James Bond

The drama around who will play James Bond in the next (and 25th!) 007 adventure is already more intriguing than anything in the last 007 adventure. Incumbent Bond made it fairly clear during the press tour for Spectre that he wasn’t exactly dying to make another film as Britain’s greatest secret agent (unless I’m missing the subtext in his comment about preferring to slash his wrists rather than drink any more shaken martinis). Last summer, there came word that producers were very interested in Tom Hiddleston taking on the role for Bond 25. But a new report in Page Six says things have changed yet again.

While the search for a new James Bond continues apace (in some luxury suite, Emily Blunt looks listlessly at her cell phone and contemplates getting a new agent), the franchise has begun to assemble some of the other pieces of its next installment. The screenwriting team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade has been an instrumental part of the espionage series over the last couple decades, co-authoring the scripts for Brosnan-era duds (The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day) as well as the resurgent Craig-era hits (Casino Royale, Skyfall, Spectre). And a new report from Variety indicates that the two scribes won’t get out of the James Bond business any time soon.

We all got ourselves into a bit of a tizzy last fall when it looked like Daniel Craig might step down from playing James Bond, or that he was thinking about stepping down, or that he was maybe offered a lot of money to stay, or a number of other rumors that turned out to be unfounded. Many still speculated about who would take his place, which led to countless interviews where it seemed every British actor was getting the question. Recently, when asked whether he’d like to step into 007’s shoes, Tom Hardy had another suggestion.

Everybody wants James Bond, but there’s only one 007. Plenty of franchises have fashioned their own “rough-hewn, American” slant on Bond, with the likes of Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne both jumping from the pages of novels to the screen and meeting with great success. And yet none of these secret agents have achieved the ubiquity of MI6’s favorite son, and so the studios continue to launch new espionage franchises in the hope of scoring a similar 25-movie gold mine.

Ah, my old friend, the James Bond rumor. No franchise has produced as many questions about the state of its current cast as the unnamed Bond sequel. Will Daniel Craig be returning to the role? Definitely not. Or, wait, probably. No, they’re actually casting a new James Bond as we speak. Scratch that, they’ve actually backed a dump truck full of money onto Craig’s front lawn to get him back. Or they’ll probably go in a different direction.

The fate of James Bond’s casting in the upcoming 25th official 007 adventure is the focus of more intrigue than many Bond movies. After the release of Spectre, Daniel Craig said things like “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists” when the subject of making a fifth Bond film came up. He wanted to move on he said. He was ready for something else

Remember way back when people criticized Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond, with some even saying he was too blond for the role? Well, the times have changed, and with Sony searching for new some new blood to eventually fill 007’s shoes, it looks like they’re willing to pay Craig the big bucks to stick around for a few more installments.

Austin Powers in Goldmember is not a very good movie. Most of the jokes, when there are jokes at all, are callbacks to the previous two Austin Powers. Whole scenes consist entirely of co-writer/star Mike Myers riffing, usually with himself, about random subjects like moles or poop. The plot barely exists; its time-travel component makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Goldmember is the cinematic equivalent of a cubic zirconia. It bears all the superficial features of a movie. But something, something crucial yet invisible, is missing. There’s basically no reason to watch it — except one, and that’s the movie’s big plot twist which, 13 years later, became the big plot twist in Spectre.

We’ve known for some time that Daniel Craig was tied to two-season Showtime drama Purity, adding another splash of kerosene to rumors of his leaving behind the role of James Bond. Now that Showtime has officially confirmed the two-season order however, executives don’t believe Purity would force Craig to hang up the tux.

Who wouldn’t want to see a James Bond movie starring Idris Elba? No one! The English actor has become a fan favorite to replace Daniel Craig as the next 007. But as much as we’d all love to see the ‘Luther’ star portray the iconic agent, it’s likely not happening.