IT'S PAINTING AND DRAWING HERE From Monday 25th. April

The James Bond international fan club newsletter Christmas 2020

 

Newsletter Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas, 007!

The JBIFC sends very warm seasonal wishes to all our readers, supporters, and many good friends in Britain and across the globe. We do hope that you have enjoyed all our regular website news items, stories and other updates on the 007 universe during the course of 2020. 
We wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a truly great New Year, despite these Covid times. And what a year 2021 still promises to be! 
The 25th James Bond adventure, No Time To Die, in the reliable and imaginative hands of director Cary Fukunaga, promises to see Daniel Craig go out in spectacular style. The new film's release was, of course, delayed twice during the course of 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns, and the new release plan is that (hopefully!) it will now hit our screens in April, 2021. 
If that is indeed the case, we confidently predict that, by the spring, a state of excitement will be building again, with fans everywhere more than eager to catch their favourite hero back on the screen after such a long wait. Welcome back, Mr. Bond - we've been more than expecting you. 
And if you don't appear until autumn, 2021, or even 2022... we'll still be waiting, as Bond fans are forever!


007 Heaven

Before the new Bond movie No Time To Die was delayed for a second time, the second big marketing push on the movie had started in a major way, and Bond fans were able to get further exciting glimpses of the 25thBond adventure. The publicity machine really geared up on 3rd September, when EON released the full trailer for the new film, which at that stage was still planned for release on 12th November. A 'taster' trailer had already been released earlier in 2020, and the new full trailer released in September on YouTube provided featured further intriguing insights into the dramatic stunts and powerful storyline of the 25th Bond adventure. 
The caption to the trailer on Twitter proclaimed: 'The mission that changes everything begins...'. And it was breath-taking stuff! The two-and-a-half minute trailer certainly provided some great footage to wet our appetites. There were scenes, for example, from the location filming in Matera in Italy (including the car chase and bridge leap sequences), shots of the Cuban actress Ana de Armas (who plays US Intelligence operative Paloma) engaged in fighting while wearing a floor-length gown, and further clues about the mystery attached to Dr. Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux). Indeed, Blofeld is heard saying of Swann: 'When her secret finds its way out, that will be the death of him'. The trailer also gave some further tantalising shots of the high-speed glider that can dive into the sea, while carrying Bond and new double-0 agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch). 
The trailer also appeared to promise quite an epic feel to the new movie, as Craig's Bond declares at one point: 'If we don't do this, there will be nothing left to save'. All this was also topped off pleasingly with some further clues about the scary new villain Safin, played by Rami Malek, who is heard saying to Bond: 'We both eradicate people to make the world a better place. I just want to be a little... tidier'. It was a chilling comment, and it looks very much like Safin will be a truly formidable foe for our James. 
As the UK's Daily Express put it (on 4th September), the trailer was '007 Heaven'.

Safin Speaks

Rami Malek was given front-cover prominence in the December, 2020, issue of the glossy British edition of GQ magazine, which also featured a detailed interview with and profile of the actor. And it is clear that he will invest his villain Safin with a particularly cold and ruthless approach to trying to change the world. In a dig at the latest delay to the release of 
No Time To Die, the magazine cheekily entitled its front cover: 'A Bond villain worth waiting (and waiting) for'. The interview inside the magazine with the Oscar-winning actor, which took place at the London Hotel in the West Hollywood section of Los Angeles, offered a few new clues on how Bond's latest nemesis will convey his evil (even though Malek plays his cards very close to his chest), and was very thoughtful and readable. The occasion was the first time he had been outside of England since before the Covid-19 pandemic had struck properly last March, and he was in fine form. 
He explained: 'This is very much home and not just in heart' (he grew up just a few miles away, in Sherman Oaks), adding: 'So it's been really sweet to spend time with the family in the last few days, even with the masks on'.

Win, Lose or Try

With regard to his decision to take on the role as the main villain in NTTD, Malek told GQ readers: 'Look, there was no way I was going to say no. It's a 007 film, man. They're part of our cinematic history'. Moreover, the fact that it was Daniel Craig's last film as James Bond only added to the appeal: 'An opportunity to go toe-to-toe, head-to-head with Daniel and give them all I got? That's something I'll look back on as as big as it gets'. One interesting point that emerged from the interview, which not everyone has picked up on yet, is that the Japanese Noh mask which Safin wears early on in the movie is a mask which appears to have different expressions depending on the light and angle at which it is viewed. This adds, in a sense, to Malek's multi-layered portrayal. In addition, some insights were given in the GQ profile on the goals the creative goals that Malek shared with the director Cary Fukunaga: one of their goals was apparently to make sure Safin was not a caricatured villain who divulges details of his plan in the traditional Bond villain way. Towards the end of the interview, Malek was asked about the implications of the Covid pandemic for the release of NTTD. He responded: 'Essentially, we make these films for entertainment. So ultimately it would be great if people feel it's safe enough to see this film in the cinema. And maybe that could be some sort of normalcy, whatever that is. And I hope that it is possible for reasons bigger than this film'.   


From a View To a Thrill

Rami Malek's final observations in the GQ interview raise interesting questions. How do you like your Bond film viewings? On the small or 
on the big-screen in a cinema theatre? There are numerous Bond fans out there who were first introduced to the world of James Bond via the small TV screen, got the 'Bond bug' from that medium, and then graduated to the big-screen and the thrill of seeing new 007 adventures in the cinema. What constitutes a 'small' screen today, of course, is open to debate, as many viewers have cinema-style TV systems in the comfort of their own homes. And who can blame them? However, there is still something rather special and truly thrilling about seeing a new James Bond movie at the cinema on the big screen, which is, after all, the ultimate cathedral to the world of moving pictures. 
There is nothing quite like it! After all, the James Bond movies, with their larger-than-life thrills and spills, great stories and glossy production values, were absolutely made for big-screen audience consumption and mass entertainment. The original producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, were especially passionate about this. They were right. Anybody who has been able to attend a Bond film premiere, for example, will tell you that there is something rather 'delicious' (as Elliot Carver would say) about seeing Bond on the big screen in a brand new adventure.

No Time To Sigh


These are some of the points that have emerged again with the dilemmas over the state of the box-office at cinemas in the UK and around the world, given the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, many cinemas in the USA, a key market for Bond, have been closed for most of the year. The major studios have thus been struggling in 2020 with the question of whether to release new films direct to streaming and video-on-demand, or still place their faith in traditional theatrical releases, pushing new films well into next year or even further (which, of course, piles on costs). 
Cinema managers in Britain were especially hopeful that the planned release of 
No Time To Die in November, 2020, would add a badly-needed boost to the UK box-office, and so were very disappointed when the release was delayed again. 
In fact, two days after the latest delay was announced, Cineworld publicly announced that it was closing all its UK and U.S. screens for the foreseeable future, and a number of grumpy commentators in the British press blamed the closures solely on the producers of the delayed Bond movie. This was very unfair. What should be remembered is that 
NTTDwas made for an estimated £195 million, and the makers need to get that investment back and much more on top, so it must have been an agonising decision to delay the release yet again. But the economics just did not add up under current on-off-on lockdown conditions. 
It should also be borne in mind that the EON producers, who have managed to hold on to one of the movie industry's last family-run businesses, still have a huge and commendable faith in the beauty and power of the big screen, and feel - ideally - that Bond deserves to be seen on the big cinema screen before any other medium. It is difficult to disagree.
Never Send Flowers

Interestingly, in light of all this debate and controversy about the future of the cinema and the traditional big screen, early December saw something of an alliance form between leading UK directors on the topic. First out of the block was director Paul Greengrass, whose films include entries in the Bourne spy franchise (and was once seen as a possible contender to direct a Bond film). 
In comments to the media, Greengrass made a strong defence of cinema, praising the decision to give his new film, News of the World, a U.S. theatrical release, despite the pandemic. He admitted that it might struggle at the box-office, but said: 'Somewhere in the big-screen experience, you are elevated and healed'. He added: 'I love that Universal, a movie studio that of course is twitching like all the studios and all of us are in the pandemic, is going for the collective experience... we have to try and somehow keep these collective experiences going. It's an expression of the deep commitment that studio has to the craft of film-making and the theatrical experience that means so much in all our societies'. 
Similarly, director Christopher Nolan, whose spy movie Tenet was released in cinemas in the autumn (fall), also spoke out. His latest action movie has now taken about $350 million globally, although it underperformed in the U.S. and UK markets. Nolan condemned Warner Bros for its recent controversial decision to release all its films for 2021 on a streaming service at the same time as in cinemas (a radical change in its business model, which means that cinemas will no longer have an exclusive window in which to show its films). 
Nolan said this change betrayed film-makers who wish to preserve cinema as the best place to see films, and had been done without any consultation with stars and directors. He added that he still believed that cinemas would bounce back in the long term and that they would still be profitable if they were allowed to continue. When the vaccine has been rolled out, he added, he was 'very bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry. People love going to the movies and they're going to get to go again'. One can almost hear the cheers of support from other film-makers, including, we suspect, from EON.


The World of the 'Lost' Bonds


A great piece of reading during 2020 was the publication in September of the new book The Lost Adventures of James Bond, written by Mark Edlitz, a book we suspect will appear in the Christmas stockings of numerous Bond fans. It was the second book from Edlitz, who previously authored The Many Lives of James Bond (2019), an excellent read which had examined the Bond character through the eyes of the numerous artists of all kinds who have interpreted him over the years. Edlitz's latest book maintained this high standard, with discussion of various unmade or 'forgotten' 007 projects. 
As many Bond aficionados know, there has been a huge thirst in recent years for 'what might have been' style investigations of the 007 books that were never written, or the Bond films that were proposed but never made, or the James Bond TV series that 
nearly were. In that sense, any book on the topic is bound to be a sure-fire hit, and Edlitz has delivered on this in many ways, skilfully drawing together numerous scattered strands to provide fans with very interesting summaries of Timothy Dalton's 'third' and 'fourth' James Bond films and other unmade 007 adventures. The treatment for the third Dalton movie had the working title of 'Bond 17', while the 'fourth' was apparently entitled Reunion with Death (which is a title many have not heard of before). 
Edlitz also has chapters on Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan's 'Lost' Bond movies i.e. the proposed storylines for 
The Spy Who Loved MeMoonraker and Goldeneye that did not make it into production in the end (although there is some tantalising evidence that some of the ideas for Dalton's 'third' movie were not wasted and did end up in Brosnan's Goldeneye). It is a very entertaining book, and we are sure it will have healthy sales. As the JBIFC has found, anything on 'alternative' or unmade 007 treatments tends to be very popular with fans. A couple of blogs on Dalton's unmade 'third' Bond on our website in recent years have been among the most regularly visited blogs we have ever published!

More 'Unseen' Bonds


While on the subject of 'unmade' or 'unseen' alternative James Bond movies, by coincidence the latest issue of the excellent British Sci-fi and fantasy magazine Infinity (no.31, 2020), which hit retail outlets in the UK in December, contained a glossy 7-page article on 'The Bond Movies That Never Were', penned by Brian J. Robb. This took the reader through some familiar but nevertheless still fascinating accounts of the Bond movies that were briefly talked about or even planned, but never made. For example, did you know that one idea was to have Cary Grant as James Bond in a 007 adventure directed by Alfred Hitchcock? The idea was possibly influenced by their earlier collaboration on the highly successful North by Northwest (1959). Although Grant was aged 58 by 1962, he still seemed suave and 'Bondian' and was apparently on the EON producers' radar as a possible choice for the first big-screen James Bond. However, the story (whether true or not) is that Grant himself turned down the possibility, as he did not want to become involved in a multi-film spy series. Similarly, the article by Brian Robb gave Infinityreaders a tour of the ins-and-outs of the proposed Dalton 'third' 007 adventure, apparently titled Portrait of a Lady (hmmm, surely Property of a Lady?). Robb's article also had plenty of detail on many of the other actors who were considered as leading candidates for the role of the big-screen 007, such as Patrick McGoohan and, much further on in the evolution of the series, James Brolin (who was screen-tested) and Sam Neill (who was also tested). There was also some discussion of the various Kevin McClory Bond projects, and some coverage of the so-called 'fifth' Brosnan movie that never was - a version of Casino Royaledirected by Quentin Tarantino (a big Bond fan). Tarantino was apparently keen to direct a back-to-basics version of Fleming's first 007 novel, which (as we know) did eventually happen - but without Tarantino or Brosnan! 

On Her Majesty's Cougar Sold


The many fans of George Lazenby's one-off Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) were reminded what a powerful and classic movie the director Peter Hunt gave us when one of the cars used in the production was put up for auction on 16th December, 2020, at Bonhams, the famous auctioneers on New Bond Street in central London. The car in question, Lot 104 in the auction, was a red 1969 Mercury Cougar Convertible XR-7, driven in the film by Countess Teresa (Tracy) di Vincenzo, played by the late Diana Rigg. 
It is thought to be one of three (some sources say four) Cougars used in the production. Finished in a Candy Apple Red with a black roof, this particular model was used for the romantic Barn scene in the movie, where James Bond talks about marriage with Tracy as they take refuge from the night's snowy wind-storm and have a rest from being chased by Blofeld and his men. The Cougar, although in poor condition before it was renewed by the seller, was still in relatively good shape as it was not involved in the now famous ice-race chase sequence, which saw damage to the other Cougars used. It sold for the eye-watering and princely sum of £356,500. Wow. Even Blofeld would be jealous!

Another Way to Dig


To lose one 'M' was bad enough, but to lose her successor, Gareth Mallory, would be a major catastrophe! Watch out for Ralph 'M' Fiennes in the new BBC film The Dig, directed by Simon Stone and co-starring Carey Mulligan, which is released on Netflix from 29th January, 2021. It is based on John Preston's historical novel about the famous 1939 excavation at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, Eastern England, where the royal burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon King was discovered by a self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Fiennes). To make the scenes as realistic as possible, the Australian director Stone buried real artefacts around the sight to capture the moments on film when the stars genuinely discovered things while digging. Similarly, according to Carey Mulligan, there was also a scene where Fiennes was entombed in dirt and Mulligan's character, Edith Pretty, had to urgently scrabble through the soil to dig him out and free him. She told the UK's Daily Mail: 'It was the most terrifying moment of my career! I was responsible for getting the soil away from his face. As the cameras came down, all I could think was: "Don't let me kill Ralph Fiennes!"'. Interestingly, while some filming took place in East Anglia (mostly at the seaside town of Cromer, not far from the original site, in December, 2019), most of the principal photography took place at the small hamlet of Shackleton, near Godalming in the county of Surrey, in October and November, 2019. This is an area that will be familiar to those of us with an interest in Bond location filming, such as The World Is Not EnoughDie Another Day and Skyfall. For the latter, for example, some of the key Scottish scenes were shot at Hankley Common, Ministry Of Defence land at Elstead, a village a few miles away from Godalming. The Skyfall Lodge, Bond's Scottish ancestral home, was constructed at Hankley, and CGI was used to provide some background.

Remembering the Admiral 


He was only in one James Bond movie, but he still had a great impact and seemed perfectly cast as a man who did not suffer fools gladly.Geoffrey Palmer, who sadly died in November aged 93, played the rather exasperated British Naval representative Admiral Roebuck in the operations oversight centre in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).His real-life friend and former 'M' Dame Judi Dench shared her memories of the late Geoffrey Palmer for the TV listings magazine Radio Times in November.She had worked with Palmer on the long-running and very popular comedy series As Time Goes By on British TV from 1992 onwards. They also shared the big screen in 1997's award-winning Mrs. Brown and, of course, in Pierce Brosnan's second blockbuster adventure as 007. Dame Judi said the pair had great fun on set, and if things went wrong during filming, Palmer would be in pieces laughing. Dame Judi also said that, on occasion, their sizeable height difference - he was 6ft and she is 5ft 2in - created some comedic moments. She recalled one scene in Tomorrow Never Dies in which, as Bond's boss 'M', she had to descend a staircase to confront Palmer's Admiral Roebuck, which made the mismatch painfully evident: 'I don't how we got through it', she laughed. Palmer's other work during his career included three separate appearances in the popular British Sci-fi series Dr. Who (in 1970, 1972 and again in 2007).

Boyd on Bond


For aficionados of the literary James Bond, one of the highlights of the summer of 2020 was a fascinating essay penned by the Whitbread Prize-winning novelist William Boyd, who wrote the James Bond continuation novel Solo (2013). Boyd has become something of a Fleming expert in recent years, and his latest piece of research into Ian Fleming's world saw him on the trail of where the Bond author actually placed 007's Chelsea flat in London. Writing in the Times Literary Supplement in July, Boyd revealed that he had gone to Wellington Square, just off the famous King's Road in Chelsea, and - using clues from Fleming's novels, such as Moonraker (1955), From Russia, With Love (1957), and Thunderball(1961) - he had pinpointed what he now believes was the precise address that Fleming had in mind when he painted in the background details for the everyday life of his fictional creation: no. 25, Wellington Square. Boyd added at the end of his article: 'That's where James Bond's flat was. Stand by for the Blue Plaque'.

Boyd, Bond and Buchan

William Boyd remains a highly regarded novelist in the UK, and his latest novel, Trio, was published in October, 2020, to plenty of enthusiastic reviews. He is also well-known for all the careful research and preparation he puts into his writing, whether it is his fiction or his numerous other essays. He also regularly reviews books for serious-minded journals and magazines, especially books with an espionage-related theme. Interestingly, for example, Boyd revealed in May, 2019, that, as well as a fascination with the novels of Ian Fleming, he is also very interested in the career of the novelist John Buchan (1875-1940), whose spy stories, such as The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) and Greenmantle (1916), are sometimes seen as paving the way for the wave of espionage adventures of later years. It is thought that Buchan's work also had a big influence on the young Ian Fleming. Reviewing a new book about Buchan in the New Statesman, Boyd wrote that Buchan's novels are difficult to read today, but added that he believed the various screen adaptations of Buchan's work have ensured Buchan's longevity in the same way as the James Bond movies have kept Ian Fleming's name alive, 'however distant the films may be from the original books'.

Live and Let Live


The lovely Jane Seymour, who played Solitaire in Roger Moore's first James Bond movie, Live and Let Die (1973), was profiled in the 'Times 2' section of The Times newspaper on 17th November. She talked about her new role as Eleanor of Aquitaine in a mini-series, Glow and Darkness. She also reflected on her long career and life in America, where she spends most of her time (she became a U.S. citizen in 2005), and the various roles she has had there, including the title role in the acclaimed TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Seymour also added her thoughts about Hollywood and ageing, and pointed out that she has never had plastic surgery, as she needs to be able to move her face! 
And, inevitably, she was also asked about Bond. The British, she reckons, still think of her as a Bond girl, even though it is 50 years since she landed the role of Solitaire in 
Live and Let Die
She was only 20 at the time: 'I was very grateful for the gig and I am to this day grateful to have been part of something that is so iconic and continues to pass the test of time'. The profile noted that the recent obituaries of Sean Connery had often described him as the best Bond. Seymour, who got to know Connery years later when they played at the same golf club, said that Sean was the first Bond she watched while growing up and she thought he was 'magnificent' in the role. She added: 'I think it's not a question of who's the best Bond, it's a question of who was your Bond, and when I got to do the Bond film it was with Roger. I think Roger was a wonderful Bond in the sort of Austin Powers tongue-in-cheek era'.

Some Quantum But Little Solace?


Bond woman Gemma Arterton, who played MI6 agent Strawberry Fields in Craig's second Bond movie Quantum of Solace, appeared on the front cover of Stella magazine (a supplement of the UK's Sunday Telegraph) on 6th September, and gave an in-depth interview about her career and her upcoming role in Matthew Vaughn's new action movie The King's Man(due out in February, 2021). She said she enjoyed the 'pistol-whipping', but said not enough of it made it into the final cut. 
The new film is a prequel to the 
Kingsman spy movies, and also stars Ralph 'M' Fiennes. Arterton has expressed mixed feelings in recent times about her part in Quantum, and has been accused by some critics of being too keen to bite the spoon that fed her, as her comments must be a bit disappointing to Barbara Broccoli. 
Again, in this interview, Arterton said that despite the 'enormous gratitude' she feels towards Broccoli, she had no idea 'how long that film would follow me around' and would not choose a role like Strawberry Fields now, as the character had no 'backstory'. On the other hand, Arterton said she hoped screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge has given the new James Bond movie some 'good lines', including some funny punch-lines. Arterton has certainly been a pioneer for women in the film industry - in 2013 she co-founded a new UK-based production company, 
Rebel Park, which has focused on getting more women involved in every aspect of film-making, an ambition that is undoubtedly shared by Barbara Broccoli.

Did You Know?


Bond co-producer Barbara Broccoli has been very active in helping to create opportunities for women and young people generally to break into the movie business in the UK. She is a Trustee of the charity 'Into Film', the film education charity for young people aged 5-19, and she also has an Honorary role at 'Women in Film and Television UK'.


Bond Bits: Brief Items of News You May Have Missed

Golden Memories: In a little-noticed piece in The New Europeannewspaper in late April, the showbiz journalist Tim Walker used his weekly 'Star Turns' column to recall his interviews with the very hard-working Hammer Horror star Sir Christopher Lee, who played Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), and also had key roles in the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings franchises. What struck Walker was how seriously Lee took his acting profession and roles. He also noted how the easy-going Roger Moore was intrigued by Lee when they appeared together. Although Moore liked Lee, he admitted he couldn't help but tease a man who was so profoundly earnest...

Fleming, Uncle Fleming: The April, 2020, issue of the British magazine The Oldie (which is aimed at an 'older' generation of readers) contained a great article by Kate Grimmond on her famous Uncle, Ian Fleming. She recalled that, for her, her sister, and her brother, a visit from Uncle Ian was 'a tonic', as he would make them all laugh, telling them interesting facts and tales of foreign places. Her article gave a nice new perspective on the famous creator of 007... 

Shaken But Not Stirred: The same issue of The Oldie also contained an article by Mary Clive, who recalled her personal memories of Ian Fleming, with whom she dined once a week over a period from autumn, 1937, to May, 1938. She said every time he was different, and it was 'like peeling an onion. You peeled off layer after layer'. She described Fleming as like an enormously difficult crossword puzzle...

Loving Honor: The June, 2020, issue of the magazine Best of British Past and Present was a must for Bond magazine collectors as it contained a great Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) cover, and a very nice 2-page tribute by Chris Hallam to the Goldfinger star, who sadly passed away earlier this year. He noted that Honor privately delighted in embarrassing interviewers by saying her character's name as often as possible! Pure gold...

Row Royale: The very hard-working French actress Eva Green, who made such an impact as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006), opposite Daniel Craig's 007, was in the news in August, but not for reasons she necessarily welcomed. It was reported that Green was embroiled in a legal row over claims that she had scuppered A Patriot, a British science fiction film starring Charles Dance. The film was to go into production in the summer of 2019, but the shoot fell through, and Green had issued legal proceedings in the High Court in London, demanding a $1 million fee. The production company concerned has issued a counter-claim for alleged losses it incurred after the film fell through, claiming Green's claim was 'without merit' and that she had breached her contract by withdrawing from the film without notice. Green's legal team responded that their client had 'an unblemished professional reputation' and had never been in breach of her contractual obligations. Sounds like she should call the SPECTRE special operations branch to sort things out...

Best Bond? He may be stepping down as 007, but Daniel Craig still has plenty of big fans in the print media. Journalist Jan Moir, for example, used her weekly column in the UK's Daily Mail on 14th August to proclaim that, despite polls on the best Bond placing Connery and Moore highly, her hero remained Daniel. As far as she is concerned, she wrote, Craig 'is the only Bond who looks like he really means it'...

In Love with From Russia: The showbiz writer Kevin Maher devoted a double-page spread to the '10 Best Spy Films' in the Arts section of The Times newspaper on 21st August. No.5 in the list was The Ipcress File(1965), produced by Harry Saltzman and with its superb John Barry score. At no.8 was 007 movie From Russia, With Love (1963), which Maher wrote was: 'Not just quintessential Sean Connery, but quintessential "spy movie" Bond'. Maher added that FRWL 'unfolds like a profoundly "old-fashioned" spy story', and, 'best of all', it has an extended sequence set aboard the Orient Express...

Live and Let Laugh: It has sometimes been tough to retain a sense of humour in a pandemic year with regular lock-downs, but a good laugh is sometimes the best medicine. A cartoon by the talented artist Paul Thomas in the UK's Daily Mail newspaper on 28th August had a great illustration of Ernst Stavro Blofeld sitting in front of a console with multi-TV screens all showing scenes from the world of James Bond (a satellite, sharks, Oddjob, a volcano, rockets, etc). This also included one of Daniel Craig's 007 boiling the kettle and making toast in his flat's kitchen! The dastardly Blofeld, complete with his white cat wearing a face-mask, is bemused at Bond and taunts: 'Fear you? Come, come, Mr. Bond - we both know you're STILL not back in the office'...

What Next for 'M'? The showbiz columnist Baz Bamigboye revealed in his column in the Daily Mail on 4th September that Dame Judi Dench, who played Bond's boss to both Brosnan and Craig's versions of 007, will portray the grandmother of actor Kenneth Branagh in a semi-autobiographical film that Branagh has been shooting about his early childhood growing up in Norther Ireland...

Join the 'Q': Would you like to drive one of the new limited edition Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger Continuation cars (see our previous Newsletter), which recently went into production? Then join the 'Q' (groan!). Car expert Jeremy Taylor penned an entertaining piece in the 'Saturday' section of the UK's Daily Telegraph on 12th September which shared with readers his experiences of road-testing one of the new Astons (well, 'road-testing' is not quite the right term, as it comes with one caveat - it cannot be driven on the road, for health and safety reasons). The Continuation models complete with gadgets, including 'machine guns', tyre-slashers and (replica) radar tracking system. Sounds perfect for all those annoying traffic jams, if only they could be used! And Taylor's verdict? He said, for his money, he'd happily sacrifice all the gadgets just to be able to purr along the open road in such an iconic car as the DB5... 

Dr. No's Duke: Keep an eye out for the new film The Duke, starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September. It is about the man who stole the famous painting by Goya of the Duke of Wellington, which was on display in the National Gallery. The painting will seem familiar to you. There's a great in-joke in Sean Connery's debut Bond movie Dr. No when, as Bond and Honey are about to have dinner with the villainous Doctor, 007 is surprised to see the painting sitting in No's lair. It was a great touch, and amused audiences at the time who immediately got the joke...

License Renewed: Fans of the recent BBC radio adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels, with former Die Another Day villain Toby Stephens as James Bond, were given a real treat in November, when three of the dramas were given a repeat transmission on BBC Radio-4 on three consecutive Saturdays: Thunderball (14th November), Moonraker (21stNovember), and Diamonds Are Forever (28th November). The adaptations are much appreciated for their very close adherence to the original novels. Double-o Heaven...

From Golden High to Fallen Sky: In our previous Newsletter we noted that the famous radio telescope in Puerto Rico that was used in Goldeneye was in serious danger of collapse. Unfortunately, it was confirmed on 3rd December that the 57-year old telescope, which was often used to search for signs of extraterrestrial life, has now collapsed. A least the magnificence of the telescope was captured on film forever, albeit in a fight between 007 and villain! The word is that it will be too expensive to replace in the immediate future...

Moore the Merrier: The very entertaining book Raising an EyebrowMy Life With Sir Roger Moore, by Gareth Owen, in which he recalls his life as the late Sir Roger's agent and PA, was one of the publications which appeared in the Daily Mail's Christmas Books selection on December 4th. The book was part of the newspaper's pick of the year's best TV and showbiz memoirs. And deservedly so...

Role of Honour: The UK's Observer Sunday newspaper on 13thDecember devoted its 'New Review' section to those we lost in 2020, and included a tribute to Sean Connery by his close friend Jackie Stewart, who spent some time with him not long before he died in the Bahamas, and a tribute to Diana Rigg by the actor (and Bond fan) Mark Gatiss...

Farewell, Smithers: The JBIFC were sad to hear of the passing of actor Jeremy Bulloch, who died on 17th December, aged 75, of complications from Parkinson's disease. Perhaps best known for his role as Boba Fett, the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter in the Star Wars franchise, he also appeared in Dr. Who and, as a naval crewman, in The Spy Who Loved Me. His next two Bond appearances saw him injecting some welcome humour as Smithers, Q's gadgets assistant in For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. Farewell, good friend...

Bonding Together: The UK's BBC-1 TV channel, which scheduled a new festive three-parter, Black Narcissus (about a convent school in the Himalayas) for Christmas viewing, brought together two former Bond women, Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as Sister Clodagh and the late Diana Rigg (OHMSS) as Mother Dorothea. In fact, sadly, the series, which was mainly shot at Pinewood Studios, was the final screen appearance for Dame Diana, who passed away in September...

Remembering and Celebrating Sir Sean: The January, 2021, issue of the glossy British cinema magazine Empire, which was published in December, contained some great coverage of the life of the late Sir Sean Connery. An article by Christina Newland explored Connery's time as James Bond and his love/hate relationship with the character, and three other articles discussed his post-Bond career in detail. It was a very nice tribute to a great star... 

Peter the Great: Just as we were finishing this Newsletter we were given the extremely sad news of the death of Peter Lamont, the hugely talented production designer on 18 James Bond films, beginning with Goldfinger (1964). His last Bond movie was Casino Royale (2006), and he also worked on The Ipcress File and numerous other movies, culminating in an Oscar for his stunning work on Titanic in 1997. In a statement issued to the media, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said that Peter 'was a much-loved member of the Bond family and a giant in the industry'. We could not have put it any better...

Bells, Trees and Bond at Xmas: It's been a tough year for many of us, and even Christmas has been impacted by the nasty Covid pandemic. Blofeld would be pleased. So how do we cheer ourselves up, in a 'Bondian' way? The film expert Mark Kermode used his 'Christmas Special' on the UK's Scala Radio station on 19th December to celebrate festive film-scores, and this included the magnificently catchy 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?', sung by the Danish singer-actress Nina van Pallandt from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. A great choice...  

No Time To Die - Coming 2021...


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