Tag: James Bond

What If James Bond Worked for Darth Vader?

“The name is Cross…Jahan Cross.”

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1 cover courtesy Dark Horse Comics

  Star Wars: Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse debuts this week from Dark Horse Comics. The hero is a secret agent working for the Empire 3 years before the events of A New Hope tracking down stolen droid technology.

  This new series is the latest from comics veteran John Ostrander. He’s created action tales from various time periods in the Star Wars universe and tells USA Today  that Agent Cross’s mission will have him encounter smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca before they became Rebel Alliance heroes.

  Ostrander says Cross is influenced by Jason Bourne and John Le Carre spy novels .

  “Still, there’s a lot of overlap in the Bond and Star Wars franchises: charismatic lead character, beautiful women, exotic locales, large-scale villains, intense action, chases, technology and gadgets. It’s like peanut-butter cups: two great tastes that go great together.”

I think the challenge will be making a hero out of an agent working for “the bad guys” but Ostrander’s writing is outstanding. This could be a new way to see the Star Wars canon from an Empire insider. 

Daniel Craig on SKYFALL Director

AP Photo/Joel Ryan. Daniel Craig and the new Bond girls.

Daniel Craig reveals his bigger behind the scenes role in the new 007 film Skyfall because of his experience on the last film Quantum of Solace to Time Out London.

Daniel Craig says he pushed for Sam Mendes as director of the next James Bond film.

“He’s English. He’s Cambridge educated, he’s smart. He’s lived with Bond his whole life. He grew up with Bond the way I did. I said to him, “We have to do this together, we have exactly the same reference points. We both like the same Bond movies. We both like the same bits in the same Bond movies we like.”

Craig referenced From Russia, With Love and Live and Let Die as films he talked about with Mendes.

Daniel Craig talks about working with David Fincher on his new film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in the exclusive interview with Time Out London.

By Editor

Daniel Craig’s Bond Swims Again

Four Seasons London photo courtesy MI6

  Daniel Craig made a lasting impression with some fans in his first James Bond film with this swimsuit scene. Bond came out of the water in a blue squarecut swimsuit in the Bahamas in Casino Royale. It was almost a male version of Ursula Andress breakthtaking first appearance in Doctor No.

  Daniel Craig is swimming again at the Four Seasons in London on the set of Skyfall.

  MI6 reports that Skyfall is filming at the hotel’s rooftop pool. This Canary Wharf hotel is doubling for scenes in the movie set in Shanghai. No word on 007’s swimsuit cut this time but I suspect a Bond girl will appear in the scene.

Skyfall Filming Shoot courtesy MI6.Still no updates or theories on the meaning of the movie title but still working on it!

The Perfect James Bond Film ?

 

AP Photo/Joel Ryan. Daniel Craig and the new Bond girls.

Daniel Craig says he’s looking for the perfect James Bond film and may have found it with Skyfall. Craig told GQ UK “There’s a perfect Bond film out there. And I’m going to find it if it kills me.”

  Craig says he’s genuinely excited about the script and that it’s got a good hook. He also says the script is based on source material like Casino Royale was based on Ian Fleming’s first novel. Thanks to MI6 for being on top of Skyfall updates.

  Fans were already theorizing about the meaning of the title. Skyfall based on source material? Ian Fleming’s novels and short stories have been exhausted. There are non-Fleming Bond novels by Kingsley Amis, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, John Gardner and new one released earlier this year by Jeffrey Deaver. It’s a huge stretch but as I’ve posted earlier Dark Horse Comics published a series of 007 graphic novels. Let the speculation begin!

The Return of Q “I never joke about my work 007.”

Ben Whisaw from "The Hour" on BBC. Photo courtesy MI6-HQ.com

  A new take on an old favorite for the next James Bond movie. BCC News reports that Ben Whishaw will be playing Q in Skyfall. This will be the first appearance of the gadget guru in a 007 film starring Daniel Craig.

  Q is the genius behind 007’s arsenal in the movie series. Desmond Llewelyn first played Q in 1963’s From Russia, With Love and appeared in every Bond movie except Live and Let Die until his death in 1999. Llewelyn’s final appearance was in The World Is Not Enough. The Quartermaster appeared briefly in the first film Doctor No. John Cleese played Q once in Die Another Day.

  Q is the head of Q branch. The fictional section of the British Secret Service provides agents with life saving gadgets and vehicles. Q’s real name is Major Geoffrey Boothroyd in the Ian Fleming novels. 

  Llewelyn’s portrayal was always fun and clever with the idea that Q really loathed 007 because the superspy always destroyed his inventions. Q did get some great moments in field particularly in Octopussy and License to Kill.

  Ben Whishaw is 12 years younger than Daniel Craig. With modern technology it would make sense that 007’s tech support would be played by a younger actor. MI6 has more on Whishaw’s connections to joining the Bond franchise.

  This news brings up great memories. Going to Bond movies was a tradition with my dad. I grew up on Roger Moore and Desmond Llewelyn’s great chemistry and banter. The poison dart shooting watch and the car that turned into a submarine were some of the hilarious Q creations from that era but my favorite was from Octopussy because my dad could never stop talking about the fake horse’s ass flying up to reveal a mini jet inside a horse trailer.

  I’m thrilled to welcome Q back to the James Bond movies. Q’s gadgets and getaway vehicles help make the series fun.

  In this earlier post I provided some comic book adventures of James Bond published by Dark Horse Comics.