Author Profile: David Leigh

Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has been approached by Eon Productions to direct Bond 24, according to an article on the Mail Online today. According to Baz Bamigboye, who got a number of Skyfall scoops (including Eve being Miss Moneypenny), the director has been involved in informal talks with Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. […]

January 2014 Note: The swimming shorts identified as being in Thunderball discussed in this article later turned out to be no such thing, despite appearing in the Designing 007 exhibition. In two of the three Daniel Craig Bond movies James Bond has appeared in brief scenes clad in nothing but swim shorts, but going back to […]

Speaking at the BAFTA Television Awards on Sunday Q actor Ben Whishaw mentioned, when asked about his future plans, that he had thought that Bond 24 would start shooting at the end of the year, but is long longer certain, saying “I’ve heard some things but I can’t share”. While Sony had been pushing for […]

Sony posted its first annual profit in five years, it was announced on Wednesday, helped in part by the massive success of Skyfall. Profits were pegged at $458 million for the year ending March 31st compared with a loss of $5.7 billion the previous year. The turnaround in Sony’s fortunes have come about from the […]

Terence Stamp was in discussions to play James Bond after Sean Connery left the role after You Only Live Twice and dined with Harry Saltzman to discuss the possibility. However, according to Stamp, he told Saltzman that if he took the role he’d like to start the film dressed as a Japanese warrior, blowing his chances. […]

Near the beginning of Pierce Brosnan’s ultimate James Bond film, Die Another Day, we find 007 in Havana in Cuba. Given that the country has remained off limits since the revolution, the filmmakers were obliged to find a location that could stand in for the Cuban capital, settling on the historic port town of Cádiz […]

Barbara Broccoli recently spoke to The Times about how she “decompresses” between Bond films by working on stage productions. Although she says little about Bond 24, she does admit that topping Skyfall will be a challenge. The article notes that she and Michael G Wilson wield a lot of power in what is “traditionally a […]

Figures released by British satellite broadcaster Sky, which is part-owned by Rupert Murdock’s Newscorp, reveal Skyfall led a 37 percent increase in the number of rentals from Sky Movies in the first three months of 2013 compared with the same period last year. The company says 400,000 customers have rented Skyfall from Sky Movies so far, with […]

There is just one occasion in the entire James Bond film series in which I can remember 007 drinking coffee; after arriving in Istanbul in From Russia With Love Kerim offers coffee, which Bond then asks to be served “medium sweet”. On another occasion we catch a rare glimpse of his home life when M […]

Richard Kiel, best known for his role as Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker alongside Roger Moore, is to appear at The Misty Moon Gallery in London on May 27th. “An Evening With Richard Kiel” includes a Q & A with the actor, autograph signings and a screening of The Spy Who […]

Last night on the BBC’s long running MasterChef series, in which amateur chefs must up their game to professional standards to stand a chance of the MasterChef title, the semi-finalists were asked to serve dinner to 12 former Bond girls from across the 50 years of James Bond films. The episode sees Eunice Gayson, Shirley […]

American actor Richard Kiel , best known for his portrayal of Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker is to appear at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum on Sunday 26th May, according to 007.com. The museum is home to the Bond In Motion exhibition, the largest official collection of original James Bond vehicles and The actor will […]

Depending on your point of view the Kindle is either a miracle device, or the work of the Devil. While some people like their device – or love the ability to read Amazon’s Kindle ebooks on an iPad or other device – many see the move towards putting books into an electronic format as destroying […]

A bottle of a whisky that appeared in Skyfall and signed by Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Bérénice Marlohe sold at auction for £9,635 at Sotheby’s. The bottle of The Macallan 1962 was donated to the charity auction by the owners of the Scotch distillery and is similar to the bottle seen on screen in […]

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is to celebrate the works of John Barry at a concert in October at the Royal Albert Hall. The concert will include music from a number of James Bond films, plus other works ranging from Dances With Wolves to The Black Hole. The concert will take place on Friday 4th October […]

Three James Bond soundtracks will be re-released on vinyl this month in sporting the original sleeve design. The three soundtracks are Dr No, Goldfinger and Live And Let Die, with the latter also available in a high definition digital audio. While Goldfinger seems an obvious choice, as it has what many consider to be the […]

On Monday it was announced that the next James Bond novel, written by William Boyd, was to be called Solo. Boyd explained the title: saying “events conspire to make Bond go off on a self-appointed mission of his own, unannounced and without any authorization” and “as soon as I wrote down Solo on a sheet […]

The title of William Boyd’s James Bond continuation novel, due to be released in the UK in September, was revealed today at the London Book Fair by the author and later confirmed in a press release from Ian Fleming Publications. The book is to be titled Solo, which Boyd commented on, saying: “Sometimes less is […]

It has been announced that screenwriter Michael France, who was involved with Goldeneye as well as a number of other blockbusters, died over the weekend at the age of 51. He had been battling diabetes for a number of years and it appears that it was this that resulted in his death; just nine months […]

The Express takes a look at the phenomenon that started by Ian Fleming with the publication of Casino Royale in 1953 and which continues even today thanks to Eon Productions. The article adds nothing new to anyone with more than a casual interest in James Bond and is let down by a number of factual […]