely return as Storm in a third installment.
Die Another Day opens nationwide November 22.
For the complete Berry interview, tune into Monday's edition of E! News Live at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT. Berry can also be seen in an exclusive sit-down with Jules Asner (news) next week on Revealed, premiering November 18, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Bob Anderson is one of those veterans of British film- making whose stories can keep you mesmerised for hours. His speciality is swords and he can swash a buckle with the best of them. That's why they hired him for Die Another Day -- in which Bond (Pierce Brosnan) abandons his gun for swordplay with Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike).
'It's very romantic,' says Anderson. 'Aren't you getting fed up with guns and fast cars that blow up? How far can you go today, getting bigger, blowing up more? It gets boring.'
Few wield the sword better than Brosnan, says Anderson. 'Because he is in every shot in this picture, he has done less rehearsals than any actor I've worked with. However, the outcome is that he's the most natural actor I've seen on film with a sword . He's got a fantastic memory and great timing.'
Aluminium swords were used for Die Another Day, because they are lighter and easier to handle than iron or steel blades. Although the actors moved onto weapons of a more impressive calibre, they started off with the epee -- the basic fencing sword. Anderson explains: 'You don't need elaborate clothing and you can strip off down to a T- shirt. Then we go onto the heavy weapons, military sabres, and now Pierce and Toby are crashing into the big case with the swords and the armour and when they smash it, the swords come out, and they grab a broadsword.'
When I ask how Rosamund Pike fared at fencing, Anderson turns paternal. 'She's marvellous. She is the most studied actress I've met. When she gets her teeth into doing something, she never stops.
'She came for lessons almost every day when she wasn't working and she now is the most comp-etent swordsman. Nobody can tell the difference between her and the experts when she's fencing.'
The aim of the game is to make it look authentic, he says: 'Most swordfights on film look artificial -- all except mine, of course!'
Anderson ought to be a dazzling swordsman -- he's been teaching actors to spar for half a century. His first job was with Errol Flynn on The Master Of Ballantrae in 1953, and in recent years he's seen movie swordplay make a comeback.
Recent projects include the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, First Knight with Sean Connery, and The Mask Of Zorro with Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins.
'Tony [Hopkins] is wonderful to work with,' says Anderson. 'He was fiftysomething when we worked on Zorro. He'll never be the world's greatest swordsman, but he had more interest than most actors I've worked with.'
More recently, Anderson worked with broadswords on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but they were no ordinary broadswords.
' Richard Taylor and his staff, who made all the weapons, are geniuses. They make swords that you cannot break. On a film quite often I break about 15 blades, but not with Richard's swords. I don't know what he puts in them but they're bloody good.'
The glory days, though, must have been working with rabble-rousers like Errol Flynn. 'He was a man's man,' confirms Anderson. 'He used to get drunk every night. He loved young women, drink and young women.'
Flynn's swordplay never flagged, however. 'He was so well trained in the art of drinking and acting that one didn't intefere too much with the other,' says Anderson. 'It was just that the stuff he used to drink was eating his kidneys and everything away inside. He died at 50 but he was a great actor and a good swordsman. He remembered his lines, he remembered the routine. His only problem was he deteriorated so quickly.'
And for Anderson, good swordplay is the measure of a man.
' Anybody can hang around corners and shoot guns,' he says, 'because you probably don't even meet the person you're killing. But when you're doing a sword fight, standing eyeball to eyeball with that guy requires courage. For me it's the greatest test in the struggle between good and evil. '
Related Links from same set of article in the Sunday Herald:
Who Met All The Spies
A Touch Of Frost
Boldfinger
A Bondish Encounter
By JAMES BARRON
Nov 8, 2002 JULIANNA MARGULIES once wanted to be a Bond girl. "I was supposed to test for one of the Bond movies" while still on "E.R.," she said. But the Bond producers wanted a five-month commitment, and she did not have that kind of time.
Eventually, she quit "E.R." And made a movie with PIERCE BROSNAN. Not a Bond film, but "Evelyn," a drama set in Ireland in the 1950's about an unemployed single father's struggle to get his children back. So did she enjoy their rather long screen kiss? "Both Pierce and I, when the director went, like, `Great, cut, O.K., let's move on,' we were like, `Hang on, we've been waiting the entire film,' " she recalled.
By now she was at a party in the Fifth Avenue apartment of the photographer NANCY ELLISON and her husband, WILLIAM D. ROLLNICK. Her co-star did some rough-housing with the Rollnicks' dog, Buzz, who may or may not have been impressed. "Last week Buzz jumped into MEG RYAN'S lap on that couch over there," said Mr. Rollnick. "He loves Meg Ryan."
James Bond fans have been trafficking in the rumor that the former Bond did a cameo, playing the father of current MI5 agent Pierce Brosnan. But word is that Connery's scene was cut after director Lee Tamahori was reminded that novelist Ian Fleming created Bond as an orphan.
"I think Lee Tamahori probably tried to get Sean in the movie," Brosnan told us. "But he never made an appearance on the set."
Though Brosnan has signed on for another Bond romp, his heart may be closer to "Evelyn," a small movie in which he plays an alcoholic Irish singer fighting to win custody of his children.
"It's always been about Remington Steele, Thomas Crown, Bond," said Brosnan, who also produced "Evelyn," after a Wednesday-night screening here. "Now I have to pay attention to the performance - ask myself what roles I want to do."
The Bond franchise does have its perks - which Brosnan is happy to share. Walking out of the "Evelyn" screening, he tossed that scraggly autograph hound known as Radio Man a new Omega Seamaster watch (retail value: $1,750).
Radio, said to be the inspiration for Robin Williams' "The Fisher King" character, can wear it while he rides around on the Schwinn bicycle that Whoopi Goldberg gave him.
Commercialism before patriotism
Photo Caption: Pierce Brosnan, as James Bond in Die Another Day, with the Aston Martin Vanquish.
The James Bond films used to be about saving the world. Now they are a sales pitch, writes Guy Trebay.
If you happen to be looking for a product spokesman, how about a skirt-chasing spy in his 80s who drinks too much, has an unfortunate taste for cashmere turtlenecks and glib one-liners and who clung to his fear of the communist menace long after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down?
The man in question is, of course, James Bond, who made his fictional debut almost 50 years ago, his first big-screen appearance in the 1960s and who, through miracles of both public appetite and celluloid, has remained not only perpetually suave and virile, but among the world's most bulletproof brands.
The most recent marketing test of Bond's potency comes in the form of the latest instalment in the franchise, Die Another Day, MGM studio's 20th vehicle built around a fictional character who by rights should be residing in a retirement village in Oxfordshire, but instead is considered by makers of consumer products to be sexier than ever.
"James Bond is always about solving world crises and having great cars," Jan Valentic says. He is vice-president for global marketing at Ford, one of at least 20 companies promoting their brands in the film. According to Variety, Ford paid $63 million to replace BMW as the franchise's official vehicle supplier, with Bond driving its $460,000 Aston Martin Vanquish.
Meanwhile, Halle Berry, who plays the Jinx, the latest in a long line of sultry Bond female characters - either heroines, antagonists or both - is behind the wheel of what the car company calls her character's "icon vehicle", a Thunderbird whose coral colour is set to match her bathing suit. (The car will later be sold as a limited edition.)
Bond, says Valentic, "is a master of world intrigue". Not coincidentally, he is also a connoisseur of the "latest and greatest assorted wonderments of the world". Product placement is nothing new, of course, but, as the boundaries of what is known in the entertainment business as "brand integrated content" push outward, the wonderments associated with the Bond character have come to include watches, soft drinks, credit cards, mobile phones, electric shavers and snowmobiles.
Pierce Brosnan, who is playing Bond for the fourth time, will be wearing an Omega wrist watch, for instance. The clear liquid in his shaken, not stirred, martinis will be Finlandia, replacing Smirnoff, for decades the spy's brand. The carrier conspicuouslytransporting 007 in its first-class cabin will be British Airways.
That company's investment may help explain the obligatory, plot-dragging shot of a jet in midair. There is more. The Scottish clothing company Ballantyne will provide turtleneck sweaters for Brosnan and other characters. And Brioni Roman Style, perhaps best known as the suitmakers to the late "Dapper Don", John Gotti, has spent $600,000 to kit Brosnan out in custom-made clothes. "The image never ages," says Umberto Angeloni, the chairman of Brioni, which has dressed Bond in his past four cinematic outings. "What you are dressing is an icon. He is asymbol of eternal youth and the ideal connoisseur."
Fictitious connoisseurship does not come cheap. When Die Another Day opens in the United States later this month, the movie will be accompanied by a $240 million campaign of sponsored advertising, sweepstakes, promotions and product tie-ins for more than 20 brands. Eleven companies have budgeted a total of more than $200 million on TV advertisements promoting their products in Die Another Day, a figure that approaches the $220 million that MGM asserts was the cost of the entire film - although some film industry insiders estimate the cost at closer to $260 million.
If the tie-ins are not all for products that smack of the elegance and savoir faire associated with a man whose suits are hand-stitched and whose .44 magnums are custom-tooled, few have been heard to complain. With Best Buy, Circuit City, Ski-Doo, Vodafone and 7 Up all linked to the film, it seems less than surprising to learn that EON, the company behind the series, is an acronym for Everything or Nothing. It may be that the frenetic cross-platform sellout for Die Another Day will stretch the power of a cinematic icon past its sustainable limits. "If a consumer does not see a product as an integral or enhancing part of a film, the film seems like a shill [a dupe]," says Mark Dowley, the chairman of Interpublic Sports & Entertainment Group, a division of the global advertising agency network IPG. "And that can do damage to both brands."
Yet some suggest that James Bond is by now less a figure of fiction conjured from Ian Fleming's imagination than a consumerist phantasm, a glittering screen on which it is possible to project almost anything. Mass-market products such as 7 Up may not be as "integral" to the character of Bond as were Tom Cruise's Oakley sunglasses in Mission: Impossible II. But, as Ford's Valentic suggests, this is a trivial detail. "Everything is about how quickly you can drive as many people as possible to the theatre," he says. "If we collectively drive throngs of people to the movie to actually see our products in action, everybody succeeds."
Brosnan - soon to be seen zooming around in an Aston Martin Vanquish - pointed out he is far from the 007 image.
"I'm perceived as this sophisticated, debonair, distant person, this macho guy - and I'm not like that," he said.
"Following me around for a day in my life would be quite comedic.
Brosnan, who will be seen in the 20th Bond movie later this year, said his road skills were not quite up to the secret agent's standards.
He said: "I got a Porsche recently on loan - a convertible with gear stick. I stopped to buy some chewing gum and a paper at the news-stand.
"I'd just said hello to some tourists who think I'm James Bond and I'm trying to be cool and start the car - and I stall it."
And on a recent visit to a top showbusiness agent with his wife Keely Shaye Smith he almost crashed.
"I'm driving the Mercedes and we're talking away as we approach the gate," he said.
"I take my foot off the brake and Keely goes 'brake, brake!' - she just yanked the emergency brake. We stopped an inch from the gate."
Major releases crowd season
Second installments of "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" are
top holiday hopefuls.
By David Germain
Friday, November 1, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- Even Santa makes concessions for the kids of Hogwarts
and
the little folk of Middle-earth.
No studio wants to clash with holiday titans "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." So Christmas comes early to theaters as Tim Allen's "The Santa Clause 2" debuts today, a day after Halloween, marking an unusually early start to Hollywood's holiday season.
The 1994 original, in which Allen played a divorced dad who inherits the Kris Kringle gig after accidentally snuffing out Santa, opened two weeks before Thanksgiving.
That time slot this year is occupied by the second adventure of Harry and friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their first adventure, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," was last year's top-grossing movie. The first "Lord of the Rings" film ran a close second in 2001's box- office chart, so with part two coming just before Christmas, Disney chose to deliver "Santa Clause 2" early rather than risk being buried by the Hogwarts express and the hobbit stampede.
"I believe now after the heat we've been getting on our movie that we could probably compete with 'Harry Potter,' " Allen said. "But you have to stay away from big movies like 'Harry Potter' or 'Lord of the Rings.' You just have to."
Director Chris Columbus and all major cast members return for the second "Harry Potter," including Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as chums Hermione and Ron.
Grint said the new movie "has a lot more action. I prefer it to the first one. It's darker, and it's quite funny, as well."
Radcliffe said he gets to reveal a more ominous side to Harry.
"I think it was great to be able to show Harry's dark side," Radcliffe said.
Speaking of dark sides, director Peter Jackson's middle chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" picks up where the first left off, with the fellowship now fractured, its members striking off on separate journeys in their quest to destroy a ring of absolute evil.
While Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) lead a confrontation against evil wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee), hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) carry the ring to the foul lands of Mordor, the hangout of ultimate bad guy Sauron.
"Film one is a very linear story of this fellowship of nine characters finding their way through this land. Films two and three, the aperture opens wider, and you see a broader picture of Middle-earth," said Mark Ordesky, an executive producer of the trilogy, whose final installment comes next year.
"As Frodo and Sam creep their way along, they periodically pass by huge columns of evil-looking creatures that are being drawn to Sauron. He's like a lighthouse calling all evil to him. And then you've got Aragorn, the lost king of Gondor. He sees that no one's really working together, and he's nation-building, and all of this is essentially a prelude to film three."
As always, the crowded end-of-year film lineup offers many Academy Awards hopefuls, including performances by such past Oscar winners as Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington and Michael Caine.
Washington makes his directing debut and co-stars in "Antwone Fisher," based on the true story of a tormented sailor (Derek Luke) aided by a Navy psychiatrist.
Caine plays a journalist in 1950s Vietnam in "The Quiet American," adapted from Graham Greene's novel about murder and a love triangle. Brendan Fraser co-stars.
Nicholson stars in the darkly comic "About Schmidt" as a widower recently retired from a dull insurance job, whose self-examination during a road trip in a motorhome leads him to question the value of his life.
Streep has two films potentially in the Oscar race. In "The Hours," based on the Pulitzer-winning novel that weaves together stories of three women in different times, Streep plays a contemporary book editor opposite Julianne Moore as a '50s mom and Nicole Kidman as author Virginia Woolf.
In "Adaptation," Streep plays a fancifully fictionalized version of Susan Orlean, author of the book "The Orchid Thief." The movie reteams "Being John Malkovich" writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, and stars Nicolas Cage in a bizarre screen personification of Kaufman as he unsuccessfully tries to adapt "The Orchid Thief" into a script.
Other films positioned for awards consideration include Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," a 19th century vengeance tale starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz; "The 25th Hour" from director Spike Lee, starring Edward Norton as a prison-bound drug dealer on his last day of freedom; Kevin Kline as a devoted prep-school teacher who has a jarring reunion with old students in "The Emperor's Club"; and "Evelyn," with Bond star Pierce Brosnan as a Dublin dad fighting church and state for custody of his three children in 1950s Ireland.
Julianne Moore, Streep's co-star in "The Hours," also has a second awards prospect in "Far From Heaven." Set in the '50s, the film stars Moore as a woman whose picture-perfect life unravels amid homophobia and racism when her husband (Dennis Quaid) takes a male lover and she forms an attachment to her black gardener (Dennis Haysbert).
"It's also meant to be a movie not just about sexuality and racism but about gender politics," Moore said. "At the end of the day, the men in the movie, they're the ones that leave. They're the ones afforded an opportunity to kind of step away and make a new life. The woman's not."
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Do celebrities like Victoria Beckham have to live in fear of being targeted by criminals?
Celebrity guru Max Clifford says the risk of becoming a victim of crime
comes almost as a by-product of fame for today's celebrities, who are
constantly placed in the public eye by today's fame-obsessed media.
He told Sky News: "If you've got stars that are worth millions and millions and millions, then of course you can see the potential for criminals.
"Hence the need for increased security, for increased awareness."
The Professional Footballers Association said security was becoming an increasing concern as the sport's biggest names enjoy superstar status.
"Everybody has to be extremely security conscious,¿ said PFA chief Gordon Taylor.
"It's happened in other areas and I think with the state of the world today, security is going to have to be given a very high priority, unfortunately.
"There was a time when footballers and sportsmen would be criticised for not being more involved with the general public, but unfortunately because of the security aspect, they're going to have to be more cocooned.
Death threats
"There's a great interaction between players and supporters, but unfortunately, there will be a minority who abuse that."
Anecdotal evidence would certainly appear to bear out the theory that headline-hitting wealth attracts the interest of criminals.
A spate of burglaries of high-profile, wealthy people in recent years became known as the Hello! burglaries because they so often seemed to follow an appearance in that celebrity magazine.
Pierce Brosnan, the Beckhams, Elton John, the late Beatle George Harrison and even Ali G, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, have all received death threats.
The Beckhams have just received their second alleged kidnap threat in as many years - and they have also had to put up with stalkers.
But the rich and famous are fighting back by taking ever-increasing security measures.
24-hour guards
Several UK insurance companies now offer specific policies against kidnap and ransom (known as K&R in the trade), in a business worth tens of millions of pounds each year.
Firms offer seminars and training in how to deal with kidnap and ransom threats.
Many high-profile celebrities - including the Beckhams and Victoria's former Spice Girls colleague Geri Halliwell - have taken 24-hour security guards.
But many of them are reluctant to late security fears interfere with their running of a normal life.
Counter-kidnap specialist Andrew Irlam, who is chief operations director of a Manchester company specialising in "close, personal and executive protection", said the Beckhams were such a couple.
"Both David and Victoria can be seen around Manchester almost all the time with as little security as possible," he said.
However, he added that just because their security appeared to be light, that was not necessarily the case.
"The security team responsible for the Beckhams, and indeed much of Manchester United, is very, very professional indeed," he said.
"Although the security is quite definitely there, it is not always obvious."
STARS WHO LIVE IN FEAR
THE rich and famous have long been tempting targets for would-be
kidnappers. A gang tried to snatch Hollywood legend Michael Douglas,
57, from outside his mother's apartment when he was only six - but he
escaped by hiding in a lift.
More recently, police discovered a plot to snatch Gladiator star Russell Crowe and cut off his fingers unless they received £10 million.
The evil plan was foiled when incriminating evidence was spotted during a routine traffic stop.
Similar kidnap threats have been made against Pierce Brosnan and Antonio Banderas. And stars are not the only victims to suffer. In September, a German banker's 11-year-old son was murdered after being kidnapped on his way home from school.
The body of Jakob von Metzler, the heir to a centuries-old family institution, was found in a pond the next day...even though his agonised parents had paid a £650,000 ransom.
As any student of 007 knows, acting was always optional for the women playing "Bond girls" in the early days. No less an authority than Ursula Andress admits looking athletic and running around a lot were assignments that played to her strengths in "Dr. No." As far as she knew, Stanislavsky was most likely an employee of SMERSH.
Forty years later, the newest James Bond film -- "Die Another Day" -- will feature two Academy Award winners in prominent female roles: Halle Berry and Judi Dench. OK, some guys may have a hard time classifying Dame Judith as a "Bond girl," but I think she's sexier than a Victoria's Secret lingerie party at the Playboy mansion, and it's my column, so she makes the cut.
Dench also makes the cut in "Bond Girls Are Forever," a frothy documentary airing Wednesday night on AMC, one of the many programming initiatives piggybacking on the Nov. 22 release of "Die Another Day." Produced and hosted by Maryam d'Abo, who played Bond girl Kara Milovy in 1987's "The Living Daylights" (memorable scene: schussing in a cello case), the one-hour special spends time with about a dozen other women who share the distinction of sharing the screen with Ian Fleming's alter ego.
Unlike Dench, who has played Bond's boss since Pierce Brosnan inherited 007's personnel file in "Goldeneye," the other women do tend to fit the conventional male-fantasy profile. There's Honor Blackman from "Goldfinger" and Jill St. John from "Diamonds Are Forever" and, be still my heart, Luciana Paluzzi from "Thunderball." Maud Adams, Carey Lowell, Jane Seymour, Lois Chiles and Michelle Yeoh also check in, along with Rosamund Pike, another member of the "Die Another Day" cast.
Dench's story about a young boy approaching her in a restaurant and being rendered speechless when she confirms she is indeed M from the James Bond films may be the most priceless -- and the most revealing. Here's a 10-year-old interested in a Bond character for reasons other than her ability to get horizontal with a spy, or to emerge from the sea dripping wet.
Granted, the 10-year-old probably will someday devolve to less seemly interests. But his interest now at least confirms that, for some, a James Bond film is more than a swimsuit issue on celluloid.
Indeed, D'Abo says she undertook the project to determine what it means to be a Bond woman.
Predictably, it's different things to different people.
Dench, as "serious" an actress as there is for those who keep track of that stuff, finds delight in the reactions of the men in her life.
Paluzzi reveals that the noted Italian directors of the day -- Fellini, Antonioni, Visconti -- wouldn't give her a second look after she appeared in what they viewed as a "comic strip."
Blackman calls it one of the most exciting times of her life.
"I can't think of anything that creates such a frisson when you mention it," she says of the "Bond girl" appellation.
D'Abo doesn't skirt the question of sexism in her documentary. St. John answers it most directly.
"Bond women are larger than life," she says. "They're meant to represent a fantasy quality. How can anybody take that seriously and complain about it? It's meant as entertainment. It's not meant as a social statement or a chronicle of how far women have come in life."
D'Abo correctly points out that Bond women have changed over the years, from window dressing in the 1960s to stronger, more independent types today. Still, Berry, who relishes the chance to play a woman who's sexy and smart, says her first memory of a Bond film is "that bikini coming out of the water" in "Dr. No." And d'Abo, whose relationship with Bond was possibly the most chaste in the history of the franchise, suggests all Bond women "have tried to live up to Ursula."
Berry says this is because Bond women have a universal appeal.
"The women are a big part of it," she says, "not only for men, but for women, too."
Even Chiles, who played Dr. Holly Goodhead in "Moonraker" at a time when "women were burning their bras," appreciates that her character, despite the sophomore-humor name, could do everything Bond could do, including fly a space shuttle.
Criticism or no, St. John believes the 80 some women who have appeared in the Bond films -- from Miss Taro to Miss Moneypenny -- wouldn't trade the experience.
"No one wants to give up the mantle of being a Bond girl," she says, "and if they say they do, they're lying."
JAMES BOND'S WOMEN
Test your knowledge of the women in James Bond's life. Match the character name in the first group with the actress in the second.
1. Tatiana Romanova
2. Natalya Simonova
3. Anya Amasova
4. Dr. Christmas Jones
5. Mary Goodnight
6. Honeychile Ryder
7. Plenty O'Toole
8. Fatima Blush
9. Paris Carver
10. Kissy Suzuki
11. May Day
12. Pussy Galore
A. Ursula Andress
B. Daniele Bianchi
C. Honor Blackman
D. Mie Hama
E. Lana Wood
F. Britt Ekland
G. Barbara Bach
H. Barbara Carrera
I. Grace Jones
J. Isabelle Scorupco
K. Teri Hatcher
L. Denise Richards
ANSWERS
1-B; 2-J; 3-G; 4-L; 5-F; 6-A; 7-E; 8-H; 9-K; 10- D; 11-I; 12-C
John Levesque is the P-I's television critic. Call him at 206-448-8330
October 31, 2002
Julianna Margulies, the curly-maned former star of ER, has gone from
nursing to ghostbusting with the Halloween thriller Ghost Ship.
She said the campy, special-effects-filled movie balances out her two other new films, the low- key dramas Evelyn and The Man From Elysian Fields.
"You've got to go and do these big movies that everyone wants to see and make some money so you can do little artistic plays," said Margulies, who turned down a $27 million offer in 1999 to continue on the NBC hospital drama than won her an Emmy for best supporting dramatic actress.
Fittingly, she appeared in New York last year in the play Ten Unknowns, which explores the balance between art and commerce.
In the upcoming Evelyn, the 35-year-old performer co-stars as a woman who helps a single father (Pierce Brosnan) give up drinking and organize his life so he can reclaim custody of his three children.
The Man From Elysian Fields, which premiered in limited release this month, features Margulies as a wife whose struggling-novelist husband (Andy Garcia) secretly becomes a male escort for an agency operated by a flashy impresario (Mick Jagger).
While those dramas concern themselves with the nuances of family responsibility, Ghost Ship is mostly interested in dispatching people in great crimson sprays of fake blood.
Margulies co-stars with her longtime boyfriend, Ron Eldard, and Gabriel Byrne as members of a salvage crew who board a rotting luxury cruise ship that disappeared 40 years ago.
"They're three such completely different movies," she said. "The beauty of the job is getting to do all these different things."
Question: What was the stunt work like on Ghost Ship?
Answer: My favorite stunt was the very beginning of the movie, when my character was rappelling into an oil tanker that has a huge hole in it to do some underwater welding. It definitely got rid of my fear of heights.
Q: Do you ever pick a movie role so you can travel to an interesting location?
A: Oh yeah. (Laughs.) Evelyn came up and the director, Bruce Beresford, said, 'Look, it's not a lot of money, it's not a big movie,' but I loved the character and really wanted to live in Ireland. . . .
It's such a dream, being an actor in a new country and living with the local people. With Ghost Ship, we got to be in Australia for four months and then visited New Zealand.
How The Family Revived An Icon
The story of the Broccolis and their intimate relationship with 007
BY JEFF CHU
Some people grow up watching Bond; if you're a Broccoli, you grow up making him. EON, the production house behind 007, has been a family business since Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, who produced the first nine films together, set it up in 1961. Today, a second generation of Broccolis ‹ Cubby's daughter Barbara and stepson Michael Wilson ‹ runs the London-based outfit. They guard the Bond tradition fiercely, but they've also brought the once-fading franchise forward.
"They've re-examined the character and focused on who Bond is ‹ not just what his world is like," says John Cork, co-author of James Bond: The Legacy. The result? "A total revitalization of the series." Or close enough for genre work.
They were groomed for the job from their youth. Michael had an uncredited part in Goldfinger, and by the 1970s, he was helping with scriptwriting. Barbara was "a general dogsbody on set from the time I started," recalls Roger Moore, who says "she inherited a lot of her father's talent." By 1985, she was an assistant director on A View to a Kill, a film Michael co-wrote and co-produced. But the franchise, though still profitable, was flagging ‹ the last three films in the '80s were the worst box- office performers of the series. In the early 1990s, an ailing Cubby relinquished more and more work, and 1995's GoldenEye was the first Bond co-produced by Barbara and Michael (and the first with Pierce Brosnan). The step-siblings redeployed their spy, adding some serious action to get things up to date. It was 007's box-office best since Moonraker in 1979.
Broccoli and Wilson have maintained the momentum since then, with bigger budgets and globally recognized talent ‹ Asian action queen Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon); the enigmatic Sophie Marceau ‹ to stay competitive. At MGM, 007's financier and U.S. distributor, vice chairman Chris McGurk insists "everything is really mutual in terms of approvals," but the studio's only contractual power is to greenlight (or not) a film. All else, from script to cast and crew, isin EON's domain.
One gripe about this power structure is that it breeds inertia. The Broccolis aren't obstructionist, says a studio insider, but "they are very adamant about the things James Bond can and cannot do." One perennial suggestion that always gets vetoed is for new larger-than-life villains à la Blofeld, who bedeviled Bond in five of the first seven films. "They always say: James Bond is the hero," says an MGM exec. "No one can overshadow him."
For Cubby, making Bond a family business meant a personal touch with talent ‹ cooking spa-ghetti for cast and crew or flying an actor's hairstylist in on Concorde. "He was a big daddy figure," says Lois Chiles (Holly Goodhead in Moonraker). "He invited us to be part of his family." But the Mr. Nice Guy routine stopped at the business office door. "You felt that he was on your side," says Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny in the first 14 films. "Except when it came to the money. Then he'd fight with your agent for every last penny."
Cubby's success won him a fair level of respect in Hollywood ‹ in 1982 at the Oscars, he got the Irving Thalberg award for his production work ‹ and every studio wishes it had a franchise this lucrative. But the family is still considered a niche player. Cubby did make more than 20 non-007 films, but only one was a hit: 1968's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also based on an Ian Fleming work. The family now has a stage version of Chitty on in London, and they dabble in licensing. But Bond is the core of their business, and they'll continue, says Wilson, "as long as people want the product."
A big test of the Broccoli-Wilson era will come when Brosnan gives up his 00 status. Broccoli's standard reply to queries on that topic: "That's like walking down the aisle and being asked who your next husband will be." Well, maybe, but we do want to know. The new 007 will be the first not chosen by Cubby ‹ who died in 1996 ‹ and the clearest sign of his heirs' plans for the future. Brosnan will be back for the next film ‹ which may start shooting late next year ‹ but is noncommittal on a sixth. "It's hard to plan," he says. "Not knowing what's around the corner is one of the joys of being an actor." And the curse of being a producer, even when you're working with James Bond.
BY JEFF CHU
Bond's Other Family
The 20th Bond film will ride into the record books on one of the biggest movie-promo bandwagons ever. 007's business partners are spending an estimated $120 million on tie-in advertising, and millions more have already been invested in products and services for the making of the film itself. Maybe they should have called it Buy Another Day.
The Bond franchise is one of the pioneers of product placement. "Bond has always been a brand-aware character," says David Wilson, EON's vice president of global business strategy. Dr. No "placed" Pan Am, Red Stripe and Smirnoff. But Die Another Day sets a new standard for promotional deals, pitching about 20 brands, from Finlandia vodka (yep, he switched) to 7-Up and Norelco shavers.
Some publicity-hungry firms pay for screen time. But far more product placement actually works on barter. For example, Ford provided several Aston Martins (for Bond), aguars (for the bad guy Zao), Thunderbirds (for Jinx), Range Rovers (utility vehicles), spare parts and technical help. That in-kind contribution saved EON millions in production costs ‹ "the value that we got far exceeded the cash they could give us," Wilson says. In return, Ford will get invaluable screen time for its vehicles. Millions more in promised movie tie-in promos from the carmaker will also cut the ad budgets of the distributors ‹ MGM in the U.S. and Fox overseas.
Not every product placer gets such a high profile. Jinx won't walk around with a Revlon sign to let us know who made her makeup, and Bond won't have a Brioni tag hanging off his tux. But the firms hope for gilt by association ‹ and the chance to slap a 007 seal of approval on their ads. Bollinger champagne can freshen its traditional image with the help of the "debonair and charming James Bond," says president Ghislain de Montgolfier. "What could be more stylishly up-to-date?"
On the other hand, what could be more off-putting than a two-hour-long ad you're paying upwards of $10 to see? Wilson insists "we're making movies, not commercials." And doing a little smart business on the side.
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT), the world leader in lightweight communications headsets and the exclusive headset partner for MGM Pictures and Eon Productions' new James Bond film, Die Another Day, today announced a multiple market promotion that offers consumers one free adult ticket to this year's much-anticipated Bond movie when they purchase a Plantronics headset. More than 25,000 retail outlets and wireless carrier stores in the U.S. will participate in this promotion with point-of-sale materials and in-store displays. The promotion will also be offered in Australia and various European countries, as well as on the Plantronics Web site, www.plantronics.com.
"With more people adopting headsets every day, connecting Plantronics with the Bond franchise makes perfect sense for us," said Stephen Denny, vice president of channel marketing for Plantronics. "Bond has long been a showcase for premium products and the latest technology, so it's an ideal association for Plantronics."
To participate in the U.S. promotion, consumers must purchase a specially marked Plantronics M130-series headset for their cellular or cordless phone featuring a Die Another Day movie coupon. They then complete the promotional offer form on the packaging and mail it, along with their proof-of-purchase, before February 28, 2003. Consumers will receive one free adult ticket to Die Another Day or any other MGM/UA Film. Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, Die Another Day will premiere in theaters in the U.S. and U.K. on November 22, 2002. Movie tickets can be redeemed at over 17,000 movie theaters in the U.S., and most major theatrical venues in international markets through February 28, 2003, or while supplies last.
The Plantronics M130 headset for mobile phones offers hands-free convenience and features a customizable fit with a conformable earloop and an adjustable noise-canceling microphone. Comfortable, and lightweight, it also works with headset-ready cordless phones and telecoil-equipped hearing aids. Plantronics M130 headsets are available at most major retail outlets and wireless carrier stores.
About Plantronics
Plantronics introduced the first lightweight communications headset in 1962 and is recognized as the world leader in communications headsets. A publicly held company with approximately 2,600 employees, Plantronics is the leading provider of headsets to telephone companies and the business community worldwide. Plantronics headsets are also used widely in many Fortune 500 corporations and have been featured in numerous motion pictures and high-profile events, including Neil Armstrong's historic "One small step for man" transmission from the moon in 1969. Plantronics, Inc., headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, was founded in 1961 and maintains offices in 20 countries. Plantronics products are sold and supported through a worldwide network of authorized Plantronics marketing partners. Information about the company and its products can be found at www.plantronics.com or by calling 800-544-4660.
About Die Another Day
Directed by Lee Tamahori from a script by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Die Another Day stars Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, John Cleese, and Judi Dench.
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - "The invitation has been accepted," a very polite Pierce Brosnan tells me of "the invitation" from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson to do a fifth James Bond movie -- just as his contract expires with the completion of "Die Another Day."
The untitled -- and as yet unscripted -- Bond picture probably will not start filming until early 2005. Since his first three outings have grossed more that a billion-$, I asked Brosnan if the new negotiations would include a raise for him.
"I would like to think that fair play will be involved," he smiled. "I have the highest expectation of fairness and good spirit." And, he added, "I have all of CAA behind me!"
Beyond this fifth Bond film, Brosnan predicts, "I think it has mileage to go another 20 years." Not with him, he assures -- he survived the fourth Bond with "a bit of a knee injury. That was it."
"Die Another Day" gets a royal premiere in London with Queen Elizabeth on hand Nov. 18, following Monday's L.A. gala at the Shrine Auditorium. The film opens Nov. 22.
Meanwhile, Brosnan's own banner, Irish DreamTime, will release its 1953-set personal drama "Evelyn" (also for MGM) at year's end for Oscar consideration. He and partner Beau St. Clair have completed three films, with more planned. The next will be a big change for them -- the costumer "Lochinvar," based on Sir Walter Scott's classic. Brosnan would play the Templar MacGregor.
November 1, 2002 09:17
WHEN 007 returns from exile in the forthcoming Die Another Day, East
Anglia's own Bond girl welcomes him home.
Lizzie Cundy, wife of former Ipswich Town star Jason Cundy, screams as she catches sight of the world's favourite spy in a Hong Kong hotel lobby.
No wonder. In the scene, our beloved Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan, is wet and bedraggled in see-through pyjamas with thick, matted hair and a dirty beard.
Of course we can forgive him. He has, after all, just returned from a high-speed hovercraft chase through a minefield between North and South Korea.
Have no fear girls - he still looks just as dashing in a beard - affirms Lizzie, who has appeared as a body double for many image- conscious Bond girls in the past.
She is quite a fan of the latest actor to accept the 007 mantle.
"He makes filming a lot of fun," she said.
"He's just a very normal, nice guy. Some of them (celebrities) think they are it and aren't very approachable. You would never know he's such a big star."
Whilst most of us can only dream of a Bond girl body, Lizzie's assets - her long legs and super-svelte figure - make for a physique to beat those of even the superstars. Lizzie's has been a body-double for Isabella Scorupco, in Goldeneye, a pregnant Teri Hatcher in Tomorrow Never Dies and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment.
Lizzie, 33, who has been modelling since she was a teenager, posed next to Brosnan in an Aston Martin as Isabella Scorupco's legs for Goldeneye.
Throughout the whole take, Bond has his hand on "Isabella's" thigh - but Lizzie didn't mind a bit. It is a perk of the job.
She said: "Isabella didn't like the look of her legs. They seemed perfect to me but many actresses are very critical about the way they look. They get funny if they don't look 100%."
Lizzie, who is extremely modest and matter-of-fact about her eminently desirable job, has also stood in for more intimate scenes. She was called on set for a clinch between Bond and Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies as Teri Hatcher's bump ruled out tummy shots.
The whole of Lizzie, for once, appears in the hotel scene in the 20th Bond adventure, shot at Pinewood studios.
"Pierce bumps into me and I have to scream and give him a look. He looks like Grizzly Adams but he's still handsome," she said.
"It took forever to film as he had to be sprayed down each time to look wet. You could see right through his pyjamas. We had a giggle filming it."
She added that the dashing 49-year-old Irish actor, in his fourth incarnation as 007, may still do another Bond before he retires from the role.
Lizzie admits to hankering after a bigger role, although has very much enjoyed her "bit" parts. She got her big break after signing up with London Agent Ray Knight and is now a favourite of five times Bond producer Gerry Gavagon.
Although Lizzie has not seen the whole film yet, the word behind the scenes is that it is the best Bond yet and very much inkeeping with Ian Fleming's magic formula.
Unfortunately, Lizzie will not be going to the Royal premiere of the MGM and EON Production film on November 18 in London. She will stay at home in Hampshire to be with Jason, who is undergoing radiotherapy treatment for testicular cancer and their two boys, football-mad James, two and Josh, already a budding actor aged just eight.
The film will be released in the UK on November 22, but Ipswich UGC cinema has been chosen to host the regional premiere of the film on November 19.
It is being organised to raise funds for the East Anglian Air Ambulance and will be attended by the Bickers Action stunt team, from Coddenham, which has created stunts for the Bond films for 20 years.
007's big ad-venture
by Marc Graser
Oct 7-Oct 13, 2002
BRANDS' BIG, BOFFO BOND BLITZ: At least 20 companies will spend more than $120 million on ads that will spotlight MGM's November tentpole "Die Another Day," including Finlandia vodka, Bollinger's champagne and Aston Martin.
James Bond may have a license to kill. But he's also got a license to promote. The suave superspy has shaken, not stirred the business of product tie-ins in movies. From cool cars and chilled vodka to gadget-packed cell phones and watches, Bond means big business for brands. And "Die Another Day," MGM's 20th installment in the franchise, is taking things to a new level.
The film will be touted in ads for at least 20 consumer brands, which will pony up more than $120 million in worldwide TV, print, radio and outdoor advertising, as well as sweepstakes and other promotions. Eleven of those companies are spending $100 million for TV spots alone.
That's on top of the more than $30 million MGM will spend on ads and promos.
Those figures easily dwarf the estimated $25 million that companies coughed up to be featured in Fox/DreamWorks"Minority Report," which was notorious for its product placement.
The Bond deals offer a further reminder of the innovative links between Hollywood and Madison Avenue. Advertisers are increasingly relying on showbiz to help their products rise above the clutter of traditional ad buys. After landing roles in and around major movie properties, some advertisers may even begin partially financing pies.
The 007 franchise has proven durable for 40 years, so the B.O. prognosis for "Day" is bright. But MGM is determined to make the pie a megahit.
It's certainly the most expensive Bond production to ever hit the screen. Some industry players put the pie's cost in the $130 million-$150 million range. However, the Lion is adamant that the final pricetag for the film is only 10% more than the previous outing, the $100 million "The World Is Not Enough" (thanks to considerable tax breaks from shooting in Britain).
BRANDS' BIG, BOFFO BOND BLITZ: At least 20 companies will spend more than $120 million on ads that will spotlight MGM's November tentpole "Die Another Day," including Finlandia vodka, Bollinger's champagne and Aston Martin.
OMEGA MAN: 007 wears one, but Swatch also has a tie-in.
Some of the cost went to land bigger stars such as Halle Berry (as a Bond girl) and Madonna (in a cameo and as singer of the pie's techno-driven theme song) and director Lee Tamahori ("Along Came a Spider"), as well as upping the action and increasing the number of special f/x featured.
While 1999's "World Is Not Enough" featured roughly 150 Vx shots, "Day" has well over 600 (many of which became costly after being requested far into the pie's production).
While the studio and the pie's producers previously worked on releasing a Bond adventure every two years, the filmmakers opted to spend an extra year honing the final shooting script, rather than rushing into production.
"The release dates were usually chosen and the producers were forced to back into it," says Chris McGurk, MGM's vice chairman and chief operating officer. "We took more time with this one. We made a more conscious decision to try to really take the franchise to another level.
"We have a better script which ups the thriller quotient - bigger action sequences, bigger stars. When you have a two-year cycle and don't have a finished script, it makes it harder to round out the best promotional partners. We really benefited by having an extra year to put all of that together."
The pie, which bows domestically Nov. 22, two days after its U.K. bow, is the latest installment in Hollywood's most successful franchise to date. It's Pierce Brosnan's fourth outing as Bond and he once again is being shepherded by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, whose Danjaq and Eon Prods. have tightly held the reins of the franchise since 1962's "Dr. No."
The Bond character has become a cultural pop icon recognized worldwide, a suave sophisticate who is a connoisseur of the best in life - the best cars, the best food, the best everything - which is why brands are so eager to connect their products to 007.
A few of the winners: * Ford is spending $35 million to replace BMW as the franchise's official auto supplier and put Bond behind the wheel of an Aston Martin again, the $228,000 Vanquish. Ford's new Thunderbird and a supercharged Jaguar also will be spotlighted in the pic.
* Finlandia has replaced Smirnoff as Bond's vodka of choice. Meanwhile, 007 continues to prefer Bollinger's champagne and Heineken beer, while soft-drink maker 7 Up will launch a sweepstakes in the U.S. dubbed "Agent 007 Up." Pepsi is Bond's international partner.
* On Bond's wrist again: an Omega watch. Swatch also is releasing timepieces designed for every Bond movie made.
* British Airways flies Bond first-class in the film.
* Visa will promote "Day" to its millions of cardholders.
* Alongside Bond, Brioni Roman Style is outfitting British secret-service chief M (Judi Dench) and her assistant Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) in $4,000 hand-tailored suits.
* Revlon is planning its latest global promotion around new Bond leading lady and company spokeswoman Halle Berry.
* Philips Electronics is outfitting 007 with not only a cell phone, but a Norelco electric shaver.
AUTO EROTIC: Long before product placement was common, "Goldfinger" made Aston Martin unforgettable to filmgoers.
Other partners include Best Buy, Sony, Circuit City, Ski-Doo and Vodafone.
It's not that MGM is worried Bond will be a failure. The previous three outings generated $300 million-plus apiece worldwide at the B.O., with each pic outperforming the previous domestically, and proving a huge success on homevideo and other ancillary arenas.
But the Lion needs something to roar about. And loudly.
"Barbershop" may have proved a much-needed success story, but after a dismal year of expensive duds like "Windtalkers," "Hart's War" and "Rollerball," MGM is relying on Bond, now more than ever, to make the studio a major player again.
Considering Bond's longlasting appeal, MGM feels there's no reason why "Day" can't perform on the same scale as other action franchises such as Paramount's "Mission: Impossible," whose spy sequel topped out at $546 million worldwide at the B.O.
"We're thrilled that the last three have done $300 million worldwide, and we'd be happy if this one did the same," McGurk says."But we feel this franchise has the potential to do even more. We're not saying it's going to happen, but we've designed a movie that has the potential to do that. We've taken the chances to take the franchise to another level. This Bond has the goods."
The marketing machine has been thrown into high gear, with a crowd-pleasing, actionpacked trailer hitting theaters this past weekend and Madonna's theme song playing the radio airwaves.
Sponsors also are beginning to blanket the media with their co-promotions. They need "Day" to be a hit with auds, especially as some companies are looking to Bond as a way to improve their images.
Ford's starring role in the pic comes as the U.S. automaker is trying to boost sluggish sales and turn around an image recently tarnished by quality issues.
Meanwhile, British subsid Aston Martin is trying to make a comeback and hopes "Day 19 will turn its vehicles into musthaves among the upper class again. Bond first drove an Aston Martin in 1964's "Goldfinger," cementing the car's name and image in the minds of millions of moviegoers, at a time when product placement was virtually nonexistent.
"There's no single product placement in the industry more iconic than James Bond's car," says Jan Valentic, Ford Motor Co.'s veep of global marketing.
"No other films better capture the aggressive performance of the chase scene and sex appeal of the spy game better than the James Bond films. He has become a piece of global pop culture, and there was genuine appreciation when we announced last year that he would again drive an Aston Martin."
And 7 Up is going through an identity crisis in the highly competitive beverage biz and is looking at "Day" as a way to appeal to younger buyers.
"James Bond is one of the most widely recognized franchises in the United States, especially with the 7 Up target audience, in which nearly 94% of 12- to 17-year-olds have seen a James Bond movie," says Kelli Freeman, director of brand marketing for 7Up.
The potential prosperity of a studio, let alone a consumer brand, is a lot to rest on Bond's shoulders. But they're putting a lot of stock in Bond, on the assumption that they will find riches thanks to the touch of his gold finger.
One thing's for certain: It's not only fans who want Bond to die another day.
BOND B.O. NEVER DIES
MGM is hoping "Die Another Day" will surpass the previous James Bond installment, which is also the franchise's highest grosser globally.
JAMES BOND IS BACK AND THE NET'S CLOSING
By Chris Price: Edited By Tricia Philips
HIGHLIGHT: MUSIC: Madonna's video for Die Another Day; OH-OH: Jinx (Halle; Berry) strapped to a diamond-cutting bench by Zao (Rick Yune); TITFER TAT:; Oddjob and his killer hat; STILETTO: Rosa and her flick-knife shoe; ACTION; MAN: You can download screensavers of Pierce Brosnan as Bond
October 11, 2002
FORTY years after he first hit our screens, James Bond is ready to foil the world's most fiendish villains once more.
November 20 marks the release of the latest Bond movie, Die Another Day, while next week London's Science Museum celebrates the milestone anniversary with a James Bond exhibition. Bond, James Bond features a stunning collection of some of the most famous gadgets, from Rosa Klebb's infamous flick-knife shoe to Oddjob's killer bowler hat. It also provides interactive areas where Bond fans can pretend to be the world's most famous secret agent. Wannabes will first undertake a mission briefing in M's office before visiting Q's workshop where they come face-to -face with spying's latest gadgets.
Further information on the exhibition, which runs until next March, can be found at www.science museum.org.uk
Another good site for fans is the official website, www.james bond.com Mainly aimed at broadband users with fast internet connection speeds, it's a real audio and visual feast with the obligatory Bond theme music (nearly all Bond sites have this) and impressive graphics.
Here you can download screensavers and images of the cast (including Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry), as well as view forthcoming movie trailers in Quicktime or Windows Media Player. Unfortunately, information is restricted to Die Another Day.
If it is the older Bond movies that interest you, unofficial site Agent James Bond (www.agentjamesbond.com) has extensive details of all the Bond movies since 1962's Dr No. There's also a James Bond film ranking with George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service taking top spot and Never Say Never Again in last place.
Also provided is a Casino Royale games section, where you can pit your wits against your PC at poker or backgammon, and a strategy games section where you make decisions as if you are Bond on a mission.
Several websites provide downloads of theme tunes and movie dialogue. One of the best is http: /bondsounds.members.easy space.com Here you can download Madonna's Die Another Day (for personal use only, of course) as well as classic sound clips such as "My name's Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken, not stirred".
Another great site for downloads is the James Bond Multimedia site (www.jamesbondmm. co.uk). It has more than 200 MP3 sound clips and an extensive image gallery with scary pictures of all 55 villains and henchmen.
You can also download James Bond ringtones and it has a merchandise area, selling photographs and posters in conjunction with www.moviemarket.co.uk
Finally, check out www. spyguise.com It's a great place to buy anything James Bond. Included are 12in figurines and a miniature limited-edition Thunderball Aston Martin DB5. Could be the closest you'll get to owning the real thing.
Bond, James Bond runs from October 16 to March 2003 at the Science Museum (South Kensington). Adults pounds 8.95, children/ concessions pounds 6.95.
By Adrienne C. Dellwo
Competition in the automotive sport-utility market continues to rev up, as at least 11 new SUVs will drive onto the playing field for the 2003 model year, along with a host of new midsize sedans and high-performance sports cars.
From the sporty new five-passenger Honda Element SUV, with a base price of $16,000, to the Cadillac Escalade ESV, an upscale version of the Chevy Suburban for which pricing isn¹t available yet, the newest SUVs span a wide range of sizes and price levels. Asian automakers and foreign and domestic luxury-car manufacturers are expanding their lines to the point that some now offer nearly as many SUV models as Ford and Chevrolet, which have dominated that niche.
Meanwhile, Mercury is introducing a powerful new muscle car called the Marauder; Nissan is introducing a Z car that calls to mind the once popular Datsun 240Z; BMW is replacing the Z3, which Pierce Brosnan drove in a James Bond movie; and Mercedes has an ultra powerful new sports car that¹s priced‹gulp!‹well into the six figures.
DOUBLE AGENTS
Bond girl Halle helps 007 copy blasts from his past
By John Millar
October 13, 2002, Sunday
OSCAR winner Halle Berry celebrates James Bond's 40th screen birthday by
reliving classic scenes for 007's latest outing, Die Another Day.
Fans will do a double take as Halle and Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, recreate a scene from 1964's Goldfinger.
Only this time it's Halle and not 007 who is strapped down and faces being zapped by a deadly laser.
Director Lee Tamahori told the Sunday Mail that fans should spot about 20 references to the old movies in the new Bond when it is released on November 20.
He said: "It is the 20th Bond film, so I've tried to jam in as many references as we could get.
"I asked where all the old props were so that, when we go into Q Division, all that stuff is there, even the Aston Martin and the ejector seat.
"We've been having fun with all that old stuff."
Halle, who won an Oscar for The Monster Ball, plays an action girl called Jinx.
Fans will also see her emerge from the surf in a revealing bikini with a dagger at her side.
The scene is the double of Ursula Andress's famous entrance in the first Bond movie, 1962's Dr No.
The "Bond, James Bond" exhibition, which opens Oct. 16, boasts the biggest collection of Bond memorabilia ever assembled, including exploding plaster casts, laser-firing watches, bulletproof racing cars and exotic costumes worn by "Bond girls."
"We have 100 different things from the 20 Bond films so far, including at least one from every film," Nicola Osmond Evans, a spokeswoman for the museum, said Friday.
The exhibition, which will fill up two floors, will open just over a week after Saturday's 40th anniversary of "Dr. No," the first screen outing for 007, based on the novel by Ian Fleming and starring Sean Connery as Bond.
Visitors can participate in an interactive (news - external web site) computer game testing their potential as a secret service officer, and watch unseen film footage and out-takes of several stunts.
The exhibition will run until March when it will transfer to the United States.
The latest installment in the spy franchise, "Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan, is scheduled for release later this year.
Science Museum Web site: http://www.sciencemuseum
Oct 3
Through the 1960s, Bond¹s stock rose both as a cinematic and literary property and as a symbol of the emergent new Britain. He wasn¹t quite a Swinging London type ‹ too old, too much in bed with the establishment, too enamoured of the mores and creature comforts and vices of the greying generation.
But he was perhaps something more: a palpable icon of British economic, stylistic and, yes, sexual potency, one of the few emblems of the ³special relationship² between the US and the UK. If there was, in some fusty intellectual corners, a resistance to Bond¹s pleasure-seeking antics and his geopolitical hard line, it was more than swept away by the box-office for the films, which reached a height in 1965 with Thunderball and its global gross of $141m.
As the decade wore on and the hypothetical nightmares of the cold war took a back seat to the reality of Vietnam, Bond came to seem less a viable political operative than a Mardi Gras float, complete with giganticised special effects, increasingly elaborate sets and villains who seemed less from the eastern bloc than from the moon. The rough and tumble of Dr No and From Russia With Love gradually morphed into the outer-space hijackings and hollowed-out volcano that served as the villain¹s lair in You Only Live Twice.
Connery pried himself loose of Bond at the end of the 1960s for a couple of years (and some sorry films), only to find himself playing the role once again in 1971¹s Diamonds Are Forever. In his absence, the role went to another newcomer, model and actor George Lazenby, who wasn¹t nearly as bad as everybody remembers but not exactly worth calling home about, either. His one film, On Her Majesty¹s Secret Service, felt more akin to the early, quasi-realistic Bond films. It has grown in reputation since its release (even as, in adjusted dollars, it remains the lowest-grossing film in the series). But once Connery was back in the fold the film was quickly forgotten .
Roger Moore. Just as we must live with the fact that today¹s boy bands sell more records than the Beatles did in the 1960s, we must acknowledge that all but one of Moore¹s Bond films (The Man With the Golden Gun) grossed more than all of Connery¹s except Goldfinger and Thunderball. Of course, the fact has to do with the mechanisms of economic inflation and the coincidence of Moore¹s reign with the advent of the modern Hollywood blockbuster ‹ The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars and all that ‹ rather than with a public preference for Moore¹s work over Connery¹s. Indeed, until the heyday of chesty rascals Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is hard to recall a film superstar whose work was so simultaneously mocked and well attended as Moore¹s. But there it is nevertheless: Bond was never more popular around the world, probably, than when Roger Moore played him.
Moore had tested for the role and lost it narrowly to Connery a decade before assuming it in 1973 with Live and Let Die, but it is hard to imagine that he could have launched the series as well as Connery did. Rather, Moore entered a full-steam enterprise and stood by in a kind of numb, avuncular bemusement as it progressed from action thrillers to special effects comedies and on to near irrelevance. Just as it was becoming increasingly unlikely that MI6 would save the world, Bond in the 1970s and early 1980s drifted out of reality altogether, and Moore presided over the transformation like the dim-bulb eldest son of a decaying, old family.
By the time Moore was done with James Bond, the once-thrilling character seemed less a dashing stud than an exhausted eunuch, still drawing in large, gullible crowds but as irrelevant as the rhetorical sabre-rattling of the global superpowers, who everybody knew were not really going to engage in an all-or-nothing fight. And it didn¹t help matters that Connery had returned for the golden pay cheque of Never Say Never Again, a bastard 1983 film that grew out of litigation dating back to the 1950s and which concerned an over-the-hill (but still younger than Moore!) Bond sent by his bosses to a fat farm to get back into shape for the service.
In this context, it¹s understandable that the Bond franchise was next put in the hands of an actual actor, the impossibly handsome Shakespearean actor Timothy Dalton ‹ a full decade older than the Connery of Dr No, yes, but nobody¹s idea of an untested male model or a cream-puff TV star. Dalton¹s debut gave the filmmakers the opportunity to steer the character back to Fleming¹s vision of bare knuckles and high living. The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill are as plain and brutal as Connery¹s first two films and felt like a shot of adrenalin in Bond¹s stiffening body. And Dalton, being a proper actor, played the role as written: hard, violent, mean.
For fans who had grown up on Roger Moore¹s cartoonish films, however, this combination of realism and sadism was a slap in the face. In Dalton¹s mouth, Bond¹s signature one-liners seemed throwaways, not scene-cappers, and the character¹s thirst for inflicting pain seemed to overshadow the glamour, gadgetry and giggly babes. To the most undiscriminating true believers, he was a disaster.
The last of Dalton¹s films appeared in 1989, coinciding with the fall of the Soviet Union and marking what would have been a nice historical coincidence: the conclusion of the cold war bringing an end to the career of the last secret agent still fighting it. But that wasn¹t why Dalton¹s tenure in the role was nearly the shortest, second only to Lazenby¹s. After Licence to Kill, Cubby Broccoli, who had bought Harry Saltzman out of the series just after the start of Moore¹s reign, was in increasingly frail health, and a series of legal struggles among various parties with claims to the franchise ate up any time he could devote to the film business. When the series finally relaunched in 1995 with GoldenEye, Broccoli was too ill to visit the set (he died six months after its release) and a new Bond was in place: Pierce Brosnan.
Like Moore, Brosnan had once lost the role to the previous fellow and was best known for his television work. But Brosnan had glamour, there was no denying it. And he had the look and the wit and even the acting chops. The public at large deemed him a perfect Bond, and the films, now in the hands of Barbara Broccoli, Cubby¹s daughter, revived to welcome him. His first three outings ‹ GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough ‹ all grossed in the neighbourhood of $350m worldwide, the most in the history of the series.
Brosnan may never scare Dalton off the Shakespearean stage or take the screen with the natural authority of Connery, but he is nevertheless a vast improvement on Roger Moore ‹ something actually seems to be going on behind his eyes other than curiosity about the luncheon menu ‹ and he suits the vigorously branded corporate Bond of the contemporary era perfectly well.
Brosnan¹s chief strength is his ability to play straight and wink at the same time ‹ in this capacity he is arguably the best Bond of all. According to his biography, the first film he ever saw was Goldfinger (which means he somehow never entered a cinema until age 11), but even if that¹s not true it gives us an idea of how he manages to inhabit Bond so plausibly in an era when he has been so successfully lampooned in the Austin Powers films. With a fetching smirk in the corner of his eyes,Brosnan tells us that yes, of course, he knows that Bond is a goof. But he is a goof who enthralled him as a boy - the Bond fantasy of adventure, high life, women, action, derring-do, speed, violence, cool weapons and the best of everything. So why not, he asks us, give in?
It¹s a frankly hedonistic approach that darned near echoes the original Bond vibe that enthralled Jack Kennedy, Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli. And you submit, despite yourself, to the sheer popcorn silliness of it. That raw, subrational, visceral, have-your-way-with-me response assures us that as long as there is an actor born somewhere in the Commonwealth who looks good holding a gun in formal wear (Clive Owen? Rupert Everett? Russell Crowe? Christian Bale? Jeremy Northam? Hugh Jackman? Hugh Grant?) there will always, bless us, be a Bond.
08 October 2002
A glamorous super car has given a Nottingham furniture shop a licence to thrill.
But getting the glamorous Aston Martin into the window of Atomic Interiors was not easy.
The trendy shop in Hollowstone had to remove its front windows to get the £106,000 dream machine in.
Glen Church, project manager at window company Peak Aluminum Systems, who oversaw the procedure, said: "I've been in this job for 15 years but it's the first time I've had to take out a window and put it straight back in again - all for the sake of a car."
And the arduous job will be carried out in reverse today as the expensive motor - its marque more usually linked to the adventures of superspy James Bond - continues its journey around the country.
For one night only, the car was easily the most expensive item in the shop, on display alongside chic designer vases, egg-shaped chairs and Italian sofas.
Atomic owner Simon Siegel said: "We've had a few cars nearly crashing outside.
A lot of people are doing double-takes when they look in the window and you can see them wondering how we got the car in. They keep turning around and coming back for another look."
The sample Aston Martin DB7 GT from Paramount Aston Martin is travelling the country but this is the most bizarre location it will be displayed in.
So far it has visited car dealerships in London, Birmingham and Norwich - and been seen in nothing more exciting than a garage forecourt.
Alan Goring, franchise leader at Paramount Aston Martin, said: "We were told to take it somewhere new and contemporary. We thought since Atomic was new, rendy, unusual and in the right sort of area, it fitted the bill perfectly."
The DB7 Vantage will be officially launched at the Birmingham Motor Show this month.
Sean Connery famously drove an Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger and current Bond Pierce Brosnan will drive an Aston Martin Vanquish in the latest film, Die Another Day, out next month.
MOVIES: Enough, already! These characters need to retire
Oct 6
He's coming over for dinner. Again and again and again!
We're talking about everyone's favorite creepy, crafty cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. He's the party guest who doesn't know when it's time to go home, sticking around for seconds, thirds and, now, fourths with the prequel movie, "Red Dragon."
The urbane and lethal Hannibal, like many other movie characters, never seems to know when to call it quits. Sure, as played by Anthony Hopkins (who has starred in three of the films), he embodies evil incarnate and is one of the screen's most fearsome villains. But enough already! There are only so many ways you can sauté body parts and inflict psychological torture on fresh-faced FBI recruits.
Don't cry for our favorite psychopath. He's hardly alone. He joins the ranks of Freddy Krueger, Batman and James Bond ‹ who, after 19 movies, is one spy who needs to come in from the cold ‹ as screen personalities who need to hang it up while they're ahead (actually, some of them passed "ahead" awhile back). Here are our picks for movie characters who need to retire:
HANNIBAL LECTER
Claim to fame: Scares the bejesus out of comely FBI agents; indulges in abhorrent eating practices (oh, like human brains sautéed in butter); and dispatches his enemies in creative, grotesque manners ‹ all while keeping his heart rate near-death slow.
Career highlight: "The Silence of the Lambs." Evil never tasted so good.
Career lowlight: "Manhunter." All "Miami Vice"-style flash, no substance.
What next? A gig as the principal chef at Greens, a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco?
JASON VOORHEES
Claim to fame: Slays scantily clad, libidinous teens; has nine lives, like a cat (actually, 13 lives, if movie producers have their way); loves to camp.
Career highlight: "Friday the 13th." For better or worse, this gory flick launched the slasher genre as we know it.
Career lowlight: It's a tie: "Friday 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" and "Jason X" ‹ c'mon, Jason in space?
What next? Semi-pro hockey player. Hey, he's already got the mask!
BATMAN
Claim to fame: Has cool gadgets, a great costume, a groovy car, a kickin' soundtrack and a sexy dark side.
Career highlight: "Batman." We felt his joy, cried at his pain and actually believed Michael Keaton's performance.
Career lowlight: "Batman & Robin." Alicia Silverstone as a spandexed sidekick ‹ need we say more?
What next? The bad news is that more "Batman" movies are on the way; the good news is that none of the casts so far contains those dreaded two words: Adam West.
ANY "STAR TREK" CREW Claim to fame: They all boldly went where no one had gone before, in seriously snug uniforms. They made us want to be "beamed up" and carry phasers.
Career highlight: "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan." You gotta admit, Ricardo Montalban totally made that movie!
Career lowlight: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." After this hunk of space junk landed in theaters, we were surprised any more got made.
What next? Sigh. Another one with the Picard crew: "Star Trek: Nemesis."
Meanwhile, Kirk, Spock and Scotty should limit their tours of duty to hawking Tribble dolls on the Home Shopping Network.
BOND, JAMES BOND
Claim to fame: Super-suave, super-sexy, super-gadgeted superagent for Her Majesty's Secret Service. Loves his martinis shaken, not stirred. Has more hotties than Hugh Hefner.
Career highlight: "Goldfinger." Nobody does it better than Sean Connery.
Career lowlight: "A View to a Kill." Over-the-top acting, a plot even more ludicrous than usual and Tanya Roberts (with a bad blond dye job) as a love interest.
What next? Pierce Brosnan has one more Bond flick, "Die Another Day." Then this character probably needs a stint in detox ‹ all those martinis must have ruined his liver by now.
ANAKIN SKYWALKER/DARTH VADER
Claim to fame: He only has one, but it's a doozie: When he grows up, he becomes heavy-breather Darth Vader.
Career highlight: "The Empire Strikes Back." One sentence: "Luke, I am your father."
Career lowlight: "Star Wars: Episode II ‹ Attack of the Clones." He aged from an adorable whip-smart kid to a moody, whiny, lovesick teen. Go get the black suit, already!
What next? Alas, "Star Wars: Episode III" will make its way to theaters in a few years. Meanwhile, we hear he's being wooed to serve as a judge on "American Idol."
"ALIEN" ALIENS
Claim to fame: Bizarre and utterly disgusting method of gestating before birth. Their bite is definitely worse than their bark. They love to play hide-and-kill with humans.
Career highlight: "Alien." The creepiest sci-fi movie ever.
Career lowlight: "Alien Resurrection." Not only were we tired of seeing poor Ripley getting a raw deal, but we never believed Winona Ryder as a cyborg.
What next? Reportedly, a movie's in the works pitting Alien vs. the Predator (from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies) ‹ the loser has to join Schwarzenegger's inevitable campaign for California governor.
FREDDY KRUEGER
Claim to fame: Stalked and slaughtered terrified teens in their dreams. Wicked (literally) sense of humor. Made Edward Scissorhands look like a pair of safety scissors.
Career highlight: "Nightmare on Elm Street." Everyone who saw that was afraid to go to sleep.
Career lowlight: "Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child." Baby Freddy? Oh, puh-leeze.
What next? Spokesman for No-Doz?
DR. DOLITTLE
Claim to fame: Can chat with all creatures, great and small.
Career highlight: "Dr. Dolittle," the Eddie Murphy version. We found out Eddie can be funny without all the cuss words.
Career lowlight: "Dr. Dolittle," the Rex Harrison version. Even the animals wanted to get away!
What next? 1 (800) PET PSYCHIC?
SANTA CLAUS (AKA TIM ALLEN)
Claim to fame: Learning the true meaning of Christmas ‹ to spend, spend, spend!
Career highlight: "The Santa Clause," even though Tim Allen had to kill Santa to get his gig. Who knows how many kids were scarred by seeing that movie?
Career lowlight: "The Santa Clause 2." It hasn't been released yet, but we have a feeling it'll be the equivalent of a stocking filled with coal.
What next? Exile in the North Pole, we hope.
The golden gun made famous by the world's favourite secret agent is one of the highlights of the exhibition.
The sparkling weapon, featured in the James Bond adventure The Man With the Golden Gun, has been unveiled to celebrate the 40th anniversary of 007 on the big screen.
The exhibition, which opens to the public on October 16, will explore the science and art of 007 with a huge collection of objects from the films, drawings, storyboards and costume designs.
The attraction is said to expand on the highly successful Bond exhibition which ran between March and September at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford.
Other props on display will be Oddjob's lethal bowler hat from Goldfinger and Rosa Klebb's flick-knife shoe, featured in From Russia With Love.
The interactive exhibition also allows visitors to step inside the life of a spy with a mission briefing in M's office followed by a trip to Q's gadget workshop.
Would-be agents also get the chance to experience a death-defying stunt on the Golden Gate Bridge and explore Scaramanga's Fun House.
The latest instalment of Bond - Die Another Day - is due for general release in the UK on November 22.
The film, which sees action move from Korea to Hong Kong, Cuba and London, stars Pierce Brosnan in his fourth appearance as Bond and also features Halle Berry, Judi Dench, and John Cleese.
Dr No, based on the novel by Ian Fleming and starring Sean Connery as Bond, was the first 007 film to be released in 1962, followed by From Russia With Love in 1963 and Goldfinger in 1964.
Other actors who have taken on the role of Bond on the big screen are George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore.Bond Gadgets Go on Show
5 Oct 2002
Some of the most famous gadgets used by secret agent 007 and his foes in classic James Bond movies have gone on show at the Science Museum in London.
From IC Surrey Online
Oct 9 2002
IF Pierce Brosnan ever needed help in tracking down some of the world's deadliest criminals, he could have done a lot worse than turn to Horace Collins.
Back in the early 1900s this former jockey from Lingfield Racecourse managed to track down the real James Bond.
Bond may have been around for the past 40 years and about to launch his 21st film, Die Another Day, but the inspiration behind his character can be found a good 100 years previously.
According to Ian Fleming, the originator of Bond, he created 007 after reading about the exploits of MI6 master spy Sidney Reilly.
And in a new book Andrew Cook, historian and former foreign affairs specialist, explains how Reilly blazed trails from the gentlemen's clubs of Edwardian England to the walls of Kremlin while leaving his unique mark on world events.
But in some newly-discovered files unearthed by Mr Cook, it appears Collins, who on completing his jockey apprenticeship in 1893 at Lingfield Racecourse, left for the Far East to work at the stables of the Japanese Emperor.
Mr Cook explained: "According to the new files, which I have tracked down through a number of my contacts, it was here that Collins began to speak both Japanese and Chinese and turned his attention from horses to business.
"From here he started working on behalf of various trading houses in China, Korea, Japan and eastern Russia."
As he became more involved in the Far East, Collins became a spy and in true James Bond style set about tracking down Reilly.
He was recruited by the Russians to work for the same company as Reilly, East-Asiatic Company in China.
And according to Mr Cook, Collins began to unmask Reilly before he was sent to Japan to discover Japanese war plans.
Mr Cook added: "At the time I believe Reilly realised he was being rumbled by Collins and, just like Bond, Reilly may well have been having an affair with his wife."
However, unlike Bond, Collins' own spying finally caught up with him and he was arrested by the Japanese and given 10 years hard labour.
OSCAR winner Halle Berry celebrates James Bond's 40th screen birthday by reliving classic scenes for 007's latest outing, Die Another Day.
Fans will do a double take as Halle and Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, recreate a scene from 1964's Goldfinger.
Only this time it's Halle and not 007 who is strapped down and faces being zapped by a deadly laser.
Director Lee Tamahori told the Sunday Mail that fans should spot about 20 references to the old movies in the new Bond when it is released on November 20.
He said: "It is the 20th Bond film, so I've tried to jam in as many references as we could get.
"I asked where all the old props were so that, when we go into Q Division, all that stuff is there, even the Aston Martin and the ejector seat.
"We've been having fun with all that old stuff."
Halle, who won an Oscar for The Monster Ball, plays an action girl called Jinx.
Fans will also see her emerge from the surf in a revealing bikini with a dagger at her side.
The scene is the double of Ursula Andress's famous entrance in the first Bond movie, 1962's Dr No.
Two weeks ago, rock and roll cult hero (and my personal favorite) Warren Zevon, age 55, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. According to doctors, he'll be dead within months.
If anyone told ME that I would be dead in a matter of months, I would drop dead on the spot -- which is probably all for the better. If I lived through the news, the three months to follow this news break would likely be filled with a lot of sifting through my favorite records, smoking marijuana and attempting to single-handedly kill off the world's cow and lobster population with three brutally gourmet meals a day -- that is, until my money ran out. After that, I imagine I would probably have a religious awakening of some sort, as long as it was cheap.
I would be a wreck. But then, I'm not Warren Zevon.
In a press conference held the day after the diagnosis, he remarked:
"I'm OK with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it 'till the next James Bond movie comes out."
"Die Another Day," the 20th installment in the James Bond series, will be released on Nov. 22, whether Warren Zevon is alive or not.
I wish I could say that, come Nov. 22, when I sit in some suburban movie theater awaiting the familiar music, plot and promiscuous sex that define 007 films, I'll be thinking of my viewing of the film as a tribute to Warren Zevon. Likely, though, I'll be caught up in the thrill of watching the man I want to be have sex with the women with whom I want to be, all while thwarting the evil plot of the man I've always longed to thwart.
I've been in the opening weekend audience of every James Bond film released since I was 13, always with my father. This Thanksgiving break, I imagine, it will be no different. My dad and I will fork over 18 American dollars, excited and nervous to see if this new film is worthy of the precedent set for it by 40 years of 007 adventures --
-- Six of which are good.
Zevon's statement started me thinking about many things -- the fleeting nature of life, the random senselessness of death, and the total crappiness of the James Bond series. Excluding, of course, the works of Sean Connery.
Why is it that my father and I get so excited to see the same James Bond film released under a new title biannually, only to be reminded that it wasn't good the last time we saw it and is still pretty awful? How does James Bond do it? How does he take my money, year after year, and never deliver what he's supposed to?
Were anyone else to do such a bad job at his job, he would be fired. Were I to hire a plumber to fix my bidet, were I to pay him in advance for what would assuredly be a satisfying experience on both business ends, were he to shirk his responsibilities and pour Natural Ice all over my bathroom floor, I would not invite him back. Moreover, I would ask for a refund -- if only to pay for the cost of professionally cleaning the bathroom floor.
Film after film, I pay James Bond to do a simple job for me: to not be shitty. I like the guy so much, I pay him in advance. And without fail, he screws up his simple task. "The World Is Not Enough" was so bad that Pierce Brosnan himself might as well have poured cheap beer all over my bathroom floor.
Why do I keep on hiring James Bond? I feel like one of those stuffy rich people in "Three Stooges" movies that pays Moe, Larry and Curly to groom a prize dog, only to return to find my house covered in suds and my dog mangled-but-alive in some bizarre machine. How did the Stooges continually find employment in their hometown? Wouldn't somebody have told somebody: "Hey, don't hire that bowl-cut fella, his fat bald brother, and the Jewish-looking guy to mow your lawn. They'll only slap each other around and knock down your house."
You would think that James Bond's reputation would precede him by now.
"And who are YOU, sir?"
"Bond. James Bond."
"Oh, YOU'RE James Bond. Yeah, I saw that Goldeneye picture. The ending was lousy."
"Quite sorry, chap."
"Screw sorry. Give me your laser watch."
"No. It was manufactured in England."
"Oh, COME on! I even saw that one with Grace Jones!"
"Fine. Just don't tell anyone about our love scene."
It seems to me that the key to the continual success of the Bond series lies in its very crappiness. Because guys like my father and I can't remember the last GOOD Bond movie we saw, we can't remember the last Bond movie at all. They all run together for me now -- all the underwater cars and geisha girls and backgammon games. Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton -- interchangeable and equally disappointing. (I can only imagine how my father must feel. His love-hate relationship with Bond has been going on since the Connery days, when he -- and Warren -- were both 13 years old.)
Perhaps it's this amnesia that the makers of the James Bond films count on all along. Perhaps they KNOW they're making bad films, and know that the less memorable they make them, the easier it will be to sucker guys like me and my father into throwing away $9 for the NEXT film, only because we can't remember how crappy THIS Bond film was, five minutes after it's over.
I would say that this constitutes a form of brainwash, but if the moviegoing public had any brains, we would have quit 007 long ago. This is easier said than done. He's like a drug. When the lights go down and that twangy music starts, my synapses fire in a way I can't understand.
And when the end credits roll, so do my eyes. I've been duped once again.
I admit I take it for granted that I will live to see the next incarnation of James Bond -- the next over-long credits sequence, the next car chase, the next plane explosion. I take this for granted, just as I take for granted that I will see tomorrow morning. As disappointed as I am every time the show ends and the lights come up, I would rather have that habitual heartbreak than feel nothing.
It is better to see a shitty James Bond movie than to see no James Bond movie at all.
Greg Yolen is a junior in Pierson College. If you see him, punch him in the stomach. He totally likes it.
Copyright © 2002 Yale Daily News Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to top
Tue Oct 8
James Bond fans have named their favorite Agent 007 gadget: the Rolex watch
that unzips women's dresses.
The debonair superspy used the timepiece to strip a voluptuous Italian secret agent he found hiding in his closet in the 1973 film, "Live and Let Die."
The gadget was meant to deflect bullets with its powerful electromagnetic force.
But Bond, played by Roger Moore, uses it to unzip the beauty's dress.
Bond then describes his seduction technique as "sheer magnetism."
The Rolex topped a poll by Dixons electronics in England to mark the 40th anniversary of the Bond flicks.
Second in the survey was Bond's Ericsson mobile phone, which remotely-controlled Pierce Brosnan's BMW in "Tomorrow Never Dies," released in 1997.
A pager watch, which summoned Sean Connery as Bond to meet with spy chief M in 1963's "From Russia With Love," came in third.
What's remarkable is that many of Bond's gadgets from the 1960s and 1970s, such as pagers and miniature cameras, were considered to be total fantasy but are now available," said Stuart Carson, marketing director for Dixons.
A still photo released Tuesday from the "Die Another Day" video shows the 44-year-old trying her hand at karate. The song is from the soundtrack of the upcoming James Bond film of the same name.
The video premieres Thursday on MTV.
Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, said in July that the singer was also making a brief cameo appearance in the movie.
The song is Madonna's first new release for more than a year.
"Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry, is scheduled for release later this year.
James Bond Selling Out?
James Bond has been accused of selling out, amidst revelations moviemakers signed deals to promote 20 products in the new film. The world's most famous secret agent returns to cinema screens next month in Die Another Day - his 20th outing. But as Pierce Brosnan prepares to don the famous tuxedo for his fourth - and possibly last - turn as the spy, the franchise is coming under increased criticism from fans and industry watchdogs for cashing in on its popularity and turning the new film into one long commercial. In the new film, 007 wears an Omega watch, drives an Aston Martin car, flies with British Airways while carrying Samsonite luggage and listening to a Sony stereo - among other product placements. According to figures in the London Evening Standard, 20 firms have signed deals with makers MGM studios and Eon Productions worth up to $45 million each for their products to appear in the film and to associate themselves with 007 in worldwide TV, print radio and billboard advertisement. Although the huge cash investments help movie makers cover the huge cost of making a feature film - at $105 million Die Another Day is the biggest budget Bond flick ever - sponsorship deals for the new flick dwarf those for the previous record holder Minority Report and MGM and Eon have been accused of damaging the Bond tradition. Graham Rye, editor of 007 Magazine says, "They have gone over the top. The whole thing is marketing driven - the original films were unique in action cinema but it's now becoming a pastiche." And Laurent Perrot - founder of the Paris-based Club James Bond - adds, "It's important for a movie to have money from companies. The problem is when the product becomes more important than the character."
The "Bond, James Bond" exhibition, which opens Oct. 16, boasts the biggest collection of Bond memorabilia ever assembled, including exploding plaster casts, laser-firing watches, bulletproof racing cars and exotic costumes worn by "Bond girls."
"We have 100 different things from the 20 Bond films so far, including at least one from every film," Nicola Osmond Evans, a spokeswoman for the museum, said Friday.
The exhibition, which will fill up two floors, will open just over a week after Saturday's 40th anniversary of "Dr. No," the first screen outing for 007, based on the novel by Ian Fleming and starring Sean Connery as Bond.
Visitors can participate in an interactive (news - external web site) computer game testing their potential as a secret service officer, and watch unseen film footage and out-takes of several stunts.
The exhibition will run until March when it will transfer to the United States.
The latest installment in the spy franchise, "Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan, is scheduled for release later this year.
The "Bond, James Bond" exhibition, which opens Oct. 16, boasts the biggest collection of Bond memorabilia ever assembled ‹ exploding plaster casts, laser-firing watches, bullet-proof racing cars, exotic costumes worn by "Bond girls" ‹ ever assembled.
"We have 100 different things from the 20 Bond films so far, including at least one from every film," said Nicola Osmond Evans, a spokeswoman for the museum, as workers unpacked the glittering weapon made famous in "The Man With The Golden Gun."
The second item out of the box on Tuesday was the razor-rimmed bowler hat thrown with lethal accuracy by henchman Oddjob in "Goldfinger."
The two weapons will be joined by several of Bond's own gadgets, including the rocket-propelled backpack he used in "Thunderball."
The exhibition, which will fill up two floors of the museum, will open just over a week after Saturday's 40th anniversary of "Dr. No," the first screen outing for 007, based on the novel by Ian Fleming and starring Sean Connery as Bond.
Visitors will be able to take part in an interactive ( news - external web site) computer game testing their potential as a secret service officer. And they can watch unseen film footage and the out-takes of several stunts. One reveals Bond's escape from his enemies in "Live and Let Die" by running across the back of a row of alligators. Several failed attempts, including one where the stuntman fell among the animals, almost losing a leg, are shown.
"There's something for everyone in the exhibition," said Osmond Evans.
The latest installment in the Bond franchise, "Die Another Day," with actor Pierce Brosnan making his fourth appearance as the spy, is due to open in Britain on Nov. 22.
The exhibition will run until March when it will transfer to the United States. Tickets are 8.95 pounds (US$14).
Outside the theater in November of 1962, Wilt Chamberlain was putting up
70-plus points for the San Francisco Warriors, but inside, Bond scored with the ladies.
President John F. Kennedy announced that Cuban missile bases were being
dismantled; Bond destroyed Dr. No.
A music group held a recording session for the first time under the name
"Beatles"; Bond started a smash hit franchise, which 40 years later still sings to the tune of guns, gadgets and girls.
Starting with Sean Connery and continuing with George Lazenby, Roger Moore,
Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, British secret agent Bond has continued to play to fans' imaginations through the years. The 20th film in the MGM James Bond canon, "Die Another Day," opens Nov. 22.
Growing up in the 1970s Sheryl Strole, 40, and her family could get just a
few channels on television and the viewing options were slim.
"We had the Brady Bunch or the Waltons, it was mellow ... and James Bond, he
offered us the world," Strole said. "You can only watch the Waltons and 'Little House on the Prairie' so much."
As the only Bond fan in her family _ "My mom couldn't stand the James Bond
thing" _ Strole was attracted to the Bond films for the clothes, the gadgets and the exotic locales.
When she began dating the man who is now her husband, David, Stole
discovered that he was also the closet Bond fan in his family, she said.
"We get married and we have our son and he's totally into the Pierce Brosnan
Bond," she said. And now the three of them debate who the best Bond is. Despite their 16-year-old son's arguments, Strole and her husband maintain that Connery is the best Bond.
"He's good, warts and all. He was losing his hair. Sometimes he flubbed up.
His mistakes were so human. I loved the way he talked, the way he cracked a joke."
"For me, Connery is the only Bond and that was locked in with me years ago,"
said Peter Ivanov, 49, assistant professor of theater at Mesa State College.
"As a consumer who went to the films and was caught up in the Bond mystique,
my sensibilities were formed by the sensibilities of the early '60s," Ivanov said. "So, of course it's a martini, what else could it be? It has to be a martini. And underneath the wet suit it's got to be a tux. He comes up out of the water, takes off his wet suit, it will be a tux and it will be wrinkle-free."
Bond is suave and completely in command and to some extent a reflection of
men's fantasies and desires, Ivanov said.
"All men dream of mastery over women, that just comes with the territory.
Women are a mysterious entity and I think men have always felt threatened by that mysteriousness."
The Bond girls' "sexuality was so powerful and strong _ the famous white
bikini on the beach _ those women are so sexually powerful they can have their way with men, but as soon as they met Bond they lost their power," he said.
"I never did understand what women saw in Bond except self-reliance," Ivanov
said. "He wasn't really very nice to his women in the past. Now he is much nicer to his women."
Despite his faults, when it comes to the ladies, Bond will always be a daring dreamboat. But for those who don't like to take a character at face value, take a gander at his ride.
When he returns in "Die Another Day," Bond will be sitting behind the wheel
of an Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish with a 6-liter, 460-horsepower V-12 with a 6-speed manual and can speed from zero- to 100-mph in less than 10 seconds, writes Jim Mateja of the Chicago Tribune.
The Vanquish has a price tag of $230,000 and according to Mateja, is sold
out for the next two years, then there's a waiting list.
And what about the gadgets?
Bond's last watch contained a grappling hook with 800 pound-strength wire.
The face lit up and could be used as a mini-torch. In the past, his timepieces have featured a TV monitor, radio directional finder, radio/transmitter, explosives and detonator cable, ticker-tape message device, powerful magnet, buzz saw and Geiger counter, according to "The Essential Bond" by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall.
"I think when you add that all up the gadgets, the women, the mastery over
women, the self-assuredness, I think it's human natures to gravitate toward people who seem sure of themselves. Whether they're right or wrong doesn't really matter to us anymore," Ivanov said.
"And there is no one more sure than Bond, early Bond, let's say. Lately,
Bond has become more unsure of himself."
It's as if Bond is going through a mid-life crisis. While he still looks
handsome and daring at 40, the world around him has aged, a lot.
His boss, M, acts like his mom and has called him a Cold War dinosaur. Even
sweet Miss Moneypenny has mentioned sexual harassment.
Next, someone will suggest that Bond get hooked up with a personal trainer
or martial arts instructor to tighten up those fight scenes. So far, Bond has been lucky when it comes to knock-down, drag-outs, relying on his brains to take out the other guy. However, a couple extra guns wouldn't hurt, they would say.
Look at agent XXX.
The last Triple X Bond knew was Barbara Bach's Soviet agent who helped him
take down shipping magnate Karl Stromberg and his henchman Jaws in "The Spy Who Loved Me" in 1977.
In 2002, agent XXX is a tattooed extreme-sports superstar turned rebellious CIA agent named Xander Cage (Vin Diesel).
"On its own hip, violent terms, it's fine lowbrow entertainment and a
credible rival to the Bond franchise," writes Colin Covert of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune in a film review. "The plot of 'XXX' is well crafted but predictable,scavenging ideas from the Bond series shamelessly."
What timing. And just when Bond was trying to remake himself.
In the past, moral clarity and gender roles were more defined, making things
simpler, easier, Ivanov said. Connery's "Bond never had a pang of conscience killing any of the enemies of his state of Britain or of the world."
But Brosnan's Bond "is without purpose because the Cold War is over," Ivanov
said. "He has a woman for a boss and he does not like it, at least in ("GoldenEye") he did not like it. Even today, I think he's still uncomfortable with it."
While the Cold War is over, and "the old problems that used to be so
prevalent aren't there anymore, you have a whole set of new ones," Strole said.
In his last few outings 007 tried to cut his Cold War apron strings with
international terrorists and a conniving media magnate, but he still seems one line away from saying: "Oh no! I've lost my charm!"
"Not from where I'm standing!" replies the Bond franchise.
In 2000, MGM called Pierce Brosnan "Our Billion Dollar Bond" as the last
three films totaled more than $1 billion at the box office, according to the "The Essential Bond."
"I think they are doing the best they can and they are trying to make good
movies, but I think they know that it's tired," said Dana Andrews, 48, lecturer of English at Mesa State and formerly a film and television executive in Los Angeles.
"I think the producers don't want to let go of the franchise," Andrews said.
"When I was a kid, Bond was the coolest thing in the world."
"Goldfinger," released in 1964, was the first Bond film he saw and he still
considers the "ruthless" Auric Goldfinger his favorite villain, along with his fanatic servant, Oddjob.
Of Connery: "He's a really terrific actor in that John Wayne kind of way.
John Wayne lost me in his politics but I'll still watch 'The Quiet Man' or the 'Searchers' because I love those movies, but I don't like his personal stuff ... that's the way I feel about Connery.
"He knew Bond. He knew better than all of them who Bond was."
Moore's Bond had a different kind of way with humor and "even though (his
films) were campy he went along with the camp and understood it, and a couple of the movies were pretty good," Andrews said.
Take "Live And Let Die" for example: 007 in Harlem?
But Bond aside, what made the films of the past unique were the gadgets and
innovation, Andrews said. Now looking at that technology it's "ho hum."
"I'd hate to see the death (of Bond) only because it makes me age, but it's
inevitable," he said.
So perhaps it's either "A View To A Kill" or "Die Another Day."
However, Bond still serves a purpose in that he appeals to our darker side,
Ivanov said.
"Some psychologists have said that within all of us lurks the irresponsible
person. We have a side of us which is destructive that we keep in check. And Bond is allowed free rein of all those qualities in our nature which we are told are unacceptable in modern society," he said. "Not only is Bond permitted to go into that dark area of human nature, it is rewarded and results in saving mankind in every film.
"The mystique, the whole legacy has some kind of hold on us, it's got some
kind of power over us," Ivanov said. "So powerful that every two years they can put out another film that will find audiences, every two years for the last 40 years."
So Bond asks, "Who would pay a million dollars to have me killed?"
"Jealous husbands, outraged chefs, humiliated tailors ... the list is
endless!"
Ann Winterholter writes for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. E-mail at
awinterholter(at)gjds.com The Cold War may be over but James Bond is still hot
by ANN WINTERHOLTER
October 5, 2002 Saturday
Miss Trench and every female in the audience just melted and every man
became 007, if only in his fantasies.
From Sky News
Brosnan Helps Halle Out
Pierce Brosnan has revealed how he saved Halle Berry's life during a
love scene in the new Bond movie.
Brosnan says he had to perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre on his Die Another Day co-star after she choked on a piece of fruit.
The pair were filming a love scene for the film at the time.
"She had this piece of fruit in her hand and she gives me some, then puts it in her own mouth," Brosnan told Esquire magazine.
"I made a joke and she started laughing and then she gagged. Suddenly there was no sound coming out".
"I banged her on the back, then began putting my arms around her to do the Heimlich".
"Somehow she expelled the fruit which was a good thing, because I've never given anyone the Heimlich before," said Brosnan.
Die Another Day is released in the UK on November 22
By CLAUDIA ELLER and LORENZA MUNOZ, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
October 6, 2002 Sunday Home Edition
Remember those steamy trailers for last year's acclaimed movie "Moulin Rouge," the ones with Nicole Kidman locked in a swirling, sensual dance with her smitten lover?
Now imagine the same slinky redhead taking her final breath, her body sprawled on a bed of blood-red rose petals, a heartsick young man sobbing at her side.
That's the promo they saw in Japan, where "tragic love is considered most noble and honorable," said the film's director, Baz Luhrmann. No matter that the trailer gave away the ending, a strategy that would prompt most American moviegoers to chuck their popcorn at the screen.
The split personality of the "Moulin Rouge" ads reflects Hollywood's continuing struggle to figure out how to extend its global reach. Although the overseas markets have been very good to the industry, they have not produced the riches once imagined, given the size of the potential audience. Some blockbusters such as "Spider-Man" and the "Star Wars" movies virtually sell themselves because of the simplicity of their plots, their muscular action scenes and dazzling special effects. But most of Hollywood's exports require the sensibilities of a cultural anthropologist to understand the nuances and norms of countries around the globe.
"It isn't one world when it comes to laughing, crying or being frightened," said industry veteran Warren Lieberfarb, president of Warner Home Video. "There is not one homogeneous appetite for American movies, and that is what poses this huge challenge for the U.S. studios."
Universal Pictures had hoped that its sleeper hit "The Fast and the Furious" would rev up business abroad, but foreign audiences weren't interested in its uniquely American backdrop of illegal street racing. Domestic comedies, meanwhile, rarely catch fire abroad--even when headlined by such major stars as Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey. The jokes often don't translate well.
New Line Cinema's tear jerker "I Am Sam," in which Sean Penn portrays a mentally challenged dad, hit big in Japan but flopped in England, Germany and France.
"It was too sappy for them," explained Rolf Mittweg, head of international marketing and distribution at New Line.
On the flip side, high-profile movies that withered in the U.S. sometimes find audiences abroad. Steven Spielberg's sci-fi drama "A.I.," which grossed less than $80 million domestically, made that much in Japan alone, where audiences worship Spielberg and were wowed by the movie's futuristic themes.
During the last decade, as the U.S. market has plateaued, foreign territories have become increasingly important to the studios. Roughly 50% of their annual theatrical revenue comes from overseas. Sometimes it can be far more. Last year's blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" earned more than twice as much on foreign soil--$651 million--as it did here. That's the equivalent of six hits in the U.S.
Still, industry executives acknowledge that the vast majority of their offerings are not selling abroad as they once hoped.
Ten years ago, the studios were predicting that, by now, foreign ticket sales would constitute 70% of their business. They underestimated the difficulties of drawing people to theaters in countries with unique personalities. Here, people go to the movies an average of 5.2 times a year. In Europe, it's 1.3. Compared with the relative predictability of the domestic landscape, "the international marketplace is the Wild West," said Revolution Studios founder Joe Roth.
The foreign market has become so important that no studio boss today would "greenlight" a movie--particularly an expensive one--without factoring in its international potential. "It would be like crossing the street and not looking both ways," said 20th Century Fox Co-Chairman Tom Rothman.
And to make sure they don't get flattened, Hollywood marketers are increasingly tailoring their campaigns to indigenous tastes.
Rothman's studio scored one of last year's biggest--and most unexpected--triumphs in the U.S. with its animated feature "Ice Age," starring TV comedian Ray Romano as the voice of a woolly mammoth named Manny. Romano, the star of CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," was the centerpiece of the "Ice Age" ad campaign.
So when the movie opened big overseas, Rothman immediately picked up the phone to share the good news with Romano.
"You're knocking them dead in Germany," Rothman gushed.
"I don't speak German," Romano wryly reminded him.
In his exuberance, Rothman had forgotten Otto Waalkes, who headlined the German campaign. One of the country's hottest comics, he dubbed the voice of the film's frenetic wise-cracking sloth, Sid.
Besides online chats, Waalkes went on radio and TV to stump for the film. He produced funny jingles. He showed the movie trailer on his comedy tours. At the premiere, he autographed posters.
"I am a German comedian, and to make the Germans laugh is not easy," he said. "In dubbing, I used some specific German things like a yodel.... People stop me in the streets and ask me to do Sid now."
Maybe, as Waalkes insists, Germans are a tough crowd, but at least they flock to U.S. films as no one else in Europe. The Italians are another matter. They spend the summer at the beach, when Hollywood wants them indoors, watching its most expensive offerings. The goal has been to get Italians into the country's recently built air-conditioned multiplexes year round.
"I really respect local customs," said Jeff Blake, head of worldwide marketing and distribution at Sony Pictures. "But it's in our long-term interest to make it a 12-month-a-year business."
Hoping to draw larger crowds this past summer, nearly every major studio released more big-ticket titles than ever, including Sony's "Spider-Man," Fox's "Star Wars: Episode 2 Attack of the Clones," Warner Bros.' "Scooby-Do" and Disney's "Lilo & Stitch."
Still, the Italians proved stubborn.
Although "Spider-Man" soared on its opening weekend, ticket sales fell nearly 60% the next week when it was upstaged by gorgeous weather and World Cup soccer. "Lilo & Stitch" had an even tougher time. To build momentum, Disney built a giant outdoor screen in the seaside city of Ostia, near Rome, for the movie's premiere. It didn't work. In Italy, the film took in a disappointing $4 million.
"It's going to take a few years to educate Italians to go to the movies in summer," said Giampaolo Letta of Rome-based Medussa Film, which operates 42 screens in Italy. "People prefer to go outside with ice cream or take a walk."
But Hollywood knows that there are many other countries where people will stand in line, rain or shine, to see an American movie--if the marketing works.
The plotting begins in studio conference rooms like the one at MGM in Santa Monica, where five executives recently gathered for a brainstorming session. The topic: how to sell James Bond overseas to a new generation that prefers edgier action heroes.
The international market is especially important for the Bond movies because, historically, two-thirds of their total box office has come from abroad.
Sitting around a conference table are five top marketing executives debating the ad campaigns for the upcoming "Die Another Day." Their goal is to make actor Pierce Brosnan cooler and his new co-star, Halle Berry, sexy without being a sex object. No more leading ladies with names like Pussy Galore. Both actors have been photographed in various outfits to suit specific international tastes. "Halle, we shot in a gown, in a black leather dress, in her action outfit with swords and knives," says Linda Goldin, vice president of creative advertising. "We did everything to try to cover what we might need in every market."
"I think Halle in a bikini will be really great for older Bond fans too," adds marketing strategist Megan Crawford.
Ian Sutherland, head of MGM's international division, asks about Brosnan. "Do you have him in the button-down look? Or do you make him more accessible, a bit more cool, open-necked and looking suave?"
Along the walls of the conference room is a collection of international posters from past Bond campaigns, including a couple from "The World Is Not Enough."
One, from France, gave the star treatment to a secondary character, who happened to be played by French actress Sophie Marceau.
Some of the Italian ads featured no 007 actors. Marketing executives said the Bond character is simply too uptight for Italian tastes. So in place of the perfectly coifed Brosnan is a shirtless, shaggy-haired, despondent-looking convict with his forearms pressed through prison bars. The copy line, translated from Italian, reads: "You better have a good reason to miss the next James Bond film."
Savvy stars like Berry know that their own success also depends on filling seats outside the U.S.
"It's about dollars and cents," said Berry. "The more dollars and cents you generate, the more work you get as an actress."
And the stars aren't the only ones crucial to Hollywood's marketing machine.
When Warner Bros.' star-studded remake of "Ocean's Eleven" was released in France last year, the media requested more interviews with director Steven Soderbergh than with Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts or George Clooney, according to the studio.
Movie directors with distinctive styles are regarded in France as the creators, or auteurs, of the films they make, a tradition dating to cinema's earliest days.
In the case of the "Ocean's Eleven" French campaign, Warner Bros. wanted to put Soderbergh's name above the movie's title. The director turned down the offer, insisting that it would detract from the ensemble cast, said Warner Bros. international marketing head, Sue Kroll.
In France, marquee directors reign supreme. "All other information," she said, "is secondary."
Although studio bosses know what sells in France, Japan is another story. It is Hollywood's top-grossing territory--and its most confounding.
"You think that, if you have a film that is powerful, you can overcome cultural differences," said Stephen Moore, head of Fox International. "But I give up when it comes to Japan. You have to accept that you're always starting from scratch."
It's partly a matter of gender.
In the U.S., Hollywood's most avid moviegoers are 18- to 24-year-old males. In Japan, the market is driven by young women known as "O.Ls"--Office Ladies. Typically reserved, they rarely express emotion in public but they feel comfortable letting loose in darkened theaters.
These women made winners of such weepies as the Winona Ryder/Richard Gere romantic drama "Autumn in New York" and "Sweet November," with Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves. Both movies bombed in the U.S.
"Young males in Japan are finicky," said Universal Pictures' international marketing chief, Randy Greenberg. "You hope and pray that they go ... but they don't necessarily show up en masse, as you need them to do on your opening weekend."
Besides praying, the studios rely heavily on their own marketing and distribution teams in each country for guidance on how a movie might be received.
Sometimes, the feedback can be painful, as Disney learned when it screened the "Pearl Harbor" trailer for its Japanese staff in Tokyo.
The trailer's themes of American patriotism and heroism earned high marks from U.S. test audiences. But in Japan, viewers did not respond well to a trailer that was filled with explosive footage of the surprise attack on unsuspecting Americans.
Mark Zoradi, who oversees Disney's international film and home video division, described the audience reaction: "There was silence. Not a word. I looked at the guy I was with and said, 'Man, do we have some work to do!' "
The studio neutralized the trailer's war scenes by excising "all the flag-waving stuff," Zoradi said.
Instead, Disney emphasized the story's romance and added a scene in which a Japanese fighter pilot motions to some boys playing baseball to get out of harm's way.
In the end, Japanese audiences embraced "Pearl Harbor's" softer angle, helping to make Japan the film's top-grossing foreign market.
Such was not the case for Fox's "Moulin Rouge."
Despite the best efforts of the studio and director, not even the tragic scene in the trailers could seduce Japanese audiences. Only a fraction of the movie's $120-million overseas gross came from Japan.
Luhrmann was disappointed and dumbfounded.
"We never cracked Japan at the level we thought we could," he said. "I can't explain it."
To view an example of foreign and U.S. movie marketing trailers, go to latimes.com/moulintrailers.
GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC: A Different World CREDIT: Los Angeles Times PHOTO: In Italy, where James Bond is considered too uptight, ads ignored star Pierce Brosnan, left, and featured a convict with the line: "You better have a good reason to miss the next James Bond film." PHOTOGRAPHER: MGM
October 6, 2002, Sunday
SOME of the biggest names in the Irish and British music and film industry could be called to give evidence in a court
case later this year.
The Corrs, Bono, Ronan Keating and Pierce Brosnan are just some of the names that are likely to take the witness stand. Kate Winslett and Roger Moore have already agreed to attend in person if necessary.
The court case will hear that celebrities have been assisting Solihull Council Trading Standards in their case in the British West Midlands investigators to help smash a suspected fake autograph scam nationwide, which has netted thousands of pounds.
Many of the autographs on t-shirts, photographs and other highly sought after collectables bought for up to pounds 150 at a Hollywood memorabilia exhibition at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre almost two years ago are now thought to be fake. People who had bought photographs of the stars later contacted the council's consumer protection department and challenged whether the signatures on the autographs they had purchased were authentic.
Earlier this year, Solihull Council Trading Standards contacted many of the stars and requested their signatures for comparison tests. They included Roger Moore, Kate Winslett and Oscar winner Emma Thompson.
October 5, 2002, Saturday
James Bond may have reached middle-age but, as MICHAEL BODEY spies, Agent 007 doesn't show any sign of slowing down
He's survived everything from goldplated villains to outrageous spoofs and Timothy Dalton. This weekend, James Bond officially turns 40 but like many middle aged men, he's worked hard to cover his real age.
It could be anything from 49 (1953 being the year both Ian Fleming's book, Casino Royale, introduced Bond to the world and his current screen incarnation, Pierce Brosnan, was born) to 78 (Fleming's character was born in Scotland in 1924).
Officially though, Dr No, the first film in the longest and most successful cinema series ever, premiered on October 5, 1962. And, having earned more than $7 billion worldwide since, the Bond films have become James Bond's cultural calling card. Unfortunately, Bond's creator wasn't there to reap the rewards. The stockbroker, journalist and intelligence operative's novels were only a modest success before he died in 1964.
On screen though, the wry spy has outlived, or outmaneuvered, more sociopolitical changes than a Chinese president.
He sailed through the Cold War to find new nemeses in the new Slavic republics, the Middle East and the boardroom.
He's done it for the money, slipping into Lotus, BMW and Bentley automobiles before returning to his reliable Aston Martin.
He dispatched the imitators -- The Saint, Michael Caine's Harry Palmer, Dean Martin's Matt Helm, James Coburn's Derek Flint and the satirical Casino Royale featuring multiple Bonds, including David Niven and Woody Allen, with a wink.
Another imitator, Mike Myers' Austin Powers, could only have thrived if we loved Bond. And the latest? The "multi ethnic action star" Vin Diesel as the extreme sportsloving spy without a clue, Xander Cage, in xXx.
The character has defeated every challenge with a very English stoicism. Bond hasn't so much adapted to the times as morphed with them ever so slightly by replenishing actors, varying tone and managing to maintain some relevance, albeit a cartoonlike one, to contemporary life.
There was a midlife crisis in the late 1990s when political correctness threatened to make him redundant but before you could say "shaken, not stirred" M and some of his most empowered opponents became female and he learned some manners.
Inexplicably though, Australia has not been one of Bond's happiest hunting grounds. Bond remains one of few international jetsetters who hasn't been to Australia. No wonder, his Australian fan club closed a couple of years ago.
Nevertheless, Daniel Dykes, a 19yearold Melbourne student and aspiring actor, maintains the faith here, editing the internet's major repository of James Bond news, www.commanderbond.net.
In a culture that relishes sport before movies, Dykes realises his Bond fascination is up against it. But with seven million hits to his site last month, he doesn't need Australia.
The box office figures for Bond films bear out our antipathy.
While "spy" films Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Mission:
Impossible 2 rank in the top 50 films of all time, no Bond film does it in Australia.
Yet an Australian, George Lazenby, took on the cinematic Bond, even if it was for the poorest performing in the series, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
Indeed, the Scottish Bond only had one Scot in his shoes, Sean Connery. Timothy Dalton is Welsh, Roger Moore is English and Pierce Brosnan is Irish.
Dykes is not particularly phased by the representations.
"What grabs me is James Bond himself," he says. "He's the man you want to be. Which guy doesn't want to bed women and drive fast cars?" There's nothing retrograde about that, he adds.
"I do have friends who think I'm nuts in terms of collecting. You very rarely get criticised for wanting a more exciting life; you get criticised for spending money on it."
To think, this icon of aspiration, had such an inauspicious film debut.
An American TV network made a telemovie of Casino Royale in 1954 to little response.
Fleming offloaded the film rights to all his novels in 1961, after a heart attack, to two independent producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli.
They didn't have enough money to realise the spectacular Thunderball, so they opted for Dr No. And instead of David Niven, Richard Burton or James Mason becoming Bond, they relented with former seaman and milkman, Sean Connery.
That an unknown from Edinburgh could become a cinematic icon and the world's sexiest man says much about Connery's under appreciated acting skills.
Ultimately, it says so much more about the charisma and appeal of Bond, James Bond.
George Lazenby: A one-trick-pony as the star of a chocolate bar ad, Lazenby only nabbed On Her Majesty's Secret Service after bluffing he was a racecar driver and when Timothy Dalton turned it down believing, at 25, he was too young. Lazenby actually wasn't that bad, despite his nod after the pre-title sequence that "This never happened to the other fella!"
Roger Moore: Connery declined, Burt Reynolds was too American, so the cuddly Londoner came in for Live and Let Die. He polarised the fans as he started as a foppish ponce, took Bond through its most popular period only to become a 58 year-old, over-tanned, unwieldly-plugged dinosaur who looked totally over it in A View to a Kill.
Timothy Dalton: The most revered actor to take on the role, Dalton had to regenerate the character after Moore had turned it into a cartoon. He played it too mean for the fans, and definitely not wry enough, even if he recalled the earliest Connery.
Pierce Brosnan: Arguably the closest the series has had to Fleming's Bond. He's also had to overcome the 1990s' political correctness that threatened the series while still adapting to the incredible special effects required of today's cinema. Brosnan has rejuvenated the character simply by not playing it so seriously.
The Best of the Bond Girls
Honey Rider (played by Ursula Andress in Dr No, 1962); Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Goldfinger, 1964); Contessa Tracy Di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 1969); Solitaire (Jane Seymour in Live and Let Die, 1973); Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977); Octopussy (Maud Adams in Octopussy, 1983); Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997); Elektra King (Sophie Marceau in The World Is Not Enough, 1999)
The Best (or worst) of the Villains
Dr No (played by Joseph Wiseman in the movie of the same name); Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe in Goldfinger); Errnst Stavro Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence in You Only Live Twice and Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service); Dr Kanaga (Yaphet Kotto in Live and Let Die); Fransisco Scaramango (Christopher Lee in The Man With The Golden Gun); Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen in GoldenEye); Jaws (Richard Kiel in Moonraker, 1979)
The best of the films ... Live and Let Die; Goldfinger
... and the worst Octopussy; Moonraker; A View to a Kill
October 4, 2002, Friday
The golden gun made famous by the world's favourite secret agent was unpacked today ready for a spectacular exhibition.
The sparkling weapon, featured in the James Bond adventure The Man With the Golden Gun, was unveiled to celebrate tomorrow's 40th anniversary of 007 on the big screen.
It is among items from the classic films set to feature in the Bond, James Bond display at the Science Museum in south-west London. The exhibition, which opens to the public on October 16, will explore the science and art of 007 with a huge collection of objects from the films, drawings, storyboards and costume designs.
The attraction is said to expand on the highly successful Bond exhibition which ran between March and September at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford.
Other props on display will be Oddjob's lethal bowler hat from Goldfinger and Rosa Klebb's flick-knife shoe, featured inFrom Russia With Love.
The interactive exhibition also allows visitors to step inside the life of a spy with a mission briefing in M's office followed by a trip to Q's gadget workshop.
Would-be agents also get the chance to experience a death-defying stunt on the Golden Gate Bridge and explore Scaramanga's Fun House.
The latest instalment of Bond - Die Another Day - is due for general release in the UK on November 22.
The film, which sees action move from Korea to Hong Kong, Cuba and London, stars Pierce Brosnan in his fourth appearance as Bond and also features Halle Berry, Judi Dench, and John Cleese.
Dr No, based on the novel by Ian Fleming and starring Sean Connery as Bond, was the first 007 film to be released in 1962, followed by From Russia With Love in 1963 and Goldfinger in 1964.
Other actors who have taken on the role of Bond on the big screen are George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore.
October 4, 2002
BOND, JAMES BOND, LOOKING AT YOU, Special Photographers Company Gallery, London W11 1EL, 020 7221 3489, October 10-November 16 National Gallery, London WC2N, 020 7747 2885, October 16-January 12.
Science Museum, London SW7, 0870 870 4868, opens October 16
MADAME DE POMPADOUR: IMAGES OF A MISTRESS, MOST small boys - and not just small boys - have fantasised about being JAMES BOND. Now anyone who has ever found themselves humming that famous theme tune can have a shot at playing the illustrious secret agent at a major new interactive exhibition at the Science Museum. Sadly, you won't get to drive away an Aston Martin, but you will get to tangle with technology through a series of themed areas designed to let you play at being 007.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the phenomenon that is the James Bond movie - and he is looking rather sprightlier than most of us at 40, with the new Bond thriller, Die Another Day, out on November 20. But while we wait for Pierce Brosnan to vanquish his enemies in style, the exhibition offers a chance to see how Bond and his baddies have kept up with the times.
The show is designed to follow the shape of a typical Bond movie, with a range of challenges building up to an explosive finale. Each stage of the display will let the visitor in on secrets about the essential ingredients of an 007 adventure, such as stunts and chases, guns and gizmos - and, of course, girls. The behind-thescenes tour also features costume designs, storyboards and beloved objects from the films. The actor Richard Kiel, who played Jaws and whose teeth are an exhibit, will be present in person, signing his book, Making It Big In The Movies, on November 20 from 9.30pm.
Sean Connery, no stranger to Bond, is one of photographer David Steen's favourite subjects and features along with many of Steen's celebrity portraits in LOOKING AT YOU at the Special Photographers Company. While Steen has photographed subjects as diverse as the homeless and the royal family, the focus here is on his images of famous names - many of them seen in unusual circumstances. Here is Rod Stewart in bed with his cat (no catty remarks please), Harold Macmillan in his bedroom, Charlie Chaplin fishing - all of them illustrating Steen's belief in the maxim that "every picture tells a story".
This was a principle also well known to MADAME DE POMPADOUR, an international celebrity in her day. Living in the 18th century, however, she had no camera lens to tell the stories for her. Instead, she employed artists, sculptors and craftsmen to define her image, carefully controlling the way she came across. Madame de Pompadour rose from modest beginnings to a position of considerable influence at the French court. She became mistress of Louis XV of France but, even after her relationship with him ended, she continued as his friend and confidante and was able to get artists to redefine her in this role.
The show at the National Gallery will explore how this attractive, clever woman controlled her image with a series of striking portraits. Who says spin is a modern invention?
He made his decision after singing in forthcoming drama Evelyn.
Last night he said: "I was incredibly frightened of doing it, especially as I've never had any formal training as a singer."
Meanwhile, former 007 Roger Moore has revealed that he would love to appear in more Bond films.
He admitted: "I could play a camp villain!"
*Translation: Brosnan will be at the Chicago International Film Festival's premiere party Friday night at the Chicago Theatre. Brosnan will be honored with the Career Achievement Award before the premiere of his film "Evelyn," which also stars Julianna Margulies and Chicago's Aidan Quinn .
October 2, 2002
WHILE Pierce Brosnan was in Thailand promoting his latest James Bond thriller, Die Another Day, his wife Keely Shaye Smith has been concerned with more down-to-earth affairs.
TV presenter and active environmentalist Keely is obsessed with the couple's garden at their house in Malibu, California, and decided to open it to the public at GBP 56 a head. Guests strolled around the wooden beachside residence, suitably impressed by the tropical plants which the Brosnans have grown - including tea bushes.
The couple also have a magnificent home in Highgate, North London, but Keely loves Malibu and agreed to let in the hoi polloi to raise money for charity.
She told sightseers who booked the tour through a lifestyle magazine: 'Pierce planted the tea because he believes it is a sacred plant and will bless the house.' The garden was the last stop of a five-home tour which cost up to GBP 320, including, of course, afternoon tea.
SECRET agent James Bond is swapping his trademark vodka martini for mineral water from the Welsh hills.
In new movie Die Another Day, 007 Pierce Brosnan prefers a refreshing glass of water to the shaken-not-stirred cocktail. The British superspy is seen drinking Ty Nant mineral water in the movie, which is due to be released next month.
Bond has been drinking vodka martinis since the first Ian Fleming novel, Casino Royale in 1953.
But in the new film, which sees Bond taking on a maniac who lives in an ice palace, he drinks the super-healthy bottled water instead.
And guests at the film's ice-themed London premiere next month will be drinking from bottles of Ty Nant designed especially for the event.
The spring in Bethania, north Wales, was discovered in 1976.
A Ty Nant spokesman said: "The producers thought our new bottle would be perfect for the scene because it looks like it's made from ice. "We were delighted."
October 1, 2002 Tuesday
LONDON --- Producer and rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs will host the MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona, Spain, on Nov. 14.
Confirmed celebrity presenters include Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry and Spanish supermodel Esther Canadas, among others. Controversial rap artist Eminem is a frontrunner in four categories with nominations for male artist, hip-hop, album ("The Eminem Show") and video ("Without Me").
October 1, 2002
Next Monday marks the release of the title track, performed, of course, by Madonna, from the upcoming James Bond flick Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan as OO7. The video, shot in Los Angeles, shows the pop diva in various predicaments. When she isn't strapped into an electric chair, or having her head held under water, she is dodging deadly bowler hats . . .
Saving lives is a daily battle in all intensive care wards. An appeal to give intensive care units a shot in arm with research dollars is under way.
And it is an appeal where everyone can help. Simply buy a fund raising wristband for just $2 or a bookmark for $4 between October 7 and 27 at ANZ branches, Coles or BI-LO supermarkets.
To mark the appeal ANZ and the Cumberland Newspaper Group, publisher of the Macarthur Chronicle, is giving readers the chance to receive some fantastic keepsakes.
There are three signed David Boon miniature cricket bats, 20 signed Tammy van Wisse and 20 Tracey Wickham swimming caps, 80 Intensive Care Bears and tote bags signed by Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrman all courtesy of the Intensive Care Appeal organisers.
A huge list of celebrities are supporting the appeal including international film director Baz Luhrmann, star of the James Bond films Pierce Brosnan, Vanessa Amorosi and Slim Dusty.
* To be in the running for the keepsakes and bears, readers have to write on the back of an envelope why you want to receive one.
Include your name, address, phone number and name of this paper and send it to Intensive Care Appeal, PO Box 6062, Parramatta Business Centre, 2150 by October 9.
The judge's decision will be final.
Any personal information, including contact details and other information you provide in response to entering this competition, will be used strictly for the purpose of this competition, will not be provided to any third party and will be destroyed following its completion.
The exhibition begins with a mission briefing in M's office which is followed by a visit to Q's gadget workshop, where budding spies are shown the latest technology to emerge from the spy trade.
All this is to whet your appetite for November's arrival of the latest film, Die Another Day (pictured), with Pierce Brosnan and, as a newly promoted Q, John Cleese.
The sexiest man alive, as People magazine describes Pierce Brosnan, came to Toronto not to publicize his $120 million James Bond movie Die Another Day, but a small film called Evelyn that opens in December.
By the time Evelyn opens, the Bond film would have set a record or two. Typically a Brosnan-Bond movie grosses $300 million worldwide. The buzz for the current project is so strong that experts believe it will gross at least $350 million. Brosnan's love interest is Oscar winner Halle Berry (for Monster's Ball).
Brosnan, who turns 50 next May, will make another trip to Toronto to promote his new Bond caper, but right now he is at the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about Evelyn, which he not only stars in, but has also produced. The movie had its gala premiere at the TIFF and its press conference was one of the most well-attended.
"I am grateful to the Bond movies," Brosnan said with a disarming smile. "But for the success of the Bond movies, I would not have been able to make films like Evelyn."
Brosnan, who gets about $15 million for each of his Bond films, happily says he is not bored with them and has no plans of giving them up. The producers of the series have told him, he says, that they are his as long as he wants them.
He works on making each Bond movie better, he says, adding that it is easy to get bored doing the same kind of stuff unless one tries to bring in one's own enthusiasm. He is not like Sean Connery, believed by many to be the best Bond ever, who gave up the series after being in it for a decade.
But for Brosnan, who has been playing the debonair spy for about seven years and whose hit Bond movies include Tomorrow Never Dies, there is no boredom in the series, yet. What's more, he is able to invest part of the money he makes from Bond films in movies like Evelyn, which was made for about $5 million.
Evelyn is also an adventure film, but not the kind that involves outlandish gadgets and sexy women. It is about an Irish father, whose wife has left him. He has to fight the court system and the church in his country in the 1950s to raise his daughters himself. The law stated that single fathers could not raise children by themselves.
The autobiographical story impressed Brosnan, he says, because not only is he Irish and Catholic, but has also known first-hand what bigotry and small-mindedness are. And bigotry and petty minds continue to play havoc with people's lives across the globe.
The movie has allowed him to portray strong emotions. He has to sing in the pubs to earn a living. He also has to show symptoms of alcoholism and emotional burnout.
"Did James Bond ever cry?" he says cheerfully. "And did he ever sing?"
The three luxury motors include the Aston Martin Vanquish, which Pierce Brosnan drives in his latest outing as 007. They have never been seen in public before and will make their world debut at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre next month.
Along with the Aston Martin, the Ford Thunderbird which new Bond girl Halle Berry drives will also be on display.
The third car is the modified 400bhp Jaguar XKR convertible driven by Bond villain Zao, played by Rick Yune. Brosnan was so impressed by the Vanquish during filming of Die Another Day that he bought one himself.
The pounds 160,000 motor has a six-litre engine, a top speed of 190mph and can travel from 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds.
Other celebrity owners include actor Hugh Grant, who snapped one up a couple of months ago. Bond fans are expected to flock to the motor show to see the cars up close before the world premiere of the film, which takes place in the presence of the Queen, on November 18, at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of show organiser, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: We've seen the plans for this fantastic feature, and can't wait to see it live at the NEC.
More than half a million people who come to the event are in for a real treat - the ultimate British action-hero at the ultimate motoring event.'
The show opens to the public from October 24 to November 3.
"We had to take away the worst parts for the American version," the director, Lee Tamahori says.
"We decided to make it real. I'm sick and tired of 'half' love scenes where all you get to see is when they stretch to light up a cigarette afterwards. It's to lame for me," Tamahori says.
The scenes are so revealing that the US censors went for the axe. A number of scenes has be cut and some has been completely deleted.
And Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry didn't mind, just the contrary according to Lee Tamahori.
"Some scenes I still haven't had the cuts to tell my wife about," says Brosnan.
Thu Aug 29, 8:19 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter ( news - web sites) at Hogwarts, Frodo Baggins bound for Mordor, Hannibal Lecter in his nuthouse cell, Jean-Luc Picard on the bridge of the Enterprise, and James Bond in bed with Halle Berry.
Who says there are no sure bets in Hollywood?
Most fall films are uncertain commodities, but a handful have such built-in appeal, they can pretty much count their tickets before they're sold:
"Red Dragon": Anthony Hopkins does diabolical killer Lecter in his early asylum days in a prequel to "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal." Edward Norton stars as the FBI ( news - web sites) agent who captured Lecter and years later needs his help on a new case.
Though it's set years before the action of "Silence" and "Hannibal" and Hopkins is a decade older than when he first played the role, "he's one of the greatest actors ever. If you're looking at the wrinkles on his face, I'm not doing a very good job," said "Red Dragon" director Brett Ratner. "In the first five minutes, you may say, `Yeah, he looks older,' but then you get into the story. Anthony Hopkins is Hannibal. Whether he looks younger or older, he's Hannibal Lecter."
"Die Another Day": Agent 007 (Pierce Brosnan) beats up on villains as he pursues a mega-weapon. Brosnan said he and Berry share one of the steamiest Bond love scenes ever and that the movie is ripe with fond allusions to earlier 007 flicks.
"This particular film for any Bond aficionado will be a connoisseur's delight in terms of picking out lines used in other movies and paying certain homages to past films," Brosnan said. "I don't think it will disappoint when you have the beautiful Halle Berry coming out of the water" in a take on Ursula Andress in the first Bond movie, "Dr. No."
"Star Trek: Nemesis": Patrick Stewart and the Enterprise crew find a nasty new enemy on a peace mission to the Romulans. For those subscribing to the theory that even-numbered "Trek" films are the best, this is No. 10.
"In two or three years (when an 11th "Trek" film is likely), I will pooh-pooh that theory, but for now, I'll hold on to it dearly," said producer Rick Berman. "This is probably the most action-packed and exciting, edgy and dark of the movies we have made.
There's startling and shocking elements to it, and I would say we've probably got the best `Star Trek' villain we've ever had (British actor Tom Hardy)."
As for the season's main events, need we say more than "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"?
Blessed with lead-in films last year that each took in more than dlrs 300 million domestically, "Chamber of Secrets" and "Two Towers" are set to disprove the old Hollywood notion that audiences need a two- or three-year breather between blockbuster sequels. "Conventional wisdom would be that 12 months is too close together to have a sequel," said Mark Ordesky, an executive producer of the three "Lord of the Rings" films. "But what's become evident with ours is that people are perceiving the films as what they are. Not sequels, but one giant, epic story told in three installments."
Since director Peter Jackson shot all three "Lord of the Rings" films simultaneously, fans can expect another dose of class and quality.
It doesn't hurt that J.R.R. Tolkien's saga of Middle-earth and a hobbit named Frodo has almost 50 years of built-in fandom, and that Jackson left audiences salivating for part two with last year's opening chapter, "The Fellowship of the Ring."
Likewise, 2001's top moneymaker, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," has fans itching for the next big-screen adaptation from J.K. Rowling 's fantasy series about the boy wizard.
"Chamber of Secrets" director Chris Columbus, who also made "Sorcerer's Stone," said audiences can expect another 2 1/2-hour adventure as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) fights fresh evil at Hogwarts school.
Columbus found two big advantages this time. He could jump right in on the action, without the character set-up and scene-setting necessary in the first film. And he said "Chamber of Secrets" makes for a more visual tale ‹ "I found it to be the most cinematic of all the books, except maybe `Goblet of Fire.'"
The action is buoyed by improved special effects, Columbus said, including a bigger and better round of quidditch, a game played on flying broomsticks, crafted by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic effects house.
Inevitable blockbusters, the only question about "Chamber of Secrets" and "Two Towers" is where they will stack up on a 2002 box-office chart that already has produced a dlrs 400 million sensation in "Spider-Man" and a dlrs300 million smash in "Star Wars: Episode II ‹ Attack of the Clones."
Beyond this fall's A-list, big new releases include Tim Allen's return as Kris Kringle in "The Santa Clause 2"; singer Eminem ( news - web sites) in the hip-hop drama "8 Mile"; "The Banger Sisters," a reunion tale between ex-rock groupie siblings (Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn); Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter and Jake Gyllenhaal in "Moonlight Mile," a comic drama about the aftermath of a bride-to-be's death; and Reese Witherspoon as a fashion designer coming to grips with her redneck roots in "Sweet Home Alabama."
There's Madonna ( news - web sites) as a rich snob marooned with a sexy sailor in "Swept Away," directed by her husband, Guy Ritchie; "Treasure Planet," Disney's animated sci-fi update of "Treasure Island"; Heath Ledger as a British officer out to prove his valor in "The Four Feathers"; Roberto Benigni's live-action version of "Pinocchio"; "Maid in Manhattan," a romance starring Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes; and an update of the 1960s TV show "I Spy," with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson as mismatched agents.
"Eddie plays more his `48 Hours' and `Beverly Hills Cop' Eddie. He's much rawer and looser and funnier than he's been in years," said "I Spy" director Betty Thomas.
"Owen's more intellectual and subtle, and Eddie's so out there dangling ... We've got wo scenes in the movie, I would challenge you to find two funnier scenes in any mmovie, ever."
Also upcoming are Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can," a cat-and-mouse tale of a con man and a G-man; DiCaprio, DanielDay-Lewis and Cameron Diaz in Martin Scorsese's 1860s mob tale "Gangs of New York"; Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere in the musical "Chicago"; Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn and newcomer Alison Lohman in the mother-daughter drama "White Oleander"; Samuel L. Jackson in the misadventures of a drug designer in "Formula 51"; and Jackie Chan as a chauffeur-turned-spy in "The Tuxedo."
There's Jack Nicholson as a widower on a road trip of self-discovery in "About Schmidt"; George Clooney in Steven Soderbergh's sci-fi psychological drama "Solaris"; Denzel Washington's directing debut "Antwone Fisher," about a troubled sailor and his psychiatrist; Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep in the Hollywood tale"Adaptation," from the creators of "Being John Malkovich"; "The 25th Hour," Spike Lee's story of a prison-bound dope peddler (Edward Norton); the animated comedy "Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights," with the "Mr. Deeds" star providing the three main voices; Robert De Niro as a homicide detective whose son is a murder suspect in "City By the Sea"; and De Niro and Billy Crystal with another mob couch trip in thesequel "Analyze That," as crime lord De Niro tries to go straight.
"I tend to never think sequel," said Harold Ramis, director of "Analyze This" and the new sequel. "I stayed out till I thought we really had a sound psychological notion tohang the story on. That's this notion of sociopathy. Can the criminal mind be changed?"
"Ironically, one of the straight jobs he gets is as a movie consultant to a TV show like The Sopranos,'" the series of the HBO cable channel about a mob boss in therapy. Besides "8 Crazy Nights," Sandler has his own change in mind, branching out fromteen-oriented humor in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love," a comic romance co-starring Emily Watson. Sandler plays a man incapable of falling in love because of the emotional neutering he suffered growing up among seven cruel sisters.
"You might think, Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in the same movie?" said Watson, who also co-stars in "Red Dragon."
"I've sort of been in all these angst-ridden independent movies. I've died horribly a lot of times. And Adam's been a very different slice of the pie. He's still very charming and funny, all those things people love about him. But he's also gone quite daring.
He's very layered. It feels very real, and Adam's incredibly romantic in this film."
'Clive Owen not new Bond' - Eon
The makers of the James Bond movies have emphatically denied a
tabloid's claim that Clive Owen will replace Pierce Brosnan after Die
Another Day.
The Daily Star newspaper purportedly quotes "a pal" of Owen saying "James Bond bosses" have ordered him to grow a beard so that his image cannot be associated with that of 007.
But Eon Productions, which makes the Bond films, dismissed the report as "total fiction".
In the Daily Star report, Owen is quoted as saying that he understands Brosnan recommended him to take over as Bond after Die Another Day.
But a spokeswoman at Eon told Teletext: "We are not looking for a replacement for Pierce. We are concentrating on Die Another Day and Pierce will continue as Bond."
Owen can be seen in The Bourne Identity. He impressed critics with his performance in Croupier.
h3>Owen Tipped For Bond Role The film career of Clive Owen is set to take a distinguished turn when he becomes the new James Bond.
He will replace Pierce Brosnan, who will park his Aston Martin for the last time when Die Another Day is released in November.
The Gosford Park star has been spotted around town unshaven and with long hair. James Bond bosses have instructed him to keep a low profile until they unveil him as the new 007. 'Long hair and beard'
"A few people who've seen him out and about recently wondered whether he's letting himself go," a friend told the Daily Star.
"He's got long hair and a beard and looks nothing like his clean-cut on screen image.
"But he has been told that is he wants to go out in London, James Bond bosses don't want him being recognised too often."
The married father-of-two first shot to fame in the televsion drama Chancer.
He lists cult-hit Croupier, Gosford Park and The Bourne Identity, among his film credits.
By A. O. SCOTT
I'M not ordinarily a big fan of franchise movies, which tend to compensate for their dearth of imagination with a surfeit of sensational gimmickry, but I make an exception in the case of the suave superspy who virtually invented the multisequel action genre, and who is about to save the world from evil (I assume) for the 20th time in 40 years. Mr. Bond - if ever a fictional character deserved the honorific, it is this one - has kept his cool through enormous changes in geopolitics, sexual mores and haberdashery. In 1962, when "Dr. No" was released, he embodied a British variant of the Playboy philosophy and offered a dashing, debonair answer to cold war anxieties.
Since then, he has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of feminism and the near-fatal widening (in the Roger Moore era) of tuxedo lapels. He has also faced decades of parody (from Woody Allen and company in "Casino Royale" to the "Austin Powers" pictures) and intense competition from muscle-bound Yanks like Bruce Willis and Vin Diesel, who would very likely prefer a can of Mountain Dew to a dry martini. Of course, an element of self-mockery was built into the Bond movies from the start, and the current 007, Pierce Brosnan, has, in the hiatus between "The World Is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day," played the definitive anti-Bond in "The Tailor of Panama," John Boorman's severely underrated adaptation of a John LeCarré novel.
That movie poked at the cynical, manipulative underbelly of the Bond persona, and while one should not expect such insight from Lee Tamahori's "Die Another Day," the times have restored some of Mr. Bond's tarnished luster of relevance.
Yes, he is a throwback - and his new adventure begins on the Korean peninsula, last outpost of the old cold war - but he has also, all along, been a prophet. With his taste for the latest gadgets, his fluency in the habits of far-flung cultures and his easy, cheeky triumphalism, James Bond was the embodiment of globalization long before the word came into wide usage, and movies themselves were agents of the process, part of the vanguard of Hollywood's world-conquering entertainment forces. So "Die Another Day" (to open Nov. 22) offers a perfect pop-culture occasion for critical analysis of the world situation in all its complexity and contradictions. Which is, of course, why I'm looking forward to it. That, and Halle Berry.
- We thought it was a joke when she asked us, says the director Olle Sanders. /.../ This time Traktor Film has got the task to do the video for Madonna's new video to the James Bond Soundtrack from Die Another Day. People inside the company talks about torture, abuse and fighting. Madonna is also said to be executed in the electric chair. /.../ We thought it was a joke: the letter was long and written by hand. But the song sounded like Madonna. /.../ Madonna saw the first clippings yesterday. /.../ The video has a simultaneous world premier on MTV in October for the first time in the channel's history.
After driving the V12 Vanquish on the set of the film earlier this year, the 49-year-old star splashed out and ordered one of the silver tungsten steel supercars to be shipped to his Malibu home. His V12 Vanquish, which has a top speed of 200 mph, is one of only 300 produced.
Another of those precious models went to fellow actor Hugh Grant, who was furious recently when someone backed into his just two days after he'd taken delivery of it. The result of the prang was a dent which cost nearly the price of a small car to have fixed. A friend of Hugh¹s revealed: ³The car is his pride and joy. He had been terrified about something happening to it, but he didn¹t expect an accident after just a few daysŠ When he found a massive dent in the car he was absolutely livid.²
The manufacturers have denied suggestions that Pierce got a discount for promoting the Aston Martin brand in the latest Bond flick, saying he paid the full price, plus shipping costs, just like any other customer.
³Mr Brosnan asked for all the same specifications as the car he drove in Die Another Day,² said a spokesman for Aston Martin. ³But of course in Mr Brosnan ¹s car there will be no ejector seat, no missile launcher and no machine guns.² The new 007 film premieres in the UK and US on November 22.
MGM shares were up 9 cents at $11.44 in early-afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Since bottoming at $9.40 on Aug. 13, the shares are up nearly 22 percent.
Wednesday, Sanders Morris Harris analyst David Miller upgraded the stock to "accumulate" from "hold," saying there were optimistic signs for the company.
"Even in somewhat of a mixed market environment, the stock has behaved quite well, and appears to have based out in the low double digits," Miller noted. "That said, we believe there are a number of catalysts either in current progress or set to occur in coming months which could light the fire under the stock in the near term."
Miller said he was confident "Die Another Day," would be successful, adding that was a good sign for the stock, as MGM shares rose 30 percent in the five months preceding the premiere of the last Bond film, 1999's "The World Is Not Enough."
He also boosted his earnings-per-share projection for the fourth quarter to 9 cents from 7 cents, taking his loss per share forecast for the year to 87 cents from 89 cents. He set a price target of $14 for the stock.
The new "Bond" film, the 20th in the series, reportedly cost about $100 million to make, which would make it the most expensive in the series.
However, the film is widely considered to be a financial "sure thing" for the studio, as compared to three expensive films from earlier this year -- "Rollerball," "Hart's War" and "Windtalkers" -- all of which were major box-office flops and drove the studio to steep losses in the first half.
As a result, and despite the recent uptick, MGM's shares are down 48 percent since the beginning of the year.
Continuing a long line of celebrity involvement in the Bond franchise, Madonna will sing the film's title song and Academy Award-winning actress Halle Barry stars as the film's "Bond girl," his partner/love interest in the story.
But as opposed to some past Bond films, which were almost formulaic in their pace, the new film twists and turns.
"He's betrayed by the bad guys and by his own people," the film's star, Pierce Brosnan, said. "He doesn't know which side he's on."
Reuters/Variety Back to top
August 26, 2002
The official 007 site has posted up the character one-sheet posters for
the 20th installment of the action/thriller series.
Now on a sadder note...
The film company which owns the rights to James Bond has closed down three fan sites which it says were infringing on its copyright. MGM took the action after the details of a leaked script from the new movie Die Another Day featured on the sites' user forums.
A source says, "We offered to delete all references to the script. But that wouldn't satisfy MGM, which said that the sites were violating the Bond copyright and made us shut down."
One of the sites, www.commanderbond.net, is operating, though without any Bond photos; the other two, www.ajb007.co.uk, believed to have been the first to carry the offending information, and www.mi6.co.uk, are still negotiating with MGM's lawyers. But the firm insists it is protecting fans of the 007 franchise.
MGM president of marketing Peter Adee says, "The most enjoyable way for them to find out about the movie is from the movie itself." Adee adds, "When you cross the line like that, we can't just say stop, don't do this. They've gone too far. They're in our trademark. We can't let them think we condone this sort of behavior."
I find these events very unfortunate and believe they will hurt MGM more so in the long run.
MSNBC Aug. 21 ‹ James Bond can off the bad guys without mussing his hair ‹ but he gets pretty bent out of shape when fans use his image without permission. MGM, the studio that makes the 007 flicks, recently shut down three James Bond fan sites and is making them remove all likenesses of the secret agent.
THE FRACAS STARTED when a fan got a hold of the script for the forthcoming ³Die Another Day² and posted parts of it in the users¹ forum. Chatters on the other sites picked up some of the leaked material. MGM lawyers stepped in, and made all three sites close down.
³We offered to delete all references to the script,² says a source. ³But that wouldn¹t satisfy MGM, which said that the sites were violating the Bond copyright and made us shut down.²
One of the sites, www.commanderbond.net, is operating, though without any Bond photos; the other two, www.AJB007.co.uk ‹ which a source says first carried the offending script info ‹ and www.MI6.co.uk are still negotiating with MGM¹s lawyers.
MGM is notoriously protective of its Bond franchise. Earlier this year, the company threatened to forbid Mike Myers from calling his spy spoof ³Goldmember,² claiming it infringed on the copyrighted Bond name ³Goldfinger.²
³I¹m truly baffled by this. Why is MGM . . . so hostile towards Bond fans?² one fan wrote in an open letter to MGM posted on CommanderBond.net. ³It¹s not like these sites are profiting from Bond, they¹re simply celebrating the series. . . . The web is how these fans communicate‹so MGM responds by shutting them down?²
³We¹re not punishing the fans. We¹re protecting the fans,² Peter Adee, MGM¹s president of marketing told The Scoop. ³The most enjoyable way for them to find out about the movie is from the movie itself.² He says publishing excerpts from the script was what set MGM into motion.
Why not just make the sites remove the script? ³When you cross the line like that, we can¹t just say stop, don¹t do this. They¹ve gone too far. They¹re in our trademark. . . . We can¹t let them think we condone this sort of behavior. ²
FILM: ROYAL DATE FOR JAMES BOND; FILM PERFORMANCE
by Hannah Jones & Karen Price
July 5, 2002, Friday
THE Queen is set for a date with James Bond at the world premiere of the secret agent's new movie, Die Another Day, it was announced yesterday.
The latest film starring Pierce Brosnan as suave 007 has been chosen as the Royal Film Performance to aid the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will attend the event on November 18 at London's Royal Albert Hall - the first time the venue has been chosen for the performance.
Die Another Day is a milestone for Bond, being the 20th film in the series and marking the franchise's 40th anniversary.
Producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said, "We are tremendously honoured that Her Majesty the Queen will be attending the world premiere of Die Another Day and that our film has been selected as this year's Royal Film Performance.
"James Bond is the epitome of all things British. We have enjoyed making the films in England."
Madonna is penning and performing the title song for the film, which features Oscar-winner Halle Berry as a Bond girl.
HIGHLIGHT: MAIN MAN: Pierce Brosnan has been shocked by Madonna's movie antics
July 7, 2002, Sunday
A ROW has erupted between Irish star Pierce Brosnan and Madonna over her role in the latest Bond film.
Madonna is unhappy with the script for her cameo role.
She has put her foot down and insisted that her part, which is only a few lines anyway, is re-written by her husband Guy Ritchie. An insider on set said: "Pierce couldn't believe it when Madonna asked for major changes to her part of the film.
"She only has a bit part, but the way she is going on you would have thought she is playing James Bond herself.
"At the moment it's all up in the air and nobody knows what is going to be filmed."
In her role as a Bond baddie Madonna was due to have a sword fight with Pierce Brosnan.
However, now there is a real threat that filming may have to be delayed on her scenes until the script can be sorted out.
Madonna will be filming the scene at Pinewood Studios today and has only one day to complete her part.
Our source added: "If it is not resolved soon it will hold up filming and that will not be allowed.
"Pierce and the producers are amazed that she could act this way. She was approached to do a cameo in the film which she agreed.
"She was given an idea of the role and how long she would be required.
"There were no problems at that stage, but when she got the script all hell let loose.
"She demanded a complete re-write and insisted that her husband Guy Ritchie did it.
"In the previous version Madonna's character was going to be killed by James Bond.
"But that may now be changed. In the re-written version Madonna will probably overpower Bond and take over the world."
LAUNCH 'N' JUDI SHOW by Jon Barnsley & David Gordois
July 7, 2002 || SECTION: HOLIDAY WORLD
JAMES BOND star Dame Judi Dench is to launch a ship...aptly called Legend. The Oscar-winning actress will become 'godmother' to the 88,500-ton Carnival Legend in a naming ceremony at Harwich, Essex, on August 21.
Dame Judi once again plays M in in the latest 007 film, starring Pierce Brosnan, called Die Another Day.
She will break a traditional bottle of champers against the hull of the new 2,124-passenger ship.
The maiden voyage from Harwich is a 12-day Northern Europe cruise, with prices starting from about Pounds 1,400, sailing on August 24.
Call Carnival Cruise Line on 020 7940 4466
3AM: MADONNA IN LESBIAN BONDAGE
by Jessica Callan, Eva Simpson, Suzanne Kerins
HIGHLIGHT: Picture: SHARJO; DEMANDS: Madonna
July 9, 2002, Tuesday SHE'S known as a control freak, but Madonna's latest demand - to play a lesbian fencer in the new Bond movie Die Another Day - must rate among her more extraordinary requests.
And, we can reveal, it's all because her character doesn't get to bed the gorgeous film lead Pierce Brosnan. When Madge discovered that, contrary to custom, she wouldn't be indulging in any passion with 007, she insisted that her character must, therefore, be gay.
And the Queen of Pop has got her way.
"Madonna was furious movie bosses didn't want her to be a traditional Bond girl," says our source.
"All the Bond babes get to romp with the English agent but when she saw the script, Madge demanded to know why she couldn't at least kiss him.
"In the end, she persuaded the bosses to let her play a lesbian instead.
"She is practically the only female in the film who doesn't canoodle with Bond - although it wasn't because she isn't considered sexy enough to be classic Bond girl material.
"Madonna likes to be controversial. She's getting a real kick out of the idea that she is the first lesbian Bond girl."
For her scene, she will wear a dress specially designed for her character - a fencer - by Donatella Versace.
We are also informed that the Material Girl is hoping to spice up her brief scene by drafting in a pal - who has previously worked with hubby Guy Ritchie - to give her dialogue a bit more sparkle.
"Not even the leading stars like Halle Berry have made these type of requests," says our spy.
HIGHLIGHT:
NOT SO UNDERCOVER: Bond's new soft-top Z8 leaves the competition standing, but be prepared for a bit of a rough ride; SMOOTH OPERATOR: Hits; 62mph in 2.5 seconds, not recommended on a frozen lake
MY NAME is Macauley, Ted Macauley. And my backside feels as if it has been booted by Beckham.
The introduction doesn't have the same suave ring as Pierce Brosnan's line, 'my name is Bond.. James Bond' does it? But then 007 would never admit that he had been given a hard time - by a curvy topless model.
And even if he had suffered the same punishment as part of his working day his secret agent training and stiff upper lip wouldn't yield to what could be regarded as the moan-ings of a big softie.
Well, I'm not in his six-pack league - and my pain barrier is woefully wimpish.
So what's the connection?
The BMW Z3 - upgraded to a flagship Z8 for the movie on the same framework and priced at pounds 80,000 - may have been Bond's celluloid joyride, but it's junior relative was my pain in the butt.
A 500-mile round trip, via motorways and country lanes, was the problem when an otherwise attractive jaunt in a two seater turned on having to squat virtually on the back axle and suffer the bumps, jars and ripples that it swallowed up and delivered to my spine.
Such discomfort is, of course, acceptable and accepted as the norm by committed sports car fanatics... as in other so-called fun cars, draughts, leaks, cramped cockpits and dodgy road holding.
None of those setbacks apply to BMW's rather retro roadster. And for the rest of it, after the uncomfortable back end feedback, the car is nicely balanced and offers performance zesty enough for the raciest soft-top fan.
Check this out: the 2.2-litre version, a replacement for the old 2.0-litre model, gives an increase of 20 bhp over the outgoing engine, tops out at 139mph and reaches 62mph in 7.9 seconds.
Incidentally, the shark-nosed and gilled air vents Bond-model, as used in The World Is Not Enough, is the Z8.
It's in a limited supply of only 75 for sale in the UK and, anyway, comes as a left hand drive only.
But what a breath-taker for old James... it hits 62mph in 2.5 seconds. And then it rushes from standstill and hits the same mark - yet comes to a dead stop - all in 7.2 seconds.
But back to the Z3. It ranges from the 1.9i at pounds 18,990 to pounds 21,840 for the 2.2i and up to pounds 27,730 for the bright and breezy 3.0i Sport.
The Sports models have new-look alloy wheels, special suspension to give it the agility and sure-footedness of a cat, leather seats and an alum-inium finish centre console to polish off its ultra-sharp cockpit set up.
But forget packing much more than a bow tie and a cocktail shaker of martini for a weekend away - the boot is not much bigger than a matchbox.
The car hugs you nicely and safely and though you do get stirred, you don't get shaken about, too much.
You'll get nearly 36mpg from the 1.9. Bond's Z8 is much, much thirstier and the insurance an eye-waterer, but with Brosnan's bank roll, who cares?
The Z3 does hold its second hand values and it is the smart, charming and practical car, as long as you are not blessed with a family.
And here's some news. There's an even racier, faster and fancier version on the way for next summer.
It's the 155mph Z4. And BMW says it will have space enough in the boot for TWO golf bags.
STRAIGHT TALKING: THE SPY WHO SAID HELLO TO ME ON SET
by Stephen Maguire
LIKE ME: Pierce
July 14, 2002, Sunday
ISN'T it gas how far superstars will go just to be one of the lads? Irish 007 star Pierce Brosnan hangs out with extras in between takes on the latest Bond flick.
Movie insiders say he likes to be treated just the same as everyone else working on the blockbuster.
He insists everyone hangs out together, eats together and chills out together.
One of the lads then -- apart from the small matter of $ 10 million a movie.
Postcards from stars help school's arts plea
by Danny Buckland
July 15, 2002
WHEN parents tried to rope some of Britain's most famous names into a school's fundraising drive, the headmaster was not hopeful.
The mothers and fathers sent out blank postcards to actors, artists, writers, cooks and architects asking for them to be decorated and returned.
But, despite Richard Weeks's scepticism, the overwhelming response means Teddington School should raise the £50,000 it needs to bid for visual arts college status and lucrative grant support. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Ralph Fiennes and Michael Parkinson were among those who provided paintings, sketches and doodles for the comprehensive school to auction.
Mr Weeks says: "I must admit I wasn't very hopeful at the start of the exercise but I'm delighted to have been proved wrong."
The Government has invited schools to bid for special status in all academic areas provided their plans will also help the local community.
Teddington would get an extra £125,000 a year funding, but to qualify it must raise the first £50,000 by 4 October.
Among the first to respond to the parents' pleas was actress Keira Knightley, one of the stars of Bend It Like Beckham.
A pupil at Teddington until last year, she drew an extravagant figure over a call sheet from her new film Dr Zhivago.
Pierce Brosnan produced a striking self-portrait in felt pen and Colin Firth sent in a detailed pencil sketch.
Original cartoons from Ralph Steadman and Ronald Searle are expected to fetch good prices as is Damien Hirst's drawing of a skull and crossbones.
Other exhibits came in from Jamie Oliver, Lord Foster, William Boyd and Mike Atherton.
A painting by artist Mary Fedden has been valued at around £1,200 by Christie's.
Val Clay and Julia Myring, whose idea the postcards were, said: "Achieving special status will benefit the pupils and community enormously."
Teddington achieved a 99 per cent AC pass rate in last year's art GCSE. It plans for an "arts bus" to tour other schools, handicapped centres and old people's homes and wants to develop a dark room, sculpture garden and graphic design facilities.
The auction will be held at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington on 6 September.
CUP OF TEA, MISTER BOND?
July 14, 2002, Sunday
FANCY meeting Hollywood stars Colin Farrell or Pierce Brosnan in your front room? Well, if you live in County Wicklow it could happen.
The Wicklow Film Commission is building up a portfolio of properties which could be used in future film locations.
The Commission's Vibeke Dijkman said: "It doesn't matter if your house is small, big, old or new - we'll gladly include it in our database of houses available."
Inclusion on the database is free although house owners are paid by production companies if their property is used.
Anyone interested can send their house photos to the Film Commission in County Buildings, Wicklow.
Photo caption: Aston Martin's V12 Vanquish is prominently featured in the upcoming "Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan as 007.- Reuters
June 24, 2002 -- IT'S getting harder to find a plot line amid the barrage of ads in this summer's big movies."Minority Report" features 15 major brands, including The Gap, Guinness, Lexus, Nokia and Ben & Jerry's.
Don't be surprised if you want to grab a Budweiser or a box of Special K cereal after seeing "Mr. Deeds."
"Men in Black II," meanwhile, is expected to do for Mercedes' sports cars what "Erin Brockovitch" did for push-up bras.
Product placement in movies - also called "embedded advertising" - is bigger business than ever, says Jay May, president of the Los Angeles-based agency Feature This, which provided the Plantronics headsets used in "Minority Report."
"There are more and more cross-promotions and tie-ins and between corporate America and the movie studios," says May.
"Five or six years ago, product placement could have carved anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 off a movie's budget," May says. "But today there really is no limit."
Variety reports that the use of brand names in "Minority Report" could have contributed up to $25 million to the film's $102 million budget.
In the case of this summer's "Austin Powers in Goldmember," the production got a replica of an entire city street for free.
P.F. Chang's, a Chinese bistro chain, is one of a handful of companies that contributed identifiable props and materials to help build the street on an L.A. sound stage.
"It probably saved the studio well over $100,000 - money they would have spent if they had to go shoot on a real street," May says.
Miller reportedly gave Johnny Knoxville 40 cases of Miller High Life beer in return for having their product feature in the upcoming "Jackass: The Movie."
May got Samick guitars in the "Josie and the Pussycats" movie, not by paying the studio, but by having Samick promote the movie in the 40,000 venues where their guitars were sold.
If movie viewers are growing tired of watching feature-length commercials, they aren't letting studios know.
Critics, of course, have lots to say about product placement - many criticized the Britney Spears' Pepsi-soaked "Crossroads" as too blatant.
But other industry observers say the technique, if done subtly, can add to a film's magic.
"The whole idea of a movie is that we're supposed to believe we're watching real life," says Hollywood Reporter on-line columnist Martin Grove. "So if you're watching a movie and a character is drinking a generic bottle of beer, that makes it less real than if it was a Heineken."
To a point, anyway.
"If that character drinks his Heineken and then puts it down and says, 'God, that Heineken's great!' he takes it another step and that breaks the spell," Grove adds.
Of course product placement is nothing new. One of the first examples was way back in 1951 with Gordon's Gin featuring alongside Humphrey Bogart in "The African Queen."
Reeses Pieces featured prominently in "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" and AOL got a huge boost from "You've Got Mail."
It's just that now - particularly since Mike Myers joked about it in"Wayne's World" - moviegoers are hyper-aware.
"Now when people come out of a movie, they're not talking about thecinematography," May says. "They're saying, 'Wasn't that a perfect product placement for Wilson basketballs in 'Cast Away?'
"People notice it, they talk about it more; it's part of the movie-going experience."
July 7, 2002, Sunday, FEATURES; Pg. 23, 110 words
SHE'S renowned for her diva demands and getting her own way, so why does it not surprise me Madonna is rumoured to be making life difficult for James Bond film bosses?
The 43-year-old star has demanded the script is changed for her cameo role in Die Another Day.
But it's proving a major headache for the production crew as she's insisted her husband Guy Ritchie rewrites it.
A source said: "It's a major hassle. But at the end of the day, it is Madonna and whatever she says goes." Madonna, who also sings the film's theme tune, is due to start shooting scenes opposite 007 Pierce Brosnan and co-star Halle Berry today at Pinewood Studios.
Sunday Mirror, July 7, 2002, Sunday, FEATURES; Pg. 23, 366 words
SHE'S renowned for her diva demands and getting her own way, so why does it not surprise me Madonna is rumoured to be making life difficult for James Bond film bosses?
Ever the perfectionist, the 43-year-old star has demanded the script is changed for her cameo role in Die Another Day.
But it's proving a major headache for the production crew as she's insisted her husband Guy Ritchie rewrites it.
A source said: "It's a major hassle, especially as we're on a tight schedule and can't afford to overrun on anything.
"Some of the production staff are doing their nut. But at the end of the day, it is Madonna and she's a major coup for us.
Whatever she says goes." Madonna, who also sings the film's theme tune, is due to start shooting scenes opposite 007 Pierce Brosnan and co-star Halle Berry today at London's Pinewood Studios.
The source added: "It should be interesting as all Madonna's scenes must be shot on Sunday, including her speaking parts, because of her theatre commitments." It is believed Madonna only agreed to sing the title theme tune if she was given a part in the film which is due out in November.
Because of the dramatic script change, it's not clear what scenes she's in but expectations include a lesbian kiss with Halle Berry and high energy sword-fighting.
The fighting scenes shouldn't be too gruelling though as mother-of-two Madonna is extremely supple from yoga and pilates. And the lesbian clinch won't be a problem either as she's had a number of her own experiences with the same sex.
Madonna went through a lipstick lesbian phase years ago when she French-kissed model Naomi Campbell for her raunchy book Sex and allegedly had a fling with American comedienne Sandra Bernhard.
And in her current play Up For Grabs, which is on at London's Wyndham Theatre, she snogs co-star Megan Dodds.
I saw the show on Thursday night and thought her performance was brilliant, as did Dame Shirley Bassey who was watching in the wings.
Unfortunately the same can't be said for Naked Chef Jamie Oliver and his wife Jules who last month left during the interval.
It's no wonder Madonna prefers rival chef Marco Pierre White.
LONDON (AP) - Madonnawill make a cameo appearance in the latest James Bond movie, her spokeswoman said.
Liz Rosenberg said the singer, 43, who has already recorded the title track for "Die Another Day," the 20th Bond film, was on the set in London to film her brief scenes this week.
London's Evening Standard newspaper said Madonna will wield a foil in the movie as a fencing instructor. The newspaper said she had shot a sequence that will be edited into a swashbuckling scene in which Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, duels with villain Gustav Graves, played by Toby Stephens, at a London gentlemen's club.
Madonna will fly to Los Angeles next month to film a video for the movie's title song, Rosenberg said Tuesday.
Bond premiere date for Queen
The Queen is set for a date with James Bond at the world premiere of Die
Another Day.
The film starring Pierce Brosnan has been chosen as the Royal Film Performance to aid the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will attend the event on November 18 at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Die Another Day is the 20th film in the James Bond series and marks the franchise's 40th anniversary.
Recent films selected for the royal performance include Star Wars: Episode 1 - the Phantom Menace, Ali and The Grinch.
Producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said: "We are tremendously honoured that Her Majesty the Queen will be attending the world premiere of Die Another Day and that our film has been selected as this year's Royal Film Performance.
"James Bond is the epitome of all things British. We have enjoyed making the films in England and having the opportunity to work with such brilliant technicians and artists.
"We are incredibly proud that this event will be held at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of such a worthy benefit for the British film community." Madonna is penning and performing the title song for the film, which features Oscar-winner Halle Berry as a Bond girl.
Writers Discuss DAD
July 9, 2002
by Steven Woodbridge
The screenwriters on Die Another Day, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, were profiled in an article in the Sunday Express 'S:2' magazine on 7th July. Besides some thoughts on Bond, what came across is the hard struggle they had to endure to make it in the film-writing business.
Since they were last interviewed, in Screen International in Feb. 2001, the talented duo have stayed out of the limelight while they quietly worked on the new Bond screenplay. At the time of the Screen International profile, they had just finished the first draft of the screenplay for the then untitled Bond 20 and were both keen to demolish some of the more outlandish rumours about the film that had appeared on the internet and in the press.
The key task, as they saw it, was to make Bond a character rather than a caricature. Purvis emphasised in the Screen International interview that they were trying to 'Flemingise' Bond, drawing out his darker side. They had deliberately made references to "Casino Royale" in The World Is Not Enough: Bond had been betrayed by a woman and tortured. When he killed her, it gave the film its edgiest moment. Purvis commented that Pierce Brosnan was the perfect actor to draw out the complex combination of emotion and cold-blood the scene had required: "He is vulnerable without being weak". Purvis had also claimed of Brosnan: "He appears to be more of a human being than previous Bonds. Its very unusual that you write for a specific actor. You want to push him, put him through a journey, and hopefully that is what the next film is going to be".
Judging from the new Express interview, both Purvis and Wade, who are known as 'The Men With the Golden Pens', have been determined to continue developing the darker side of Bond, but also to give audiences the certain things they expect: the Q scene, the Moneypenny scene, new gadgets, and so on. Wade observed: "But making such scenes fresh is a tremendous challenge".
Forming Another Day Wade also told the Express: "We started working on the film in the summer of 2000. The first few months were spent throwing ideas into the air and having brainstorming sessions with Michael and Barbara". Wade revealed that Barbara Broccoli had read about an ice hotel and that gave the screenwriters the idea for the film's ice palace.
Purvis added further comments to his partner's experiences on the new film by praising Brosnan in particular: "Pierce is very approachable. He's on first-name terms with most of the crew and often hangs out with them during breaks in filming. A lot of Hollywood stars aren't like that...".
The duo also revealed in the Express interview that they are happy with the way Die Another Day has turned out. Wade commented: "Its a grown-up Bond movie".
Both men have been very busy in recent months dashing back and forth between Pinewood and Shepperton Studios. Pinewood has of course been hosting DAD while Shepperton has been the home of Purvis and Wade's new project, a film called Johnny English, which stars Rowan Atkinson (of 'Mr. Bean' fame) as a bungling MI6 agent in the Inspector Clouseau mould. It is being seen by some as a British answer to Austin Powers.
After a long struggle getting established as screenwriters, Purvis and Wade are now beginning to reap the rewards of their hard work. They have completed the screenplay for the remake of The Italian Job, which starts shooting soon, and will see another of their collaborations, The Wycked World of Brian Jones (about the famous rock musician) commence filming later this year. The Express profile ended by noting that they would also, of course, like to write the next Bond movie in 2004. Wade commented diplomatically, however, that: "You can't presume anything in this business."
Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg put an end to months of "will she" or "won't she" speculation regarding the icon's on-screen involvement with the project by confirming the part on Tuesday (July 9). Although not confirmed by Rosenberg, it is believed that the "Material Girl" will play a fencing instructor.
In addition to appearing in the movie, Madonna will sing the film's title song. According to Rosenberg, Madonna will be in Los Angeles next month to shoot the video for the tune.
Die Another Day stars Pierce Brosnan as British secret agent 007, and opens in theaters November 22.
by Sofia Fernandez, Los Angeles
Following its highly successful involvement in the past three Bond movies Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, OMEGA announced a continuation of its partnership with James Bond for the 20th Bond movie "Die Another Day", scheduled for release towards the end of the year. The movie will once again see Pierce Brosnan wearing the familiar OMEGA Seamaster Professional, naturally modified to incorporate life-saving features for the secret agent.
The press conference was held at the exclusive London hotel Claridge's, where a unique exhibition presenting watches from the previous Bond movies - as well as one of the hovercrafts used in Die Another Day as a taste of things to come - awaited media representatives prior to the press conference.
Once OMEGA President Stephen Urquhart had opened the press conference with a brief introduction to OMEGA and its association with James Bond, Pierce Brosnan took the stage to talk about his association with the brand since 1995, recalling some of the memorable public appearances he had made with OMEGA around the world.
The climax of the presentation came when Brosnan jokingly suggested turning the bezel of his OMEGA Seamaster Professional to see whether it would set off an explosion like it does in the movie. Much to everyone's surprise, a small blast was triggered slightly off stage. As if the entire press conference had suddenly been transported into the middle of a Bond movie, a stunning model appeared with a gift for Pierce Brosnan: an OMEGA Seamaster Professional that has been specially produced to commemorate this year's 40th anniversary of James Bond. It was only fitting that Pierce Brosnan should receive watch number one in a limited series of. 10,007 pieces.
JAMES Bond skidded in at the wheel of his Aston Martin to shake and stir Cotswolds fans.
Bond films amid giant icebergs
007 was also spotted having a not-so-quiet pint of lager in Bourton- on-the-Water.
Hordes of teenage girls descended on the film set to catch a glimpse of their heart throb.
The superstar came to the former RAF airfield, which had been transformed into a frozen lake fringed with giant icebergs, to be chased by villains in his Aston Martin.
He was dressed in jeans, a dark shirt and shades.
Onlookers sat on the top of vans and climbed packing pallets to get a good view as the site was sealed off with barbed wire.
Between shots Mr Brosnan took a breather in his star's chair under a gazebo. He had lunch in a trailer while film crew queued for burgers.
Laura Coombes, 16, of Upper Rissington, said: "Pierce is cool. He's the best Bond and the best-looking.
"We've seen a truck with the Aston Martin hanging off the back going through trees with a fire behind and a man who seemed to be pointing his gun at us so we sat down."
Six-year-old Charlie Fletcher, from Bourton, actually spoke to Mr Brosnan as he sat outside the Old Manse having a drink.
Her dad Sean said: "I walked past but Charlie wanted his autograph.
"We went home and she got a photo of her and our Rottweiler Ally.
"I wouldn't go but she plucked up courage to ask him to sign it. He was a perfect gentleman. Charlie was bright red when she came back."
Charlie said: "I just went up to him and asked. He said he likes Rottweiler and used to have some."
Pub manager Ian White said Mr Brosnan ordered drinks at the bar.
He said: "He signed some autographs for my staff. He didn't have a big entourage and everybody left him alone to have a drink with a few of the crew for about an hourand a half."
Duty manager Mark Harding added: "He was an ordinary and pleasant person."
Mr Brosnan was filming again today and watching rushes at the Blue Egg Studios at Rissington Business Park.
by Lynn Mcpherson
THEIR sweaters are favoured by golfers the world over. And now even 007 is to trade in his tuxedo for a Pringle sweater.
When makers of the latest James Bond movie needed their hero dressed in the right clothing for a golf course scene, they immediately turned to the Scots knitwear giants.
The knitwear firm, striving to ditch their old-fashioned image, were asked to provide clothes for the opening scene of the 20th Bond film, Die Another Day, which is set on an ice golf course.
Pringle, famous for their Argyle "diamond" patterns, have flown out a consignment of sweaters to Iceland, where Pierce Brosnan and the cast are filming.
A spokesman for the Hawick-based firm, who now number trend-setters such as David Beckham among their admirers, said: "Bond fits our brand perfectly.
"There is a scene at the beginning of the film where golf is being played - before the shooting begins.
"They approached us because they wanted the scene to look authentic. We have sent an entire wardrobe to Iceland."
Just three years ago, Pringle were losing £6 million annually, despite the high-profile endorsement of golfers such as Nick Faldo.
The new image drive at Pringle is being masterminded by Fang Brothers, the Hong Kong clothing group who acquired the brand two years ago.
Shoppers in London will soon be confronted with the sight of a tousle-haired beauty, naked apart from a string of pearls, gracing a hoarding at the prime corner spot of prestigious Bond Street.
The attention-grabbing poster heralds the September opening of Pringle's flagship store there.
Apart from Beckham, celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Robbie Williams and Claudia Schiffer have donned the new line.
May 20, 2002
Brosnan told reporters here this weekend that his 007 flick will wrap in
June under its intense New Zealand director: "Lee Tamahori is a madman -- but
I think you have to be to direct such a project." The movie, Brosnan said,
"is looking really good." The issue of good-looking Bond women also came up
and Brosnan squirmed, admitting: "I did participate in the casting of Bond
women once. I spent a whole day snogging different beautiful women. It was
rather bizarre."
His Irish film, which he is also producing, is on a different level, Brosnan
said, calling it "much closer to the style of work I have done a lot of
before Bond."
May 19, 2002
CANNES, France, May 19 The world's most famous superspy, James Bond, was
guest of honour at the biggest party at the Cannes Film Festival, an
all-night bash designed to promote his latest episode, "Die Another Day".
Pierce Brosnan, the Irish actor currently incarnating 007, was on hand at
the bash, a sprawling, glitzy affair held at the private estate of French
fashion mogul Pierre Cardin -- a bizarre complex of interconnected
bubble-shaped concrete pods that are strung across a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean.
"This house could have been built for 007. It suits him," Cardin told AFP as
he showed off his property. "James Bond is a character full of sensuality,
elegance and craziness. I never miss his adventures at the cinema," he said.
A mock casino done up in Riviera chic, two dancefloors, two bands (one of
them Britain's Soul II Soul), numerous bars and buffets, laser lighting and
illuminated swimming pools kept the 1,500 guests entertained.
Multiple screens displayed excerpts from most of the Bond films made since
1962, while a couple of Aston-Martins -- Bond's sportscar of choice -- were
parked at the entrance to the function.
Outside, hefty guards prowled the perimeter to keep gate-crashers away.
Brosnan, who turned 49 last Thursday, did not mingle, preferring to keep to
himself in a separated VIP area, away from reporters and fans.
The actor was taking a couple of days out from shooting "Die Another Day"
scenes in London. The production has also taken him to Hawaii (for the film's
opening sequence), Hong Kong, Spain and Iceland.
This time, the villain is believed to be a North Korean general who is left
disfigured by a face-changing device. The film, which also stars
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, is due out in November.
Brosnan was discreet since his arrival Saturday at Cannes, his MGM-United
Artists minders allowing just one photo session and no media conference.
That was perhaps out of care not to anger the film festival's organisers,
who tolerate studios using their event as a promotional arena for upcoming
movies unrelated to the official competition as long as they don't go
overboard.
Such piggy-backing has paid off handsomely for other films. A part of "Lord
of the Rings", for instance, was shown at Cannes last year, followed by
another spectacular themed party, creating a buzz in the media that lasted
until its release seven months later.
For Brosnan, "Die Another Day" will be his fourth time as the super suave
spy. He has said the next film -- the 21st in the long-running series -- will
likely be his last, leaving the job open to a younger actor.
He has ensured that he has kept his hand in with other, less superficial
films, since becoming Bond. He has his own production company, Irish
DreamTime, that has turned out tough dramas, one of which -- "Evelyn", a
story about a jobless Irish father who goes to court to win his children back from church care -- is also being promoted with a billboard at Cannes.
STAR STRUCK: Brosnan
BOND star Pierce Brosnan used his secret agent skills to get behind the
scenes with his favourite new singer.
Pierce took time out of his busy schedule to watch a London gig by Tipperary
singer Gemma Hayes. Gemma, who has been hotly tipped as Ireland's answer to
Dido, was playing a show at Dingwalls in London's trendy Camden area on
Monday when Pierce turned up in the audience.
One onlooker said: "Everyone was really excited to see Pierce at the gig and
he was definitely pleased to be there.
"He's already a big fan of Gemma and can't wait for her album to be
released."
Screen star Brosnan, who is normally the target of adoring fans himself, was
especially taken by Gemma's new single entitled Hanging Around.
After the show was over Pierce made a special effort to go and speak to
gorgeous Gemma backstage.
Gemma, who is from the tiny village of Ballyporeen, has already received
massive acclaim in the UK and Ireland.
She is soon to release her debut album, Night On My Side, which will hit the
shops on May 24.
Gemma recently picked up a Hot Press award for Best Irish Female Singer,
beating off competition from Samantha Mumba and Andrea Corr.
Singer Gemma said: "Bond is an institution and I was thrilled to find Pierce
is such a fan of my music".
The film's makers, MGM-United Artists, and MTV Europe have gone all
out to hype the film on the sidelines of the festival, hoping for the
same sort of attention that gave "Lord of the Rings" such valuable
pre-release buzz at Cannes last year.
The Bond film has been plastered over one of the most prominent
hotels on the beachfront, a wharf has been dedicated to the secret
agent, and an Aston-Martin -- Bond's car of choice -- has been parked
ostentatiously on a lawn.
A Bond party was to take place late Saturday at the private villa of
fashion mogul Pierre Cardin, in an exclusive neighbourhood several
kilometres (miles) from Cannes.
More than 1,500 guests "dressed to kill" have been invited to the
bash, which will feature a mock casino, dozens of "Bond girls" and
the British R and B group Soul II Soul.
Invitations were printed on special paper that only revealed the
address when heat from a pressed palm made it legible.
The latest Bond film concerns a North Korean baddie who uses a face-
changing device to change his identity.
It was shot this year in Hawaii, Hong Kong, Spain, Iceland and London
and is to be released in November.
For Brosnan, who turned 49 on Thursday, it will be his fourth time as
the super suave spy. He has said the next film -- the 21st in the
epic series -- will likely be his last. FOR BROSNAN, IT'S DOUBLE THE WORK AS 007
by BRUCE KIRKLAND
Pierce Brosnan is in Cannes doing double duty, promoting both his new James
Bond blockbuster Die Another Day and a modest Irish period piece called
Evelyn, in which he co-stars with Julianna Margulies, Stephen Rea, Alan Bates
and Aidan Quinn.
From the Sunday Times (London) Pierce Brosnan: From Goldeneye to golden buy
by John Elliott
Pierce Brosnan, the 007 star, is looking for flats around Hampstead, in north London. He can afford the sky-high prices as he's said to be getting Pounds 4m for his fourth and
latest Bond film, Die Another Day. He's been dossing locally during the
filming and was spotted sipping a pint in a local pub - emphatically not a
dry Martini. He liked the area so much, I'm told, that he's been looking for
a two-bed flat as an 18th birthday present for his son Sean around the Pounds
600,000 mark. Not a bad way to come of age.
From Agence France Presse James Bond back and looking to shake, not stir Cannes
by MARC BURLEIGH
From the Sunday Mirror BOND'S VIEW TO A THRILL
by Paul Ainsworth
Hindustan Times
Britain's superspy James Bond was back on the French Riviera Saturday
as guest of honour at one of the biggest parties to be held during
the Cannes Film Festival. Pierce Brosnan, the Irish actor currently
incarnating 007, arrived at Cannes for a string of media appearances
designed to promote the latest Bond adventure, "Die Another Day",
which will be released later this year.
SEAN'S NO 007 BADDIE
FORMER 007 star Sean Connery yesterday vowed never to play a Bond baddie.
Movie producers have asked the veteran actor to make a guest appearance as an enemy agent in a James Bond remake. But Connery, 72, ruled out any possibility of returning as a 007 bad guy - and added that current Bond Pierce Brosnan was his best successor yet.
Speaking in Milan, Italy where his wife Michline Roquebrune was opening an exhibition of her paintings, Connery said:"Absolutely no way - I could never be an enemy of James Bond."
Praising Pierce Brosnan, Connery said: "He has worked hard to take Bond back to the real character, to someone who can really be identified with."
Connery, who ended nine years as Bond in 1971 with Diamonds Are Forever, returned in 1983 with Never Say Never Again.
Source: The Daily Star (May 8, 2002 )
007 BOY'S ACTING HOPE
PIERCE BROSNAN'S son, Sean, is to follow his father into acting. So impressed is Sean with his dad's role as 007, that he has applied for drama school. The 18-year-old recently auditioned for London's Central School of Speech and Drama. But Sean, who is Brosnan's son by his first marriage, is reluctant to inherit the James Bond role. "I could never play Bond, " he said. "You have to be far too cool. I am far more interested in theatre."
To The Third Power
AUSTIN POWERS 3 may get to use the GOLDMEMBER title after all. After a court battle nine weeks ago, New Line may get approval to use the title GOLDMEMBER after all.
The company is currently in negotiation with MGM and United Artists to do just that, although approval must be gained from the Broccoli family, which holds the James Bond license.
In the proposed deal, MGM will get trailers in AUSTIN POWERS 3 for the next Bond flick, DIE ANOTHER DAY.
If the Broccolis do not approve, however, several titles are being considered: LIVE AND LET SHAG, YOU ONLY DIE THRICE, NEVER SAY MEMBER AGAIN, and LICENSE TO SHAG.
Vic Armstrong says Die Another Daywill begin with Bond ina hovercraft.
He says he always imagined the film's first stunt to be like John Wayne in Stagecoach.
"I wrote a little sequence and I always visualised Stagecoach with John Wayne going down with the Indians climbing on, and turning round and attacking the guy," Armstrong tells www.empireonline.co.uk.
"We were basically doing that chase with lots of incidents with hovercraft to keep the action moving without getting too repetitive."
The wind blew dust into Berry's eye while she was filming an action sequence in Spain on Saturday, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in London.
"As a precautionary measure, the production sought medical attention for what was a slight inflammation," they said in a statement. "We are happy to report that Ms. Berry suffered no lasting ill effects and returned to work immediately."
The producers denied news reports that the 33-year-old performer had been hurt by debris from a smoke grenade.
Berry, who last month won a best-actress Oscar for her role in "Monster's Ball," plays a sultry Bond girl opposite Pierce Brosnan's Agent 007 in the 20th Bond film, "Die Another Day."
Britain's Press Association news agency reported that Berry was treated in a hospital in Cadiz, southern Spain, by Dr. Antonio Fernandez.
"It could have been much more serious. She has been quite lucky, in fact," the agency quoted Fernandez as saying.
In February, Brosnan injured his knee while filming a stunt for the film.
"Safety considerations are of primary importance to the 007 production and all necessary precautions are taken for the benefit of both the cast and crew to ensure their personal welfare," Wilson and Broccoli said.
"Die Another Day" is scheduled to be released in the Britain and the United States on Nov. 22.
Revlon¹s eyes on Bond
Revlon has joined the Ford Motor Co., Philips/Norelco and Omega watches, among others, in partnering with the next James Bond film, ³Die Another Day.² The 20th installment in the franchise is set to hit theaters Nov. 22. Details were not disclosed, but Revlon is expected to create a multimillion-dollar campaign around the tie-in.
Oscar winner Halle Berry, who stars in ³Die,² became a Revlon spokeswoman in 1996 and is featured in print and television ads for the cosmetics brand.
The wind blew dust into Berry's eye while she was filming an action sequence in Spain on Saturday, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in London.
"As a precautionary measure, the production sought medical attention for what was a slight inflammation," they said in a statement. "We are happy to report that Ms. Berry suffered no lasting ill effects and returned to work immediately."
The producers denied news reports that the 33-year-old actress had been hurt by debris from a smoke grenade.
Berry, who won a best-actress Oscar last month for her role in "Monster's Ball," plays a sultry Bond girl opposite Pierce Brosnan's Agent 007 in the 20th Bond film, "Die Another Day."
Britain's Press Association news agency reported that Berry was treated in a hospital in Cadiz, southern Spain, by Dr. Antonio Fernandez.
"It could have been much more serious. She has been quite lucky, in fact," the agency quoted Fernandez as saying.
In February, Brosnan injured his knee while filming a stunt for the movie.
"Die Another Day" is scheduled for release in Britain and the United States on Nov. 22.
Tue Apr 9The freshly Oscar'd actress was taken to a hospital after sustaining an eye injury when a stunt went awry on the set of the new James Bond film, Die Another Day.
Berry, who plays new Bond babe Jinx opposite Pierce Brosnan, was shooting a helicopter battle scene Friday on location in Spain. As our hero 007 blasts the chopper out of the sky, several explosive devices detonated. Debris from a smoke grenade lodged in Berry's left eye.
As the British celebrity news site PeopleNews.com breathlessly recounts, the Jinx-ed actress was rushed to the hospital for a 30-minute procedure to remove the fragment. The 33-year-old actress suffered no permanent damage, but still has a tender eye.
"It could have been much more serious," the site quotes Dr. Antonio Fernandez, who treated Berry. "She has been quite lucky, in fact."
A rep for MGM, the studio behind the Bond franchise, downplays the report, confirming that Berry was hurt but saying the incident was not as traumatic as the Website made it out to be.
In any case, Berry is back on the set and said to be fine (or at least as fine as someone who just had shrapnel removed from her eye can be).
Apparently the stars of the flick are taking the title to heart--this is the second time during shooting that a key player has been hurt, albeit not seriously.
In February, Brosnan suffered a knee injury while doing a stunt. The accident sidelined the 49-year-old actor for two weeks. He has since recovered and resumed blowing things up.
Aside from the two walking-wounded actors, little else is known about Die Another Day. The plot involves some North Korean ne'er-do-wells led by a General Zao (The Fast and the Furious's Rick Yune). John Cleese and Judi Dench are returning as 007-helpers R and M, respectively. And Madonna is recording the title track.
Shooting began in January in Hawaii. Aside from Spain, other locations include Hong Kong, Iceland and England. The film is due out November 22.
DAY AND NIGHT: MOORE PUTS SON FORWARD FOR 007'S LICENCE TO GRILL
by KATHRYN SPENCER, JULIE CARPENTER & KATE BOHDANOWICZ
VETERAN actor Roger Moore wants his eldest son to take on the role of James Bond after Pierce Brosnan finishes his run as 007. Moore, who starred as the secret agent in seven films, thinks his handsome sprog, Geoffrey Moore, 36, has the necessary credentials - despite his lack of acting prowess. After appearing in two unknown films years ago, Geoff is now a successful restaurateur and owner of plush West End eaterie Hush.
Moore, 74, starring as a gay ex-army man in his next ilm Boat Trip with Cuba Gooding Jr, first suggested his son 10 years ago to late Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, and now insists: "I think Geoffrey has the necessary charm, wit and sophistication to be 007. He is much better looking than me and much more talented, so I think he would be perfect for the role. Maybe he could even incorporate the cooking into the film role."
James Bond slaving over a hot stove? Surely not.
HIGHLIGHT: ON A ROLE: Stars Halle and Pierce; IN ON THE ACT: Bond double; Douglas James and Halle Berry lookalike perform dangerous roles which daredevil Douglas says he was born to play FILM legend James Bond's body double boasted yesterday: "I am the real 007."
Professional lookalike Douglas James has been Irish superstar Pierce Brosnan's stuntman for eight years.
And since landing the lucrative job, he has enjoyed the jetset lifestyle of his on-screen alter ego - fast cars, top hotels and designer clothes. Mr James - as he likes to be known - has just come back from Korea where he was filming the new Bond film Die Another Day.
He said: "I was driving a hovercraft. As we are in Bond's 40th anniversary the film is extra special."
But Douglas, who has appeared in the last three Bond films, reckons he is more like the suave 007 than family man Pierce Brosnan.
He said: "As I am a bachelor, play high adrenaline sports, and drive sports cars, I'm just like Bond, apart from the secret agent part. I travel all over the world - last month I was in my own bed for only seven nights.
"Sometimes I am flown across the pond on Concorde by companies for personal appearances and I'm going to Monte Carlo this week.
Polo player Douglas is slightly shorter than Pierce, 5ft 11in, and three years younger at 45. But his dark-haired Irish looks, for which he thanks his grandmother, make the pair look almost identical and he is often mistaken for the real Bond.
He said: "Being a double for Ireland's biggest film star means I am recognised all over the place. I was in Blackpool just before Pierce got married when two elderly Irish women came and said, 'Good luck with your wedding'.
"I just played along and said, 'Thanks,' otherwise they might think I was being arrogant."
Navan-born Pierce was first cast as 007 in 1984 but his contract would not allow him to accept the part.
But when he was approached again a decade later he was free to take the role - which is when Douglas stepped in.
He said: "You could say I waited 10 years to play Bond and it is a dream come true.
"It is glamorous, and I spend most of my time in a tux.
"The action scenes such as racing the cars are all things I would do in my spare time.
"One of the more outrageous things I have done was jumping out of a plane at 16,000 feet and plummeting at 125mph over Florida."
The fast living has paid off. Douglas earns a six-figure salary, drives a BMW Z3 - registration J 8OND - a Jaguar XJS and a Range Rover.
Douglas was picked for his likeness to Pierce and appeared in the pre-title sequence of Tomorrow Never Dies.
But unlike playboy Bond, he doesn't see himself as the eternal bachelor and is hoping to settle down soon.
Douglas said: "I have travelled everywhere - from Jakarta to Paris to all over America.
"But I've realised that if the right woman comes along then maybe it will be time to get married."
Bond remains true to original creation
By Todd R Nicholls
It is 50 years since the creation of Ian Fleming's fictional character James Bond. As Todd R Nicholls reports the Bond movies that have been a success are the ones that have remained true to the author's original creation THE name James Bond has become synonymous with style, all-action capers and more than the odd bit of political incorrectness.
Which is all very well except that Bond (or shall we call him James?) has lasted the test of time.
This month it is 50 years since the Ian Fleming-created character was first published in novel-form in Britain and Ireland and nearly 40 years since the first Bond movie. Since then 19 movies have been adapted from Fleming's 12 books, with Bond having largely been played by five actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.
Despite Bond's longevity, two questions need answering: firstly, just who was Ian Fleming and secondly, has his most well-known character remained true to his original vision?
Fleming was born in 1908. His father was Major Valentine Fleming, a Conservative MP. He attended Eton and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, much like Bond himself.
Leaving after one year, Fleming then travelled to the continent to study languages at Munich in Germany and Geneva in Switzerland.
Using his language training to good effect Fleming served as Moscow correspondent for Reuters news agency from 1929 to1933.
He then returned to London and became a banker and stokebroker until the outbreak of the second world war in 1939.
During the war, he gained valuable information for his future books by serving as personal assistant to the director of British naval intelligence.
After the war, Fleming worked as a features editor for the Sunday Times newspaper in London, before leaving to write full-time.
Along with his Bond books, Fleming wrote two other non-fiction novels, as well as the classic children's story, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, released in 1968.
Fleming and Bond were similar, and it was perhaps appropriate that he had his final and life-ending heart attack while playing golf on the Royal St George's Sandwich course in Kent on August 12 1964.
Fleming's background gives us an insight into the world in which he was brought up and the surrounding environment in which he created Bond.
It was a world where men were men and where military service was a noble career. It was also a world in which women were not exactly noted for having equality status.
In the world in which Fleming wrote, diplomatic relations between the west and the eastern block were worsening and Britain's role in international affairs was becoming less significant.
The Bond that Fleming created had the public school values that the author had been brought up with: a handbook perhaps on the ruling elite's most extreme prejudices on people and products.
Take Bond's views on alcohol: "That (Blanc de Blanc Brut 1943) is not a well-known brand. . . but it is probably the finest champagne in the world."
On cigarettes: "He lit his first cigarette, a Balkan and Turkish mixture made for him by Morlands of Grosvenor Street."
Given that Britain was still getting over several years of rationing, it was not surprising that the character of Bond struck a chord with a public aching for a bit of glamour and style.
Yet it wasn't until Sean Connery's casting in the early 1960s (after being voted for by readers of the Daily Express), that Bond developed his own sense of style and panache on the big screen.
Connery's first five films marked the period of the High Bond, when all the classic elements were in place: the John Barry scores, the Wagnerian MOR theme songs, Maurice Binder's nude lady scenes.
Yet despite the 1960s being a period of cultural and social liberalism, Bond stayed true to his roots, not even professing to like the music of the Beatles.
Movie experts say the great era of Bond ended in 1969 when Connery started wearing wigs and when the less well known of the Bonds, Lazenby, gave perhaps the most wooden performance ever.
Roger Moore gave Bond limited new life in the 1970s and early 80s, although somehow the character seemed outdated and irrelevant during this period.
It wasn't until the introduction of Ireland's Pierce Brosnan in 1995 that Bond returned to becoming hip in Bond's traditional unhip sort of way.
Brosnan, now called the Billion Dollar Bond because his three Bond movies have grossed over a billion dollars between them, has managed to capture the essence of Fleming's original creation.
Brosnan looks and perfectly acts Bond; from the British mannerisms to the detachment and cold distant eyes that make Bond one of the great movie characters of the 20th Century.
He has, in other words, brought Bond back to days gone by when he was the suave lady's action man, who was also a touch insecure and emotionally vulnerable.
With the next Bond instalment Die Another Day due for release later this year, the future of Bond and the multi-million pound industry surrounding him looks secure.
Yet if the last 50 years has proven anything it is that the Bond movies that work are the ones that stay true to Fleming's original creation and don't take their main character too seriously.
GRAPHIC: BILLION DOLLAR BOND: Pierce Brosnan's portrayal of Ian Fleming's Jame Bond captures the essence of the author's original creation.
Although details are still wooly, part of the next Bond film purportedly involves Bond going undercover to discover the dirty deeds of the film¹s villain, Colonel Moon and its Madsen as Falco, who lends a hand to the bravado spy. ³It¹s not a big role but it¹s somewhat pivotal in that it introduces a new recurring character², Madsen says of the role he won back in December. ³Most of my scenes are with Judi Dench (as M), who is a delightful human being². As for the famous Madsen good guy might be bad routine, there¹s no hints from the man himself. ³Let¹s just say it¹s pivotal². Madsen is highly indebted of his return to big screen blockbuster cinema, following a down time spending most of his working days on B-grade video numbers.
He¹d also like to star in a movie alongside his sister, actress Virginia Madsen, but has a couple of sure-things to keep him busy until that comes off. ³I¹ll be returning in Bond 21!² says an energized Madsen. He has also cleared time to re-unite with his Reservoir Dogs Director Quentin Tarantino for a new movie called ³Kill Bill².
³My name is Budd and I live in a trailer park in Texas² he says of the part. ³I've been working on the scenes with Quentin for a few months now², tells Madsen. ³I¹m Bill¹s (the titular character) little brother², he adds. ³And let¹s just say Bud¹s dangerous². And despite its setback, Madsen is still hoping he gets to work with Tarantino on that Pulp Fiction prequel.
³If there is a godŠit will still be made². But As happy as he¹d be to reprise his role as the bank robbing Vega brother, he¹s keeping away from the Species series.
³Species 3? If there is a god, I hope it¹s not happening², he laughs.
Thailand
Bond's 1974 outing, The Man With the Golden Gun, was shot on Khao Phing Kan island, but nearby Tapu has become known as James Bond island because long shots were used of its rock surface. Conservationists complain at the stream of boats bringing tourists.
Las Vegas
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) sees Bond staying at Circus Circus, one of the original themed gambling hotels, which still hosts the type of extravagant circus acts watched by 007.
India
In Octopussy, (1983), the Lake Palace Hotel, in Udaipur, Rajasthan, was used as Octopussy's seemingly floating residence. It is said the film is on show somewhere in town most nights.
Jamaica
Wealthy tourists can stay at Goldeneye, the clifftop former home of Bond creator Ian Fleming, on the north Jamaican coast. Nearby is Dunn's River Falls, from where Bond infiltrates Dr No's base in the 1962 film.
Switzerland
The revolving restaurant at the top of the Schiltorn mountain is a memorable location from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
The Millennium Dome
Bond ends up on the dome's roof after a speedboat chase down the Thames in The World Is Not Enough (1999). The world of 007
by Mark Oliver
007 Lives to "Die Another Day"
Tue Mar 12 James Bond has done it again--outwitting fans, obsessing with death.
MGM and producers of the latest 007 flick today announced that the suave secret agent's 20th big-screen adventure (for MGM/United Artists, anyway) will be called...Die Another Day.
Thus ends speculation that the film would be called Double Cross, Beneath the Sea, Beyond the Ice, the too easy Bond XX, Final Assignment or (our favorite) the Beatles-esque Colonel Sun.
Die Another Day stars Pierce Brosnan in his fourth Bond outing after GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough. And before you ask, no, we don't know how one can "die another day" if, assuming another day is tomorrow, "tomorrow never dies." Unless, of course, you only live twice.
The official word from producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli is that the Die Another Day "carries on the tradition of the Ian Fleming stories and reflects the excitement and mystery of our latest script."
That's the fancy way of saying the title is "cool and enigmatic," which is exactly how one fan on Ain't It Cool News today posted all good Bond titles should be. (And, in case you were wondering, that one fan thinks Die Another Day meets both standards.)
Reaction, overall, from 007 diehards has, yes, been mixed. But there also seems to be genuine relief that the Little Mermaid-y Beneath the Sea proved to be a false lead.
As for the new movie itself, other than the title, there aren't a lot of specifics. Things we do know: The plot involves North Korean baddies; Madonna is in talks to record a soundtrack cut (but not necessarily the title song); Halle Berry is the proverbial Bond girl, and, depending on how the rest of her month shapes up, perhaps the first Oscar-winning Bond girl. Also, look for John Cleese and Judi Dench to return as 007-helpers R and M, respectively.
Shooting began in January in Hawaii and England (and Brosnan suffered a knee injury in February). A November 22 release date is set.
While this project has been known unofficially as James Bond 20, it's really the 20th Bond produced by the Broccoli clan for United Artists and, later, MGM. Complicated rights issues meant that the Bond character also starred in the non-MGM/UA films Casino Royale, with Woody Allen spoofing 007, and Never Say Never Again, with Sean Connery returning to his roots and remaking Thunderball.
Confused? Good. Then you're in just the right state of mind to come up with a next Bond title.
HOEFN, Iceland. March 13, 2002
007 Crew Films in Iceland
By EDWARD WEINMAN
No snow. No 007.
No matter.
A film crew moved trees, flew in some snow, and got on with work this week on the next James Bond movie, "Die Another Day."
Star Pierce Brosnan was recovering from knee surgery and couldn't make it. He was injured a few weeks ago during filming of a hovercraft stunt scene.
"I wanted Pierce to be here, but we couldn't get him," said second unit director Vic Armstrong, adding that images of Brosnan filmed back in England could be inserted into the Icelandic scenes later.
Roughly 200 crew members were shooting at the dramatic Joekulsarlon glacial lagoon in southeast Iceland for a five-minute chase sequence in the 20th Bond film.
"It's the climax to the middle of the movie. Bond is being chased and he must escape to save Halle Berry from the Ice Palace that's about to sink," said Armstrong, who also worked on Bond films "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World is Not Enough." "It's the scene with all the guns and gadgets."
In "Die Another Day," set for release Nov. 22, the villain's henchman, Zao (Rick Yune), lives in Iceland.
The chase involves a convertible green Jaguar and a gray Aston Martin racing across the frozen lagoon with turquoise icebergs as obstacles. The eight cars used in production were modified to drive on ice.
Armstrong said he aims to "keep the cars flowing, spinning. It will be like a ballet." Joekulsarlon is on the edge of the Vatnajokull glacier, the world's third-largest ice cap. The lagoon, 240 miles from Reykjavik, was formed mostly after 1950 when the glacier began receding. It is about 330 feet deep in places, and is one of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions. It has appeared in numerous films, including the Bond film "A View to a Kill" and last year's "Tomb Raider."
Ice on the lagoon must be at least a foot thick to support the crew and cars. To strengthen it, the filmmakers blocked the inlet to keep out warmer sea water.
"We hired two bulldozers and dammed the enclosure using only natural materials," says Leifur Dagfinnsson, unit manager. "We basically enhanced what nature does every year." Nature also failed to oblige the film's need for snow in a scene set in a forest. So the action was moved to a glacier, snow was flown in, and a forest was manufactured from 225 Norway spruce taken from the Hallormsstadur National Forest in eastern Iceland. Iceland has few trees -- woodlands cover just 1.3 percent of the land -- but Throestur Eysteinsson, general director of the Forestry Service, said the sacrifice caused no pain. "The trees were mainly the small young ones and needed to be thinned out of the stands," he said.
Berry to bond with Bond
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, Jill St. John, Famke Janssen, and now Halle Berry.
Or should that be: Joseph Wiseman, Gert Frobe, Christopher Walken, Jonathan Pryce and now Halle Berry?
Berry is poised to star alongside Pierce Brosnan as the femme fatale in the next James Bond film, which is fast mobilizing for a January 14 start at Pinewood Studios in England, Variety reports. MGM will release the Lee Tamahori-directed film for the 2002 holiday season.
Berry has been rumored for the role for several weeks and by all accounts very much wants to play the villainess. The Bond film will be the 20th in the series and the 40th anniversary of the 007 franchise.
Potential scheduling conflicts are the reason a deal hasn't yet been closed. She is locked in to reprise her role as Storm in the "X-Men" sequel, which Bryan Singer will direct early next year for Fox. Because the sequel's shooting schedule is still being worked out, Berry's reps haven't been able to work out a scenario in which she could do both roles.
Berry, whose last film was "Swordfish," is generating buzz for her latest effort, "Monster's Ball," which opens December 26.
Brosnan and his Bond co star Cleese, who plays gadget inventor Q, shot a spoof segment at Pinewood Studios, which will be shown at the Orange- British Academy Film Awards in London on Sunday and broadcast by the BBC.
The short film is part of a special tribute celebrating 40 years of movies featuring Ian Fleming's famous hero.
In it, Q instructs Bond on his latest mission attending the British Academy Film Awards. He's seen handing Brosnan a bow tie and self- destruct device in case the speeches drag on.
The film, which was a closely-guarded secret, is of Q instructing Pierce on what he'll need for the awards, a spokesperson on the Bond set told me.
Brosnan was to have attended Sunday's event, but he's recovering from surgery on his knee following an accident on the set of the latest 007 adventure, which has the working title of Bond 20.
Every year, the producers of the Oscars devise elaborate film segments to be shown during the ceremony which are often more talked about afterwards then the winners.
"We've seen what they do at the Oscars and there was a feeling that our show can be a bit stale, but I think the combination of the Bond anniversary and host Stephen Fry, who was brilliant last year, will give us a lift", an executive connected to the awards told me.
"The Oscar people will be looking to us for a change, not the other way round."
The Bond salute will include an appearance by current 007 star Halle Berry
In the U.S. the BAFTA Awards will be aired on E! on Saturday, March 2 at 8ET/7CT; 2 hours long (tape).
For those in Australia, the ABC is showing the Baftas on Saturday, March 2 at 9.30 p.m.
Although details are still wooly, part of the next Bond film purportedly involves Bond going undercover to discover the dirty deeds of the film¹s villain, Colonel Moon and its Madsen as Falco, who lends a hand to the bravado spy. ³It¹s not a big role but it¹s somewhat pivotal in that it introduces a new recurring character², Madsen says of the role he won back in December. ³Most of my scenes are with Judi Dench (as M), who is a delightful human being². As for the famous Madsen good guy might be bad routine, there¹s no hints from the man himself. ³Let¹s just say it¹s pivotal².
Madsen is highly indebted of his return to big screen blockbuster cinema, following a down time spending most of his working days on B-grade video numbers. He¹d also like to star in a movie alongside his sister, actress Virginia Madsen, but has a couple of sure-things to keep him busy until that comes off. ³I¹ll be returning in Bond 21!² says an energized Madsen. He has also cleared time to re-unite with his Reservoir Dogs Director Quentin Tarantino for a new movie called ³Kill Bill².
³My name is Budd and I live in a trailer park in Texas² he says of the part. ³I've been working on the scenes with Quentin for a few months now², tells Madsen. ³I¹m Bill¹s (the titular character) little brother², he adds. ³And let¹s just say Bud¹s dangerous². And despite its setback, Madsen is still hoping he gets to work with Tarantino on that Pulp Fiction prequel.
³If there is a godŠit will still be made². But As happy as he¹d be to reprise his role as the bank robbing Vega brother, he¹s keeping away from the Species series.
³Species 3? If there is a god, I hope it¹s not happening², he laughs.
NEW YORK (Variety) - Tues, Feb 25 Three Viacom Inc.-owned networks -- TNN, CBS and UPN -- have banded together to buy exclusive two-year television rights to the first 15 James Bond motion pictures from MGM. The parties declined comment on the deal, but industry sources say Viacom will pay $2 million per title, or a total of $30 million for the pact. The titles become available this fall after completing their runs on ABC and on TBS, both of which decided not to renew their deals for the Bond pictures.
While CBS and sibling broadcast netlet UPN will have access to the Bond films, industry insiders said cable outlet TNN drove the pact. "If Viacom's the house for this deal, TNN occupies the master bedroom," one source said.
TNN, a general-entertainment cable network that is still playing catch-up with its main competitors USA, TNT and TBS in the Nielsen ratings, plans to engineer a marathon of the first 15 Bonds as a tie-in to the release this November of the new Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry. The deal gives the TNN, CBS and UPN wide flexibility in scheduling the pics.
The Viacom deal is consistent with CBS' past separate purchases for exclusive broadcast-network play of the most recent Bond movies starring Brosnan. The purchase is the first time that all three of the Viacom networks have bought high-visibility programming in one negotiation.
It's expected CBS could air occasional Bond mini-marathons or use the films to plug scheduling holes. For UPN, the movies represent a major upgrade from the types of theatricals it had been able to afford in the past.
And for TNN, the deal means another major asset in building a new brand identity.
CONTRACT COULD BE MODEL
The MGM contract could also serve as one model for a future theatrical-output deal among the three networks and their sister studio, Paramount Pictures, which has a number of movies that are still available in the first network window, such as "Vanilla Sky," "Zoolander" and "Rat Race."
TNN has pulled in audiences in the last year or so, with such franchises as the two-hour World Wrestling Federation Monday-night "Raw" and "War Zone" and with the nightly repeats of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Marathons of James Bond movies twice a year on TNN could harvest a bumper crop of viewers.
RATINGS NOT SO GREAT
The ratings of the early Bond movies on ABC in recent weeks have proved disappointing, though for three Saturdays the pictures had to compete with NBC's high-rated primetime coverage of the Salt Lake City Olympics.
ABC had originally planned to schedule the Bond movies in the fourth quarter as backup programming in anticipation of actors and writers strikes, but held them back after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
The 15-title package includes one movie that was not part of the original United Artists releases, "Never Say Never Again," with Sean Connery, made by Warner Bros. in 1983. MGM subsequently bought the rights to the picture.
HERE'S James Bond ‹ doing his hairy best to look like Robinson Crusoe-07.
Smoothy star Pierce Brosnan, 48, was given the unkempt look for the secret agent's latest adventure.
Bedraggled Bond is left unshaven, if not stirred, after being held captive for months by rebels in North Korea.
Our exclusive picture shows tense 007 on a bridge as he is handed over to South Korea.
One onlooker at the film shoot said: "Even Miss Moneypenny or Q would have trouble recognising him ‹ he looks more like Grizzly Adams."
The scene was filmed at a secret location in Berkshire last week and the movie, codenamed Bond 20, is out in November.
It looks bleak for Bond. But fret not, he's made a Korea out of close shaves.
February 24. JAMES Bond star Pierce Brosnan yesterday underwent surgery to repair a damaged knee.
007 slipped and hurt himself on the set of the new Bond movie in England, tearing the miniscus in his right knee. Brosnan insisted on jetting 6,000 miles from London to Los Angeles to see his own doctor.
Dr Bert Mendelbaum, who also treated Brosnan for a tear on his miniscus on his left knee several years ago, operated on the 48-year-old on Friday at 8.30am.
The two-hour operation was a success and the prognosis for recovery is very good. Brosnan is expected to fly back to England to carry on filming within the next two weeks.
The star is believed to be resting at his beachside home in Malibu. The day before the surgery, Brosnan was on the beach with a friend taking pictures of each other and enjoying the 80 degree sunshine.
But as he walked around, he rubbed his aching right knee several times as these exclusive pictures show. Brosnan, the star of Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, returned to America to undergo arthroscopic surgery by US national soccer physician Mendelbaum.
The knee has two miniscus ligaments, the lateral and medial - it is equally possible to damage either.
The surgery can be carried out with laser treatment but it is rare that a tear can be completely repaired and the treatment can mean weeks of physical therapy to recover.
It involves trimming away the damaged portion of the torn ligament Most people also wear an expensive and complicated leg brace after surgery.
A miniscus tear is not uncommon and the surgery is not risky but patients can be left with a limp.
The on-set doctor referred him to a London specialist with suspected torn ligaments.
A spokesman for makers Eon Films said: "Since assuming the role of James Bond, Pierce Brosnan has always pursued the character with extreme physicality."
February 15 Rosamund Pike, the little-known English actress signed to star alongside Hollywood stars Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry in the 20th Bond blockbuster, used to attend Badminton School in Westbury-on-Trym. Now aged 22, the actress was a boarder who left four years ago to attend Wadham College, Oxford, where she gained a degree in English Literature and Language.
A school spokesman said: "She had a good career at Badminton and was an excellent cellist."
Rosamund, who also plays the piano and speaks French and German, is best known for playing Fanny in the BBC's adaptation of Nancy Mitford's Wives and .She also played Lady Harriet in the BBC's production of and appeared in Lynda La Plante's .In the new, as-yet unnamed, Bond film she will play the part of Gala Brand. Rosamund, who has never starred in a movie before, admitted she was not keen on Bond when she was growing up but said she's looking forward to "an electrifying experience".
British actor Toby Stephens will star as the villain and Dame Judi Dench will return as MI6 boss M while John Cleese stars as gadget guru R, replacing Q, played by the late Desmond Llewelyn.
It is understood that a stunt double will stand in for Pierce Brosnan .
The life-saving club will be turned into a pillbox and a small forest of trees will be planted behind the dunes for scenes which involve explosions and a commando-style assault.
Brosnan Shaken (Not Stirred) by Injury
by Mark Armstrong
Feb 19, 2002There once was a time when the only thing that kept James Bond off his feet for two weeks was an exotic blonde.
Not so for Pierce Brosnan. The 007 star suffered a knee injury Friday during shooting of his new untitled James Bond flick, producers said.
"Since assuming the role of James Bond, Pierce Brosnan has always pursued the character with extreme physicality. Friday, Brosnan sustained a knee injury during an action sequence involving water," EON Productions says in a statement. "He immediately met with doctors who recommended that he have surgery to prevent any further damage."
Producers were mum on just how serious Brosnan's injury was, but they say the injury will keep the 49-year-old actor sidelined for about two weeks, and he'll return to Pinewood Studios March 4. The injury is not expected to affect the November release date for the as-yet- untitled Bond 20--Brosnan's fourth film as the suave British superspy.
Not a whole lot is known about the plot of this latest film--let alone what "water scene" led to Brosnan's injury. The newest installment in MGM's franchise costars Halle Berry as the obligatory Bond femme fatale, with Dame Judi Dench returning as M and former Monty Python man John Cleese reprising his role as R, filling in for the late Q, Desmond Llewelyn.
Production began in England in January, with director Lee Tamahori (Along Came a Spider) at the helm.
Pierce Brosnan injured a knee while making the latest 007 movie in England and flew to L.A. Tuesday for surgery.
The actor, 48, was doing "an action sequence involving water" on Friday, according to a statement from EON Productions. Brosnan will be out of action for two weeks, EON said, but the film, with the working title Bond 20, will still hit screens in November as planned. No further details were given on how Brosnan injured his knee.
"Pierce Brosnan has always pursued the character with extreme physicality," the statement said. Brosnan does many of his own stunts. This will be his fourth appearance as James Bond, with Oscar-nominated Halle Berry as co-star.
Combat troops Surf into Action
By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
COMBAT troops surf into action in this amazing scene from the next James Bond movie ‹ as 007 is given a touch of Hawaii Five-O. Makers of the £100million film ‹ the most expensive Bond ever ‹ waited weeks in the surfers' paradise for the dramatic wave to appear.
Our exclusive pictures show stuntmen riding the 60ft monster ‹ dubbed a "Jaws" wave ‹ as a helicopter films them off Maui in Hawaii.
The 20th Bond movie ‹ due out in November ‹ is believed to open with a spectacular beach assault on North Korea. Sequences have also been shot in CORNWALL.
Yesterday it was feared work on the film ‹ codenamed Bond 20 ‹ could be delayed after 007 star Pierce Brosnan, 49, bashed his knee during a stunt on location in Britain. Doctors ordered the Irish-born hunk to rest for at least a fortnight.
A spokesman at Pinewood Studios, Bucks, said: "Pierce Brosnan has always pursued the character extremely physically.
"He sustained a knee injury during an action sequence involving water."
It is the second time Brosnan has hurt himself playing the superspy.
While filming Tomorrow Never Dies he was hit by a stuntman ‹ and still bears the scar above his lip.
Let's hope he can still turn the tide against the baddies.
The actor was rushed to hospital after collapsing in agony while filming the 20th James Bond movie.
He tore knee ligaments as the crew shot a scene in which Brosnan, 48, storms a beach.
Film-makers were using a stretch of the Cornwall coast to double for North Korea.
An insider said: "Pierce wrenched his knee in the boat and was in agony.
"There was a full medical team on set and they strapped it up.
"There was no way he could keep filming and he knew there was something badly wrong.
"The doctor knew a specialist in London and they decided surgery was the only answer."
Filming of the as-yet-unnamed movie is still going on but Brosnan is out of commission until next month.
Producers Eon Films confirmed the Irish hunk had injured himself on set.
But a spokesman added: "The incident will not delay the planned release date of November 2002."
Brosnan is working on his fourth Bond film and the series has made him a worldwide star. He has hinted his fifth movie could be his last.
Before filming began, he said: "It takes stamina to play this role and I would like to get off the stage with grace.
"For this movie to work, any actor who plays the part has to be courageous enough to go out there and push the envelope physically."
Madonna Bags Bond
Madonna is going from Material Girl to Bond Girl.
Sort of.
The pop diva has signed on to sing a tune for the next James Bond adventure.
"She is doing a song for the film but she won't be acting," Madonna's London spokesperson tells Reuters. "We don't know if it will be the title song yet."
Perhaps the reason the Madonna camp doesn't know if the song will be the title track is because the film still doesn't have a name, it's still going by the working title Bond 20. It seems very likely that, considering Madonna's worldwide popularity, her song will get the key title-sequence slot and be prominently featured on the soundtrack.
According to reports, Bond producers secretly wooed Madonna at a series of hush-hush talks at London's Pinewood Studios, where the 20th installment in the two-decade 007 franchise began shooting last month. (Madonna currently resides in London with husband Guy Ritchie.)
While Madonna's acting forays have resulted in an erratic box-office showing, her made-for-movie songs have performed well on the charts.
Her silver screen greatest hits include "Who's That Girl" (from the bomb of the same), "Live to Tell" (written for then-hubbie Sean Penn's At Close Range), "This Used to Be My Playground" (from Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own), the dance remix of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the ballad "You Must Love Me" (both from Evita) and an update of Don McLean's classic "American Pie" (which she did for The Next Best Thing).
Ironically, one of Madonna's biggest soundtrack cuts is "Beautiful Stranger" from the 1999 Bond parody, Austin Powers--The Spy Who Shagged Me. Danjaq Productions and MGM, the studios behind 007, have been engaged in a spat with New Line forcing the latter to change the name of the next Austin Powers because it infringes on a Bond trademark.
Madonna joins an exclusive list of Bond serenaders that runs the gamut from Hall of Fame rockers like Paul McCartney (whose Wings did 1973's Live and Let Die) and Tina Turner (1995's GoldenEye) to headscratching picks like Matt Monro (1963's From Russia with Love) and A-Ha (the the Norweigan trio of "Take on Me" fame did the forgettable title track to 1988's equally forgettable The Living Daylights).
The other 007 soundtrackers include Shirley Bassey (who did the themes for Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker), Tom Jones (Thunderball), Nancy Sinatra (You Only Live Twice), Louis Armstrong ("We Have All the Time in the World" from On Her Majesty's Secret Service), Lulu (The Man with the Golden Gun), Carly Simon ("Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me), Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only), Rita Coolidge ("All Time High" from Octopussy), Duran Duran (A View to A Kill), Gladys Knight (License to Kill), Sheryl Crow (Tomorrow Never Dies) and Garbage (The World Is Not Enough). The classic Bond theme was written by John Barry and Monty Norman and performed by Norman's orchestra.
Details of the latest Bond flick are being kept under tight wraps. About the only thing we know for sure is that Pierce Brosnan returns to sip martinis and battle the bad guys and Halle Berry will play a character named Jinx. Also returning are John Cleese as gadgetmeister R (replacing the late Q, Desmond Llewelyn) and Judi Dench as Bond's boss, M.
According to Bond rumor sites, the traditional opening action sequence will feature Bond in a hovercraft chase in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Early word has Bond supposedly doing battle with a North Korean general (played by martial arts expert Rick Yune) and globetrotting to such far-flung locales as Cuba, Hong Kong Iceland and London.
Director Lee Tamahori (Along Came a Spider) is expected to wrap Bond 20 in March, with the film hitting theaters during the 2002 holiday season.
LONDON (Reuters) - Madonna will perform a song for the next James Bond film but will not be acting in it, her publicist said on Friday.
The pop superstar had been tipped by the British media to make a cameo appearance alongside Irish lead Pierce Brosnan in the latest 007 spy caper.
"She is doing a song for the film but she won't be acting," Madonna's spokeswoman in London said. "We don't know if it will be the title song yet."
Madonna clinched the deal after holding talks this week with Eon Productions, the 007 film's maker, at Pinewood Studios, the Mirror tabloid newspaper reported.
Madonna, who starred in "Evita," "Dick Tracy" and "Desperately Seeking Susan," was said to be thrilled.
She joins a long line of famous names who have recorded songs for Bond films, including Paul McCartney, Tina Turner and Nancy Sinatra.
Work on "Bond 20"-- the film has yet to be officially named -- began in January at Pinewood Studios near London.
Pierce Brosnan makes his fourth appearance as Bond alongside co-star Halle Berry, the U.S. star of "Swordfish" and "X-Men."
Directed by New Zealand-born Lee Tamahori, the latest Bond episode will open with a dramatic hovercraft chase in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea.
The action continues in Hong Kong, Cuba, Iceland and London with the usual mix of high-speed chases, explosions and bikini-clad Bond girls.
Bond's nemesis will be a North Korean general played by Rick Yune, a former male model and martial arts expert.
The film marks the 40th anniversary of the popular series which began in 1962 with "Dr No," starring Sean Connery.
HALLE MAY BRING OUT THE BREAST IN
BOND
By JOE CUNNINGHAM
Halle Berry is expected to bare more than her emotions in next Bond flick.APTalk about your double agents.
The producers of the new James Bond flick have said the inevitable love scene in the upcoming 20th installment will feature full toplessness - a first for the super-spy film franchise.
Halle Berry, who made headlines last year when she agreed to take off her top (for an additional $500,000) in the thriller "Swordfish," is considered the most likely to bare her assets in the role of villainess Jinx, according to The Times of London.
Other leading ladies who have auditioned for the coveted Bond-girl role opposite leading man Pierce Brosnan are sexy cine-siren Salma Hayek, singer Sophie Ellis Bextor and "Deep Blue Sea" star Saffron Burrows.
All the prospective Bond girls who auditioned were asked to recreate the famous seduction scene from the 1963 Sean Connery classic "From Russia With Love," in which femme fatale Tatiana Romanova beds down the dapper 007 in his hotel room.
EON Productions begins filming the latest episode of the ultra-lucrative spy series later this month.
Austin v. 007: New Line Defends Its Mojo
Tuesday January 29 To quote Dr. Evil: "I ask for one simple favor here and that's for sharks with frickin' laserbeams attached to their head."
In New Line's case, make that legal sharks.
The studio that brought the world the dentally challenged International Man of Mystery is planning to appeal an Industry arbitration panel ruling that essentially ordered New Line to cease and desist from calling its latest installment of Mike Myers shagadelic spy series, Austin Powers in Goldmember.
The controversy heated up last week when the Motion Picture Association of America decided that New Line's title was "inadmissable" because it infringed on MGM's copyright for the 1964 Bond classic Goldfinger. In a statement, MGM said it had a "zero-tolerance policy towards anyone who tries to trade in on the James Bond franchise without authorization."
Scrambling to defend their mojo, New Line says the matter boils down to a clerical issue--in this case failing to adequately register the sequel's title, a Dr. No-no when it comes to the MPAA.
"The issue currently in dispute does not pertain to the title or content of the film. Indeed, in 1997, New Line's use of the title The Spy Who Shagged Me was cleared by the MPAA. Thursday's hearing was solely about a procedural infraction, and nothing more, between New Line and the MPAA, which we are in the process of resolving privately," New Line says in a statement.
In 1997, MGM and the British company behind the Bond pictures, Danjaq Productions, didn't find it so groovy when New Line titled its second Powers installment, The Spy Who Shagged Me, a not-so subtle send-up of the 1977 Roger Moore 007 adventure The Spy Who Loved Me.
According to Variety, MGM tried to get the MPAA to repeal the title then, but the panel sided with New Line in that instance. This time, however, with New Line apparently failing to properly register Goldmember, MGM and Danjaq protested and won.
It would seem that Goldmember is simply a parody of the 007 title and therefore protected under the First Amendment. But New Line wouldn't comment further, saying in the statement that the studio finds "it unproductive and will not tolerate any deliberate attempts to manipulate the facts in the press to further aggravate this matter."
Both sides have a lot of money riding on their respective franchises and the eventual outcome of the name game.
MGM and Danjaq have always been protective of their secret agent, considering Bond has kept the studio afloat for 40 years and is one of the most successful franchises in film history. They successfully sued Sony in 1997 after the studio tried to launch its own 007 film.
Between the original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and its sequel, New Line has grossed nearly $400 million at the box office alone.
The MPAA's decision last week forced New Line to spend "meeellions" of dollars withdrawing 11,000 trailers for Goldmember in about a 24-hour period. Many of those trailers were included in prints for its blockbuster fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings.Additionally, the studio yanked commercials, recalled "teaser" posters and nixed online promos.
New Line's Goldmember sites have all but been dismantled in the wake of the ruling. There's no mention of the new film on the official austinpowers.com Website and the newline.com site refers to the film simply as The Next Austin Powers Movie.
Apple.com, which hosted the new trailer--a sendup on the musical number at the beginning of the original Austin Powers featuring Mini-Me and a band of little people--has since taken down the trailer with a message reading "the page you tried was no found." Yahoo and popular fan sites such as countingdown.com have done the same. [At New Line's request, E! Online has changed all references to the film to Austin Powers 3 and removed the trailer.]
With the battle over Goldmember continuing behind the scenes, there is speculation the film might have to undergo an overhaul.
One of the many characters Myers plays in the film is reportedly called Goldmember, which would need to be changed. And E! Online movie columnist Anderson Jones has reported that filmmakers had staged a scene involving a mock premiere for Goldmember at Hollywood's Chinese Theater, with several A-listers making cameos, including Tom Cruise. Obviously, a title change would force such a scene to be altered significantly or re-shot altogether.
One of the most anticipated films of 2002, the suddenly untitled Austin Powers sequel (which New Line has said will be the last of the series) costars Michael Caine as Austin's dad and Destiny's Child's Beyoncé Knowles as the love interest, along with returning cast members Seth Green, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling and Verne Troyer and cameos by Heather Graham and Gwyneth Paltrow.
It's due to hit theaters July 26, just a few months before MGM releases the next Bond film, starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry and tentatively titled Bond 20, for the holidays.
Jan 25, 2002. Forget Dr. Evil and Mini-Me, it's apparently James Bond that poses the biggest threat to Austin Powers. The International Man of Mystery has been shaken, stirred and otherwise dismembered by 007. Or make that dis-Goldmember-ed.
MGM and Danjaq, the British company that controls the Bond film license, have obtained a cease-and-desist order against New Line Cinema that prohibits New Line from calling the latest installment of Mike Myers' shagadelic spy series Austin Powers in Goldmember.
Apparently, the 007 folks weren't too keen on the double entendre of Goldmember--a takeoff on the 1964 Bond classic, Goldfinger--and released the legal hounds to force the name change.
"MGM/UA and Danjaq have a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone who tries to trade in on the James Bond franchise without authorization," says an MGM spokesperson.
Over the past 24 hours, New Line has begun frantically recalling all promotional materials--posters, trailers, photos and anything else that bears the name Goldmember--from movie theaters, TV stations, Websites and other media outlets.
"We are currently in the arbitration process and trying to resolve this matter under the MPAA guidelines," the studio says in a statement. "Until that time, we will be referring to the film as the third installment of Austin Powers."
The suddenly untitled flick, which began shooting late last year, could require some serious tweaking if New Line can't get the Bond folks to budge. In addition to playing Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, Myers was reportedly going to add a new character to his repertoire. The name? Goldmember.
One of the most anticipated films of 2002, the latest Austin Powers misadventure will costar Michael Caine as Austin's dad and Destiny Child's Beyoncé Knowles as the love interest. Returning cast members include Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Mindy Sterling and Verne Troyer. Jay Roach once again mans the director's seat.
New Line is banking on the film's success. The first installment Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery grossed $88 million worldwide and its sequel, The Spy Who Shagged Me more than tripled that sum, earning $310 million, making it the highest grossing film in New Line's history. Myers reportedly netted $25 million for the third episode.
MGM and Danjaq have been fiercely protective of their multibillion-dollar Bond cash cow over the years. They successfully sued Sony in 1997 after the studio tried to launch its own 007 film.
The next Bond film, starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry and tentatively titled Bond 20, began shooting in England this month for a holiday release.
Rosamund Pike, who turned up at the Empire Awards, spoke exclusively to Empire Online and told us that her character has already undergone a name change.
'She's called Miranda Frost, which is a good name. It was going to be Gala Brand, and then we created this new one. She's an MI6 agent, which is a cool thing to be, sent to work alongside Bond by M and not very happy about it. She would rather go it alone and doesn't quite approve of Bond's methods.
He seems to be all fire where she's all coolness and reserve. And then she keeps showing different sides all the way through. It's a lot of fun.'
Currently on a three week break from filming, Rosamund was thrown in at the deep end when production first began. 'It's like doing a 9-5 job because I'm in training and kind of building up this character through every angle - through sport, hair, through clothes.
As Miranda is a top-notch agent and sportswoman, the role meant a total change from Pike's previously girly roles. 'It couldn't be further from anything I've done. It's a great way into a part because she's a top sportswoman, so I've got to turn myself into that. She's got one skill that I'm not allowed to tell you about - but it rivals Bond girls in the past - it's something new and exciting for Bond to have this particular sport in play.'
LONDON (Reuters) - Shaken not stirred, James Bond is back and the world's most famous spy has all the guns, gadgets and girls he needs to beat off the bad guys.
Forty years after Ursula Andress emerged so memorably from the sea at the start of ``Dr No,'' cameras started rolling on Monday for the 20th Bond film.
For ``Billion Dollar'' Bond, this is Pierce Brosnan's fourth movie as the dapper secret agent and he says fondly of the part ''It's like slipping on a comfy pair of old slippers.''
A spokeswoman for the production company said: ``We call him our Billion Dollar Bond because his three Bond films have made $1 billion.''
Brosnan, following in the elegant footsteps of Sean Connery and Roger Moore, said: ``I'm honoring my contract by playing him for the fourth time and it would be wonderful to do another. After that I don't know.''
More than half the world's population has seen a James Bond film. They used to be compulsory viewing for Soviet KGB agents fascinated by Bond's killer gadgets. Bikini-clad starlets have launched a million male fantasies. The official James Bond fan club -- post office box number 007 -- boasts members from Fiji to Estonia. It is the most successful film franchise in cinema history.
``Bond 20'' -- the film is as yet officially untitled -- begins in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea with a spectacular high-speed hovercraft chase. The action then zaps around the globe from Hong Kong to Havana.
New Zealand director Lee Tamahori certainly won't be changing the winning formula of a series that ranks alongside ''Star Wars,'' ``Indiana Jones'' and now ``Harry Potter (news - web sites)'' and ``Lord of the Rings'' as a surefire hit at the box office.
``I'm not going to turn him into a sensitive New Age guy on the shrink's couch,'' Tamahori promised before shooting began. ''Bond saves the world and is always running about chasing women.''
Memorable villains are all part of that formula and the producers of ``Bond 20'' are hoping they can measure up.
by Xan Brooks
Friday January 11, 2002 The 20th James Bond movie gets under way at Pinewood Studios today (22nd if you count the unofficial Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again, but who would want to?). In front of the camera, Pierce Brosnan will be making his fourth outing as 007.
Over in the director's chair, New Zealand-born Lee Tamahori joins an illustrious hall of fame that includes (roll of drums) Terence Young, Lewis Gilbert, Guy Hamilton, Peter Hunt and John Glen. What do you mean you have never heard of them? These men are responsible for some of the most perennially popular films of the past four decades.
Then again, your standard Bond has never exactly been your auteur's movie. Throughout its changing fashions, changing faces and ever-improving gadgetry, the series has stuck to its initial formula like a super-glued leech.You have a goody, a baddy and a sexy "laydee" who may (or may not) be a baddy too. You open on a jaw-dropping action setpiece, fit an exotic location in the middle and close with some cheesy double-entendre. The director? That is just the chap who nails the pieces together.
When the Bond franchise kicked off back in 1962, only the most die-hard movie buff paid much attention to who a film was directed by. These days the director is generally acknowledged as the true star of the show; Picasso with a megaphone, a ponytail and a degree from UCLA. And to safeguard this reputation, a director inevitably has to stamp his "personality" all over every film he makes.
The trouble is that the Bond movies do not work that way. Never have and probably never will. Despite their state-of-the-art accessories, they hark back to a time when film directing was not seen as the glamorous art it is now and its practitioners had generally started work as a tea boy and clambered up through the ranks. In the old days the real force behind Bond as producer Cubby Brocolli. After his death in 1996, the torch passed to his daughter Barbara.
Back in the late 1970s a young wonderkid by the name of Steven Spielberg was very vocal about his desire to direct a Bond movie. At the time Spielberg was flush with the success of Jaws and Close Encounters and most producers would have killed for him (plus ça change).
But Broccoli did not bite. To risk ceding creative control to Spielberg would be to risk receiving a Bond film that tinkered with the formula and flummoxed the faithful. Just as the BBC would not let Jean-Luc Godard direct an episode of EastEnders, so Broccoli did not want an upstart like Spielberg anywhere near his baby.
As for Lee Tamahori, he begun in a worryingly personal fashion with the anguished Maori drama Once Were Warriors back in 1994. Since then he's been mired in Hollywood hack work with Mulholland Falls, The Edge and Along Came a Spider. An expert, solid, faintly anonymous director, he is tailor-made for the next Bond movie.
January 12, 2002 WITH the cat-stroking Ernst Stavro Blofeld ("So pleased to meet you, Mr Bond") vanquished, not to mention Dr Julius No ("Unfortunately, Mr Bond, I misjudged you"), Jaws, Scaramanga, Oddjob and the poisonous Rosa Kleb, an even more inventive villain is to face James Bond in his 20th film.
He is an assassin with two faces - one to be played by Rick Yune, a Korean actor, the other by Toby Stephens, son of Dame Maggie Smith.
The plot turns on the fact that Bond's main adversary - in an altered state brought on by a facial mutation device - is not Yune's Korean character, Zao, but the Westerner Gustav Graves, depicted by Stephens. Work began at Pinewood Studios yesterday on the latest instalment of the world's most successful movie franchise.
With a silver Aston Martin Vanquish and a green Jaguar XKR parked on a soundstage, plus two sleek new women, Pierce Brosnan, as Bond, had to admit that not everything had been sorted out. Even the name of the film was still under discussion. "No title," he said. "XX. If anybody has a bright idea during the proceedings, speak up."
Michael Wilson, co-producer, explained: "The Ian Fleming titles, chapter headings and everything else, have been pretty well used up now. We've had a few titles. We're now in the process of analysing a few more."
The film, according to Eon productions, is the usual mix of betrayal, high-tech weaponary and military domination, opening in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea with a high-speed hovercraft chase.
Bond is said to "find himself in serious trouble" when a covert MI6 operation, masterminded by M (Dame Judi Dench) is compromised in Pyongyang.
The pursuit covers the globe, taking in Hong Kong, Havana, surfing off Maui in Hawaii, and London, where Bond meets two women, "Jinx", played by Halle Berry, and Miranda Frost, acted by Rosamund Pike.
Bond trails his Korean quarry to Iceland (Beyond The Ice was an early thought for the title) where he faces "an amazing new weapon" before a face-off with Graves on the Korean penininsula. Yune, 30, once a catwalk model for Ralph Lauren and Versace, is a former Olympic Tae Kwon Do trialist noted for the car-stunt movie The Fast and the Furious.
Stephens acted with Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys. Berry, a former model born in Liverpool, but who emigrated to America as a child, is in Monster's Ball, a Death Row drama with Billy Bob Thornton, tipped for a Golden Globe award, if not an Oscar.
For Oxford-educated Pike, 22, the latest Bond movie is her first film, after making her name as Fanny in the BBC2 drama Love In A Cold Climate.
She stamped on the notion that the role was sexist or demeaning to women, insisting that Bond's women were always a match for him in skill and nerve.
Brosnan, 48, now on his fourth Bond film, said he would do at least one more. "Time has gone by so quickly," he said. "It seems like only yesterday I was sitting here for GoldenEye. It takes stamina to play this role. I would like to get off the stage with grace."
EYE SPY A COUPLE OF NEW BOND GIRLS
By Jessica Callan
JAMES Bond star Pierce Brosnan can't believe his eyes - the two babes signed up for the next blockbuster are oh- oh heaven.
Former model and beauty queen Halle Berry will play an action girl called Jinx in the movie, which begins filming next week. Little-known English actress Rosamund Pike also gets her big break as a Bond beauty.
Brosnan, 50, lavished praise on stunning X-Men and Swordfish actress Halle during a photo call at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, yesterday.
And Halle revealed: "I loved the women in the Bond movies. Sometimes films are all about boys but the Bond women have always provided entertainment."
She also told how Hollywood star Samuel L Jackson thought her character should have had a raunchier name.
She laughed "He thought Jinx sounded boring and that I should be called Cinnamon Buns instead."
This will be Brosnan's fourth Bond movie. And he admitted: "I would like to do another one."
January 12, 2002 THE world's best-known secret agent - 007 - will get into the suit, walk the walk, kiss the girls and shoot the bad guys on Monday when filming starts on the twentieth James Bond film at Pinewood studios.
At a launch party yesterday - to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Dr No - Pierce Brosnan, the current 007, said he could only say yes to extending his contract to embark on another mission.
The putative advert for his own job: Wanted, actor with a liking for medium Vodka dry Martini for film top heavy with beautiful women, fast cars and exotic locations, proved too hard to resist.
For those not keeping a notch on the bed, the new film will be Brosnan's fourth movie as the shaken-not-stirred spy with the licence to thrill. He said he wanted to complete a fifth Bond film, but added that he might be too old to go on beyond that. "I will do another one. I am very pleased to be sitting here today. Time has gone by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday I was sitting here for Goldeneye."
The new film is still untitled and will see Bond with Halle Berry, the American actress, as the feisty female lead and Rosamund Pike, an Oxford-educated newcomer. "We're thrilled to start filming on what promises to be one of the greatest Bond films ever," said Barbara Broccoli, who learned the art of hyperbole at her father's knee.
Her company, EON, is producing the film, while she is the daughter of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, the figure credited with faithfully bringing James Bond to the big screen from the books of Ian Fleming, who described them as "straight pillow fantasies of the bang-bang, kiss-kiss variety".
As back-up for Brosnan, Dame Judi Dench returns as his boss, while John Cleese will make his second appearance designing 007's gadgets in Q branch. Q will be souping up a new Aston Martin, with the car brand - immortalised by 1964's Goldfinger - returning in the form of the new V12 Vanquish.
Berry, who previously starred in the films X-Men and Swordfish, said she was very excited about working alongside Pike.
"I grew up watching Bond, to now be a part of it is kind of surreal, but coming here today and meeting Pierce and the rest of the cast has made it a reality. I hope I will fit in and do as fine a job as the women before me," she said.
Pike, for whom it is a first film, said she had not been a huge Bond fan while growing up, but she was looking forward to an "electrifying" experience as the latest Bond girl.
She denied the role was sexist or demeaning to women, saying the reason Bond girls were still sexy was because they were a match for 007 in skill and nerve.
Joining the ranks of the villains is Toby Stephens, a British actor, who said playing the baddie was the next best job in acting to playing 007 himself.
Stephens, 32, a Shakespearean actor, is the son of Dame Maggie Smith and the late Sir Robert Stephens. He began acting while a stagehand at the Chichester Festival Theatre in end-of-season productions mounted by the crew. He has already won the Sir John Gielgud prize for Best Actor and the Ian Charleson Award for his performance in the title role of Coriolanus with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His television appearances include A View from the Bridge and The Camomile Lawn. He made his screen debut in Sally Potter's Orlando. "I know I would never get to play James Bond, so playing the villain is definitely second best," he said.
Filming will begin at Pine-wood studios in Buckinghamshire, on Monday and will take in locations including London, the Eden Project in Cornwall, Hawaii, Iceland and Spain.
The story begins in Korea with a spectacular high-speed hovercraft chase and continues via Hong Kong, Cuba and London.
Bond must unmask a traitor to prevent a war of catastrophic consequences, and will use the template of charm and skills which Sean Connery imprinted on the silver screen 40 years ago.
According to the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, the plot of the new Bond film involves a device enabling facial mutation.
Sources told the trade paper that Stephens's character undergoes a facial transformation to elude Bond, who is tracking him down. Before his altered state, the character is played by Rick Yune, a former model.
Lee Tamahori, the director, said the film-makers were still deciding on a name for the film. For now it is known as Bond 20.
He joked that the process was gruelling because most of the obvious titles had already been used on previous films. Suggestions from fans would be gratefully received, he added.
The film is expected to be released towards the end of the year with one guarantee - there will be plenty bang-bang and kiss-kiss.
GRAPHIC: GOLDEN FINGER: Pierce Brosnan looks the part as he sits on an Aston Martin at Pinewood studios yesterday.
Picture: Adrian Dennis; ON LOCATION: Some filming on the new Bond thriller will be done at the (pounds) 86m Eden Project near St Austell, Cornwall, which consists of a number of giant interlocking domes called "biomes". Other scenes for the movie will be shot in London, Hawaii, Iceland, and Spain.
January 12, 2002 IT sounds like a case of Never Say Never Again all over again.
Everyone assumed that Pierce Brosnan's fourth Bond film, working title Bond 20, would be his last - that was certainly the impression he had been giving.
Of all the actors to play 007, the 48-year-old Irishman is undeniably the one most at home in the role which, after years of trying, finally made him a star. He is a man born to wear a tuxedo which Sir Sean Connery, who remains the definitive Bond, was not. He lacks Connery's dangerous edge, has none of Roger Moore's tongue-in-cheek charm, but he is far happier in the part than was Timothy Dalton or, in his sole outing, George Lazenby, although time has been kinder to Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service than the critics were at the time.
Brosnan, after a lengthy stage career in Britain, achieved television fame in the early 1980s as Remington Steele. Contractual commitments prevented him from getting the role of Bond in 1987 - it went instead to Timothy Dalton who made two Bond movies, before deciding enough was enough.
Brosnan's hour finally arrived in 1995, and he proved an impressive, if physically slight Bond, in his first film, Goldeneye, and made the role his own in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997, followed by The World Is Not Enough in 1999.
His post-Bond films have mostly been decent, with the possible exception of Richard Attenborough's fairly frightful Grey Owl. They include the remake of the Steve McQueen classic The Thomas Crown Affair in 1999, Dante's Peak in 1997, Tim Burton's Mars Attacks in 1996, Barbra Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996, and Mrs Doubtfire in1993.
His reluctance to give up Bond is probably a recognition of the fact that it is what gives him clout, and the chance to do other things, including films like The Nephew, made in Ireland. Most recently, he played a ruthless British agent miles removed from 007 in John Le Carre's The Tailor of Panama.
Clearly, abandoning Bond is proving as difficult for him as it did for Roger Moore, who went on long past his sell-by date. Even Connery, who fell out with the producers, could not resist returning to the role in the unofficial Bond movie Never Say Never Again in 1983, when he was 53. By then he was too old, and when Bond 21 comes along - they are made every two years - Brosnan will be at least 50.
Brosnan is a devoted family man who recently remarried - his first wife, Cassandra, by whom he has a son, Sean, died of ovarian cancer - and he has two children by his second wife, Dylan, four, and one-year-old Paris, and adopted Cassandra's two children by a previous marriage.
Brosnan begins filming his fourth Bond epic next week, and confirmed yesterday that he we will return for a fifth. But he admitted: "It's a demanding role. You have to have a lot of stamina for it. It would be wonderful to do another one. After that, I don't know. I'd like to go with grace." 007's mission yesterday -despite having "a miserable head cold" -was to pose for the cameras at Pinewood studios and say a few words about the film before the shoot begins. Beautiful Bond girls ready to follow in the footsteps of Ursula Andress and Honor Blackman were on hand to raise the temperature on an otherwise chilly morning.
Halle Berry, the Hollywood actress who has just appeared as an alcoholic waitress in Monster's Ball, is Bond's feisty new femme fatale. "I'm proud to be here," she said. "I grew up watching Bond."
The film, as yet untitled, is once again produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who dismissed reports of 007's first topless love-making scene with Berry. The $ 100 million (Pounds 69 million) enterprise, being made 40 years after Sean Connery made the first Bond film, Dr No, is referred to simply as Bond 20.
It is directed by Lee Tamahori, who made Once Were Warriors and, more recently, Along Came a Spider. He said that his Bond would be modern yet faithful to Fleming's original. "He will not be turned into a New Age guy who goes around visiting shrinks. Bond may seem anachronistic and antediluvian, but it would be wrong to play around with the character too much. It's all very well to reinvent him, but some facets to his character everyone expects."
Bond is, after all, the man who saves the world. Tamahori guaranteed the usual ingredients of guns, gadgets and glamorous girls. But there would still be "an edge of unreality" to the film: when someone is hit by a bullet, there is no blood. "There is a code of ethics," he said. The director added that a minor change had been made to the script after September 11. It was otherwise unaffected, because the plot was "not rooted in hard-edged reality".
Most of the film is being filmed in Britain, with the giant greenhouses of the Eden Project being used for a jungle scene. Locations also include Hawaii, Hong Kong, Iceland and Spain. As many as ten sets, including a futuristic ice palace dripping with stalactites and chandeliers, are being constructed at Pinewood. As this is a Bond film, most, no doubt, will be blown up.
The script is being kept secret, but involves a weapon that enables facial mutation. One of the two arch-villains will don facial prosthetics as his features are transformed. Betrayal, hi-tech weaponry and worldwide military domination will figure again.
The story begins in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea with a spectacular high-speed hovercraft chase and continues to Hong Hong, Cuba and London. Bond finds himself in serious trouble when a covert operation in North Korea is compromised by a traitor.
Toby Stephens, the son of Dame Maggie Smith and the late Sir Robert Stephens, plays the villain-in-chief. "I knew I'd never get to play Bond," he said, "so playing the villain is definitely second best."
The dashing, smooth-talking British agent, played for the fourth time by Pierce Brosnan, battles the baddies between Korea, Hong Kong, Iceland, Cuba and London in his quest to prevent global war.
Along the way he finds time for passionate clinches with the habitual Bond girls, the love interest this time coming from American actress Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike, a relative unknown outside her native Britain. So no concessions to feminism and modern mores there then.
"You can't play around with his character too much," director Lee Tamahori insisted.
"If some of the characteristics seem to be anachronistic and antediluvian, well, I'm not going to be the person who turns him into a sensitive, New Age-kind of guy."
He did, however, nail one rumour flying around: Halle Berry will not be the first topless Bond girl. "That's not going to occur."
Bond is first seen in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea when an operation goes wrong. The action moves after a high-speed hovercraft chase to Hong Kong, then Cuba and London where he meets the two women who help him unmask a traitor.
Bond next travels to Iceland, where there is a car chase in the middle of an ice palace and he sees at first hand the awesome destructiveness of a new superweapon, before the denouement comes back to South Korea.
"This particular piece is wall-to-wall action," Brosnan said. "This one feels good."
He compared his Bond role to "putting on an old pair of shoes. It seems like only yesterday I did this for 'Goldeneye'."
The principal baddie is British actor Toby Stephens, backed up by a henchman played by Rick Yune, an American of Korean descent.
The other usual suspects also return, notably Dame Judi Dench as Bond's boss M and ex-Monty Python John Cleese as gadget-man Q.
The film for which no title has been decided is due for release in November.
January 11, 2002 Scottish actor Gerard Butler yesterday confessed that the announcement he was to fill 007's tuxedo was completely false.
"I've never been in talks about Bond but this rumour persists, " said the former law student. "Actually, I found the whole thing quite funny, but I'm formally dismissing it." The Dracula and Attila the Hun star's comments come on the eve of filming MGM's currently untitled 20th Bond film, with Pierce Brosnan continuing his run as 007 and Halle Berry set to star as fierce female lead, Jinx.
Details of the latest instalment, to be released on November 22, will be given at a press conference today at Pinewood Studios in London.
It is expected that Brosnan - who is reportedly growing tired of the role which he fears has typecast him - will announce then whether or not he is to continue playing the world's best-known secret agent.
Now based in Hollywood, Glasgowborn Butler, 33, says he has three major films lined-up, including the $ 100million Disney dragon-slaying epic, Reign of Fire, in which he will appear with Matthew McConnaghy and American Psycho's Christian Bale.
In March he is start work on Timeline by Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner, and then he will make Mindhunters, co-starring with Val Kilmer.
Butler's announcement means that the rumours over who may replace Irishman Brosnan as Bond will continue. Fellow Scots Iain Glen, Ewan McGregor and Dougray Scott have all been mentioned as possibles.
Back in Britain to promote his role in ITV's controversial new courtroom thriller, The Jury, Butler said that his own drink problems drew him to take on the role of recovering alcoholic Johnnie Donne in the series, to be shown in six parts from next month.
He said: "I've got a bit of a past there. I drank a lot once before, but I don't now.
Alcohol isn't a part of my life anymore. Which was one of the reasons that playing this part grabbed me so much.
"Playing an alcoholic, I can relate to some of the negative aspects. I had the challenge in playing this character. I felt it was something I could really climb into and live. "
GOOD LIFE: Halle has found happiness with musician husband Eric; Benet, above. Right, ex-lover Eddie Murphy;
January 8, 2002. HOLLYWOOD beauty Halle Berry is walking on air after landing the most exciting role of her career - playing sexy villain Jinx in the new Bond movie.
She will get a record pay day as Pierce Brosnan's deadly adversary, making her one of the 10 highest paid actresses in a town where money talks and everything else walks.
But Halle, 33, has insisted she will not let it go to her head, because when she looks back on her nightmare childhood she knows it could so easily have turned out very differently.
For she might well have ended up a homeless, penniless, drug- abusing drunk like the father who abandoned her when she was four. Halle said: "In many ways I do wish I could have had a daddy, but if he had stayed I would surely be an alcoholic."
In her new film Monster's Ball, released later this year, she plays a waitress named Leticia who drowns her sorrows in alcohol.
She said: "I could have been Leticia or worse. I'd probably be on drugs. I would have had to medicate myself from all the pain my father would have continued to bring into my life.
"Until I was 10 my life was spent in an all-black neighbourhood.
"I lived in Cleveland and definitely could have gotten twisted up with drugs. They were certainly around me.
"So while I have escaped some of Leticia's problems, I haven't avoided all of them. The wrong men? Oh yes. I have been divorced, and that wasn't fun.
"All those issues I thought I had fixed by getting married - that sense of worthlessness - came rushing back once my marriage (to baseball player David Justice) had ended.
"I never drank like Leticia does in the movie because of my father. But there have been moments when I felt so bad I could easily have picked up a bottle of Jack Daniel's and drank myself silly."
Halle's mother is British-born Judith Hawkins, a white psychiatric nurse who fell in love with Jerome Berry, a black porter, when they both worked at the same Cleveland hospital.
When Judith became pregnant with Halle's older sister Heidi she married Jerome, only to learn after Halle's birth that he was a hopeless drunk.
Halle said: "My father left us - he was an alcoholic and abused my mum. My sister and I were latchkey kids because mum had to work at a hospital.
"When I was eight my father came back for a year. It was the worst year of my life - the fighting, the arguing, the alcohol.
"When he left I remember thinking, 'Thank God'. I thought it didn't affect me, but I now think on some level it's something I've grappled with my whole life.
"I struggle with my sense of self. It's like a big gaping hole, and I'm pretty sure I'll spend the rest of my life trying to fill it up.
"It's easy for people to say, 'You know you should be over that - look at all you've done'. But how can you begin to undo the feeling of worthlessness that is ingrained in you as a child?"
Being a victim of racism was another cross she had to bear.
She said: "In the 1960s my mother - a divorced white woman with two little kids - suffered a great deal of racism, first in the black community where I was born.
"When I was 10 she got up the nerve to move to an all-white neighbourhood.
"I remember the fury she would feel in a supermarket line because the people around us looked puzzled. They assumed these black kids couldn't possibly be her children.
"I've also known racism myself. I've been called a nigger. It happened as recently as four years ago in Georgia.
"When I was in high school I tried hard to fit in. I wanted to be like everybody else, but when I was voted prom queen some students accused me of stuffing the ballot box.
"It made me think I really was different. They flipped a coin to decide who won, and I won anyway. I was like, 'Chew on that'!"
But along with the good things came more heartbreaking news when she was told she was diabetic and would have to be on insulin for the rest of her life.
She also started to date the "wrong men".
AFTER she became famous, her first black boyfriend from Cleveland offered supposedly nude photos of Halle for $ 15,000.
Her next boyfriend John Ronan, a white dentist, sold their intimate story to a British newspaper, revealing she was a "screamer" in bed who had multiple orgasms.
After Halle's success with films including Jungle Fever, Boomerang and The Last Boy Scout, Ronan claimed in court he had loaned her money to launch her career. But he lost the case.
Halle's troubles continued when she reached Hollywood and dated a string of famous actors such as Wesley Snipes and Eddie Murphy and soap star Shemar Moore of The Young And The Restless.
She claimed one of her famous boyfriends smacked her in the head and she lost 80 per cent of the hearing in her right ear.
In 1992 she finally thought she had found the man of her dreams in David Justice and married him.
But that marriage quickly began to disintegrate. He was arrested for loitering in an area known for prostitution and she filed for divorce after three years.
Although Halle vowed it would be a long time before she wed again, she fell for musician Eric Benet and decided to marry him for the sake of his nine-year-old daughter India whose mother had been killed in a car crash.
She said: "We had a really great reason to get married - to have a real family, to give her a sense of security."
Which was something the young Halle never had.
But she has turned her life around and will be celebrating her first wedding anniversary this month - and maybe an Oscar nomination for Monster's Ball.
Surfers Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and Derek Doerner were filmed at Maui surfing spot Jaws a few days after Christmas. Filming on the as-yet untitled movie, the 20th in the Bond series, begins Monday at Pinewood Studios north of London. The Maui sequence was scheduled to be shot in early January but when the surf swelled, "it brought the shooting forward considerably," said executive producer Anthony Waye.
"It was a little rushed," he said. "As I tried to tell the studio, the location is on the move all the time. It isn't there every day. You have to gear your shoot to when the swell comes in."
Waye's Eon Productions enlisted local talent behind the scenes as well.
"The team of guys we had, everyone was local," he said. "The team was superb. The Jet Skis knew what to do. The surfers knew what to do. The boat handlers knew what to do because everyone is a surfer. They can read the waves."
Meanwhile, star Pierce Brosnan said in London that he plans to make two more Bond films, but worries he may be too old to carry on after that.
The 48-year-old said his contract expires after the next Bond film, his fourth outing as Agent 007.
"I am honoring my contract here but it would be wonderful to do another one. After that, I do not know," Brosnan said.
"It takes stamina to play this role," he added. "I would like to get off the stage with grace."
Brosnan has starred in 1995's "GoldenEye," 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies" and 1999's "The World is Not Enough."
Bond's upcoming adventure stars Halle Berry and British newcomer Rosamund Pike as Bond's female sparring partners, with British stage actor Toby Stephens - son of Dame Maggie Smith - as the villain.
Directed by New Zealand-born Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors"), the film will be also be shot on locations in Iceland, Spain and London as well as at Pinewood and Hawaii. It's scheduled for release late in 2002.
'It takes stamina to play this role,' Brosnan admitted. 'I would like to get off the stage with grace. I am honouring my contract here but it would be wonderful to do another one. After that, I do not know.' Asked whether the events of September 11 will have any bearing on the film Brosnon replied: 'I never worried about Bond being affected by world affairs. Bond is great escapism.'
'I've been a big fan of the Bond movies most of my life,' said director Lee Tamahori. 'To me the Bond film is a kind of impregnable fortress of film making. It used to be about girls and gadgets and a good-looking spy and then it changed shape and is now about girls, gadgets, a good-looking spy - and big action. It is a timeless thing and is constantly evolving." Two of Brosnan's female co-stars, Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike, were also on hand to entertain the press corps. 'I hope I will fit in and do as fine a job as the women before me,' said Berry.
While the assembled media were left in the dark as to the title of Bond 20, a number of cast members were confirmed including Judi Dench, John Cleese, Michael Madsen and Samantha Bond.
A few revelations and confirmations were released regarding the plot. The story will begin in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea with a high-speed hovercraft chase. The Film continues to Hong Kong, Cuba and London, where Bond meets leading ladies, Berry and Pike, and finds himself in trouble when a covert operation in North Korea is compromised by an unknown traitor.
Choose The Bond Title
Bond director Lee Tamahori opened the floodgates when he told the press that he was happy to hear of fans' suggestions of titles for the new movie. If you think you've got a title that works - email it to us and we'll be glad to pass it on to the powers-that-be at Fox.
Sunday January 13, 2002 It's not often that you get to sit in a cocktail bar with James Bond and watch him have a mid-life crisis. Actually, I'm just being silly. I'm not sitting in a cocktail bar with James Bond, I'm sitting in a Dublin hotel lounge with Pierce Brosnan, who currently plays James Bond. And Brosnan is not having a mid-life crisis, he's just wondering like we all do from time to time: And so, what next?
'I know what it's like to be famous,' says Brosnan, lounging back in his chair, twisting the top off a bottle of Evian. 'It's good money and it's great fun. A real kick in the pants. People wave at you and smile at you. You get great tables in restaurants. They send you gifts - beautiful clothes and cars. Then, it's all a bit hollow because it doesn't really nourish you. Fame is like a big piece of meringue - it's beautiful and you keep eating it, but it doesn't really fill you up. It's a game, a great game, that's all.
'As I've got older, I've realised that,' he continues. 'When I was younger, doing Remington Steele, it was wonderful watching it all grow and flourish.
But then I watched it fade, too. I thought: "Oh, it's going, it's going. I don't get recognised any more, people don't hassle me." There was a bit of regretfulness there, I could feel it. And it will happen again. As time goes on and I hang up the Bond mantle, it will pass. You know that, and you have to have the strength and humility to deal with it. Deal with the ego and get back to the job in hand. Which is being an actor.'
Brosnan takes a swig of water and smiles over at me ruefully. 'I've had enough fame now. I'm 48 years old and I'm restless. Where do I go in the next 10 years? That's what drives me. Can I make more films? Can I make a company where I can own my own library? Would I be able to direct? Do I want to direct? I want control over my life, with the understanding also that I want to be hired.' And now Brosnan lets out a long, self-mocking, theatrical sigh. 'The fame game is the fame game, but what about the work ?'
Actually, initially, we do meet in the cocktail bar of the hotel, only moving to the lounge when the chatter from nearby tables gets too loud. 'I just wish people would be quiet and stop enjoying themselves,' Brosnan 'complains', as we leave the bar. When his mobile phone rings, he 'grumbles' again: 'This better be good!' Brosnan, father of five, grandfather of one, seems to enjoy putting on an act of being a grumpy auld git. At least I assume it's an act.
Certainly, when a middle-aged woman approaches him for an autograph for her daughter, Brosnan couldn't be sweeter. 'How old is your daughter? What is her name?' he enquires in his soft Irish-Californian burr. After the woman leaves, red-faced and half-swooning, with the autograph clutched in her hand, I ask Brosnan which gender approaches him as a rule? 'Oh women, definitely.' Why is that, does he think? 'Because I'm the sexiest man in the world!' Brosnan slaps the table authoritatively. 'I know I am. I read it.'
What do people really make of Pierce Brosnan? Everybody, I mean - ordinary members of the public as well as casting directors? Obviously, Brosnan isn't short of admirers - as he says, he was recently voted Sexiest Man In The World, beating Julia Robert's ex, the much younger Benjamin Bratt, into second place. (And, bless him, he loves it - The Observer photographer said that it was all she could do to stop Brosnan writhing about on the hotel bed like a born-again sex kitten.) However, asking around my nearest and dearest, nobody seems to find Brosnan 'sexy' as such. Some thought he was 'all right', or grudgingly allowed that he was 'a good actor'.
However, nobody seemed particularly excited or impressed by him. More crucially, nobody thought he was 'relevant'. If anything, the majority seemed to have the impression of Brosnan as some kind of walking tuxedo, forever wafting around film premieres, preening himself in front of cameras. A flesh-pressing version of James Bond himself. Someone who seemed perfectly at home with the 'fame game'.
Is there any truth in this? Brosnan claims that, while in no way a recluse, he rarely socialises outside his home community of Malibu. And, if he does, it's generally for a good cause - one of the environmental, cancer, or children's charities he supports. Although in Dublin to make his production company Irish Dreamtime's new film, Evelyn, Brosnan was actually speaking to me in his role as patron of Concentric Circles, the new theatre group that enables young actors to gain experience alongside professionals, though frankly he doesn't have much of interest to say about it. ('I have to admit that the sum of my involvement thus far is talking to you.') Other than that, Brosnan has worked as an ambassador for the Prince's Trust and, last December, he was made a patron for Irish Unicef. All of which accounts for a few of those seemingly interminable photo opportunities. 'Yeah, well, if I hadn't been an actor, I probably would have been a social worker,' says Brosnan. 'Acting is great, but sometimes it can feel rather redundant in a world which is flying by the seat of its pants.'
Still, though, the image persists of Brosnan as Tuxedo Guy. My mother put it more brutally: 'A right smarmy so and so.' Rather disappointingly (it would have been just perfect if Brosnan had conducted the interview sipping cocktails on top of a waterbed, or jumped through a plate-glass window at the end), I have to report that, in person, Brosnan isn't remotely smarmy.
If anything, he's rather serious and prickly, those textbook handsome features forever collapsing into rueful self-questioning frowns, his Irish blarney drying up to a trickle, as he remembers he's talking to a journalist. What Brosnan does is give good smarm, when the part demands it. And not just smarm, either - many, including Sean Connery, consider Brosnan to be an excellent Bond. An actor born to be Bond.
Indeed, even slumped in a chair, in his civvies, Brosnan's italicised good looks, his restrained air of machismo, seem so 'Bond', it's hard to believe that he once lost out on the role because of contractual obligations, in 1986.
Timothy Dalton stepped in, and Brosnan thought that he'd blown it - his one big movie chance passing by on the great sushi conveyor belt of opportunity. 'I never thought it would come around again. And it hurt.' Brosnan coped by working harder than ever - instructing his agent to get him roles in any half-decent movies he could. (You might have seen him giving great smarm as the new boyfriend in Mrs Doubtfire.) 'You couldn't be devastated by it. You have to find employment, you have to feed your family.' Bond was the thing, though, and when it was offered again, he grabbed it with both hands.
As Brosnan points out, being typecast as Bond never held any fear for him (as it did for Dalton), because he was already typecast in Remington Steele, the long-running television series that made his name and set his public image in stone.
'I went to America to do movies,' he says. 'I went there to work with Martin Scorsese and to do all the films I'd grown up on. And I got offered Remington , and I thought: "Well, this could be pretty good, this could be a laugh for a little while." But it went on for four years. It was great training, but I saw this image being created of myself, an image I fed into. It's not a bad image, but it's going to be interesting to see whether I can alter it. Can I, or am I really locked into it? It's like you've created this thing. How do you uncreate it?' Is this what Brosnan wants to do at this stage - unpick his 'sophisticated' image and start all over again? 'Oh I don't know about that.' Brosnan smiles, ever the pragmatist. 'If you've got it, flog it. If it works, don't kick it.'
Pierce Brosnan was born 48 years ago in Naven, County Meath. His father abandoned him as an infant, while his mother, May, went to England to work as a nurse, leaving him with his grandparents. When they died, Brosnan was laced in lodgings in the poor end of town, sleeping behind a curtain so that the adult lodgers wouldn't wake him when they returned from their shifts. From the age of six, he attended a notorious Catholic boys' school run by the Christian Brothers ('truly mangled human beings'), where vicious, pointless beatings were commonplace. (It was closed down a year after he left, following an exposé in the News of the World.) Understandably, Brosnan pined terribly for his mother (to whom, unlike his father, he seems to bear no ill will), and finally they were reunited - Brosnan joining May to live in Fulham, southwest London, when he was 11.
After leaving school, Brosnan worked as a commercial artist ('watering spider plants and learning how to draw three-piece suites for the Evening Standard'), before discovering acting at a theatre workshop. 'This was something I could do,' he says. 'I knew I had a presence, I knew I could fill the space.' As a young, struggling actor, Brosnan met his first wife, Cassandra Harris, a former Bond girl, 12 years his senior, who encouraged him to try his luck in Hollywood. Harris died of ovarian cancer in 1991, leaving Brosnan wild with grief. At the time, he spilled his guts to the media, but a decade on, he regrets that - sympathetic journalists are still bringing hankies along with their tape recorders, while he has moved on and married again. 'It's just enough, ' says Brosnan. 'I want to say, "Thank you, but enough. It happened, it's tragic, it's part of the tapestry of who I am. But just let it rest now, be respectful." All I ever wanted was for that person to have dignity in passing. But the press always want to know.'
Actually, it's the amount of children surrounding Brosnan that I find fascinating. When he married Harris, Brosnan happily became father to her two children, Charlotte, now 28, and Christopher, 27, and they also had their own son, Sean, 17. Brosnan then went on to have two more sons, Dylan Thomas, and Paris Beckett, with his partner of six years, environmental journalist Keely Shaye Smith. Now, to top it all, Charlotte has made him the proud grandfather of a little girl. (Brosnan jokily requests that I don't mention this last fact, as it might scupper his new 'sexy' image.)
'I never thought: "I want to have kids." Kids were just there from the start,' he sighs, shaking his head wonderingly, but you can tell he's thrilled by his papa' status. (The one movie Brosnan would have loved to have acted in was The Godfather.) I can't think of a way to put my next point delicately, so I just blunder in - Brosnan was a very young man when he became father to Harris's children, did he find it at all daunting?
'No, no-ooo,' he says emphatically. 'They were my friends first, then my children, and I loved it, I really did.' Brosnan considers for a moment: 'What would I have done if I was footloose and fancy free? I would only have been getting into trouble.' Most young men rather enjoy getting into 'trouble', I say. 'Well, I see your point, but, you know, I've always liked to be able to come home to my family. I need it, I thrive on it, it's my stability, my comfort, because the job I'm doing is so dangerous and destructive at times. Maybe it sounds melodramatic, but I've seen people et really fucked up in the old acting game. You go through so many hoops, you can lose yourself. You're being judged the whole time - by others, by yourself. Your ego runs away from you, the insecurity chews you up.' Brosnan smiles. 'So you see, my family has always been a great stability that allows me to go off and dream.'
However, one doesn't need a degree in cod psychology to wonder whether part of the reason why Brosnan embraced family life with such great-hearted fervour was because of his own lack of parenting. Moreover, it seems no coincidence that Evelyn, the third film from Irish Dreamtime (the other two being The Nephew and The Thomas Crown Affair), is also concerned with themes of fatherhood. Starring Brosnan and directed by Bruce Beresford, it tells the true story of Irishman Desmond Doyle, who became a cause célèbre when he fought all the way to the high courts to get back his four children from care, where they had been placed after their mother left. Again, you can't help but speculate why Brosnan, the fatherless child, was so attracted to the thought of playing such a powerful father figure.
'I suppose it could have something to do with my not having a really stable and conventional childhood,' says Brosnan quietly. 'It was fractured, a very fractured family...' His voice trails away to nothing. It all sounds very tough, I say. 'Yeah,' says Brosnan, almost whispering now. Suddenly, he turns brisk: 'Let's just talk about movies, let's talk about films. So much more interesting!'
That would be difficult, I say, you've lived such a lot of life.
'Yeah, a lot of life,' says Brosnan. Later he grumbles, only half-jokingly: 'You know, I just wish I was kind of paler, more enigmatic. The public know about my life. They know about my childhood. They know that I was a widower. They know blah, blah. They know too bloody much! I made a big mistake a long time ago of opening my mouth to the press. I thought: "This is nice, talking away, talking away." And then you realise - you've given it all away.' Is that how he feels, that he's given it all away? 'Oh yes,' says Brosnan. 'I've felt that lots of times.'
At least Brosnan seems happy to wax lyrical about his recent marriage to Shaye Smith. They held their wedding last August in Ireland's Ballintubber Abbey, with a reception at Ashford Castle. The wedding had been postponed several times (due to a flood at their Malibu home, Paris Beckett's arrival and Sean being injured in a horrific road accident), so it was probably with a feeling of wary relief that the couple finally made their way down the aisle. Rather naughtily, Brosnan describes their big day to me as 'friends, mums and dads, no Hollywood. Just an opportunity to celebrate our love and have a good old knees-up.' However, in reality, the 'knees-up' was a big, glitzy affair involving hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of fireworks and flowers, helicopters ferrying guests around, the Chieftains as the wedding band and Hello! magazine.
To Brosnan's credit, after some brief guff ('you end up with magnificent photographs that last a lifetime'), he doesn't pretend that he allowed Hello! to be there for any reason other than money: 'There's a part of me that goes- "Oh my God, this is cringe making." But if we hadn't done the deal with dear old Hello!, we would probably have had to pay for a lot of it ourselves.
Doing something like this makes it very comfortable monetary wise. And it gives you control over it. Everybody wins.' What's the downside? 'We were just worried about looking foolish,' says Brosnan. He grins wryly: 'And we probably have.'
Was it important for Brosnan to come back to Ireland to get married?
'Oh yes,' he says. 'There's the warm embrace of being an Irishman coming back to his own country to get married, which is quite tender and poignant.
It gives one a real sense of belonging.' Despite his miserable childhood, Brosnan seems to enjoy coming back to Ireland anyway. 'I need this outlet,' says Brosnan. 'I love America, it's home, and I'm forever grateful for the opportunities it has given me, but I have to get out of that town. If I knew I could never come back to Ireland, to England, I think I'd fall off the tree.'
Which brings us back to where we came in: what will Pierce Brosnan do next? The Bonds Brosnan has starred in have been among the most successful ever (the new one started filming this month), but he knows that he can't go on twitching his cuffs and jumping into ravines forever. Then again, Brosnan isn't remotely interested in returning to the theatre - on behalf of Concentric Circles or anyone else. 'I'd like to go back onstage, but the want isn't strong enough.' Nor are the other big-budget films he has done (Dante's Peak, Mars Attacks! ) likely to impress the key directors he has always been interested in working with (Martin Scorcese, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg). In a way, Brosnan seems to have become a victim of his own success in the role of Bond - would directors be likely to think of him in other parts?
'Probably not,' he says wryly. This is where Irish Dreamtime comes in. 'I want to do smaller, character pieces and I want to do big schmaltzy productions,' says Brosnan. 'I want to have my cake and eat it.' He rises to his feet - it's time for his 'sex kitten' photoshoot. 'You know what I want most of all?' says Brosnan, before he goes. 'Just to keep working. Because, as any actor will tell you, when you're not working, you have to deal with yourself. Who are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? All that kind of thing.' Pierce Brosnan gives me his best 'smarmy' Tuxedo Guy grin. 'And I can't be doing with that!'
She is the daughter of Albert R. ``Cubby'' Broccoli, the producer who is credited with bringing James Bond to the big screen.
Friday saw a glamorous launch party with the studio's celebration of the start of Bond's new film coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the first, 1962's ``Dr No,'' which featured Sean Connery taking on the villain of the title.
The new film, still untitled, stars Pierce Brosnan in his fourth Bond outing, with Halle Berry as the feisty female lead.
Judi Dench returns as Bond's boss, and John Cleese makes his second appearance designing 007's gadgets in ``Q'' branch.
Q will be souping up a new Bond Aston Martin, with the car brand -- immortalized by 1964's ``Goldfinger'' -- returning to the
movies in the form of the new V12 Vanquish.
Media reports say the movie is expected to be released late this year.
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- British actor Toby Stephens has been cast as the lead villain in MGM's latest
James Bond film for director Lee Tamahori. The project will begin shooting at the end of the month and continue through the
spring.
Although the script is being kept tightly under wraps, it is known that the story involves a device enabling facial mutation.
Sources say Stephens' ("Onegin") character undergoes a facial transformation to elude Bond (Pierce Brosnan), who is tracking
him down. Before his altered state, the character is played by Rick Yune ("The Fast and the Furious").
The feature, produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, is the 20th in the Bond series. Neil Purvis and Robert Wade
wrote the script for the latest installment, which also stars Halle Berry, John Cleese and Judi Dench.
Graves, repped by ICM, is the son of British actors Maggie Smith and the late Robert Stevens. Graves, performing in the London
stage production of "The Royal Family" opposite Judi Dench, next stars in Neil LaBute's "Possession" for Warner Bros.
His credits include "Space Cowboys," "Photographing Fairies" and "Orlando."
The actor says he wants to complete a fifth Bond movie, but adds he might be
too old to go on beyond that.
The cast and crew of the latest film assembled at Pinewood Studios in
Buckinghamshire today, before filming starts on the 20th Bond movie on
Monday.
Brosnan says despite his contract being up after this film he still wants to
carry on for at least one more adventure.
"I will do another one. I am very pleased to be sitting here today," he
said. "Time has gone by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday I was
sitting here for GoldenEye."
Asked what he thought was a good age for a James Bond actor to retire, the
48-year-old star said: "I do think about it. It takes stamina to play this
role. I would like to get off the stage with grace.
"I am honouring my contract here but it would be wonderful to do another
one. After that, I do not know," he said.
The 33-year-old X-Men star will play a character called Jinx in the
film, who she described as "not the typical villainess".
The movie will be the 20th Bond film and marks 40 years of the series.
Berry said of her character: "She is probably not the typical
villainess but she handles knives and things like that."
Rumours
She dismissed as rumours, claims that there would be topless scenes
in the film.
"Let's clear that up. There is going to be no topless scenes. Bond is
PG," said Berry.
by Richard Cohen
FELPHAM, England - The latest handiwork of Bob
Anderson, who hasspent nearly 50 years making sword fights on the
screen look convincing, can be seen in the film adaptation of
J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings.
Though the battle scenes have drawn praise from
some critics, the results are not, Anderson is quick to point out,
fencing in thetraditional mode.
"We use weird weapons," he said. "It's not fencing,
I've got to tell you. It's hammering each other with swords.
Tremendous!"
With Tolkien setting his story in Middle-Earth,
conjuring up medieval times, Anderson said he had to deal with
"all sorts of characters -- barbaric creatures, really ugly-looking brutes." "So I made it bestial, but there's still some really neat swordplay," he added.
Anderson prides himself on his reputation for
safety, and will not accept any shortcuts. When Liv Tyler, who plays the
young heroine Arwen, was told to practice for her sword fights,
she was less than enthusiastic and faced the full force of the sword
master's wrath, he said.
"I told her I was going away for a while, leaving
her with my assistant," he said. "If she wasn't properly
rehearsed on my return, I would report as such to the film's director, Peter
Jackson. When I got back, I could see a gleam in my assistant's eye
so I knew something was up. Liv put on one of the best fights
I've ever seen a girl do."
Anderson is widely acknowledged as the master of
his craft. No one else can match his experience, imaginative
swordplay or longevity. "It started in 1952," he said. "I was in England,
in the Royal Marines, and had made the British sabre team for the
Helsinki Olympics."
Ten days before the games he was asked if he was
free to act as double and fight arranger in an Errol Flynn movie,
The Master of Ballantrae. He said he hit it off with Flynn
immediately, but during a duel in Sicily he played a French pirate, and
pierced Flynn in the thigh. Flynn said immediately that it was his own
fault -- he had been distracted by a boat passing by -- and soon
the two men were off drinking together.
But for long afterward fellow stuntmen mercilessly
recalled the thrust. "That's the man who stabbed Errol Flynn,"
they would warn actors, Anderson said.
He went on to work with Flynn on two other movies.
During a career of more than 100 films, he doubled for Darth Vader
in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, taught Richard
Gere his swordplay for First Knight and tutored Anthony
Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones for The Mask of
Zorro.
During half of his film career, he fenced
competitively. At the Helsinki Games, he narrowly missed the final
because of an injury. In 1954, he was appointed Britain's national coach,
remaining until 1979. He won the British sabre title from 1962 to
1964 and the professional championships in all three weapons --
foil, sabre and épée -- for four years in succession. He went to
seven Olympics, first as competitor, then as coach.
Anderson's film fights often emphasize the romantic
Three Musketeers style of swordplay, which is different
from the ultrarealism of such films as Rob Roy or The
Duellists, or the impossible swordplay of Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon, in which the skills belong to the special-effects room, not
the fencers. He is the first to point out, though, that competitive
fencing and the film version are worlds apart.
"Everything's bigger on film," he said. "You have
to pull back your arm before making a foil or épée thrust, and at
sabre almost take it back over your head so the audience can see it
coming." Whenever possible, he likes to train actors to do the fight
scenes for themselves, he said. "A double never has quite the
feeling of the actor," he said. "There's always something
mechanical about them."
But he had to stand in for Sean Connery in the
original Highlander as here wasn't time to teach the actor the moves.
At 6 feet 1 inch tall, marine-fit and handsome,
Anderson said he thought for a while that he might have a career as
an actor, but an early film, playing a heavy who is forced at sword
point to the edge of a cliff and mortally wounded, taught him that
there was more to the craft than he thought:
" 'That's no good, Bob,' the director said. 'You're
meant to be dying, but you look as if you're enjoying it.' "
Enthusiasm is a trait he has passed on to his actors: When Mandy Patinkin and
Cary Elwes appeared in the 1987 film The Princess Bride, they
would go on slashing away at each other long after cut was
shouted, and had to be called to order for the next scene.
Many actors he has trained have been fine athletes,
he said. For the 1998 Mask of Zorro, the actors practiced their
fight scenes for more than two months, sometimes fencing 10 hours a
day until they got it right. Zeta-Jones has trained in ballet and
Banderas was rated by Anderson as the best natural talent he has
worked with.
He starts each action sequence by teaching the
rhythm he wants, and works slowly up from there. "The most important
thing is the changing rhythm of the blades," he said. "If all
goes along at the same tempo it gets boring, so you have to go broad
and slow, then fast and fluid."
Swords are usually aluminum replicas, light and well balanced, but they sound dull as they strike, so the actual clash of steel against steel has to be added later.
"We used to call him Grumpy Bob on the set, he was
such a perfectionist," said Martin Campbell, the director
of Zorro. "He was incredibly inventive, and also refused to treat any
of the actors as stars. They would complain about the intensity of
the training, but having worked with him, there's nobody I'd rather
use." Preparations are underway for the same team and cast to make a
sequel in 2002.
After each film, Anderson says he is going to
retire, but then he recants. He is now in England, preparing the sword
fighting for the new James Bond film. The film should be ready by
November, although so far only Pierce Brosnan has been cast.
Producers are believed to have wanted to shoot the movie in Cuba,
Hawaii and Korea, but have scrapped the idea amid fears of terrorist
attacks.
They will now film it all in the UK, after visiting locations in the
Highlands, Fife, Tayvallich in Argyll and Loch Long.
Kevin Cowle, of Scottish Screen's locations department, told
www.record-mail.co.uk: "A number of sites are being considered,
including the Rivers Tay and Forth for a chase sequence.
"The producers are also searching for huge warehouse type buildings
and we have suggested a number of different sites. It would be great
if we could get a James Bond film."
Filming is due to begin next month. Brosnan sets out on new licence to thrill;World's best-known secret agent returns to action as filming starts on twentieth James Bond movie
By Cameron Simpson
Copyright 2002 Scottish Media Newspapers Limited
The Herald (Glasgow) His bond with 007 role means never saying never again
By William Russell
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Limited
From The Times (London) The spy who came back with a cold
By Dalya Alberge
January 12, 2002Playing James Bond, says Pierce Brosnan, has become like slipping on an old pair of shoes. But with his 49th birthday approaching in May, the Irish film star is worried that he may be getting too old to play Ian Fleming's hero.
From Agence France Presse GIRLS, GUNS AND GADGETS: BOND IS BACK
January 11, 2002 Full shooting of the 20th James Bond epic kicks off Monday near London, with actors and directors promising no change to the age-old formula of girls, guns and gadgets that have served the previous 19.
From The Express I'M NOT NEW 007, ADMITS SCOTS ACTOR
By Gavin Docherty
HE IS the James Bond who never was.
From The Mirror HALLE'S GREAT ESCAPE;
I COULD HAVE BEEN A HOMELESS AND PENNILESS DRUNK JUST LIKE MY FATHER
By Drew Mackenzie
SO BERRY NICE: Gorgeous Halle has made her mark as a Hollywood star
From the Associated Press
Opening sequence for 20th Bond flick filmed on Maui
January 11, 2002. HAIKU, Hawaii Hawaii's big surf will set the scene for the opening sequence of the latest James Bond film with three Maui surfers catching waves in a "semistyled military exercise," according to the film's executive producer.
From Empire Online
One More Bond...
11/01/2002 The official beginning of filming on the 20th Bond movie was marked this morning with a press conference at Pinewood Studios. True to form, Empire Online was there to hear Pierce Brosnan tell the assembled press that he would be returning for Bond 21. 'I will do another one,' he said, going on to raise the issue of making that his last Bond movie.
From The Observer
'I am the sexiest man in the world! I know Iam. I read it'
Sean Connery says he's the all-time best Bond. But at 48, Pierce Brosnan knows he can't go on diving through plate-glass windows forever. Barbara Ellen shares a cocktail with 007 and finds out what's beneath the tux
Bond Is Back for 20th Adventure
LONDON (Reuters) - The world's favorite secret agent is to jump back into action, with filming on the 20th installment of James Bond's adventures starting at Pinewood Studios near London, the film's production company said. ''We're thrilled to start filming on what promises to be one of thegreatest Bond films ever,'' Barbara Broccoli, whose e EON company is producing the film, said in a statement on Friday.
Stephens will match wits with Bond for MGM
By Zorianna Kit
From Ananova
Brosnan to play 007 one more time
Pierce Brosnan is to extend his contract to complete one more film as James
Bond.
From Sky News
Bond Star Covers Up
Actress Halle Berry has confirmed she will appear in the next Bond
film - but ruled out any topless appearances.
The New York TimesMaster of the blades
Bob Anderson has taught swordplay to the greats of the actingworld, including elfin Arwen
From Ananova :
New James Bond film 'to be shot in Scotland'
The new James Bond film may be shot on location in Scotland.
From the Hollywood Reporter
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Michael Madsen is negotiating to star in MGM's latest, still-untitled installment of its James Bond franchise as well as Miramax's "Kill Bill" for writer-director Quentin Tarantino.
Additionally, Madsen plans to star in several indie features, including "Blueberry," a live-action feature based on the series of French comic books of the same name to be directed by Jan Kounen ("Dobermann").
The Bond feature, which Madsen will shoot in February, will see the actor play Falco, a rogue CIA agent. The project, written by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade, also stars Pierce Brosnan, John Cleese, Judi Dench, Halle Berry and Rick Yune. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson produce.
In April, the actor will segue into "Blueberry," described as a mystical Western. Set during the 1870s, the project is about a spiritual marshal named Blueberry who tries to stop Blount (Madsen), the man who murdered his girlfriend, from getting to a stockpile of gold hidden in Indian territory.
An actor for the title character is expected to be announced shortly.
France's Thomas Langmann and Ariel Zeitoun are producing the film, whose characters were created by comic book writers Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud.
"Kill Bill," which has no start date, will star Uma Thurman as a woman who's wronged and seeks revenge. Madsen will play Bud, the brother of the film's title character. Tarantino also is producing the film with Lawrence Bender.
The project will reunite Madsen with Tarantino and Bender, all of whom worked together on "Reservoir Dogs."
Madsen, repped by Innovative Artists and Artists Management Group, next appears in Dimension Films' "The Guest" for director David Zucker.
Additionally, the actor has two other indie projects on his slate, including the action comedy "A Christmas Cop" and the sociological heist feature "Red Light Runners," both of which Madsen also is producing.
"Cop," to be directed by Gerald G. Massimei Jr., is an action comedy feature that is described as being a take on the classic Dickens tale "A Christmas Carol." Scott Fivelson and Robert Amico also are producing with Madsen from a screenplay by Fivelson.
"Runners," which is out to directors, was written by Clark Westerman, who is also producing through his Design Concepts. The project is about a crooked official (Madsen) in charge of analyzing the red-light runners. When he catches several people doing things on camera that they shouldn't, he blackmails them into doing jobs for him.
Todd Field's family drama "In the Bedroom" and Ridley Scott's gritty war film " Black Hawk Down" topped the feature film contenders, drawing five nominations apiece, in the American Film Institute's inaugural AFI Awards 2001, announced Monday in Los Angeles. Miramax Films' "Bedroom" received noms for movie of the year, direction, best actor Tom Wilkinson, best actress Sissy Spacek and a screenwriter nom shared by Field and Rob Festinger, while Revolution Studios/Sony's " Hawk" snared nominations for movie of the year, direction, Slawomir Idziak¹s cinematography, Pietro Scalia's editing and Arthur Max's production design. HBO dominated the TV categories with 13 nominations, including four in the top categories of best drama and comedy series. The cable network's mob drama " The Sopranos" and ABC's miniseries " Anne Frank" led the pack with three noms each. The winners are scheduled to be announced Jan. 5 during a three-hour ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel, televised live on CBS.
Ten films were nominated for the movie of the year accolade. In addition to "Hawk" and "Bedroom," nominees are Universal/Dream-Works' "A Beautiful Mind," New Line's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,"USA Films' "The Man Who Wasn't There," Newmarket's "Memento,"Lions Gate's " Monster's Ball," 20th Century Fox" "Moulin Rouge," Universal's "Mulholland Drive" and DreamWorks' "Shrek."
Best actor nominees include Russell Crowe ("Mind" ), Billy Bob Thornton ("Man Who Wasn¹t There"), Denzel Washington ("Training Day") and Wilkinson.
The best actress lineup is Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Stockard Channing ("Business of Strangers"), Naomi Watts ("Mulholland Drive") and Spacek.
There were a lot of surprises in the TV categories. In the dramafield, "Sopranos" and NBC's "West Wing" will compete with UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' which has never been nominated in a major award's top category, and HBO's "Six Feet Under." NBC's sit-coms, including "Will & Grace" and "Frasier," are notably missing from the comedy n o m i n e e s , which include HBO's "Sex and the City"; CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond"; and Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle." The surprise in the category is HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David's off-beat comedy, which has had moderate ratings success but has achieved critical acclaim.
Halle Berry is in talks to become the latest Bond Girl, Variety reports.
Berry is eager to play the villain opposite Pierce Brosnan in what will be both the 20th Bond film and the 40th anniversary of the enduring spy franchise. The only stumbling block appears to be scheduling. The Bond film is to begin shooting in January, but Berry is committed to reprise her role as the weather-controlling mutant Storm in director Bryan Singer's upcoming sequel to X-Men.
Variety said Singer is to begin shooting his movie early in the new year but hasn't come up with a shooting schedule. Until that happens, Berry can't commit to Bond.
Berry's last on-screen appearance was opposite John Travolta in Swordfish. Her next role is in Monster's Ball, which opens Boxing Day.
HANGING ON: Brosnan
December 21, 2001 PIERCE Brosnan is determined to hang on to the 007 role for a fifth blockbuster.
Brosnan's licence to be Bond expires after the next movie which begins filming next month. Producers have already begun the hunt for the fifth Bond star, but Brosnan is eager to hang on to his gadgets and gun.
He said: "Bond 20 starts shooting on January 13. Contractually that's it. They have me for three films with the option for a fourth.
"I don't know where it's going to go after this. As for a fifth Bond, I'd like to do one." Soon after his first film he said he wanted to match Roger Moore's total of seven 007 movies.
Brosnan told a Bond fan site: "I always think you do the best you can. The last three films have been very successful.
"I keep dreaming about living back in Ireland but I never get around to doing anything practical about it.
"I am very happy to be working in Ireland at the moment.
"Unfortunately, Ireland will not feature in the next Bond film."
December 23, 2001, GORGEOUS actress Halle Berry is to star as a high-kicking baddie called Jinx in the next James Bond movie.
The sexy Hollywood star will take the part of the lead female villain, pitting her wits - and other obvious attributes - against Pierce Brosnan's 007. Berry, 33, says her character will pack a punch and prove a handful for the suave British secret agent.
She told US TV chat show host Jay Leno: "Let's put it like this - Jinx can kick some butt. She's tough. She's not a wimpy Bond woman - she's pretty feisty."
Berry became a model after taking part in the Miss USA beauty pageant, then made her big-screen breakthrough as a drug addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever.
She then starred alongside Eddie Murphy in Boomerang before playing sexy secretary Sharon Stone in The Flintstones.
This year, she co-starred in Monster's Ball with Billy Bob Thornton.
Berry jetted into London for talks with the directors of the latest Bond adventure which will begin filming at Pinewood studios, near London, on January 14.
The new movie - the 20th Bond romp - will again feature Dame Judi Dench as M and John Cleese as R.
But it is rumoured to be the last in which Brosnan will star as Bond.
He said: "I always think you do the best you can. The last three films have been very successful."
Scots star Dougray Scott is widely tipped to be the man who will fill the Irishman's dinner jacket as the legendary character created by Scots author Ian Fleming.
Tuesday, December 18, 2001. Actor Rick Yune (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) has signed on board JAMES BOND 20 to play the film's lead villain role.
Yune will play a North Korean general named Zao who has a device that
allows its user to alter his face. For the part, Yune will be required
to wear make-up appliances with word that Zao will have a half-changed
face left when his own use of the device goes wrong.
In related casting news, as expected, Judi Dench and John Cleese will
reprise their roles of M and R, respectively. Halle Berry also looks to
have worked out her deal that will allow her to work on the project as
well as the X-MEN sequel, X2.
Filming of JAMES BOND 20 is set to start next month with Lee Tamahori
directing from a script by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade From Cinescape
JAMES BOND 20 now looks to be starting up relatively soon, and
contrary to recent rumors, will star Pierce Brosnan.
Regarding rumors of actor Gerard Butler being up for the role of 007, Eon has dashed them, with a spokesperson for the production company declaring to Reuters, "It just isn't true and I wish these rumors would stop... Pierce Brosnan will play James Bond in the forthcoming production and for the foreseeable future." The spokesperson also declared that regardless of what Butler might have told Scotland's Daily Record, the actor has not spoken to producer Barbara Broccoli at all.
As for when the next BOND film will be ramping up production, Eon announced that the film starts shooting in January 2002 at Pinewood Studios. MGM is eyeing November 2002 for its release.BOND 20 Villain Cast:
Yune gets nod to be 007's next big foe.
By FRANK KURTZ
JAMES BOND 20 Update Eon Productions is shooting down JAMES BOND 20 casting rumors and confirming a start date for the film.
By: FRANK KURTZ, News Editor Monday, July 2, 2001
From Cinescape:
Brett Ratner Talks JAMES BOND 20
While talking to Zap2It, Ratner revealed that Pierce Brosnan had called him regarding the BOND 20 directing gig. Ratner explained, saying, "(Brosnan) called me and said I want you to direct the movie. He said he was a huge fan. Unfortunately, he has nothing to do with it."
He adds, "The studio (MGM) wants me, and Pierce Brosnan wants me, but the Broccoli's don't want me. But I begged them. I call them everyday and send them cookies."
Ratner then rants about why the Broccoli's might not want him for the job, saying, "It's 'cause I'm American really. I'd be the only American director ever to direct a BOND. Also, I'm not 50 years old, and I have a mind of my own, and I'm a strong personality.
"I'm sure it could use some new lifeblood. I'm trying to infuse some excitement into them."
When asked what he might do if he got the gig, Ratner says, "His suit is a little tight, so I'd loosen it a little. I'd get rid of the BMW. I'd get an Aston Martin."
According to the Hollywood Reporter, current frontrunners for the helming job on the pic include Stuart Baird (U.S. MARSHALS) and Stephen Hopkins (LOST IN SPACE).
Every day sees a new, and usually more boring, Bond story hit the internet, but one today is really rather special. Whilst speaking to Zap2It.com, Rush Hour 2's director Brett Ratner revealed hints of a possibly rift between Pierce Brosnan and Eon Productions.
"[Brosnan] called me and said I want you to direct the movie," Ratner told while promoting Rush Hour 2 in Los Angeles. "He said he was a huge fan. Unfortunately, he has nothing to do with it.' The director goes on to say that "The studio wants me, and Pierce Brosnan wants me, but the Broccolis (who run Eon - the company that produces the Bond series) don't want me."
It's 'cause I'm American really," Ratner said. "I'd be the only American director ever to direct a Bond... I'm trying to infuse some excitement into them."
It aims to encourage consumers to buy timber products from FSC- certified woodland. A UK campaign, using the poster on billboards and in consumer and trade magazines, is planned for the autumn.
The tabloid said series producer Barbara Broccoli was determined to have another Scottish Bond -- following in the footsteps of screen legend Sean Connery.
It said she had fixed up a summer meeting with 32-year-old Butler to discuss the role.
``Gerard is one of the two people Barbara has appointments with,'' a source told the paper. ``They are meeting to discuss replacing Pierce after his final movie.''
Irish-born Brosnan's contract expires after his fourth Bond movie which goes into production in January, the Scottish paper said.
It added that Broccoli was also meeting Colin Wells, who had served as a stand-in Bond for Brosnan during screen tests for other actors.
Butler only took up acting after a law degree from Glasgow University, but at six feet two inches, the dark-haired actor has the looks to slip into the 007 role.
He is due to make his big screen debut in a leading role in June, playing Dracula in Wes Craven's Dracula 2000, the paper said.
Connery, a fiercely proud Scot who carries a 'Scotland forever' tattoo on his shoulder, last played Bond in the 1983 hit Never Say Never Again.
The 007 role has been played by two other British actors, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton, as well as George Lazenby of Australia.
