Bond Is Back - in 2011

According to current 007 Daniel Craig, James Bond will be back on the big screen in 2011. Interviewed on the American chat-show 'Live With Regis and Kelly', Craig at one point was quizzed by host Regis about the next Bond adventure.

Craig responded: 'The plan is to start shooting the next one at the end of next year so it'll be ready for 2011. So we've got a lot of work to do'.

Most of the interview was devoted to questions about Craig's role in the play 'A Steady Rain' on Broadway, which Regis had seen himself and was extremely enthusiastic about. The hard-hitting play, which is about two Chicago cops (played by Craig and Hugh Jackman) has received rave reviews from theatre critics in New York. A relaxed and confident Craig briefly reflected on his 25 year career on the stage, and then talked about the amount of preparation he and Jackman had carried out in order to inject authenticity into their gritty roles in 'A Steady Rain'.

This had included a day in Chicago with the police, observing proceedings in the morgue, in the courts and in the local precinct. Daniel talked about the tough life of police work and the amount of stress the cops came under every day, and how he had sought to capture this in his character in the play.

Regis said he had been especially impressed with how Craig and Jackman had mastered the Chicago accent, given one actor is English and the other an Australian. Asked about his time in the USA at the moment, Craig said he loved New York.

James Bond Given Iconic Status

Meanwhile, the latest edition of the British film magazine 'Empire' (December, 2009) has made 007 one of its icons of the decade, alongside nine other key characters of the first ten years of the Noughties. In a detailed article by Damon Wise, Empire magazine explores how the Bond franchise was, at one point, running low on steam but was revitalised by Chester-born Craig.

Wise reveals that, after Brosnan lost the role, he watched with interest how the long 007 selection process and circus unfolded, and the initial press hostility to Craig. According to Wise, 'Layer Cake' (2004) was the clincher in establishing Craig's screen profile and pushing him a step closer to the mainstream and to his surprise selection as 007.

But even Wise, at first, had some reservations about whether Craig was the right man for the role. When Wise arrived in the Bahamas in 2006, several weeks into the shooting of 'Casino Royale', he was aware of the negative press coverage being given to the new 007 actor. On the other hand, Wise became increasingly impressed over the coming months with how Craig was determined to have a very 'character' based approach to James Bond, and with how he was keen to get Ian Fleming's Bond right in order to 'steer the character confidently into the 21st century'.

After seeing 'Casino Royale', Wise concluded that it was a genuine, brilliant reinvention, 'a darker, flawed more recognisably human hero to reflect our troubled times'.

This edition of Empire has been printed with ten different covers, including one with Daniel Craig in classic moody Bond pose against a silver background.

Bidding For Bond

As we wait for more details about the shape of the next Bond film, which will have a screenplay partly penned by the award-winning screenwriter Peter Morgan (of 'The Queen' and 'Frost/Nixon' fame), various actors have already been cheekily putting themselves forward for roles.

The latest is British actress Emma Thompson, who told one British newspaper that she has been lobbying the Bond producers for a role: 'I keep writing to Barbara Broccoli saying I should be a villain, a proper villain with a scar', she said at one point during the recent London Film Festival. 'I would like to explore the dark side. I think definitely someone should write something really awful. God knows I am not going to be a Bond girl am I?' Her comments were undoubtedly music to the ears of her husband, Greg Wise, who at one stage in the early 1990s was seen by some as a potential candidate for the role of James Bond himself.

Bond Is Forever

Visitors to the London Film Festival were also bemused to see some of the advertising boards for the London 'Evening Standard' newspaper. The recently revamped newspaper, which is now free at major train stations and newsagents in central London, has been marketing itself with the slogan 'Tomorrow's News Today'. If this sounds oddly familiar, it is because that was the marketing slogan of media tycoon and dedicated villain Elliot Carver in 'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997). Commentators have wondered whether this is anything to do with the new owner of the Standard, former Russian KGB spy Alexander Lebedev, who told an interviewer a few months ago 'I love the Bond films'.

Guests at the London Film Festival were also treated to another Bond connection. The current advertising campaign by the Royal Mail for its financial services and new savings plans features none other than former 007 Sir Roger Moore. The company's marketing spokesman has commented: 'We wanted someone to represent financial services as being sophisticated and respected'.