Refreshing our photo gallery of the Best and Worst Bond Babes can't help but bring out the Maxim in us, so we feel no qualms about linking to Maxim's extensive photo spread on Olga Kurylenko, soon to become world-famous as 007's love interest Camille in Nov. 14's Quantum of Solace. Or is she? Looking back at Bond babes past, it's clear that, while some become iconic in their own right (Ursula Andress) and others go on to have long and distinguished careers (Jane Seymour), most tend to fall off the radar. Check out Ms. Kurylenko and let us know whether you think she'll be the next Famke Janssen or just the next Izabella Scorupco.
True confessions time: I haven't been super excited about seeing a movie on its opening weekend since Death RaceSex and the City. But with the Nov. 14 release date for Quantum of Solace closing in, all that's about to change. The only problem, as I see it, is that jank title, which like the raw foods movement -- insert horrified squeak from my tumtee here -- has never caught on with me.
So what say you all? Let's brainstorm a better title for what looks like the action event of the fall movie season. I'll start:
* Incendiary Device * Inconsolable Rage (I got that phrase right from the teaser trailer. Thanks, Dame Judi!)
* Please Wear the Square-Cut Trunks, 007!
Okay, clearly I am not good at this movie-titling business, so I'm passing the torch to you. Get to work in the comments section below! Daniel Craig offers his undying gratitude in advance. Sigh.
All I know about the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, is what I read on EW.com, but something has me worried: the name of the new villain, played by Mathieu Amalric: Monsieur Greene. Ooh, scary! What happened to the tradition of giving the big Bond bad a cool name, like Dr. No, Le Chiffre, Ernst Stavros Blofeld, Francisco Scaramanga, and, my favorite, Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe, pictured with Sean Connery's Bond)?
All in all, Mr. Vert is going to have a hard time matching up to my man Auric in the coolest-Bond-villain-ever competition. First of all, Goldfinger has built an entire lifetime of wickedness around the pursuit of a commodity that happens to appear in his last name. (What is Monsieur Greene going to do, destroy America's stock of lettuce?) And Goldfinger has by the far the best murderous assistant in any of the movies: Oddjob (if only for the razor-Frisbee derby). Plus, even though Bond could outcheat him in golf, Goldfinger could nearly match 007 in a zinger-off. (''Do you expect me to talk?'' "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.")
But that's just me. Who's your favorite Bond villain of all time? Name your nominee(s) in the comments section below, and be sure to state your reasons why. The most convincing answers may appear in an upcoming EW.com gallery!
My favorite part of "Another Way to Die," the new James Bond theme song that just leaked, would have to be the lyric where Jack White attempts to work in the title of the movie — and can't quite bring himself to utter that much-maligned phrase: "Another tricky little gun/Giving solace to the one/That'll never see the sunshine." Just say it, Jack. Quantum of Solace. It's not as bad a title as everyone says. You could give those words a real cred boost if you'd just mention them in passing! Okay, maybe I'm still alone on that one. And maybe he's saying "silence," not "solace" — I can't really tell from the fuzzy radio rip that I'm listening to (below).
Anyway! I really dig this song. Alicia Keys and Jack White have way better musical chemistry than I expected them to: Jack ratchets up his usual riff-tastic retroisms with some Bond-appropriate orchestral flourishes, which in turn complement Alicia's soaring vocals better than your average stripped-down Stripes cut might. Granted, "Another Way to Die" is no "Goldfinger" or "Live and Let Die." But it's easily as much fun as "A View to a Kill" or "Die Another Day" (both of which are
thoroughly enjoyable tunes, so don't even start, naysayers).
Where would "Another Way to Die" rank on your personal list of fave Bond songs? A final note before you weigh in: I'd just like to point out that I kinda-sorta predicted that the Quantum of Solace theme song would be a historically unprecedented duet between a pasty, semi-reclusive indie dude and a soulful lady with a big voice. (Check out the parenthetical sentence at the end of the third paragraph.) And now my kinda-sorta prediction has come true, and the musical fruit it has borne is oh-so-glorious. Feel free to offer your thanks below — or don't you like "Another Way to Die" as much as I do?
I love trailers. Honestly, I do. When they're good, they're perfectly honed mini-masterworks. (My favorite of the last few years was the spot for Little Children, which plays like a tense gem of a short film.) If my keister isn't planted in a movie-theater seat in time for the trailers, I am not a happy boy. But recently, some unfortunate tics have crept into trailer design and the new spot for Quantum of Solace bears my least favorite: the strobe-dissolve. It's when the image all but throbs at you, giving mere snatches of a scene before quickly fading to black. In theory, it's supposed to imply a sense of rhythmic urgency. Instead, it doesn't give me anything to sink my teeth into, and thus leaves me a little disoriented. ("Wait, what am I looking at? Oh, there it goes...")
But then, Daniel Craig falls out of a window, through a skylight, and into a scaffolding, and all is right with the world.
When I heard Finding Neverland's Marc Forster was directing Quantum, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't get the explodo I so rightfully expect from a Bond flick. Judging from this spot, though, I think I can put those fears to rest. But what about you—does this seem likely to make good on the promise of Casino Royale, or is it a lot of sound and stiff-upper-lipped fury signifying nothing?
I just have one question about the trailer for the newest Bond movie (which picks up its action directly after the end of Casino Royale): After two minutes of sexy, spy-y, revenge-y goodness, can you detect a single quantum of solace in any second of this preview?
Can your car swim? This amphibious vehicle, the Rinspeed sQuba (dubbed "Scubacar" over on Defamer), was unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Auto Show, and while the thought of riding in it makes me queasy — on the water, I have no seasickness problems, but underwater seatbelted into a submerged convertible? No thanks! — I like to look at it, and would love to see it action. Taking inspiration from the sportscar-turned-submarine in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me (the infamous Lotus Esprit), I think we PopWatchers should craft a film or TV plot worthy of "Scubacar." Should she join the newest gadgets in the Daniel Craig-era 007 arsenal? Save lives on a revamped Baywatch? Become a love interest for Knight Rider's KITT? Dive in and tell us what kind of adventure you envision for the car that swims.
Oh, snap! That's pretty good, if I do say so myself! But what do you think? Should the Sony marketing department (which, let's face it, has the unenviable task of trying to sell a film called Quantum of Solace) grant me a license to shill, or are you heading down to the comments section to show me who's the boss?
Am I the only James Bond fan who doesn't hate the name of 007's next movie (starring, left to right, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Craig, and Gemma Arterton)? I'm starting to think so, after scanning the reactions to today's announcement that the franchise's 22nd entry will be titled A Quantum of Solace. The way bloggers are crying foul, you'd think the Broccoli family had served them some sort of vicious personal insult. "[I]t's so bad we think we might cry," spat Hecklerspray's Stuart Heritage. "Worst Bond title ever? It makes no sense. It sounds like a blancmange," hisses the U.K. Guardian's Xan Brooks. "What in god’s name were [the] producers thinking??" wept Best Week Ever's Dan Hopper.
I get that this is an easy target — and each of those posts, to be fair, is pretty funny. Still, I gotta say, I really think A Quantum of Solace (which was originally the name of an obscure Ian Fleming short story) is a cool-sounding name for a brooding action flick. So what if it's hard to figure out exactly what it means? (An advanced particle physics allusion? Some Victorian ethical concept?) Maybe it's just the geek in me talking, but I dig it. The phrase A Quantum of Solace is lean, smart, mysteriously menacing — just like Craig's Bond. And what's the alternative? Heritage, perhaps inadvertently, proves my very point when he sardonically sums up the typical Bond film-naming process: "Everyone knows that all James Bond movie titles should be based on a popular saying with the word 'Die' where the word 'Live' should be.” Whatever its flaws, A Quantum of Solace is definitely way better than whatever lame proverb-puns the producers could have dredged up.
Tell me, do you like movies? Do you really like movies? How about lifting weights? Well, the new 90-disc United Artists 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection Gift Set is the product you've been weighting for! (The puns... they never stop.) Coming in at a hefty 22.5 lbs (as verified by an elaborate series of experiments involving 10 DVDs and my bathroom scale) and costing a coronary-inducing $869.98, the set boasts an assortment of MGM/UA's classic flicks of the past almost-century.
As for which films are in this boulder of a box, the selection is puzzling. While you get a whole mess of undeniable classics — like Some Like it Hot, West Side Story, The Manchurian Candidate, Dr. No, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Midnight Cowboy, Rocky, Raging Bull, Leaving Las Vegas, and Hotel Rwanda — there are a couple of puzzlers. Instead of giving us, say, Goldfinger, we get Dalton's Bond dud, The Living Daylights? Does one need both Red Dawn and Road House? And does anyone truly need to watch Baby Boom again?
Hey, if you've got almost a grand lying around and nothing better to spend it on, go for it. Then again, you could also buy a crapbox car... that could, you know, take you places.
A big Monday shout-out to my main man with a license to kill, Sir Roger Moore, who turned 80 — 80!! — yesterday and finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week. Good on ya, James... I mean, Rog! (And, yes, PopWatchers, that's right: Dude got frickin' knighted by the Queen of England before he was bestowed the high honor of seeing a slab of concrete on one of the crappiest streets in L.A. embossed with his name. Oh, and, also, yes: He is older than Sir Sean Connery, go figure.)
Anyway, time's right to re-raise that age-old question to which, in my opinion, "Roger Moore" is the only correct answer: Who's the best James Bond? I think we children of the '70s and '80s have allowed those older folks/Connery groupies to own this debate for too long. First of all, just because SeanCon was the first, doesn't mean he was the best. Honestly, I've had this conversation many times over the years, and all I've ever really heard from Connery fans is a lot of whining that the guy left the 007 franchise. Well, boo hoo. That still doesn't change the fact that The Spy Who Love Me (pictured) is a trillion times better than Diamonds Are Forever, suckas. Second, the Scotsman may have an Oscar, but he doesn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the loser.
Sure, Lois Maxwell had a 60-year career and acted in dozens of movies. But the Canadian-born actress, who died Saturday at 80, will best be remembered for one role that, though she played it in 14 movies, amounted to only a few moments of screen time. Maxwell played Miss Moneypenny from the first James Bond movie, 1962's Dr. No (pictured) through A View to a Kill 23 years later, flirting fruitlessly with three 007s (including Sean Connery, pictured with Maxwell). I paid homage to Maxwell's Moneypenny recently in EW.com's Secretary's Day gallery, noting that she was Bond's most steadfast romantic foil over the decades. Alas, nothing ever came of the saucy banter between the spy and the secretary, but we still have all those sparkling double entendres, delivered unflappably and preserved forever.
Warner Bros. is gloating that, with five films so far grossing $4.47 billion to date all over the world, Harry Potter is the biggest movie franchise ever, bigger than the six Star Wars films or even the 22 James Bond films. A daunting achievement, to be sure, but it always irks me that box office boasts like this one are never corrected to adjust for inflation or actual number of tickets purchased. Give me those figures, and then I'll be impressed.
By the way, if you were to assess a franchise based on its overall impact — on the box office, on other filmmakers, on the imaginations of viewers around the world — would it be one of these three or something else? Lord of the Rings? Star Trek? Superman? Go with your gut, PopWatchers.
With The Bourne Ultimatum set to become an instant blockbuster when it opens on Friday, it's about time we at PopWatch deal with the question that everybody's been talking about since Matt Damon's series started five years ago: Which JB do you prefer — Jason Bourne or James Bond? Simple.
Or is it? Sure, for a long time, Jason was the hands-down winner. After all, The Bourne Identity introduced a much more visceral, energetic, edgy kind of spy thriller to audiences in 2002 — the same year in which my man Pierce Brosnan's 007 went out with a whimper in Die Another Day. But then, all of a sudden, unexpectedly, as if out of nowhere, Daniel Craig thoroughly reinvigorated the James Bond franchise last year with Casino Royale, a film that certainly owed a huge debt to the Bourne flicks — but, in my opinion, exceeded them.
So, that's right, my vote's for James. What about yours?
During the late '80s and early '90s, in the throes of a fanatical preteen James Bond obsession, I started reading Bond novels when I got tired of watching the movies over and over. I dutifully made my way through a few of the Ian Fleming originals — but what I was really into were the flashier and trashier contemporary Bond spinoffs by English spy writer John Gardner. Looking over the list of the Gardner Bonds on Wikipedia, I fondly recall tearing through For Special Services; Nobody Lives Forever; No Deals, Mr. Bond; Scorpius; Win, Lose or Die; and a few others — I just wish I could remember the one where Bond makes love to a woman with one breast (who maybe later turns out to be a Blofeld’s daughter, or something else along those villainous lines).
Given all that, the news this week that another English novelist, Sebastian Faulks, has been recruited to write a new Bond novel for early next year was rousing enough to get me to pick up a phone and make some old-fashioned telephone calls. Before I knew it, I had Sebastian Faulks himself on the other line, game for a few questions about James Bond. Faulks, who lives in London, is the highly-successful author of On Green Dolphin Street and Charlotte Gray (the basis of a 2002 Cate Blanchett movie), and his Bond novel, Devil May Care, comes out on May 28, 2008 — Fleming’s 100th birthday. After the jump, the interview!
Fun little debate we had about the Bond Girls last week, huh, PopWatchers? Well, you won, we axed Halle Berry from our rankings because, you know, we aim to please. (Although, it seems like the Hollywood Walk of Fame doesn't, since they awarded the Oscar-winning actress a star in their studded pavement yesterday.) Anyway, I loved some of your comments about what we omitted, like From Russia With Love's Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) and the always lovely Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell). But I've got nothing to say to those who praised Denise Richards' Christmas Jones. (For shame!)
Still, you know, it's time to move on — for us, and for the 007 franchise. Casino Royale's Eva Green truly was an all-time great, but the time has come for the Broccoli bunch to pick a new leading lady for the 22nd installment, which should start shooting several months from now. And, hey, we're here to help! So, who shall it be? A few thoughts off the top of my head: Beyoncé Knowles, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Biel, Hilary Swank, Ziyi Zhang, Eva Longoria. Really, though, I leave it open to you... bring it on, people! Another super-sexy photo gallery featuring the top vote-getters awaits you.
The lords of EW.com, PopWatch, and 007 have given me a do-over, friends — and I need your help!
Last fall, just as Casino Royale was about to roll out in theaters, I put together a list of the best and worst Bond Babes of all time. As it turned out, what started as an exercise in publishing a bunch of super-sexy photos wound up one of our most popular galleries. But as soon as I saw Casino Royale — and, specifically, its stunning leading gal, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) — I knew I'd have to make a fix. Clearly, Green's Bond Girl was one of the best of all time. Luckily, the success of the film's DVD (speshly its high-def version) gives me the perfect chance to make amends. Here's where you come in: I don't know where in the list she belongs! This is where my rankings stand now:
10. Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), For Your Eyes Only (1981) 9. Tiffany Case (Jill St. John), Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 8. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), From Russia With Love (1963) 7. Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 6. Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), GoldenEye (1995) 5. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 4. Jinx (Halle Berry), Die Another Day (2002) 3. Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) 2. Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), Goldfinger (1964) 1. Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), Dr. No (1962)
I'm thinking that Vesper/Green belongs somewhere in the range of No. 4, but I don't know which of these fine femmes I'd want to kiss kiss bye bye. So please lend me a hand in shaking and stirring up the list, and then we'll put up the revised gallery later this week.
The legendary Shirley Bassey, mistress of James Bond theme songs such as "Goldfinger," "Moonraker," and "Diamonds Are Forever," turns 70 today -- not that you'd be able to tell watching this 2006 Marks & Spencer holiday ad in which she covers Pink's "Get the Party Started." Anyhow, because Bassey's remix CD is a road-trip staple for me, and because I've learned that nothing brings a rowdy karaoke-bar crowd to a state of stunned silence like covering "Goldfinger" (don't ask), I got inspired to give Ms. Bassey the gift of a b'day haiku. Won't you write one, too?
vocal thunderball name's bassey. shirley bassey. license to (still) thrill
This just in from our now-blind assistant photo producer...
Oh, Rod! How low can you go?
So the new Bond flick is coming out this weekend... haven't you heard? Well, while I was doing my photo research for the best and worst Bond girls, I came upon Britt Ekland (The Man With the Golden Gun) with another '70s heartthrob. Yes, folks, that's right, Rod Stewart! Who knew the tankini phenomenon all started with a dude?
I've always wondered why Bond theme songs continue to cause such a fuss. It just seems like there hasn't been a decent title song for the series in a long time. Speaking of which, Casino Royale's theme, "You Know My Name," sung by Chris Cornell (pictured), is officially out now. (PopWatch found the song online for you back in September). The Audioslave frontman (a career choice I haven't quite forgiven the former Soundgarden-er for) tries his darnedest to make a memorable anthem for Bond to rock to, but in recent tradition, fails utterly.
Not that I'm surprised. I mean, the last few Bond songs haven't had shelf lives longer than their respective movies' opening weekends (have you been thinking much about Sheryl Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies" or Madonna's hideous "Die Another Day" lately?) "You Know My Name" is fine for background music as Bond speeds off in his Aston Martin, but with cheesy lines like "I've seen diamonds cut through harder men" and "The coldest blood runs through my veins," not even Cornell's powerhouse vocals can save the tune.
When oh when will a popstar rise to the occasion and give 007 the theme song he is so due? (I'm not holding my breath.) And which Bond themes can you still listen to without cringing?
Attention, colonists: It is official. The British love their new blond Bond. As far as the papers are concerned, he's as good as knighted, his license to kill renewed at least for the duration of the Gordon Brown administration. The Daily Telegraph says he "steps with full assuredness into Sean Connery's old handmade shoes" and has a face "like an Easter Island statue." They do not come out and say that some of his predecessors had faces like an Easter bunny statue, but they come close. They praise his tough physique and “acting.”
I haven’t seen this film. But that’s not going to stop me from agreeing wholeheartedly with these mysterious British critics. Or, at least, hoping they’re right. I’ve been a big believer in Layer Cake’s Daniel Craig from minute one, and the earliest trailers (with their tamped-down paranoia, flecks of inelegant brutality, and basic theme of “how a womanizing government thug becomes a debonair murder artist”) got my martini in a twist. (That last phrase… worst thing I’ve ever written? Or worst thing ever, period? Vote below!)
“How James became Bond.” That’s a nice tagline. We’ve all wondered. And this is not an acceptable theory, I’d argue.
I have just scientifically proven beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt that you can indeed get too much of a good thing. Case in point: I haven't yet fully digested the new Scissor Sisters CD sitting on my desk -- nor the Fergie disc that, like a McGriddle, is bizarre yet tasty, and also gets covered by a stack of papers any time a coworker comes into my office -- and already there's four artists streaming online who are competing for my very limited ear schedule. (BTW, ''ear schedule'' is the new ''ear delicious''; do try to work it in to casual conversation.)
First up, the indispensable Beauty N the Beat has four song snippets from the one CD I'm most excited about for fall: Fantasia's not-yet-titled sophomore release. Granted, the title ''Baby-Makin Hips'' is tres alarming, but are you gonna sit there and tell me you don't love the lyrics? Come on, ''See that wobble-wobble/Shaped just like a cola bottle'' is the best ode to bootyliciousness since ''I don't think you're ready for this jelly.'' Not only that, the beat is so hot that if it doesn't get you up and out of your chair, then I implore you to head to the pharmacy for a bottle of Vitamin Soul. My only problem with the track is that I can't I.D. the horn sample in the background. Help a blogger out, folks! Anyone?
James Bond is supposed to be both badass and debonair. He's supposed to be able to take out a roomful of bad guys without spilling his martini. Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton's Bonds seemed to favor the badass side of the equation; Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan's the debonair side. But I believe Daniel Craig will be able to handle both sides equally well, judging from this new trailer for Casino Royale (Nov. 17). Watch him kill in cold blood during the black-and-white prologue. Watch him romance Eva Green. Watch him kick some more ass without mussing his tuxedo. And without dropping any annoying puns. Count me in; I'm ready.
Don't expect a lot of today's PopWatch. The blogfather is dog tired.
You see, I stayed up most of the night playing this totally addictive online poker game that Sony Pictures launched as part of its Flash-y new website for Casino Royale, the next James Bond film. We'll have to wait until November 17 to see if Daniel Craig (pictured, of Munich and Layer Cake fame) can change the minds of all the nay-sayers out there who don't think the actor is soigné enough to slip into Pierce Brosnan's tux, but in the meantime, JamesBond.com is all Casino all the time.
As the plot of the new film purports to show us how Bond became 007, the site is devoted to the superspy's backstory. Hack into M's computer to read her top-secret personal dossier on Mr. J. Bond. His parents died in a climbing accident? Expelled from Eton for a dalliance with a maid? He used to -- gasp! -- box? The best part: A posh British voice will read all these documents to you, preventing you from having to actually, you know, read. There are also the typical mutimedia options (character bios, trailer, photos) to keep all you Bondaphiles in the know.
But as the centerpiece of the new film will surely be its swank casino setting, it's the interactive poker game that anchors the site's cards-and-chips motif. Play against the computer, other players, or set up your own game of friends -- it's that easy. Which brings us back to my newfound gambling addiction. My luck is changing. I've almost won back the 1,000 fake dollars I'm down, and the Aces are just rolling now. And yes, I'm getting help.
(Disclaimer: PopWatch does not endorse gambling. Even fake movie-fantasy gambling. Let the blogfather be a cautionary tale.)
[UPDATE: After a brief detour through France, the Casino Royale trailer has made its way to the English-speaking world. (Francophile PopWatcher Nephilim's flawless translation filled us in on the dialogue yesterday.) Personally, I got chills when M (Judi Dench)
said "Any thug can kill." Very true, Dame J. So how does a thug become
a suave Double 0? That's the question Craig must answer with his
scuffed, unrefined take on Bond. Will a darker take
on the world's favorite outsized near-caricature of a superspy get
bouquets or brickbats from fans? You tell me.]
How do you say Casino Royale in French? As Quentin Tarantino might tell you, it's ''Casino Royale with Cheese.'' That's what's served up here on YouTube in this French-language teaser for the upcoming 007 movie. It's disappointingly standard-looking -- stunts, fireballs, chicks in bathing suits emerging slowly from the surf. Ah, but there's that dubbed French dialogue between Bond (Daniel Craig, pictured) and M (Judi Dench) that adds a patina of mystery... since my French is so rusty. Their momentary exchange went something like this:
BOND: I am world-weary with world-weariness.
M: This situation with SPECTRE stinks like a ripe, soft Camembert. We should probably just surrender now... wait a minute, you're not Pierce Brosnan.
BOND: Yeah, I'm the new guy. Get over it already.
M: Well, you'd better pull off this mission or Sony will fire us all.
BOND: Ah, the meaninglessness of it all. Now I will go outside and smoke many cigarettes.
How does Agent 007 fight his most troublesome foe:negative buzz? Perhaps by offering reporters a trip to the Bahamas, to the set of Casino Royale. That's what the film's producers did this week, and it seems to have paid off with an avalanche of mostly positive coverage from international print, TV, and online reporters.
For instance, USA Today writes that the film may be ''the first art-house-style 007 movie.'' The paper's article and an accompanying photo of Daniel Craig in action suggest that this will be a much grittier, grimier Bond movie than we're used to, with a hero who relies more on his wits than on Q's gadgets, which will be absent from the film. (USA Today also has a cast photo gallery.)
Reuters lets Craig defend himself against the hatas who say he's miscast. Second-string Bond girl Caterina Murino tells MTV News that shooting a love scene with Craig ''felt very, very good. Danny is a great actor and I was comfortable with it. Very sexy. He has a great, huge body. He's very sexy, I think the sexiest in James Bond's history.'' Okay, okay, we get it.
Fans who want more reassurance, or who just want to see some cool behind-the-scenes footage, can watch the TV reports from Extra and the BBC. And there's still more news from the set at SuperHeroHype, including a mild spoiler about the new opening sequence.
So, are you finally feeling shaken and stirred about Casino Royale? Can we finally spill that Craig Haterade down the drain, or do you remain unconvinced?
Hasn't poor Daniel Craig suffered enough this week? First, he reportedly gets two teeth knocked out while filming a Casino Royale fight scene. Now, along come some disgruntled James Bond fans with a new website, craignotbond.com, that urges fans to boycott the upcoming film because they don't think Craig is fit to check the oil of Bond's Aston Martin. (Their chief complaint seems to be that they don't like his looks, as is apparent from this cruel but funny page of separated-at-birth photos.)
Enough. You Craig-hatas out there need a license to chill. All you naysayers should rent Layer Cake, where Craig proves he can handle the gunplay, nightlife, and international intrigue requirements of the 007 role; in fact, he plays a guy so cool he doesn't even need a name. Craig's dramatic work in such movies as Road to Perdition, Enduring Love, and Munich speaks for itself, and if you're worried that his unconventional appearance means a lack of sex appeal, allay your fears by watching him smolder in Sylvia or Love Is the Devil.
Okay, he's not very funny or polished, but then he's not being asked to play the quip-a-minute, every-hair-in-place Bond of the Roger Moore era; rather, he'll be the brutal, two-fisted Bond of Ian Fleming's first 007 novel.
Think of Craig as one of Q's cunning and deadly gadgets: now that he's been given to you, don't you want to take him into the field and see what he can do?
...little known French actress Eva Green (The Dreamers, Kingdom of Heaven), who'll play Vesper Lynd opposite the new 007, Daniel Craig -- as well as recently cast villain Mads Mikkelsen -- when Casino Royale hits theaters in November. Adding a dollop of critical clout to the flick, Jeffrey Wright is also joining the cast as stealthy CIA man Felix Leiter.
And thus ends weeks of breathless speculation in the James Bond casting sweepstakes. Now, let the inevitable post-announcement kudos/kvetching begin.
There's still no Bond girl cast in Casino Royale, which is already shooting, but producers have finally cast the role of the villain, Le Chiffre, a crimelord who clashes with 007 at the baccarat table and elsewhere. It's Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Who? English-language audiences may know him best as Tristan, one of the more efficient killers among Clive Owen's knights in 2004's King Arthur. Here's his IMDb page, and here's an English language fan site. I'd say he's got the right brooding attitude; too much hair, but the filmmakers can shave his head.
A) Connie Nielsen (best known for costarring in Gladiator and dating Metallica's Lars Ulrich) will fill in for Mariska Hargitay for six episodes while she's on maternity leave from Law & Order: SVU.
B) Lost's Matthew Fox is costarring in another plane-crash disaster tale, this one based on a true story. It's a movie about a West Virginia college football team that tries to rebuild itself after a crash kills several players and staffers. Matthew McConaughey and Fox will play coaches; McG is directing.
C) Marilyn Manson (pictured) plans to make his writng/directing debut in Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. (So reports Production Weekly; click on the link marked ''january thirty-one.'') He'd also play the Alice in Wonderland author, while Angelina Jolie is in talks to play the Queen of Hearts.
Now that they've finally cast Daniel Craig as 007, the James Bond producers still have to finish another extensive casting search to find his leading lady for Casino Royale. Contrary to rumor, Variety reports, they still haven't settled on anyone yet. Apparently, you can forget such top-of-the-wish-list names as Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie (who, now that she's announced that there's a Brangelina baby on the way, probably won't be doing any Lara Croft-type stuntwork for a while). One rumored name was Craig's Layer Cake costar Sienna Miller. Among the four women reportedly testing for the role are Natasha Henstridge and Australian actress Kimberly Davies.
I'm not sure who I'd want to cast, since Bond Girl is a career-killer role unless you're already an established actress. (It's no problem if you're Halle Berry or Michelle Yeoh, but have you ever seen Izabella Scorupco or Maryam D'Abo again?) I'd like to see someone more exotic than the usual Euromodel types play the part: say, Eva Mendes (above), or Thandie Newton, or Sofia Vergara.
The new Casino Royale will put 007 on the couch, metaphorically anyway. Director Martin Campbell tells USA Today it's an origin tale, meant to explain everything from why he likes his martinis shaken-not-stirred to why he's a compulsive womanizer.
I'm not sure we want to know all that. Bond's psychology has never been all that important; he's not a Marvel Comics hero. Still, if the producers really want a brooding Bond, it helps explain more why they've picked the stormy Daniel Craig (left). (As opposed to, say, Clive Owen, who'd be a more quietly smoldering Bond.) And you have to give the filmmakers credit for nerve if they truly intend to make the franchise less about gadgets and more about character.
Although we finally have a new James Bond star in Daniel Craig, Casino Royale screenwriter Paul Haggis (Crash) still has his work cut out for him in making sure the screenplay is equally fresh. In next week's issue, Entertainment Weekly's Joshua Rich offers Haggis five unsolicited suggestions:
1. Get Real. No more invisible cars and ice chateaus. If 007 is seen at the casino playing baccarat instead of poker, he'll seem woefully out of date. Take a page from the Bourne movies and try some real-world intrigue, actual locations, recognizably human relationships between characters, and plausible fight scenes involving hand-to-hand combat instead of fanciful gadgetry. 2. Get Badder. Where are the memorable Bond villains of yesteryear? The movie needs someone roiling with personality, like Goldfinger, Blofeld, or for that matter, the Oedipally driven killer Craig played in Road to Perdition.
3. Get Better Buddies. Bond needs sidekicks who are equals, or at least near-equals. Think Halle Berry's Jinx in Die Another Day. Or think Ron and Hermione, only grown-up.
4. Go Darker. James Bond's not the most introspective guy, but heroes forced to confront their own guilt, bitterness, and vengeful feelings have done well lately (like Spider-Man's Peter Parker). Plus, that makes them more compelling when they finally go medieval (like The Matrix's Neo or even Tony Soprano).
5. Assassinate Product Placement. It'll never happen, but we can dream.
It's official: Daniel Craig has the job. Some secret agent -- his own mother leaked the news before today's London press conference. Actually, I think Craig (left) is a pretty edgy choice. Look at him in Layer Cake, Sylvia, Road to Perdition, and (if you really want to be creeped out) Enduring Love, and you'll see he's capable of the vicious streak that marks the Bond Ian Fleming created in the pages of Casino Royale.
So, readers, does the announcement leave you shaken or stirred?
Who will be the next 007? That's the million-dollar question Sony Pictures will finally answer, when the studio unveils The Actor Who Will Be Bond at a London news conference on Friday. Is the towheaded Daniel Craig a done deal (as has been extensively rumored)? Or will the Broccolis actually surprise us with a last-minute dark horse? Will Pierce Brosnan crash the party?
Casino Royale begins shooting in January in preparation for a fall 2006 release, but until then, chew on this: What changes would you make to the enduring (some say stale) 007 formula? Film critic James Rocchi bemoans the sorry state of the Bond franchise, placing the blame squarely on that of the writers. What do you think? Is the idea of a megalomaniacal villain fixated on world domination dated? Or is it too topical? Early reports say Casino centers on a sinister game of Texas Hold 'Em. Will this pave the way for cameos by Celebrity Poker Showdown hosts Dave Foley and Phil Gordon?
Most importantly, though, who's your vote for the next Bond babes (for me, it's all about Thandie Newton and Sienna Miller), and who should croon the theme song (we're looking at you, Beyoncé)?
Weigh in. Help us help Sony design the perfect Bond flick.
Albert Einstein is credited as saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. (Or was is a post-Seinfeld Jason Alexander?) Nevertheless, PopWatch brings you the latest in the James Bond Sweepstakes rumor mill, because, according to our good friends at Reuters, British bookmaker William Hill has stopped taking bets on possible 007 replacements amid scuttlebutt that Daniel Craig (left, Layer Cake) has landed the role. Of course, if you're not intrigued by the idea of the very first James Blonde, you can always distract yourself by staring at his predecessor Roger Moore's hypnotic eyebrows, preparing for the biopic on Bond creator Ian Fleming, or sharing your thoughts in the comments area below. See, don't say we never do anything for your psychological well being.
Refreshing our photo gallery of the Best and Worst Bond Babes can't help but bring out the Maxim in us, so we feel no qualms about linking to Maxim's extensive photo spread on Olga Kurylenko, soon to become world-famous as 007's love interest Camille in Nov. 14's Quantum of Solace. Or is she? Looking back at Bond babes past, it's clear that, while some become iconic in their own right (Ursula Andress) and others go on to have long and distinguished careers (Jane Seymour), most tend to fall off the radar. Check out Ms. Kurylenko and let us know whether you think she'll be the next Famke Janssen or just the next Izabella Scorupco.
True confessions time: I haven't been super excited about seeing a movie on its opening weekend since 
All I know about the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, is what I read on 
My favorite part of "Another Way to Die," the new James Bond theme song that just leaked, would have to be the lyric where Jack White attempts to work in the title of the movie — and can't quite bring himself to utter 
Can your car swim? This amphibious vehicle, the Rinspeed sQuba (dubbed "Scubacar" over on Defamer), was unveiled at the 2008 
"Out of the shadows, and into the fight."
Am I the only James Bond fan who doesn't hate the name of 007's next movie (starring, left to right, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Craig, and Gemma Arterton)? I'm starting to think so, after scanning the reactions to today's 
Tell me, do you like movies? Do you really like movies? How about lifting weights? Well, the new 90-disc United Artists 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection Gift Set is the product you've been weighting for! (The puns... they never stop.) Coming in at a hefty 22.5 lbs (as verified by an elaborate series of experiments involving 10 DVDs and my bathroom scale) and costing a coronary-inducing $869.98, the set boasts an assortment of MGM/UA's classic flicks of the past almost-century.
A big Monday shout-out to my main man with a license to kill, Sir Roger Moore, who turned 80 — 80!! — yesterday and 
Sure, Lois Maxwell had a 60-year career and acted in 
Warner Bros. is gloating that, with five films so far grossing $4.47 billion to date all over the world, Harry Potter is 
With The Bourne Ultimatum set to become an instant blockbuster when it opens on Friday, it's about time we at PopWatch deal with the question that everybody's been talking about since Matt Damon's series started five years ago: Which JB do you prefer — Jason Bourne or James Bond? Simple.
During the late '80s and early '90s, in the throes of a fanatical preteen James Bond obsession, I started reading Bond novels when I got tired of watching the movies over and over. I dutifully made my way through a few of the Ian Fleming originals — but what I was really into were the flashier and trashier contemporary Bond spinoffs by English spy writer John Gardner. Looking over 
The lords of EW.com, PopWatch, and 007 have given me a do-over, friends — and I need your help!
The legendary Shirley Bassey, mistress of James Bond theme songs such as "Goldfinger," "
This just in from our now-blind assistant photo producer... 
I've always wondered why Bond theme songs continue to cause such a fuss. It just seems like there hasn't been a decent title song for the series in a long time. Speaking of which, Casino Royale's theme, "
Attention, colonists: It is official. 
I have just scientifically proven beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt that you can indeed get too much of a good thing. Case in point: I haven't yet fully digested the new 
James Bond is supposed to be both badass and debonair. He's supposed to be able to take out a roomful of bad guys without spilling his martini. Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton's Bonds seemed to favor the badass side of the equation; Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan's the debonair side. But I believe Daniel Craig will be able to handle both sides equally well, judging from this new 
Don't expect a lot of today's PopWatch. The blogfather is dog tired.
[UPDATE: After a brief detour through 
How does Agent 007 fight his most troublesome foe:
(Drum roll please...)
There's still no Bond girl cast in Casino Royale, which is already shooting, but producers have finally cast the role of the villain, Le Chiffre, a crimelord who clashes with 007 at the baccarat table and elsewhere. It's Danish actor 
Let's play What's Weirder?...
Now that they've finally cast Daniel Craig as 007, the James Bond producers still have to finish another extensive casting search to find his leading lady for Casino Royale. Contrary to rumor, 
The new Casino Royale will put 007 on the couch, metaphorically anyway. Director Martin Campbell tells 
It's official: 
Albert Einstein is credited as saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. (Or was is a post-Seinfeld Jason Alexander?) Nevertheless, PopWatch brings you the latest in the James Bond Sweepstakes rumor mill, because, according to our good friends at Reuters, British bookmaker William Hill has 
