Author Profile: David Leigh

Contrary to a Hollywood Reporter story saying that Bond 24 would be released within three years and probably in late 2013 but, our friends at HMSS Weblog just pinged me on Twitter to say that there is no basis in the report. Having listened to MGM’s investor’s call (which I have not yet) HMSS reports […]

Further to yesterday’s report that Bond 24 would be released within three years and probably towards the end of 2014, MGM’s chairman and CEO Gary Barber is quoted as saying during an investor conference call that they hope to announce a director shortly. Source: Bleeding Cool News

With MGM’s results for 2012 released yesterday, it has been announced today that Bond 24 will be released within three years and is likely to be released in late 2014. Following the success of both Skyfall and The Hobbit, MGM is experiencing something of a renaissance, with a cash pile and reduced debt. The studio […]

New editions of Ian Fleming’s two non-fiction books are due to be published later this month in the United States and early April in the UK. Amazon.com Amazon.com   Amazon UK Amazon UK The Diamond Smugglers and Thrilling Cities are to be published by Thomas & Mercer on 26th March in the US, while Vintage Classics releases them […]

Skyfall and The Hobbit helped lift MGM’s revenues by 97 percent compared with the previous year, a huge turnaround considering the perilous state of the company in 2009. Total revenue for the year was $1.38 billion, with net income for 2012 standing at $129 million. That just shows how reliant on successful blockbusters the studios […]

Last year saw the introduction of a new 007 toiletry range centred around the James Bond 007 eau de toilette. While technically not an aftershave – apparently eau de toilette has a stronger concentration of perfume oils than aftershave – that’s how many are referring to it anyway. In addition to the 007 aftershave eau […]

One of the unlikely stars of Skyfall is the porcelain bulldog seen on M’s desk, which is later bequeathed to 007.

Skyfall won Best Film award at the South Bank Sky Arts awards held in London last night. Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli were in attendance to pick up the award at a ceremony hosted by Melvyn Bragg at the Dorchester hotel, which was a favourite of Ian Fleming. Source: Radio Times

John Logan recently spoke to the Financial Times, part of which mentions his involvement with Skyfall and writing the next two films. He says that he plans on building on his input in Skyfall in terms of the complexities of Bond’s character and praises Ian Fleming for having courage to show Bond’s vulnerability and depression. […]

Daniel Kleinman talks about how he goes about creating the title sequences for the James Bond films, including the elements that must be included. The interview took place soon after the UK release of Skyfall, but interestingly he says the perfect title sequence “has to have the gunbarrel”.

Earlier today Empire published a new item saying that Sam Mendes would not be back for Bond 24. However, shortly afterwards it was pulled from their website. The news item is now back and, according to Empire, Mendes told them in an exclusive interview that “It has been a very difficult decision not to accept […]

A story appeared on Empire today saying that Sam Mendes has officially turned down Bond 24, saying it had been a difficult decision. However, that story has been pulled (it was here) without comment and so it is unclear at this moment whether the story is incorrect, or that Empire jumped the gun and the […]

I was recently asked by MI6 to interview John Pearson, author of The Life of Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Authorised Biography, which you can read here. It was interesting to discuss Ian Fleming with someone who actually worked for him and had first hand experience of James Bond’s creator. The interview was nearly […]

In a previous article I discussed how the screenwriters for the James Bond series have, particularly in recent years, sometimes plundered Ian Fleming’s books for ideas that have been integrated into original stories.

Skyfall had been nominated for the original song (Adele and Paul Epworth), cinematography (Roger Deakins), original score (Thomas Newman), sound editing (Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers), and sound mixing (Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson), but in the end  walked away with just two, and one of those was shared. Adele received […]

With Skyfall released on DVD and Blu-Ray recently the publicity machine is in overdrive to push as many units into our homes as possible despite most Bond fans not needing much encouragement anyway. Perhaps curiously, given that Skyfall was once again lacking the traditionally place gun barrel sequence, the home release is being promoted on […]

A video showing the unboxing of Skyfall Steelbook Edition Blu-Ray/DVD after delivery by Amazon.co.uk

Adele won the award for Best British Single at the Brit Awards last night, although the singer was unable to attend in person due to being in Los Angeles to rehearse for the forthcoming Oscars and instead a video message was played. In the message she thanked her fans and, and jokingly referred to her […]

Ben Whishaw has said that he expects be start filming with Daniel Craig in just ten months time, according to a report on Digital Spy. And if that information is correct it looks like Bond 24 is due in 2014, which also means that the producers will be looking to get the script into good […]