Bond finds 'Solace' in $70.4M box office debut

LOS ANGELES – James Bond's quantum of the weekend box office: $70.4 million. "Quantum of Solace," with Daniel Craig returning as Bond for the first direct sequel in the spy franchise, pulled in nearly $30 million more over opening weekend than its predecessor, 2006's "Casino Royale," according to studio estimates Sunday.

The debut also topped the previous opening-weekend record for a Bond flick, $47 million for 2002's "Die Another Day."

Adjusting for inflation, Sony's "Quantum of Solace" easily drew a bigger audience than that installment, the last Bond adventure featuring Pierce Brosnan. Based on 2002 admission prices, about 8.1 million tickets were sold for "Die Another Day" in the first weekend, compared to 9.8 million for "Quantum of Solace."

Two years ago, Craig was an unknown quantity as Bond, a stage-trained actor with little action experience and a resume that tended toward small, artsier films. Many fans were unhappy with the casting choice, but the critical and commercial success of "Casino Royale" silenced the critics.

"Quantum of Solace" picks up where "Casino Royale" left off, with Bond seeking to avenge the death of his lover.

"With 'Casino Royale,' people were rediscovering the franchise in a way with Daniel Craig as James Bond," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "Quite frankly, they loved it. They loved the movie, and they loved him in the role, so I think by the time `Quantum of Solace' was ready, audiences in the U.S. as well as the world audience was way ready."

"Quantum of Solace" began rolling out overseas two weekends before its U.S. debut, and its worldwide total now stands at $322 million.

DreamWorks Animation's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which debuted at No. 1 the previous weekend, slipped to second place with $36.1 million, raising its 10-day total to $118 million.

"Quantum of Solace" gave a huge boost to overall revenues as Hollywood heads toward Thanksgiving, one of the year's busiest weekends at theaters. The top 12 movies took in $142.9 million, up 54 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Beowulf" led the box office with $27.5 million.

Movie revenue is running 1 percent ahead of 2007's record pace, when the industry took in $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. Factoring in inflation, the number of tickets sold this year is 3.5 percent behind 2007's, though.

The next two weekends will bring more likely hits, including the vampire romance "Twilight," John Travolta and Miley Cyrus' animated comedy "Bolt" and Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's holiday romp "Four Christmases."

"Hollywood is in the best possible position right now, because it's all about momentum, and the industry certainly has that heading into the all-important holiday period," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire" had an impressive debut in limited release, taking in $350,434 in 10 theaters for a strong average of $35,043 a cinema. By comparison, "Quantum of Solace" averaged $20,400 in 3,451 theaters.

A film festival favorite, "Slumdog Millionaire" was directed by Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later") and follows the alternately heartwarming and horrific life of a poor youth who becomes a contestant on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Quantum of Solace," $70.4 million.
2. "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," $36.1 million.
3. "Role Models," $11.7 million.
4. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $5.9 million.
5. "Changeling," $4.2 million.
6. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $3.2 million.
7. "Soul Men," $2.43 million.
8. "The Secret Life of Bees," $2.4 million.
9. "Saw V," $1.8 million.
10. "The Haunting of Molly Hartley," $1.6 million.

"Quantum of Solace" set to blast U.S. box offices

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Even before new James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace" blasts into U.S. movie theaters this Friday, industry watchers are expecting it to earn big bucks at box offices and easily top previous 007 film "Casino Royale."

The film is the 22nd in the lucrative series that dates to 1962's "Dr. No" and altogether has grossed over $4 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices when totals are adjusted for inflation, according to boxofficemojo.com.

"Quantum of Solace," in which the British secret agent battles a villain looking to control natural resources, already has topped box office charts in Europe and other markets.

It debuted in London about two weeks ago, and took in a record-breaking 15.4 million pounds ($25 million) on its opening weekend. So far, it has collected more than $160 million in over 60 international markets.

"This is arguably the most anticipated movie of the holiday season and therefore expectations are quite high," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office watcher Media by Numbers. "I think we are going to see tremendous numbers."

Dergarabedian did not predict an opening weekend figure, but he said "Quantum of Solace" was "certainly on track" to equal or beat "Casino Royale," which debuted with $40.8 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in November of 2006.

"Casino Royale" introduced actor Daniel Craig as the new James Bond and went on to become arguably the biggest Bond ever with $167 million in the U.S. and Canada and another $426 million internationally for a global total near $594 million.

Dergarabedian noted U.S. box offices have been on a roll lately with five of the past six weekends beating year ago comparisons. Last weekend family film "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" opened to an eye-popping $63 million.

"The fact is, there was so much moviegoing last week that it just enhances the prospects for Bond," he said.

So far, reviews have been mostly good with the film scoring a 76 percent positive rating on Web site rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates movie reviews.

But critical reaction matters little to opening weekend ticket sales for event movies like "Quantum of Solace," which rely on studio marketing to lure crowds to theaters.

The Bond movies are co-produced by EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and distributed by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Action never stops for Daniel Craig

“To tell a story is our business, and this is a cracking story to tell.” — Dame Judi Dench (M) on Quantum of Solace.

The really good news about Daniel Craig is that he’s still Daniel Craig — this despite having a veritable tidal wave known as James Bond crash over his life.

A few years into his reign as the iconic secret agent and back to promote Quantum of Solace, the actor, 40, seems as energetic and enthusiastic as ever.

This newest Bond film opens in theatres Friday and with 12:01 a.m. screenings in most cities across Canada.

Craig is seemingly oblivious to his new global celebrity and as unfazed as ever by his own success.

Not that it’s been easy being James Bond.

“It was very nuts,” he jokes about the furor over Casino Royale in 2006. “But then, I had no benchmark for that. I’d been in movies that I’d considered successful, and also that were critically successful, but the idea of box office was anathema to me.”

That’s changed somewhat. He says, “I think, a little learning is a dangerous thing, because coming to Quantum of Solace, it’s like, ‘We’ve got to make this much money, we’ve got to do this,’ and I try not to think about it. I try to keep it out of the equation. I let other people worry about it,” he says, and then smiling, he adds, “and they do.”

They must be worried a little less by now. Quantum of Solace has already opened in England, where it shattered all previous box-office records for opening weekends, including that set by Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire. And by Casino Royale.

Quantum of Solace is the first-ever direct sequel in the franchise, and takes Bond all over the globe in his quest to avenge the death of Vesper and reveal the inner workings of the criminal organization, Quantum.

The action begins about an hour after Casino Royale ends — but this is a more cold and brooding James Bond than ever. Quantum of Solace is actually more frantic, if you can image, than Casino Royale, with stupendous action involving car chases, boat chases, an impossible foot chase across the rooftops of Siena, Italy, off-hand leaping out of airplanes and feats of derring-do in the midst of an inferno. It never stops.

Bond’s female sidekick is Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman also out for revenge; the main villain is played by Mathieu Almaric, who is the oily Dominic Greene, a man intent upon cornering the market in certain natural resources. He holds whole countries for ransom.

Quantum of Solace involves more filming locations than any other movie in the franchise, with Bond vs. the baddies in Panama, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Austria and the UK. The jewel in the crown in this chapter is shoot-out at the Bergenz opera house, where all hell breaks loose in the middle of a performance of Tosca.

Talk about breathtaking.

Craig does as much of his own stunt work as he can, and that shows up loud and clear in Quantum of Solace. Second unit director Dan Bradley has talked about Craig’s fantastic work ethic, and how he willingly undertook leaps across streets and alleyways from four and five storey rooftops. “He even jumped out a window and dropped 20 feet toward the roof of a speeding bus,” said Bradley.

Craig has a distinct philosophy about all of this — he just wants it to look real.

“It sounds (conceited) of me, to sort of compare the two, but there’s a tradition in cinema that goes way back to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, and even earlier when they said, ‘Can you ride a horse? Then you’ve got the part.’ The thing of it is, when Buster Keaton is standing there and the house falls down, it’s him. There’s no special effects and there’s no CGI and they didn’t do any jump cutting and we can see it all. And I just love that.”

When he’s not working, Craig stays busy with, um — well, we really couldn’t say what he does on his own time. He lives with American producer Satsuki Mitchell, dated Sienna Miller and Kate Moss in the past and has a daughter of 16 from his first marriage to actress Fiona Loudon. The actor has protected himself and his private life as much possible, saying, “I fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. And it’s not even so much to protect myself. It’s to protect my family. Their normality of life, or the way they treat me, is precious to me, and changing that, some of it becoming public knowledge — if you’re talking about someone’s personal life, who isn’t involved with a public life, it’s really hurtful.”

He adds, “If I’ve invited OK! magazine or Hello into my house and I say, ‘This is my curtains, this is my bed,’ I can’t really complain, can I? But I try to stay solid. And have a precedent.”

The one area of his life that’s an open book is his career. Craig always wanted to be an actor, from childhood onward. “I grew up in and around Liverpool in the last depression. I left school at 16, 17. I considered joining the Navy, I was a waiter, but beyond that, I’d always wanted to be an actor and my mother, thankfully, gave me just that gentle nudge. Which was just, ‘Go do it,’ and how she dealt with that, I don’t know. She’s a good woman. That encouragement was enough, that’s all I needed.” Having just sworn not to talk about his personal life, Craig looks a bit pained at himself for talking about his mother. “I gave it my best shot,” he continues. “It took a while, but there it was. There was a safety net to fall back on, the family is there, the solidity, and you feel you can do anything. And at 17 or 18, you feel you can do anything anyway,” he says, laughing.

He went to London to join the National Youth Theatre at 16. Craig graduated from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991. He then won a role in the 1992 South African boxing drama, The Power of One — which he calls his first paying job. He was 21, and he has worked steadily since in theatre, TV and such films as Layer Cake, The Mother, Enduring Love, Infamous, Sylvia, The Trench, The Jacket, Road To Perdition, Love Is The Devil, Munich, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass and of course, Casino Royale. He will be seen in December in Defiance, playing one of a trio of Polish brothers who elude the Nazis during the Second World War.

And what was it about acting that was such a huge magnet for him when he was young?

“Dressing up and showing off,” says Craig. “Still is."

Bond film opens with guns blazing in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) – The new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," debuted in Britain on Friday to record one-day ticket sales of 4.94 million pounds ($8 million), distributor Columbia Pictures said on Saturday.

The total tops "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the previous record holder with an opening day haul of 4.025 million pounds ($6.5 million) in 2005, and it also beat the 2.9 million pounds ($4.72 million) first-day total for the last Bond flick, "Casino Royale" (2006), Columbia said.

In "Quantum of Solace," British super spy Bond (Daniel Craig) is on a mission across South America and Europe to stop an eco-terrorist from controlling precious natural resources, and he wants to learn why the woman he loved in "Casino Royale" betrayed him.

"Casino Royale," was a huge box office success with a global haul of $594 million.

Friday's British opening of "Quantum of Solace" in 542 theaters will be followed by a November 14 debut of the film in the United States and Canada.

Columbia Pictures is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the media wing of Japan's Sony Corp.

Russia communists say Ukraine Bond girl a traitor

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – First it was Indiana Jones. Now it's James Bond's latest lady friend.

The Communist Party in St. Petersburg says Olga Kurylenko, the Ukrainian-born model who plays a Bolivian agent in the latest Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," has betrayed her roots.

"In the name of all communists we appeal to you, prodigal daughter of poor Ukraine and deserter of Slavic world," the party said in an open letter dated Oct. 21 and posted on their Web site Friday.

The Soviet Union "gave you free education, free medical care but nobody knew you would commit an act of intellectual and moral betrayal that you would become a movie kept girl of Bond, who in his movies kills hundreds of Soviet people and citizens of other socialist countries: Cubans, Vietnamese, North Koreans, Chinese and Nicaraguans," the party said.

Sergei Malenkovich, head of the party's regional organization, told The Associated Press that latest Bond movie is "an insult for Russians"
"In this movie they wanted to show that a Ukrainian girl sleeps with an American. It's a part of information and psychological war," he said.

In fact, Kurylenko does not have sex with Daniel Craig's Bond — unlike nearly all other leading ladies in the Bond films — only exchanging a kiss toward the end of the film. And Bond is actually a British secret agent.

The vitriol from the St. Petersburg communists — an independent party not formally affiliated with the national Communist party — is the latest to be directed at a Western film.

The party took great umbrage at "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which features an evil KGB agent played by Cate Blanchett, saying the film undermined communist ideology and distorted history.

Quantum Of Solace Director Hated The Title Too!

You probably remember your exact reaction when you heard the title of the latest James Bond movie: Huh? Quantum of Solace isn't exactly the simplest title, or the easiest to understand-- it's no Octopussy, that's for sure. But who would have guessed the movie's director felt exactly the way you did?

"I was like, 'Quantum of Solace, what's that about?'" Marc Forster told a group of journalists in New York today. He said the movie's producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson brought the title to him, and it never came from the screenwriter Paul Haggis. Mentioning its origins in an original Ian Fleming short story, Forster explained, "It's one of the last few titles left. There are only two more after that that Fleming ever used."

Ever the diplomat, though, Forster said he eventually came around to the title. "At the beginning it took me a little while to get used to it. But it kind of grew on me."

Quantum of Solace will be released in the U.S. on Nov. 14. Check back here that week for more from Forster as well as the latest Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko.

In 'Quantum,' it's Bond, James Bond, without the catchphrases

Daniel Craig is betting that absence will make the 007 fan's heart grow fonder.
The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, which opens Nov. 14 and screened for the press for the first time Saturday evening, leaves out some of the trademark phrases and habits of the iconic superspy.

No "Bond, James Bond" introduction, no "shaken, not stirred" martini order, still no gadget-master Q, and vengeance rather than seduction is the common interest with one of the Bond girls.

After Craig's first outing as Bond in 2006's Casino Royale, which rebooted the now 22-film franchise with 007's origin story, Quantum picks up right where that film ended: with the hero trying to unravel the network of villains that led the woman he loved to betray him.

"Everybody says to me, 'Is Bond going to be Bond now?' And I've been like, 'Yeah, well, kind of,' " Craig says. "But he's got a way to go yet."

His story arc takes 007 from soldier to the ultra-smooth operator immortalized in the previous films.

Saturday's screening received applause during one foot-chase sequence, and again as the credits rolled.

"He's supposed to be this superspy, suave and sophisticated," Craig says. "But I didn't want to start by copying what came before, but to get to that point by making it a real journey."

Producer Michael G. Wilson, whose family originated the films and has personally worked on every Bond since 1979's Moonraker, says that though some Bond fans will consider it heresy, he was glad to break tradition.

"I feel free," he said during a location shoot in Chile last spring. "We always had to have those scenes in the movie. Now we have scenes only if they're necessary."

Craig is signed to at least two more Bond films, and he says eventually all the familiar characteristics will reveal themselves. And he hopes they will be more satisfying now that they aren't delivered by rote.

"I'm as big a fan as anybody of all his catchphrases and the martini," he says. "But I want to find a new way of doing them."

James Bond mystery: 'Golden gun' goes missing

The $162,000 gun used in the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun has been stolen from a studio in Britain.

Staff at Elstree Studios, located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire north of London, noticed it was missing on Friday, according to BBC News.

The prop was used in the 1974 film starring Roger Moore and Christopher Lee as Bond's nemesis Scaramanga, who kills people using a gun that also functions as a cigarette case, a lighter and a pen.

It's not known how long the prop, valued at $162,000, has been missing.

Hertfordshire police would only say that "inquires are ongoing."

In the film, Bond receives a golden bullet inscribed with 007 while on a mission.

He decides to track down Francisco Scaramanga, an assassin known as "the man with the golden gun."

The latest high jinx comes as the newest Bond film, Quantum of Solace starring Daniel Craig, is due to be released at the end of October.

No more 'Bond, James Bond'!

Don't you love to hear the words "Bond, James Bond" in a James Bond movie? Well, you won't be hearing them in the new Quantum of Solace film, out in November. For the first time in his 22 screen outings, Britain's super cool secret agent will not utter the words of introduction that have been a tradition for 46 years. He also won't say another classic one-liner – "shaken not stirred" – when ordering his martini, according to director Marc Forster in The Independent.

"There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script," he said. "There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out," he says, and the producers as well as star Daniel Craig "agreed."

Graham Rye, who edits an online 007 Magazine says that Craig is much closer to author Ian Fleming's original vision for the character. "The Bond films had become tired and needed reinvigorating," he said. "Rather than going away from Fleming I think the producers have gone back to him." Rye added, "His announcing of himself had become a bit corny."

Sony finds "Solace" closer to Thanksgiving

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Harry split the scene, so 007 moved in for the kill.

Sony on Thursday moved its next James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," back one week to November 14. That move is closely tied to the departure of Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from the November 21 release berth.

Just last week, the sixth "Potter" film newly planted its domestic flag on July 17, as executives sought to fill a hole in Warners' summer 2009 slate. The most immediate response to that move was Summit Entertainment's decision to move its youth-targeted vampire film "Twilight" up three weeks into the vacated "Potter" slot.

Now Sony executives -- who had been wishing for a release date closer to Thanksgiving and the holiday boxoffice season for their next Bond release -- have taken "Solace" to a suddenly much more attractive slot. Bond's previous perch, on November 7, was intended to maximize pre-"Potter" playtime.

Scratch that worry.

"'Harry Potter' moving out gave us an opportunity to get a little closer to the holidays, which has always been the traditional Bond spot," Sony worldwide marketing and distribution chairman Jeff Blake said. "Bond has a really good history of not only playing through Thanksgiving but going deep into the Christmas holidays."

Sony unspooled the last Bond film, the Daniel Craig-starring "Casino Royale," on November 17, 2006, and it was still playing in about 1,100 theaters between Christmas and New Year's, Blake noted.

Sony holds worldwide theatrical rights to the Eon-produced Bond franchise, with longtime Bond distributor MGM controlling all post-theatrical windows.

Three other domestic wide releases are set for November 14 -- Fox's Baz Luhrmann-helmed adventure "Australia," starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman; the MGM comedy "Soul Men," toplined by Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac; and Overture's Freddy Rodriguez-starring "Nothing Like the Holidays."

Universal's comedy "Role Models," with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, also had been set for November 14. But just a few hours after word spread of Sony's move with its Bond film, Universal moved the comedy up one week to November 7, where the Paramount-distributed DreamWorks Animation sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" now represents its sole wide-release rival.

Besides "Twilight," two other domestic wide releases are set for November 21. Those include "Bolt" from Disney -- which always has a big release bowing over the Turkey Day play period -- and DreamWorks/Paramount's "The Soloist," a drama about the relationship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and a violin-playing homeless man (Jamie Foxx).

Bond films tend to get an earlier jump in the U.K., and "Solace" will receive its world premiere October 29 in London, two days before its U.K. opening.

"Prince William and Prince Harry will attend the world premiere," Sony said.

James Bond returns in new novel 'Devil May Care'

LONDON - A catsuited model in stiletto heels strode the deck of a British warship with Royal Navy helicopters roaring overhead. It was not a bout of naval hijinks, but the year's most-hyped literary event — the publication of a new adventure for super-spy James Bond.

The larger-than-life launch Tuesday of the novel "Devil May Care" proves that 100 years after the birth of 007 creator Ian Fleming, the Bond brand is stronger than ever.

A large crowd of journalists and onlookers gathered to watch model Tuuli Shipster, whose silhouette adorns the cover of the book's British edition, bring the first published copies up the River Thames in a military speedboat before unpacking them aboard HMS Exeter, a destroyer moored near Tower Bridge.

"I can remember Uncle Ian's books being delivered wrapped in brown paper and string by a postman on a bicycle," niece Lucy Fleming said as she stood on the destroyer's gunmetal-gray deck. "The Royal Navy has upped the ante a little."

Britain's military appears happy to play up its ties to the fictional spy, who held the rank of Royal Navy commander before going to work for MI6. The navy loaned the Exeter and its 250-strong crew for an elaborate photo opportunity for "Devil May Care," written by Sebastian Faulks and published to mark Fleming's 100th birthday on Wednesday.

The choice of Faulks — a respected literary novelist whose books include the World War I novel "Birdsong" and the French Resistance saga "Charlotte Gray" — has brought the book serious literary attention, while the promise of sex, spying and exotic locales should help it become a best-seller. The hardcover print run in Britain and the United States is reported to be 400,000 copies.

Fleming, a journalist and wartime intelligence officer who died in 1964, wrote 14 James Bond books. Other writers, including Kingsley Amis and John Gardner, continued the series into the 21st century, with mixed results. But Faulks' license to thrill, which coincides with actor Daniel Craig's reinvigoration of the Bond film franchise, has generated a renewed sense of excitement.

"We didn't want a thriller writer," said Lucy Fleming, part of a family group that controls the author's estate. "We wanted someone who would read Ian's books and see how he did it." Faulks, she said, "has thought himself into Ian's mind."

Faulks said he even adopted Fleming's writing pace, churning out 2,000 words a day for six weeks. He says the resulting novel is about 80 percent Fleming in style.

The book's publishers — Penguin in Britain, Doubleday in the United States — are keeping its contents under wraps until it hits stores Wednesday. This much is known: the book has a 1960s Cold War setting; there are locations in Paris, Rome and the Middle East; there is torture and there is romance.

Bond aficionados were optimistic the result would be classic 007.

"Sebastian Faulks is the Daniel Craig of Bond authors," said Ajay Chowdhury, editor of the Bond fan magazine Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. "It's about quality."

Chowdhury was pleased to see a renewed focus on the books, which he said "show a deeper side of Bond."

"The Bond films are high school; the Bond books are university," he said.

This is a big year for Bond. In addition to the Fleming centenary, the latest 007 movie, "Quantum of Solace," is due for release in the fall.

Neither Faulks nor Fleming would speculate on whether "Devil May Care" would itself be filmed.

Faulks said, however, he would not be writing another Bond book.

"One tribute, one centenary, one book," he said.

Label: Winehouse's 'Bond' Theme 'Speculation'

Amy Winehouse might well be working on the theme song to the next installment of the James Bond series, but her record company is downplaying the move.

Winehouse has been in the studio working with Mark Ronson, producer of her hit sophomore album "Back To Black," an Island Records spokesman confirms.

"She has been doing some work in the studio, but [the Bond theme] is speculation, basically."

Ronson told BBC 6Music that the pair had been working on a track for the upcoming Bond film "Quantum Of Solace." He told the digital station that there was no official guarantee that the fruits of their recording efforts would be included in the action movie, which is due for a theatrical release in November.

"It would be lovely," adds the Island spokesman, "but there's nothing to confirm at this stage."

Another trip to Casino Royale

With an autumn release for the next Bond film Quantum of Solace, MGM is sure to celebrate the way they celebrate all recent Bond releases; a slew of video releases. The first announcement out of the gate is a new three disc release for Casino Royale.

The original 2.40:1 ratio is preserved with an anamorphic widescreen release.

An audio commentary will accompany the film as well. Extras include the featurettes Bond Girls are Forever, Becoming Bond, James Bond for Real, The Road to Casino Royale, Paying Taxes, Rescue and Recovery, Old Boyfriend?, James Bond in the Bahamas, The Art of the Freerun, Death in Venice, Catching a Plane: From Storyboard to screen and Ian Flemming: The Secret Road to Paradise, a music video, filmmaker profiles, storyboards and deleted scenes.

No word on whether the set will also be available in Blu-ray or which of the several slightly different versions of the film will be included when the DVD arrives on June 3rd.

But don't worry, James Bond will return in More Information Soon!

James Bond film to land in Britain one week early

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The movie studio behind the upcoming James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," has moved the British release date forward by one week to October 31, a spokesman for Columbia Pictures said on Wednesday.

The movie, which stars Daniel Craig as British agent 007, remains scheduled to open in North America and much of the rest of the world on November 7.

"Quantum of Solace" is the 22nd film in the long-running movie franchise based on the books by author Ian Fleming about a secret agent who saves the world from villains and almost always gets the girl in the end.

The most recent Bond flick, 2006's "Casino Royale," marked the first time British actor Craig took on the role of Bond. It sold $594 million in tickets worldwide.

Denise Richards Voted Worst Bond Girl Ever

Denise Richards has a curious distinction in the world of 007, but it's one she'd rather live without.

The 36-year-old actress was named the Worst Bond Girl Ever by fans, reports the UK's Daily Mail from an unscientific poll.

Richards played nuclear physicist Christmas Jones (you call her Dr. Jones!), a scientist with a penchant for midriff-baring tanktops and short shorts, in 1999's "The World is Not Enough" opposite Pierce Brosnan playing the British super spy.

One fan commented, "Even Q didn't have a gadget to escape from that disaster."

The second most-hated Bond girl was former "Charlie's Angels"/"That '70s Show" actress Tanya Roberts who played geologist Stacey Sutton in 1985's "A View to a Kill."

The original Bond girl Ursula Andress was named the best for playing Honey Ryder in "Dr. No." Her emergence from the water is an iconic scene. Second in line for praise is ex-"Avengers" star Honor Blackman, who played the colorfully named Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger."

Blackman was noted for "introducing fans to the series' first real woman -- a gorgeous dame who can fly and plane and kick butt as well as coo and woo."

The full lists of Worst and Best Bond Girls:

WORST BOND GIRLS

1. Denise Richards as Dr Christmas Jones in "The World Is Not Enough"
2. Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton in "A View To A Kill"
3. Corrine Clery as Corinne Dufour in "Moonraker"
4. Maryam D'Abo as Kara Milovy in "The Living Daylights"
5. Karin Dor as Helga Brandt in "You Only Live Twice"
6. Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in "The Man With the Golden Gun"
7. Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier in "License to Kill"
8. Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead in "Moonraker"
9. Lynn-Holly Johnson as Lili Bahl in "For Your Eyes Only"
10. Maud Adams as Octopussy in, you guessed it, "Octopussy"

BEST BOND GIRLS

1. Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in "Dr. No"
2. Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger"
3. Diana Rigg as Tracey Divicenzo in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
4. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in "Casino Royale"
5. Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova in "The Spy Who Loved Me"
6. Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp in "Goldeneye"
7. Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin in "Tommorrow Never Dies"
8. Lotte Enya as Rosa Klebb in "From Russia With Love"
9. Jill St. John as Tiffany Case in "Diamonds Are Forever"
10. Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock in "For Your Eyes Only"

Bond to wed in new 007 film?

British actress Gemma Arterton has hinted that James Bond may get married in the upcoming 007 movie, "Quantum of Solace."

The 22-year-old star told a reporter that she and Daniel Craig had been filming scenes in a honeymoon suite for the film.

The surprised journalist asked: "Honeymoon suite?", prompting Arterton to reply: "I think I've said too much."

The actress plays an MI6 agent working at the British consulate in Bolivia in the new Bond film.

It would be the second marriage for Bond -- the spy got hitched in the 1969 movie "On Her Majesty's Service."

"Quantum of Solace" is scheduled to hit theatres in November.

New Bond film titled `Quantum of Solace'

IVER HEATH, England - "Quantum of Solace" is the title of the new James Bond film, the 22nd Bond adventure.

The title was revealed to reporters Thursday at Pinewood Studios outside of London, where the movie is being filmed.

Daniel Craig is returning as Agent 007. He picks up where 2006's "Casino Royale" left off, with Bond contemplating revenge after his betrayal by his true love, Vesper Lynd.

Filming began at Pinewood Studios earlier this month. Location shooting is planned in Austria, Italy and Panama. Judi Dench returns as the MI-6 boss M and Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") plays the villain. Additions to the cast include Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko as mysterious Bond girl Camille.

"Quantum of Solace" is due to open in Britain and the United States on Nov. 7.

Gemma Arterton cast as new "Bond girl"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - British newcomer Gemma Arterton has been cast as the "Bond girl" for the latest installment of the 007 franchise, currently shooting in London, the film's producer said.

The movie, which has the working title of "Bond 22," marks Daniel Craig's second turn as James Bond. Swiss-raised filmmaker Marc Forster ("The Kite Runner") is directing the Columbia Pictures/MGM production.

Details of Arterton's character, known as Fields, were not available, but a representative for the film's Los Angeles-based producer, Danjaq Prods., said "it's a nice-sized role."

Talk of Arterton's casting had been swirling around the blogosphere and in British tabloids since mid-December. Arterton plays a schoolgirl in the comedy "St. Trinian's," which was recently released in Britain.

Daniel Craig Does Five Bonds

Good news on the 007 front with things moving forward fast. Today it was confirmed that Paul Haggis has just handed in his final draft of the "Bond 22" screenplay ahead of the upcoming writer's strike.

Meanwhile MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the studio has signed Daniel Craig to do four more "James Bond" movies after 'Royale'.

This would bring his total to five - just behind Roger Moore (7) and Sean Connery (6), but ahead of Pierce Brosnan (4), Timothy Dalton (2) and George Lazenby (1).

Theme song singers for "Bond 22" are already being talked about with the likes of "X-Factor" winner Leona Lewis and HIM frontman Ville Valo dubiously suggested by the British tabloids this week.

Finally Italy is looking to be a the site of much filming according to MI6 which says that Grand Hotel Gardone and Locanda Punta San Vigilio Hotel on the edge of Lake Garda are to be scouted shortly. The Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps, and Matera in the Basilicata region are apparently set for shoots.

H.I.M. to do next Bond theme?

Rumors are swirling that H.I.M are set to do the theme song for the next James Bond film.

The composers David Arnold and Don Black were allegedly impressed by the band's track "Wings Of A Butterfly."

The duo allegedly got chatting to the frontman Ville Valo at the BMI Awards.

A source told The Daily Star: "David Arnold and Don Black were in deep conversation with Ville on the night. They love the song that won him an award. They think he has just the right ear to write a classic Bond hit with them.

Bond packaging update

The previously announced Bond Ultimate Collector's Set offers no new content, merely a repackaging of the existing box sets and Casino Royale. But new images of the package reveal it is barely that. The new set is merely the existing boxes of the first 20 Bond films and the single DVD of Casino Royale with a shelf to hold them in.

21 Flavors of Bond

MGM is preparing a new box set of all 21 Bond films on DVD arriving later this year.

All the discs from the existing Bond Collector's Sets will be available with their supplemental materials as well.

All films are presented in remastered anamorphic widescreen transfers along with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 surround tracks.

An additional upgrade from some of the older Bond DVDs is the original burned subtitles instead of DVD created ones. The 42 disc set contains all the films from Dr. No through Casino Royale.

Arriving on November 6th, the set will be priced at $239.98.

James Bond's Origin Story Isn't Over

Daniel Craig has been out talking about that next Bond movie. By the way, for those of you keeping track The Bourne Ultimatum had a bigger opening than Craig’s reboot prequel flick. Take that 007.

But, the next Bond film will soldier on anyway, even in the face of overwhelming Bourne supremacy. IGN caught up with Craig, and he tells them that they aren’t done playing around with the whole James Bond origins thing. “I think the process [of how he becomes Bond] is still happening,” he says.

“Bond is still maybe too headstrong and he doesn't make all of the right decisions. I want to continue what we've set up in the last movie.” So expect more Bond bumbling. If that worked for you in the first movie, you should be happy.

Truth be told, Jason Bourne messing up a bad guy by punching him in the neck with a book has raised the stakes for Bond again!

Instead of cars in Bond 22, it looks like James may be riding horses. IGN also dug up a story from TimesOnline.co.uk which indicates that they’re shooting a scene at the Palio, a centuries-old bareback horse race which PETA hates because the riders mounts sometimes have a tendency to drop dead. Whoops. Murdering horses, now that’s certainly a new twist for 007.

The stakes are high in Casino Royale

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is currently preparing the release of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale for release on DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and for the PSP in March.

“Casino Royale” introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to "00" status. "M" (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends the newly-promoted 007 on his first mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually leads him to Montenegro to face Le Chiffre, a ruthless financier under threat from his terrorist clientele, who is attempting to restore his funds in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale.

"M" places Bond under the watchful eye of the Treasury official Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together. Le Chiffre's cunning and cruelty come to bear on them both in a way Bond could never imagine, and he learns his most important lesson: Trust no one.

The 2-disc DVD set will offer up the film in an anamorphic widescreen transfer with over 90 minutes of extras such as the Documentaries “Becoming Bond” and ”James Bond: For Real.” Also included is a new Featurette called “Bond Girls Are Forever” as well as the Chris Cornell Music Video.

The Blu-Ray Disc version of the film will feature a 1080p transfer of the movie, including the same bonus materials, while the UMD version for PSP will contain only the feature film without any extras.

“Casino Royale” will come to stores on March 13 and carry a $28.96 price tag for the DVD and UMD versions and a $38.96 price tag for the Blu-Ray version.

Casino Sets Worldwide Bond Record

Casino Royale has shot past the worldwide record for a James Bond movie, thanks mostly to a strong international performance over the Christmas holiday weekend, reports Variety.

The 21st 007 installment earned $14.5 million at 6,300 theaters overseas during the weekend through Sunday, lifting the foreign total to $304.4 million -- the 41st biggest international gross of all time. It's only the fourth 2006 movie to clear $300 million, joining Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Da Vinci Code and Ice Age: The Meltdown.

With domestic gross near $144 million, "Casino" has a worldwide total of $448 million -- $17 million better than Die Another Day, the previous best Bond performer.

200,000 'Casino Royale' Bootlegs Downloaded, Says Report

From Russia with love -- and perhaps a degree of malice as well -- came the first bootleg copies of Casino Royale, the latest James Bond flick.

According to Envisional, an online company that monitors Internet piracy, a poor-quality copy of the film, apparently captured with a camcorder in a Russian theater, first popped up on Internet file-sharing sites on Friday, the day the movie opened.

But sound and picture quality were said to be poor.

However, on Saturday a higher-quality copy, uploaded in Italy, also became available. By the end of the weekend, the two copies were being spread around, and by Sunday they had been downloaded some 200,000 times, Envisional claimed.

Meanwhile the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America announced Monday that they are launching a joint campaign called Holiday Blitz aimed at fighting movie and music piracy.

The campaign will include heightened security at movie theaters to prevent camcording and a crackdown on bootleg production. The trade organizations said Monday that during last year's Holiday Blitz some 1.3 million illegal CDs and DVDs were confiscated.

Bond is back for London world premiere

LONDON - Fans lined up in the London rain Tuesday to catch a glimpse of the new blond Bond, as sandy-haired Daniel Craig made his screen debut as suave secret agent 007.

"Casino Royale," the 21st James Bond film and the grittiest to date, was receiving its world premiere before an audience including Queen Elizabeth II. The movie opens in Britain and North America on Friday.

Stars including Elton John and Beyonce Knowles were expected in the audience in London's Leicester Square for Craig's date with double-O destiny.

Craig, 38, is already being praised in some quarters as the best Bond since Sean Connery, who originated the role in 1962's "Dr. No." His debut has restored the buzz around a franchise that many felt was past its prime.

"With `Casino Royale,' we've not only got a new Bond, we've also got a new approach to the genre," said James Chapman, author of "Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films." "It's revisionist. It's going back to the roots of Bond's character."

The buzz is quite a turnaround. Last year's announcement that Craig would be the sixth actor to play Bond triggered gripes from many fans of the franchise, which has earned an estimated $4 billion worldwide. They said Craig — whose recent screen credits include "Munich" and "The Jacket" — was too blond, too craggy, too obscure to play the world's greatest spy.

An anti-Craig Web site — www.danielcraigisnotbond.com — urged a boycott of the movie. Craig supporters hit back with http://danielcraigisbond.com.

An adaptation of Ian Fleming's first-ever Bond novel, "Casino Royale," was previously filmed as a 1967 spoof starring Peter Sellers. It is one of the few Bond adventures not to feature the MI6 gadget-maker Q or the sharp-witted secretary Miss Moneypenny, although Judi Dench is a welcome return as spy master M.

The Sony Pictures film retains many of the essential Bond elements, including sharp suits, gravity-defying chase sequences and spectacular locations that range from the Bahamas to Montenegro.

But the screenplay, partly written by "Crash" writer-director Paul Haggis, provides a grittier-than-usual take on Bond, showing how he earns his license to kill. When asked if he prefers his martini shaken or stirred, he replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?"

Judging by early reviews, many of the doubters have been won over.

"His sex appeal is off the scale," said critic Wendy Ide in The Times of London.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw praised Craig's "effortless presence and lethal danger."

"Daniel Craig is a fantastic Bond," he wrote.

Craig has already signed up for the 22nd Bond film, due for release in November 2008.

4 New boxes for 007

As it seems to happen each time a Bond film comes out, a new series of box sets of the superspy are available. There is no exception for the upcoming release of Casino Royale this winter. The twenty current Bond titles will be released in four sets this fall and winter as new two-disc ultimate editions from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Volumes 1 and 2 will arrive on Nobember 7th.

Vol. 1 will contain Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, The Man With The Golden Gun and The World Is Not Enough.

Vol. 2 will include Die Another Day, License To Kill, The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball and A View To A Kill.

Volumes 3 and 4 arrive on Devember 12th and Vol. 3 includes Goldeneye, Live And Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Vol. 4 includes Dr. No, You Only Live Twice, Octopussy, Tomorrow Never Dies and Moonraker.

Again, no real order to the titles releases, so fans will likley rearrange them into whatever order they like, and for the pretty box lovers, there will be no room for Casino Royale.

Ah well. The supplements haven't been fully announced, but each title will be completely remastered and will be presented in anamorphic widescreen and DTS 5.1 sound.

Plenty of new supplements are available as well, but no word on how much of the extensive extras from the existnig sets will be available.

New 007 shaken up by fan backlash

NEW YORK (AP) - Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, wants critics to give him a chance.

"If I went onto the Internet and started looking at what some people were saying about me - which, sadly, I have done - it would drive me insane," the British actor says in an interview in Entertainment Weekly magazine, on newsstands Friday.

"They hate me. They don't think I'm right for the role. It's as simple as that. They're passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they'd reserve judgment."

A group of James Bond fans have launched a website, www.craignotbond.com, to protest Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan in the 007 film franchise, and to boycott Casino Royale, slated for release Nov. 17.

The fair-haired Craig, whose screen credits include roles in Munich and Layer Cake, was tapped last October to play the secret-agent icon.

While filming Casino Royale, the 38-year-old actor was uneasy about uttering those famous words, "The name is Bond, James Bond."

"People kept asking, 'Have you done the line yet?"' Craig tells the magazine.

"But honestly, I didn't rehearse it at all. I didn't practice it in the mirror every morning or anything like that. I didn't want to even think about saying it because I didn't want it to be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on with it and not blow it."

Craig decided to take Bond in a new direction.

"I watched every single Bond movie three or four times, taking in everything I could about how the character had been portrayed in the past, then threw all that away once I started doing the role," Craig says.

"There's no point in making this movie unless it's different. It'd be a waste of time unless we took Bond to a place he'd never been before."

Fire chars British set of new Bond film

LONDON - A large fire seriously damaged the set of the latest James Bond movie Sunday, caving in the roof of a sound stage transformed into a replica of Venice for the production of "Casino Royale."

Pinewood Shepperton, the studio complex where the fire erupted, said filming for the Bond production had been completed.

"Its film sets were in the process of being removed," the studio said in a statement.

The cause of the fire was unknown. Three people who had been inside Pinewood Studios, about 20 miles west of London, were not hurt.

The Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said several cylinders of flammable gas exploded during the blaze, which took eight fire engines to extinguish.

Television footage showed a thick cloud of black smoke rising from the building, whose roof burned and at least partly collapsed.

"It is just a complete mess," fire department spokesman Fraser Pearson said from the scene. "I would say the whole building has been damaged by the fire. It is still smoking quite badly."

"Casino Royale" is the first Bond film featuring actor Daniel Craig in the title role, replacing Pierce Brosnan.

The 007 soundstage, which was built for the filming of Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me," burned down when gasoline canisters exploded in 1984. It was rebuilt two years ago.

In 2005, a Pinewood Shepperton studio soundstage served as a replica of the Louvre art museum for the "Da Vinci Code."

007 Producers Already Planning "Bond 22"

Producers of the next highly anticipated Bond film have already begun making plans for the new 007's follow-up film, tentatively titled, "Bond 22."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the U.K. based Eon Productions is in talks to re-unite director Roger Michell with Daniel Craig, for his next mission for the British Secret Service - and it's not exactly top-secret.

The 22nd James Bond film would be Michell and Craig's third time working together, after 2004's drama/thriller Enduring Love which followed 2003's romance/drama, The Mother.

The story for Craig's next spy thrill-ride is being developed by producer Michael Wilson, who last wrote License to Kill, as well as penned the screenplays for The Living Daylights, A View to a Kill, Octopussy and For Your Eyes Only.

The famous secret agent's latest movie, Casino Royale, which brings Bond back to the beginning, hits theaters November 17th.

BLOND BOND SPEAKS

Daniel Craig defending his casting as James Bond to detractors who have threatened to boycott the upcoming Casino Royale because they think he was a poor choice for the part. "I'm a Bond fan," Craig told the BBC. "If I go and see a Bond movie, there are certain things I think should be in it. And they're there."

Blond Bond stirred by criticism, but not shaken

NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) - Is the next James Bond too blond for Her Majesty's Secret Service? Stricken by heat rash? Licensed to kill but not licensed to drive the famous stick-shift Aston Martin sports car?

Hounded by mounting criticism -- even a threatened boycott -- for picking a blond actor to play the part of the world's most famous dark-haired spy, the makers of the next James Bond movie "Casino Royale" this week assured 007 fans that ruggedly handsome Englishman Daniel Craig will be everything they have come to expect, and perhaps more.

Yes, Craig did lose or chip a tooth during filming in Prague, but it did not stop production, the actor told reporters. No, he did not suffer from excruciating heat rash in the Bahamas. And of course, an Englishman is perfectly capable of driving a manual gear car.

"You go mad if you believe any of it (the criticism)," Craig, 38, told reporters on Wednesday after distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment Co. and producers EON Productions invited journalists to the Bahamas movie set to counter some of the Internet and newspaper nattering.

"You can't believe the good stuff. You can't believe the bad stuff. You kind of just take it in. But I'm focused on making this film."

Craig, whose character famously likes his vodka martini shaken, not stirred, acknowledged the criticism had heightened the pressure on him.

"I've been trying to give 110 percent from the beginning and maybe after that (the criticism), I was trying to give 115 percent," he said. "But I mean, I'm giving everything I can."

Casino Royale goes back to Bond's roots, when he makes his first two assassinations and earns the 00 status that gives him a license to kill. Published in 1953, it was the first book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series.

BOND FRANCHISE

It was the need for a fresh start and a younger face that made the film makers dump Pierce Brosnan, the most successful 007 to date, said producer Barbara Broccoli, whose family owns EON Productions and the Bond movie franchise.

The stakes in gambling on an untested James Bond are huge. The last Bond movie, 2002's "Die Another Day," with Brosnan and actress Halle Berry, grossed more than $425 million in worldwide ticket sales.

In all, the 20 official Bond movies including the first, "Dr. No" starring Sean Connery that was released in 1962, have grossed almost $4 billion.

At the same time, two of the five actors who have played the part so far -- Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby -- are barely remembered by mainstream cinemagoers.

Broccoli and casting director Debbie McWilliams said Craig had been their choice the minute they started the search.

"Once we started looking for someone, I really thought that Daniel would be the perfect guy and I think everybody will agree once they see the movie," Broccoli said. "I think he's the right man for the job."

But the choice has been a tough sell.

A new Web site, craignotbond.com, has even called on die-hard 007 fans to boycott the movie when it's released in November. Other sites have run exposes of set mishaps.

"The truth is if you don't get bruised doing Bond, you're not doing it properly," Craig said.

But like all publicity, even the criticism of Craig has a plus side.

"People are, thank goodness, in a way still incredibly interested," said casting director McWilliams. "Virtually a day doesn't go by where we don't read something about James Bond in a newspaper and that can only be good for us I think."

Will Eva Green escape the 'Bond curse'?

A little bit Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me) and a little bit Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only), French actress Eva Green definitely has the decolletage to be a Bond girl.

But according to one school of thought, the relative unknown -- who was announced last week to play original Bond girl Vesper Lynd opposite newly crowned James Bond Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (which opens Nov. 17) -- is now doomed to stay a relative unknown.

Green's previous major exposure has been as Orlando Bloom's love interest in the big-budget Crusades bomb Kingdom Of Heaven. So careerwise, she is a blank slate.

But as blank as Lois Chiles, who played Holly Goodhead in Moonraker? Or Lana Wood who played Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever?

Whether there's a career-killing "Bond curse" or not (and there are enough post-Bond success stories to at least poke holes in the theory), the latter-day Bond era of big-name leading ladies appears to be over.

The part of Vesper, Bond's tragic one true love according to the Ian Fleming books, was reportedly turned down by the likes of Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, Thandie Newton and Canadian girl Rachel McAdams.

Is it the bimbo factor? If so, it's an unfair rap if you consider Bond girls pre- and post- what I consider the null-point of Bond and his Girls -- The Living Daylights.

TLD, you may recall, was the film that introduced Timothy Dalton as a humourless Bond. Released at the height of the AIDS scare, it was the first film in which Bond became a one-woman man (girl next door Maryam D'Abo as the cello-playing Kara Milovy), and the first in which it's suggested he doesn't sleep with his leading lady or anybody else.

Listen, you don't want a guy with a licence to kill getting cranky.

James and Kara ride a Ferris wheel. They hug and hold hands. They might as well have cast Timothy Hutton.

Before? Well, there was a bit of Austin Powers in Bond lines like, "There's something I want you to get off your chest" (Diamonds Are Forever). And perhaps a touch of misogyny in how quickly he moves on after a bedmate is poisoned by his side (You Only Live Twice). But it was the times, and the role of Bond girl was that of sex kitten.

After? As often as not, Bond girls kicked more butt (Grace Slick, Famke Janssen, Michelle Yeoh), and toyed with Bond as much as he used to toy with the likes of Tiffany Case. So maybe Angelina et al are just paying heed to Halle Berry's inauspicious post-Bond career (Catwoman? Gothika?).

You don't want your last words, careerwise, to be: "Oh, James!"

Herewith, some of our fave Bond babes, and the "curse" analyzed:

MAUD ADAMS

as Andrea Anders (The Man With The

Golden Gun) and Octopussy (Octopussy)

Post Bond career highlights

Was rumoured to have actually had sex on screen with Bruce Dern in Tattoo. Returned to Bond in an uncredited role in A View To A Kill as "Woman In Fisherman's Wharf Crowd."

Cursed? Yes

URSULA ANDRESS

as Honey Rider (Dr. No)

Post Bond career highlights

Played Aphrodite in Clash Of The Titans. TV series appearances include The Love Boat, Manimal and Falcon Crest.

Cursed? Yes

CLAUDINE AUGER

as Domino Derval (Thunderball)

Post Bond career highlights

"Stays busy" working in TV and film in France, Italy and Spain.

No awards to speak of.

Cursed? Yes

BARBARA BACH

as Anya Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me)

Post Bond career highlights

Married Ringo Starr, starred with him in Caveman (but lost him in the movie to Shelley Long).

Cursed? Yes

KIM BASINGER

as Domino Patacchi (Never Say Never Again)

Post Bond career highlights

Won an Oscar for L.A. Confidential.

Battling it out with Halle Berry for Worst Post-Oscar career -- and with Alec Baldwin for worst Hollywood marriage breakup.

Cursed? No

HONOR BLACKMAN

as Pussy Galore (Goldfinger)

Post Bond career highlights

Won acclaim in a '60s production of Wait Until Dark. Played Penny Husbands-Bosworth in Bridget Jones' Diary. Recently played recurring character Rula Romanoff on Coronation Street. Has a one-woman stage show Wayward Ladies.

Cursed? No

TERI HATCHER

as Paris Carver (Tomorrow Never Dies)

Post Bond career highlights

Sidra, the girl on Seinfeld whose breasts are "real ... and they're fabulous!" Currently stars as Susan Mayer in some show about housewives whose state of mind is usually, um, what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh yeah, Desperate!

Cursed? No

FAMKE JANSSEN

as Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye)

Post Bond career highlights

Plays Dr. Jean Grey in the X-Men movies -- a character who apparently can't be killed (talk about job security).

Dated Ben Affleck. Survived that, too.

Cursed? No

GRACE JONES

as May Day (A View To A Kill)

Post Bond career highlights

Co-starred with Chris Makepeace

in the vampire movie Vamp. Played

Helen Strange opposite Eddie Murphy and Robin Givens in the laugh-a-minute chortlefest Boomerang.

Cursed? Yes

JANE SEYMOUR

as Solitaire (Live And Let Die)

Post Bond career highlights

Gave up tarot cards, got her medical degree and spent six seasons as Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. Played villainess

Genevieve Teague in Smallville.

Cursed? No

JILL ST. JOHN

as Tiffany Case (Diamonds Are Forever)

Post Bond career highlights

Played Sylvia Maxwell on Hart To Hart.

Did a Love Boat AND a Fantasy Island.

Dated Henry Kissinger.

Married Robert Wagner.

Cursed? Yes

MICHELLE YEOH

as Wai Lin (Tomorrow Never Dies)

Post Bond career highlights

Been in one or two movies you might have heard of, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs Of A Geisha, and is the highest paid actress in Asia.

Cursed? No

Roger Moore defends new 007

TORONTO (CP) - It took an old Bond to come to the rescue of the new Bond.

Roger Moore, who played Agent 007 in seven of the James Bond movies, said Wednesday that critics of the film franchise's new star, Daniel Craig, should give him a chance. "He's a helluva good actor," said Moore, 78, noting that critics haven't even seen Craig in the role yet. "So why attack him?"

A group of James Bond fans has launched a website (www.craignotbond.com) to protest the hiring of Craig to replace Pierce Brosnan in Casino Royale, now shooting in Prague.

The blond Craig, whose film work includes Munich and The Jacket, has so offended the fans they say they'll boycott the film unless EON Productions and Sony Pictures admit they've made a big mistake.

Moore suggested the group was merely trying to attract people to their website, which says producers had refused to meet the price demanded for the role from Brosnan or other candidates like Hugh Jackman and Clive Owen.

Moore, meanwhile, will be in Quebec City this weekend to take part in a charity film festival called Vue sur Bond 007, organized by filmmaker Hilary Saltzman, daughter of Canadian-born Harry Saltzman. The senior Saltzman, who died in 1994, was, along with Albert Broccoli, the co-producer of most of the early Bond films.

In a recent interview, Hilary Saltzman was also eager to defend Craig, saying she's excited about seeing him in the role.

"When I saw Munich. . .every time Daniel Craig was onscreen that's who you're watching. And I thought 'my god, they've got something very interesting there'."

Also in attendance at Vue sur Bond will be several other celebrities known to 007 fans, including actors Richard (Jaws) Kiel and Britt Ekland, director Guy Hamilton and singer Shirley Bassey.

The festival has three purposes: to honour the senior Saltzman, to draw attention to his daughter's upcoming Festival of the Three Americas - which showcases little-known films from Latin America - and to make a donation to UNICEF (Moore is a goodwill ambassador and was in town Wednesday to attend the release of a report on child health).

Moore said he agreed to show up at the Bond festival because Saltzman asked him on behalf of both her father and UNICEF.

He also dismissed suggestions Wednesday that Bond is obsolete in a post-Cold War, post-9-11 world where real terrorists like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have trivialized such Bondian super-villains and organizations as Goldfinger, Blofeld and SMERSH.

"It's fantasy," counters Moore. "Bond is fantasy, there's no real substance to it. It's a figment of imagination. . .sort of crazy, you know, a spy who is recognized wherever he goes. Spies ain't like that."

Saltzman concurred.

"There's a threat to the world and there's one man out there that can save us. And actually I think right now people want to go to that fantasy world."

She also thought it was a "huge coup" on the part of the producers that they snagged Canadian screenwriter Paul Haggis - who is up for a couple of Oscars for his work on Crash - to work on the script.

Angry Bond Fans Threaten to Boycott Film

NEW YORK - They're shaken, stirred and just plain angry. And several months late with their response. A group of James Bond fans have launched a Web site, www.craignotbond.com to protest British actor Daniel Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan in the 007 film franchise, and boycott the upcoming Bond movie "Casino Royale."

The fair-haired Craig, whose recent screen credits include "Munich" and "The Jacket," was tapped last October to play the secret-agent icon.

"EON Productions angered fans around the world when they fired Pierce Brosnan at the height of his popularity as Bond," said a statement on the site. "To add insult to injury, EON cast a short, blond, odd-looking Daniel Craig in the role of Bond."

"Craig, described by The New York Times as having a 'pale, flattened face and large, fleshy ears' is a terrible choice for Bond. If EON Productions and Sony Pictures will not accept they've made a big mistake, then Bond fans promise to boycott Casino Royale!"

Calls by The Associated Press to EON Productions and a representative for Craig were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

Brosnan stepped into the shoes of dashing predecessors Sean Connery and Roger Moore to play a blue-eyed, dark-haired Bond in "Tomorrow Never Dies," "The World Is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day."

In its statement, the Web site claimed EON did not want to pay for Brosnan or other high-profile actors Hugh Jackman and Clive Owen as replacements.

French actress Eva Green named next "Bond girl"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Makers of the upcoming James Bond movie "Casino Royale" have cast little-known French actress Eva Green as the next femme fatale to pair up with British agent 007, distributor Columbia Pictures said on Thursday.

Green, 25, who made her 2003 film debut in "The Dreamers," about a French brother and sister who befriend a young American during the Paris student riots of 1968, will play the enticing Vesper Lynd opposite English actor Daniel Craig in his first performance as Bond.

Last year, she appeared in the big-screen crusades drama "Kingdom of Heaven."

In landing the coveted role of the next "Bond girl," the French actress edged out a list of contenders reported in the Hollywood trade press to have included Oscar winner Charlize Theron, as well as Thandie Newton, Olivia Wilde and Kimberly Davies.

The Sony Corp.-owned studio also announced that Danish-born actor Mads Mikkelsen had signed on to play Bond's villainous nemesis Le Chiffre. American actor Jeffrey Wright, who co-starred in "Syriana," has joined the "Casino Royale" cast as undercover CIA agent Felix Leiter.

Production on "Casino Royale," the 21st movie in the multibillion-dollar Bond film franchise that began with "Dr. No" in 1962, started on January 21 in Prague, and the movie is slated for release in November. Other production locations will include the Bahamas, Italy and Britain.

The film, directed by Martin Campbell, is being adapted from the 1953 Ian Fleming novel that introduced the Bond character.

Craig, the latest actor to fill the tuxedo of the British spy with a license to kill, was named in October to assume the role from Pierce Brosnan, who starred in the last four Bond movies.

The most recent film, 2002's "Die Another Day," which paired Brosnan with actress Halle Berry, grossed more than $425 million in worldwide ticket sales.

'Casino Royale' Finally Finds Its Villain

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- Mads Mikkelsen would be a fantastic name for a villain in a James Bond film. Before that happens, though, the Danish actor of that name will play La Chiffre, 007's main adversary in the upcoming "Casino Royale."

According to media reports, Mikkelsen's casting, long rumored in the Danish press, was confirmed by the "Royale" filmmakers at a press conference held Wednesday (Jan. 15) in Prague, where shooting on "Casino Royale" has already begun.

In Fleming's novel, La Chiffre is a fascinating and abhorrent character, a debauched pornographer, pimp, gambler and Holocaust survivor. His unappealing physical description also makes him an odd match with Mikkelsen, whose IMDb bio notes is often listed among Denmark's most attractive men.

The 40-year-old Mikkelsen may be vaguely familiar to international audiences from his small role in "King Arthur" and a larger part in "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself." His big break came in 1996's "Pusher."

While the casting announcement on Mikkelsen ends one endlessly speculated "Casino Royale" question, James Bond remains without a love interest. Director Martin Campbell made no effort to put a stop to the suspense about which actress will play the mysterious Vesper Lynde. The most recent buzz has centered on Eva Green ("The Dreamers") and Olivia Wilde ("The O.C.").

Stay tuned, as we like to say. They've just got to cast somebody eventually.

Wanted: 007 Babe & Baddie

James Bond likes his women beautiful, his nemeses megalomaniacal and his martinis shaken, not stirred. These days he's drinking alone.

Filming on the new 007 adventure, Casino Royale, kicked off last Friday in the Czech capital of Prague with newcomer Daniel Craig taking over for Pierce Brosnan as the suave secret agent. But intelligence sources reveal Bond is currently sans babe and baddie.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers made the decision to roll cameras on the long-delayed film in order to make a planned holiday release date--even though the two key components of a Bond film are notably missing in action.

For now, their absence is being handled by shooting around them. Crucial scenes featuring the would-be villain and Bond's latest paramour aren't scheduled to be filmed for at least a month, leaving coproducers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli and director Martin Campbell a little wiggle room.

"They're talking to three to four girls right now," Casino scribe Paul Haggis, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Million Dollar Baby and is nominated again this year for writing and directing Crash, told the Reporter. "Every week I read there's a new Bond girl, and I call them and they say, 'No, you idiot.' "

The trade reports Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2) and Rachel McAdams (Red Eye and The Wedding Crashers) are the several high-profile actresses currently in the running to join the pantheon of Bond babe. (The sometime rumored likes of Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, however, are not serious contenders.)

As for the next bad guy, the Casino brain trust is reportedly much closer to cast that role than the love interest, but no names have specifically mentioned by reliable sources.

The announcement of Craig as the sixth actor to don the tuxedo was made with great fanfare at an October press conference. But because it took so long to cast the role, the production was delayed from November to January.

Campbell & Co. promised Casino Royale, the 21st installment in cinema's longest running and most successful series, would take the iconic character back to his roots. The film is said to feature a character-driven script exploring Bond's past and eschewing the big special-effects and gadgets that have come to define the later Bond flicks, particularly the ones starring Brosnan and Roger Moore.

The director, who also helmed GoldenEye, Brosnan's first outing as Bond, said Casino Royale will show 007 at age of 28, when he's just starting out on Her Majesty's Secret Service, and purportedly explain such mysteries as to why he likes his vodka martinis prepared incorrectly. It will also be the first Bond mission since Live and Let Die not to feature the character of Q, most recently played by John Cleese.

Neither the Bond production company, the U.K.-based Eon Productions, nor its U.S.-based studio, MGM, would comment on the casting situation.

However, one Hollywood agent with an inside track on Casino's casting told the Reporter that Sony, the film's distributor, will probably have to cough up a lot of dough to get the actors given the fact that shooting has already begun.

"To be that exposed is unheard of," the agent said. "[The actor or actress] can have them over a barrel. Not to have your two principal leads [by now] is awfully strange."

With the amount of money at stake, a tight deadline and the prestige of the franchise in the balance, producers are expected to be willing to spend as much as needed to secure the right actors.

After the Czech Republic, production moves to the Bahamas, Italy and Pinewood Studios near London. Casino Royale is being targeted for a Nov. 17, 2006 release.

Byrne To Be Bond Girl?

Australian actress Rose Byrne is poised to become Daniel Craig's first ever James Bond girl.

There has been much speculation about the identity of Vespa Lynd, 007's love interest in Casino Royale, Craig's first movie as the world's most famous secret agent. A number of famous females including Sienna Miller, Rachael Stirling and Natasha Henstridge have been linked with the movie, most recently Mission: Impossible III star Thandie Newton.

But a spokesperson for 26-year-old Byrne insists "it's fairly certain" the brunette will be cast, according to Moviehole.net. Byrne has previously appeared in Troy as Brad Pitt's love interest and Wicker Park.

Theron Steps In As Bond Babe Favorite?

Charlize Theron has reportedly replaced Angelina Jolie as director Martin Campbell's first choice for the latest Bond girl role.

The Monster star has bewitched Campbell and executives at Sony, according to website Scotsman.com, and now she's the favorite to follow in the footsteps of Bond babes like Honor Blackman, Jane Seymour and Teri Hatcher.

If selected, the South African beauty would become the second actress to star in a Bond film following an Oscar win - Halle Berry appeared in Die Another Day after picking up a golden statue for her role in Monster's Ball.

Jolie has reportedly been offered the role of Vesper Lynd in the new 007 adventure, Casino Royale, but suggested the character should be "toughened up."

Sean Connery OKs New James Bond

LONDON - Sean Connery thinks a blond Bond is just fine.

The former 007 says Daniel Craig is a "terrific choice" as the new British superspy.

Some eyebrows were raised in October when producers cast the sandy-haired, relatively unknown Craig in the next James Bond film, "Casino Royale."

But Connery, 75, told British Broadcasting Corp. television that he approved.

"Craig's a great choice, really interesting — different," Connery said in comments released Friday by the broadcaster. The full interview is due to air Monday.

"He's a good actor. It's a completely new departure," he added.

The respect is mutual. Craig told a news conference in October that Connery was his favorite 007.

Connery was the first actor to play Bond, appearing in six films beginning with "Dr. No" in 1962 and ending in 1971 with "Diamonds Are Forever."

Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have also starred as the womanizing, gadget-loving spy.

Connery said he'd left the role in part "because I got really fed up with the space stuff and special effects. I just found it getting more and more influential in the movies."

"Casino Royale" is due in theaters next November.

Angelina Jolie Unhappy Over Role Offered For "Casino Royale"

007 movie producers are apparently trying to make Angelina Jolie happy, in hopes of snagging her as the next Bond girl.

According to Bang media, Casino Royale filmmakers have their sights set on the Oscar winning actress for the role of Russian agent Vesper Lynd, however the 30-year-old actress isn't thrilled about the character.

Although Jolie recently admitted to a "lifetime ambition" of playing a 007 villain but after reading the script for the upcoming film, the Tomb Raider star feels the female character isn't fierce enough. One insider says, "Angelina would rather play a baddie than eye candy."

Craig Was First Choice Bond

Daniel Craig was the producers' first choice to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, dispelling reports that the prestigious role had been turned down by other actors during the protracted selection process.

Producer Michael G. Wilson told Friday's press conference in London that he spent two years searching for the new British superspy, and a host of contenders including Clive Owen, Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor were not offered the part in Casino Royale.

Wilson said, "(Daniel Craig) was the only one we offered the film to. There's been some speculation that we offered it to other people but that's not accurate."

The 37-year-old, who will be the first blond Bond, is expected to portray a stripped down Bond in what is expected to be a darker exploration of the world of espionage. Craig added, "I want to take Bond somewhere he's never been before."

Moneypenny and Q Axed from 'Casino Royale'

Producers of the forthcoming James Bond movie Casino Royale have axed the legendary Miss Moneypenny character.

Moneypenny, who has waved the suave super-spy off on some of his most perilous missions, been written out of the new film because she only fleetingly appears in Ian Fleming's original novel.

Gadget-inventor Q, last played by John Cleese will also be absent from the new film - in which British actor Daniel Craig will play 007 for the first time.

The news is the biggest indication the new film will deviate substantially from the spirit of previous Bond adventures.

Co-producer Michael G. Wilson confirms, "Neither Miss Moneypenny nor Q will appear.

Neither of them are in the book. The film will update the novel but stick very closely to the storyline."

English actor Craig named as first blond Bond

LONDON (Reuters) - His name is Craig, Daniel Craig.

The English actor was named as the next James Bond on Friday, ending months of speculation over who would take over from Pierce Brosnan on Her Majesty's secret service.

In typically flamboyant 007 style, the 37-year-old swept up the River Thames on a power launch to a news conference, escorted by Royal Marines boats.

The first blond Bond, wearing a blue suit and red tie, posed for photos in the shadow of Tower Bridge and told reporters: "I'm kind of speechless at the moment."

The casting of one of cinema's most iconic characters closes the successful four-film run of Irishman Brosnan, who was shaken and stirred not to be retained to make "Casino Royale," the 21st Bond film, that starts shooting in January.

The 52-year-old described the decision by the Bond franchise makers to drop him as a "body blow."

"I was looking forward to making it edgier and grittier, and for all of that to go down in one phone call was highly disappointing," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Craig was the hot favorite in the runup to Friday's announcement, and his appointment was all but confirmed when his mother let the secret slip to a regional newspaper on Friday.

While little known in the United States, Craig will be more familiar to British audiences after appearing in the gangster caper "Layer Cake."

He also played alongside Paul Newman in "Road to Perdition" and was poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's Sylvia Plath in "Sylvia." But it is the Bond role that could catapult him into superstardom.

Other actors rumored to have been approached to play 007 include Britons Clive Owen and Jude Law, Australia's Hugh Jackman and Croatia's Goran Visnjic.

SIXTH BOND

Only five actors have played Bond since the first film, "Dr. No," more than 40 years ago. Brosnan, Sean Connery and Roger Moore were well-loved mainstays as the secret agent, while George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton were less successful.

For the filmmakers, there is more at stake than how to prepare Bond's Martini.

Not only is the character a national institution in Britain, but he is also one of history's most profitable film franchises.

The 20 official Bond films have netted nearly $4 billion in global ticket sales, of which Brosnan's four films grossed around $1.5 billion, industry figures show.

Media have reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Hollywood backers of the new Bond film "Casino Royale" along with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc, were keen to keep Brosnan, mindful of his box office clout.

But Web sites devoted to all things Bond say producer Barbara Broccoli wanted fresh blood, with the plot of Casino returning to the start of the spy's career and therefore requiring a younger actor.

New Zealand-born director Martin Campbell will helm Casino, as he did "GoldenEye" in 1995.

Brosnan first played Bond in "GoldenEye" and last appeared in "Die Another Day" in 2002.

"Casino Royale" backers set date to name new Bond

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - James Bond, 007, is back. Or, at least he will be on Friday.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Hollywood studio backing new Bond film "Casino Royale,"said on Wednesday that the actor who will portray the suave secret agent with a license to kill would be named at a news conference in London on October 14.

No further details were disclosed, and the mystery remains over who will star in the film franchise that has grossed nearly $4 billion at global box offices since the first Bond flick, "Dr. No," hit the silver screen in 1962.

Reports in London have identified English actor Daniel Craig, who recently starred in the gangster film, "Layer Cake," as the new Bond, but that could not be confirmed.

The new actor will succeed Pierce Brosnan, who first donned Bond's tuxedo for 1995's "Goldeneye" and ended his run with 2002's "Die Another Day."

Four others have portrayed Bond. Sean Connery and Roger Moore had successful outings as the secret agent while George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton bombed in the role.

"Casino Royale" is scheduled to begin production in January and is expected to be in movie theaters in the fall of 2006.

Bond favorite emerges, but 007 mystery persists

LOS ANGELES/LONDON (Reuters) - The makers of the next James Bond movie are doing their best to keep the identity of the man who will play 007 a secret but a new favorite emerged on Tuesday: English actor Daniel Craig.

Just days ahead of an expected official announcement, Craig was named as the first "blond Bond" in a report in the Daily Mail. The paper said Craig even underwent a screen test wearing a tuxedo and passed with flying colors.

British bookmaker William Hill closed wagers on Bond after bettors rushed to back Craig thanks in part to the report.

Hill had taken bets on no less than 39 pretenders for the part, several "winners" have been named in recent months and media and Bond Web sites have been awash with gossip.

At U.S.-based online movie ticket seller Fandango.com, fans gave Craig only a one percent shot at being 007. Englishman Jason Statham, star of "Transporter 2," topped the Fandangolist with a 33 percent chance.

Dozens of others have been mentioned as possible successors to current Bond Pierce Brosnan, including Britons Clive Owen and Jude Law, Australia's Hugh Jackman and Croatia's Goran Visnjic.

With shooting of the 21st Bond film, "Casino Royale," due to begin in January, speculation has only intensified. A delay in announcing the casting has been portrayed as a crisis that could cause costly production delays.

Craig's agent in London declined to comment, and a spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which will release the film, said the company did not comment on rumors.

"The decision hasn't been made yet. They are casting and that takes however long it takes," was the reply from an EON spokeswoman clearly tiring of fielding the same question.

Only five actors have donned 007's tuxedo since the first film, "Dr. No," more than 40 years ago, when Scotsman Sean Connery played the suave secret agent with a license to kill. For the filmmakers there is more at stake than how to prepare Bond's martini (shaken, not stirred).

THE BOND BRAND

Not only is Bond a national institution in Britain, but he is also one of history's most profitable film franchises. It has netted nearly $4 billion in ticket sales of which Brosnan's four films grossed $1.5 billion, industry figures show.

Hollywood producers and directors familiar with casting an iconic action hero like Bond say a relative unknown was most likely to take over.

Avi Arad, who runs Marvel Studios with its "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" movies, said the main criterion for his heroes was simply an ability to act, and that big stars were unnecessary for such a strong brand name as Marvel.

The same could be said of Bond or Batman.

"It's such an iconic franchise and such a huge part of American culture," John Papsidera, casting director for "Batman Begins," said of the caped crusader.

"Inherently, (the filmmakers) felt the audience would be there as long as we didn't screw it up."

In the end, Christian Bale, who honed his acting skills in independent films like "The Machinist" and "American Psycho," was chosen and proved a critical and commercial hit as Batman.

Brosnan has said he would be willing to play Bond for a fifth time, and experts believe that Sony, mindful of the Irishman's box office clout, would welcome him back.

But Web sites devoted to all things Bond say producer Barbara Broccoli wants fresh blood, with Casino Royale returning to the start of the spy's career on Her Majesty's secret service.

James Page, director of Bond Web site (www.mi6.co.uk), agreed Brosnan was likely to be replaced with a lesser known actor. "They did this with Sean Connery originally. Roger Moore was the only (Bond) actor who came in with any stature in the film industry," he said.

007 secret safe so far as James Bond casting looms

LOS ANGELES/LONDON (Reuters) - Aptly enough for the world's most famous spy, the decision on who replaces Pierce Brosnan as the next James Bond remains a mystery just weeks, possibly days, ahead of an official announcement.

Shooting of the 21st Bond film, "Casino Royale," is due to begin in January, and British media and countless Bond fan sites have for months been reporting leaks, rumors and gossip about who will be next to don the "007" tuxedo.

Some media portray the delay in casting as a crisis that could cause costly production delays.

Only five actors have played Bond since Sean Connery took on Dr. No over 40 years ago. Dozens of actors have been linked with the role in recent months, including Englishmen Clive Owen and Jude Law, Australia's Hugh Jackman and Croatia's Goran Visnjic.

Daniel Craig is a favorite as the finishing post nears.

For the filmmakers there is more at stake than how to prepare a martini (shaken, not stirred).

Not only is Bond a national institution in Britain, but one of history's most profitable film franchises. It has netted nearly $4 billion in ticket sales of which Brosnan's four films grossed $1.5 billion, industry figures show.

The next film's Hollywood backers, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and EON Productions, which is making "Casino Royale" next year, have remained silent on who will take over as the super-spy.

"The decision hasn't been made yet. They are casting and that takes however long it takes," was the reply from an EON spokeswoman clearly tiring of fielding the same question.

Producers and directors familiar with casting an iconic action hero like Bond say a relative unknown is most likely.

Avi Arad, who runs Marvel Studios with its "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" movies, said the main criterion for his heroes was simply an ability to act, and that big stars were unnecessary for such a strong brand name as Marvel.

BRAND, NOT THE MAN

The same could be said of Bond or Batman.

"It's such an iconic franchise and such a huge part of American culture," John Papsidera, casting director for "Batman Begins," said of the caped crusader.

"Inherently, (the filmmakers) felt the audience would be there as long as we didn't screw it up."

In the end, Christian Bale, who honed his acting skills in independent films like "The Machinist" and "American Psycho," was chosen and proved a critical and commercial hit as Batman.

Brosnan has said he would be willing to play Bond for a fifth time, and experts believe that Sony, mindful of the Irishman's box office clout, would welcome him back.

But websites devoted to all things Bond say producer Barbara Broccoli wants fresh blood, with "Casino Royale" returning to the start of the spy's career on Her Majesty's secret service.

James Page, director of Bond website (www.mi6.co.uk), agreed Brosnan was likely to be replaced with a lesser known actor.

"If it's not Daniel Craig, it will be someone the public doesn't know," he said. "They did this with Sean Connery originally. Roger Moore was the only (Bond) actor who came in with any stature in the film industry."

When asked who his choice would be, Arad named Australia's Julian McMahon, who played the villain in the Marvel movie "Fantastic Four."

Of course, the decision is not only that of filmmakers.

According to trade magazines, Owen is one of several actors approached for the role who turned it down. Bale told Reuters in May he agonized over whether to accept the Batman role, knowing it would mean losing his cherished anonymity.

BOND? JAMES BOND?

Per Daily Variety, final screen tests for the new James Bond taking place this week. Some of the names rumored to be in the running include Goran Visnjic and Daniel Craig.

Post-Brosnan, Bond is a tough suit to fill

Where is James Bond?

With production set to begin in January on the 21st Bond picture, "Casino Royale," the dashing movie hero who dates back to the '60s might as well be missing in action.

The latest Bond film, "Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan, was released by MGM in 2002. But last year, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the sibling producers who control the Bond franchise, told the Irish Brosnan, 52, the fifth actor to portray Bond in the long-running series, that after four films they would not require his services for the new one.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the producers and Brosnan were too far apart on terms to close a deal. One Sony executive described Brosnan's salary demands, which within the industry have been said to be as much as $30 million, "usurious." (No Bond has ever landed gross points.) Still, commented Steven Jay Rubin, author of "The Complete James Bond Encyclopedia": "They shouldn't have let him go. Now they have to find a guy they can patch up to a seven-year contract."

"It was a big mistake to let Pierce go," agreed casting agent Debra Zane. "He's got it all. Who cares if he's in his early 50s? He's completely Bond."

As a result, the producers now face the difficult challenge of casting a new Bond.

The difficulty of that task became apparent shortly after a consortium headed by Sony Corp. of America announced its intent in September to acquire MGM and its assets.

In November, the many players who are involved in casting the new Bond -- including Amy Pascal, chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment motion picture group -- held their first meeting at a British men's club in London, but they were unable to reach an agreement.

"Casino Royale" is scheduled to start production in January for an October release. Once again, Judi Dench will play M. and John Cleese will be Q. The casting of a new Miss Moneypenny is moving forward.

But so far there's no Bond in sight. Broccoli and Wilson, her half-brother -- were schooled in the Bond tradition by the late, legendary Bond producer Cubby Broccoli -- often don't agree with each other on the casting possibilities, according to talent agents. One source close to the movie reported that Broccoli liked "Layer Cake" star Daniel Craig, 37, but Wilson didn't. Broccoli also thought Australian star Hugh Jackman, 36, who in addition to playing Wolverine in "X-Men" has appeared in Broadway musicals, wasn't masculine enough. Colin Farrell, 29, was judged too much of a bad boy. Eric Bana, 37, star of "Troy" and the upcoming "Munich," wasn't good-looking enough. Ewan McGregor, 34, was too short. "Their natural instinct is to do what's been done before," the source said.

Bond director Martin Campbell, who helmed "GoldenEye," has his own ideas about reinventing the franchise. He was involved in the recent hiring of Paul Haggis ("Million Dollar Baby," "Crash") to rewrite old Bond hands Neal Purvis and Robert Wade ("The World Is Not Enough," "Die Another Day"). "Campbell wants to find a complete unknown," one source said. "He wants to take credit for re-energizing the franchise again."

Compounding the challenge, several bigger stars have passed on the opportunity to play Bond. When Clive Owen, 41, was approached by Campbell, who directed him in "Beyond Borders," he told Campbell that he wasn't interested in the role, his spokesman said. "He already had so many interesting, varied offers on the table that he wanted to keep his options open," he said. Owen instead signed up for a string of films, including Spike Lee's "Inside Man," Alfonso Cuaron's "The Children of Men" and Michael Davis' "Shoot 'Em Up." In the meantime, Owen will send up Bond by playing Agent 006 in the upcoming remake of "The Pink Panther."

As the search has dragged on, Bond spokeswoman Ann Bennett has been fending off one Internet rumor after another. Just about every leading man capable of a British accent has been bandied about for Bond. There have been rumors of a black Bond: British "Prime Suspect" star and 007's agent cohort on the last three films, Colin Salmon, 43. There has been talk of a Croatian Bond: "ER" star Goran Visnjic, 32, who studied for 10 days in London with a dialogue coach and did a screen test. And there's even been speculation about a baby Bond: Brit Henry Cavill ("Goodbye, Mr. Chips"), 22, also did a screen test, along with 28-year-old Australian Alex O'Lachlan ("The Oyster Farmer"). Glasgow-born Ewan Stewart ("Titanic"), 47, was reported to have tested for the role but did not, according to a Sony spokesman. "There is no pending announcement," he added.

As a result, agents and managers from Hollywood to Sydney to London and beyond have all been dreaming about one of their clients landing the coveted Bond assignments. There have been lobbying efforts -- some subtle, some not -- to get the producers' attention.

One campaign by Julian McMahon, 37, who has starred in "Nip/Tuck" and "Fantastic Four," already appears to have backfired. After the Australian actor struck a Bond pose, dressed in a tuxedo and wielding a gun, along with the headline "License to Thrill" on the April cover of Angeleno Modern Luxury, he might have alienated the producers, sources said. Campbell did want to test McMahon. But according to several sources, the actor's new representatives at CAA and Three Arts Entertainment advised him to turn down a test, a charge a CAA spokesman denied.The producers are determined to give Bond a face-lift. Before MGM's sale to Sony was finalized, MGM execs arranged for "Layer Cake" director Matthew Vaughn to meet with the Broccoli family about directing the next Bond, possibly with Craig as his star. "They loved him more than me," Vaughn said ruefully. "I would have nailed Bond."

Other directors who have spoken about their interest in reviving the franchise include Quentin Tarantino and John Woo, but the Broccolis decided to work once more with Campbell.

However, they are concerned that the franchise has been skewing older as the boomer audience that grew up with Bond ages. In deciding to adapt Ian Fleming's first Bond tale, the 1953 novel "Casino Royale," they can reintroduce Bond as a young 28-year-old. "They were looking young," the agent of one Bond wannabe said. "They said they wanted the next generation's James Bond. Someone the younger audience could relate to."

Meanwhile, the media have been busy advancing their own candidates, including Jonathan Rhys Meyers ("Bend It Like Beckham"), 28, who insisted that he was never approached for the role. "Who wouldn't want the chance of being the world's greatest super-spy agent?" he said. "It's not reality for me at the moment."

Jude Law, 32, earned the most votes in a Total Film Magazine Internet poll on Bond. Gerard Butler ("The Phantom of the Opera"), 35, also has been mentioned as a real contender. Other names that have surfaced -- either in the media or inside the Hollywood beltway -- are Hugh Grant ("Bridget Jones's Diary"), 44; Ralph Fiennes ("The Constant Gardener"), 42; Rufus Sewell ("The Legend of Zorro"), 37; Matthew MacFadyen ("Pride and Prejudice"), 31; Karl Urban ("The Bourne Supremacy"), 33; Orlando Bloom ("Kingdom of Heaven"), 28; Jason O'Mara ("Band of Brothers"), 33; Jack Davenport ("Pirates of the Caribbean"), 32; Robbie Williams ("De-Lovely"), 31; Jeremy Northam ("Gosford Park"), 43; Dominic West ("The Wire"), 35; Dougray Scott ("Dark Water"), 39; Rupert Friend ("Pride & Prejudice"), 26; David Morrissey, ("Derailed"), 41; Gary Stretch ("Alexander"), 36; James Purefoy ("Rome"), 41; and Ioan Gruffudd ("Fantastic Four"), 31.

But there is a risk in casting a young Bond, one former Bond marketer said: Although the global franchise needs to be made more contemporary -- many kids see Bond movies as belonging to their parents -- "the danger of going too young to broaden the appeal is that you alienate the core, which is males over 25. He has to wear the suit well, as Brosnan did. You can't lose sight of the core."

Broccoli and Wilson will find themselves competing with movies like "The Bourne Identity" series, starring Matt Damon, one ICM agent said. The "Bourne" filmmakers "took a '70s low-tech action franchise and made it work like gangbusters. Now they (the Bond producers) have to make Bond relevant all over again."

"It's a tough casting job to replace someone whose qualities are stuck in people's heads," said Marcia Ross, senior vp casting at Walt Disney Studios. "He can't be so profoundly different that he's jarring. You have to find someone with similar elements. He has to be charming, intelligent, sexy, commanding and authoritative. You can argue that you bring more value to the part by going to an actor who the audience knows and likes. But the minute you get into somebody who has a career, he'll want to be paid. I'd pick Gerard Butler, who has an impish quality hiding behind his sexiness."

All of which has Hollywood asking: Will the next Bond please stand up?

Pierce Brosnan Out As James Bond, 007

NEW YORK - A single, surprising phone call and it was over. That's how Pierce Brosnan says he learned that his services as James Bond would no longer be required.

"One phone call, that's all it took!" the 52-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly magazine in its Aug. 19 issue.

Brosnan starred in four Bond films. He says that before they stopped negotiations, the producers had invited him back for a fifth time.

"You know, the movie career for me really started with Bond," says Brosnan, acknowledging that by the time "GoldenEye" premiered in 1995, he was already 42.

He then starred as 007 in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) and "Die Another Day" (2002).

His departure from the role was a "titanic jolt to the system," says Brosnan, followed by "a great sense of calm."

"I thought. ... I can do anything I want to do now. I'm not beholden to them or anyone. I'm not shackled by some contracted image. So there was a sense of liberation."

Brosnan says he's grateful to have had the role, but adds: "It never felt real to me. I never felt I had complete ownership over Bond. Because you'd have these stupid one-liners — which I loathed — and I always felt phony doing them."

He plays a foulmouthed, skirt-chasing hit man in the upcoming film "The Matador."

"(For this) to come on the heels of my departure from the world of Bond is sweet grace, to play this one as a farewell to that chapter in time — it certainly wasn't planned."

Reynolds Still Regrets James Bond Snub

Veteran actor Burt Reynolds holds such a deep regret about turning down the role of James Bond in the 1970s, he still wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about it.

Late James Bond producer Albert R 'Cubby' Broccoli offered Reynolds the chance to follow Sir Sean Connery as the slick sleuth, but the actor rejected the opportunity - an action he has lived to regret ever since.

He says, "Sean Connery had said he wanted more money and left and (Cubby Broccoli) came to visit me and said, 'We want you to play James Bond.' "And I said, in my infinite wisdom, 'An American can't play James Bond. It just can't be done.'

"Now, in the middle of the night, you hear me wake up in this cold sweat going, 'Bond, James Bond.'"

The new Bond is the old Bond, says co-star

LONDON - The new James Bond is the old James Bond, says an actress who has appeared in the last four films about the British spy.

According to Dame Judi Dench, Pierce Brosnan will reprise the role in the upcoming remake of Casino Royale, which is expected to be released next year.

"Despite the fact that everyone on the face of the Earth has been tested as his possible replacement, he'll be doing it again and it will be announced come summer," Dench told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper.

Depending on which reports you believe, Brosnan was either dropped by the producers of the long-running film franchise or decided to quit the role while he was on top.

He last appeared as Agent 007 in 2002's Die Another Day. Since then, a long list of actors have been rumoured to be contenders for the job, from Daniel Craig to Dougray Scott to Clive Owen to Colin Salmon to Jude Law.

The latest speculation, however, had Brosnan having his licence to kill renewed. That said, the producers of the films have so far refused to back up Dench's comments.

"No cast members, locations or release dates can be confirmed," a spokesperson said.

Dench has played M, Bond's boss, since Brosnan took over the role. Her remarks came while talking to a gossip columnist in New York.

The new Casino Royale will be the 21st Bond film. When a new actor takes over the lead role in the series, it's often considered a risky move.

When George Lazenby replaced Sean Connery, for example, the result was 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is considered a low point in Bond's screen history. Timothy Dalton, who replaced Roger Moore, lasted only two movies in the role.

Bond first appeared in the 1953 Ian Fleming novel Casino Royale, which was made into a spoof by a rival producer in 1967.

THE NAME IS BOND

Per the Hollywood Reporter, Sean Connery set to reprise his role as James Bond one last time for Electronic Arts' upcoming videogame based on the 007 adventure From Russia with Love.