Bond 23 generates lots of reading material but few answers

Want to find out what’s going on with Bond 23? It seems like the more you read, the less you *actually* know. But recent articles cover enough ground, a reader can pretty much reinforce his or her own prejudices.

Are you inclined to believe Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Wilson are concerned, hands-on, smart operators trying to get Bond 23 to theaters as soon as possible despite financial troubles at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer? Well, THIS HOLLYWOOD REPORTER STORY VIA REUTERS is for you:

But Bond appears to be left out in the cold as MGM debtholders extended a deadline to get the studio’s financial house in order to September 15. Broccoli and Wilson declined comment but are said to be deeply concerned about the effect of an indefinite delay.

“They’re completely panicked that if they go five, six years without a Bond movie, it’ll be over,” a former MGM insider said. “They don’t want to kill the golden goose.”

That depiction, of course, is different than other accounts where, Wilson in particular, talks about how tired and exhausted he is from making James Bond movies.

On the other hand, if you’re really, really skeptical whether a new Bond movie can possibly come out soon, then READ THIS BLOG BY THE U.K. NEWSPAPER THE INDEPENDENT. Here’s a sample:

Today’s announcement that Daniel Craig is to star in a Hollywood film of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is great news for fans of Stieg Larsson. But it represents a rather less exciting development for those who prefer Craig’s other alter ego, James Bond.

(snip)
This suggests that the British star may very well not be expecting to be called up for Bond duty any time soon. So 007’s most recent outing, in 2008’s underwhelming Quantum of Solace, is likely to be his last for several more years to come.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times weighed in WITH A LONG STORY YOU CAN READ BY CLICKING HERE that explains how MGM hot into its current mess and the studio’s relationship with Bond. The FT frowns upon even the slightest excerpting on the Web, so we’ll just link to it. One criticism, though: the FT story confuses films released by the old United Artists studio (i.e. the first 11 Bond films, Annie Hall, In The Heat of the Night, The Apartment) with films actually produced and released by MGM before MGM acquired UA.

Bottom line: you may learn *some* things but Bond fans won’t likely find definitive answers to the questions they care most about.