007 music program scheduled by Florida orchestra

Image from The Florida Orchestra website

The Florida Orchestra in St. Petersburg, Florida, has scheduled a program of James Bond film music in February 2020.

The program is titled “Music of Bond…James Bond.”

The orchestra’s website doesn’t provide a lot of details. It says: “Be stirred, not shaken, by more than 50 years of music for the world’s most famous spy. With soaring strings and bold brass, the themes of 007 are instantly thrilling and unforgettable.”

The program is scheduled for Feb. 8-9, 2020. Two shows on Feb. 8 (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.) will be at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. A 7:30 p.m. performance on Feb. 9 will be performed at Ruth Eckerd Hall in nearby Clearwater, Florida.

St. Petersburg was a location in the second James Bond novel, Live And Let Die.

h/t to reader Gary J. Firuta who let the blog know about this musical program.

Variety says Bond 25 to begin filming at end of April

Daniel Craig in Skyfall.

Bond 25 is scheduled to begin filming at the end of this month, Variety said in a story today.

The Variety article primarily concerned the hiring of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the newest writer on the film.

Variety said it confirmed Waller-Bridge’s involvement with the production. It also had this passage:

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the British writer was indeed taking a pass through the script and that director Cary Fukunaga was fully aware of the decision. The source said production remained on track to begin at the end of April.

A sequence was filmed in Norway last month, but that apparently was done by the second unit without primary cast members. Fukunaga has been photographed in Italy last week scouting locations.

So far at least six writers have performed Bond 25 work. Besides Waller-Bridge, they are Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Hodge, Paul Haggis and Scott Z. Burns. Director Fukunaga also has been known to write scripts so it’s possible the actual total is at least seven.