Ian Fleming
The Timeless episode with a story featuring a fictionalized Ian Fleming has some additional Fleming connections.
–The cast includes Goran Visnjic, a Croatian actor who was screen tested for the James Bond role in 2005, when Daniel Craig ended up being cast for Casino Royale.
–One of the executive producers of the series is John Davis, who was also one of the producers of the 2015 movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. That movie featured a hero named Napoleon Solo, who was given that name by Ian Fleming.
Meanwhile, as depicted in the episode, titled Party at Castle Varlar, Fleming (Sean Maguire) is depicted as a field agent for MI6. Fleming was more of an office man during the war, according to his biography at the website of Ian Fleming publications.
Amusingly, the episode makes a reference to 2012’s Skyfall and 1983’s Never Say Never Again.
UPDATE (10:55 p.m. ET): History, however, has been altered from what it’s supposed to be, concerning a certain 1964 007 movie with Sean Connery.
Here’s a tweet that Maguire posted on Oct. 18.
Playing Ian Fleming was one of the most fun roles I’ve ever played.Cast & crew are a dream. Don’t miss @nbctimeless this Monday 10pm pic.twitter.com/KiiWb87eRs
— Sean Maguire (@sean_m_maguire) October 18, 2016
Filed under: James Bond Books, James Bond Films | Tagged: Casino Royale, Goran Visnjic, Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming Publications, John Davis, NBC, Sean Maguire, Timeless |
And the “Never Say Never Again” reference, even delivered by the character who knows nothing of history, just left me smacking my head against a hard surface. Really hard! Probably more a legal thing. Really wanted more from this one.
@Kevin: I was writing the post when I thought I caught that. I left it out of the first draft, then saw a GIF on Twitter and added it.
I thought it funny that they made reference to “Skyfall” and “Never Say Never Again”. Two titles that the real Fleming would never had heard of. And although there is still some secrecy about Flemings work in the British Secret Service, I’m sure he never went deep into enemy territory posing as a Nazi.