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Work on an official No Time to Die podcast to promote the 25th James Bond film has resumed. The podcast had produced three episodes in fall 2020 before release date delays.
James King, who had hosted the podcast, said June 29 on Twitter, that he had just interviewed lead NTTD composer Hans Zimmer. In response to a later question, he said the interview is for the podcast. “Yes. Launches soon,” he wrote.
No Time to Die’s release has been delayed five times, with three of those related to COVID-19. The movie is scheduled to come out Sept. 30 in the U.K.
Participants, including director Ray Austin and actor Anthony Zerbe, talked about the 1983 TV movie The Return of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. on a June 26 Zoom call that’s up on YouTube.
The TV movie brought back Robert Vaughn and David McCallum to again play Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. George Lazenby had a small part as a James Bond-like character.
Among other things, Austin references how a scene where Zerbe’s villain escapes was filmed at a real prison. Zerbe grabbed onto a helicopter, which the actor says was for real. Zerbe also talked about working as a villain on the original Mission: Impossible series.
For blog subscribers: This had the correct headline.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission plans to investigate Amazon’s planned $8.45 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon has said it plans to acquire MGM, which controls half of the James Bond film franchise as well as thousands of other film titles and TV properties.
The FTC and U.S. Justice Department split U.S. regulatory review for large deals, the Journal said.
“During recent interagency negotiations, the FTC secured the right to review the Amazon-MGM deal, the people familiar with the matter said,” according to the Journal.
Amazon’s deal to acquire MGM may provide financial security for the Bond franchise — if approved by regulators. The Bond series has been subject to financial insecurity since MGM acquired United Artists, Bond’s original studio, in 1981.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission plans to investigate Amazon’s planned $8.45 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon has said it plans to acquire MGM, which controls half of the James Bond film franchise as well as thousands of other film titles and TV properties.
The FTC and U.S. Justice Department split U.S. regulatory review for large deals, the Journal said.
“During recent interagency negotiations, the FTC secured the right to review the Amazon-MGM deal, the people familiar with the matter said,” according to the Journal.
Amazon’s deal to acquire MGM may provide financial security for the Bond franchise — if approved by regulators. The Bond series has been subject to financial insecurity since MGM acquired United Artists, Bond’s original studio, in 1981.
One of several images Steve Mazzaro uploaded to Instagram in March 2020.
Back in March 2020, Steve Mazzaro, a composer who assisted Hans Zimmer in doing No Time to Die’s score, posted several behind the scenes images on Instagram.
The photos were originally posted on March 4, 2020, after the movie had the first of three COVID-19 delays in its release date.
Zimmer is the only composer listed on movie posters and soundtrack covers that have been released to date. But Mazzaro is one of the many composers who work for Zimmer. Mazzaro also composed the score for The Rhythm Section, a non-Bond spy film made by Eon Productions.
In a June 2020 interview with Variety, Zimmer said Mazzaro’s contributions to No Time to Die were significant.
“Steve should really be the top name on the Bond film,” Zimmer told Variety. Obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way.
Besides the image above, Mazzaro posted images of himself working with Zimmer at a control board as well as musicians recording the No Time to Die score.
As with anything else concerning No Time to Die, fans will have to wait to see how the movie’s score worked out.
Barbara Broccoli today celebrates her 61st birthday. Some birthdays are more memorable than others. As the boss of Danjaq LLC and its Eon Productions unit, Broccoli’s birthday comes amid a lot of developments.
In recent years, Broccoli — the daughter of Danjaq/Eon co-founder Albert R. Broccoli — has emerged as the dominant management voice of the James Bond film franchise. And with this year’s birthday, there’s a lot happening on the Bond front.
Amazon has agreed to acquire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio. That means, relatively soon, Broccoli and her colleagues will be dealing with a new studio regime — again. This has occurred quite a bit since 1981 when MGM first acquired United Artists.
No Time to Die, the 25th Bond film made by Eon, has been on hold, partly because of creative disagreements (director Danny Boyle’s departure from the project), partly because of a global pandemic.
Bond fans around the globe are hoping No Time to Die finally comes out this fall. Broccoli and her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson, have said they want Bond to continue as a big-screen experience, not as a streaming one.
In other words, Barbara Broccoli has a lot on her plate amid her latest birthday.
Broccoli has spent 39 years on a full-time basis in service of the Bond franchise. Even before that, as a teenager, she wrote captions for publicity stills for 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me.
So happy birthday, Ms. Broccoli. The blog hopes it’s a good one.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer may promote a Best Picture Oscar nomination for No Time to Die, according to a newsletter by a former editor of The Hollywood Reporter.
An edition of the newsletter this week outlines various MGM Oscar hopefuls. “And don’t forget No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s last Bond movie, which I’m told will get a best picture push a la the final Lord of the Rings,” wrote Matthew Belloni, who left THR last year. He is now part of a digital media startup.
A screen capture from the newsletter showed up on the James Bond Facebook group alt.fan.james-bond. Belloni verified on Twitter he had written on the subject of MGM’s Oscar hopefuls.
The Bond series has won five Oscars: sound (Goldfinger), special effects (Thunderball) another sound-related award (Skyfall in a tie with Zero Dark Thirty) and two for best song (Skyfall and SPECTRE). It has had other nominations, including for best song (multiple times), cinematography (Skyfall), art direction (The Spy Who Loved Me) and best score (The Spy Who Loved Me and Skyfall).
Starting with 2009-released films, the Oscars permitted as many as 10 Best Picture nominees, up from five previously. The idea was to make it easier for popular films to be among the nominated movies.
MGM is in the process of being purchased by Amazon.
Earlier today, the Eon Productions official James Bond feed on Twitter posted a reminder of a major transition in the long-running film series.
The tweet had a photo from 1988 of the start of production of Eon’s 16th Bond film. In the photo, Eon co-founder, Albert R. Broccoli, is holding a clapperboard. At the time the film was to have been called License Revoked:
Producer Cubby Broccoli on the first day of filming for LICENCE TO KILL, or as it was titled at the time, LICENCE REVOKED. This was the final Bond film produced by Cubby. pic.twitter.com/Pe61y5SA3H
Richard Maibaum, a screenwriter who went back to the earliest days of the Eon series, had worked on the plot. But the Writers Guild of America went on strike.
Michael G. Wilson, who collaborated on the Eon Bond films of the 1980s, took over as lead screenwriter. In those days, the weekly print edition of Variety carried a chart of major movies in production. That listed only Wilson as the movie’s screenwriter. Eventually, after the WGA went back to work, the final credit, when the movie was released in 1989, was “Written by Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum.”
The title later was changed to Licence (the English, rather than American, spelling) to Kill.
The movie would be the final Bond credits for Maibaum, director John Glen (who, in addition to his five directing credits had worked as editor and second unit director on three others) and title designer Maurice Binder.
Albert R. Broccoli chose Pierce Brosnan to play Bond in the 1990s, but passed on producing duties to Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The Eon co-founder got a “presents” credit in GoldenEye.
Q the Music, which does live performances of James Bond music and songs, will shut down permanently in 2022 after a farewell tour, Warren Ringham, the group’s director, announced on social media.
Ringham cited how Brexit and COVID-19 how changed conditions for the group.
“Whilst we have fought on for as long as possible, I myself as the director must now think about how my decisions will impact my own health and that of my family around me,” he wrote.
I never had the opportunity of witnessing a live performance by Q the Music. But those who have rave about the experience.
Below is a video Q the Music posted to YouTube about one of its performances. It runs almost two hours.
Recently, there have been podcasts and videos defending 2008’s Quantum of Solace.
If you love the 22nd James Bond movie made by Eon Productions, good for you. But there’s a recurring theme that those who aren’t as enthusiastic (including this blog) are somehow ignorant and their observations aren’t legitimate.
Here’s a recap of some aspects of Quantum that fall short.
When does Quantum of Solace take place? Casino Royale took place in 2006 (based on timestamps of surveillance videos). Eon Productions said Quantum took place shortly (the exact amount varied but supposedly it was an hour or so). But it wasn’t *years* later.
Vesper sacrificed herself at the end of Casino Royale. But she made sure that Bond got Mr. White’s mobile phone number.
Even in the 2000s, mobile phones acted as a GPS device. Vesper wanted to make sure that Bond could track Mr. White down. That’s why she got him Mr. White’s phone number.
In those days, street thugs were smart enough to use “burner,” or disposable, phones. Mr. White wasn’t? Or, was Bond not bright enough to track down Mr. White despite knowing his phone number?
Quantum fans will say that’s being picky. But it was Eon’s marketing campaign that stressed this was a direct sequel! Except those involved couldn’t match up the direct sequel to the original film.
Did M get shot? In the sequence after the main titles, it sure looks like it. But those who have better Blu Ray/DVD players that I do have screen captures where a long, thin metal object blocked the bullet. OK, fine. But that was not obvious watching it the theater first run. The audience in the theater should know what’s going on.
The thirsty villagers: Bond and Camille discover an underground lake, part of a plot to ensure a monopoly of water in South America. They walk past a lot of thirsty villagers, desperate for water. Do Bond and Camille let them know? “Hey, there’s a big underground lake back there!” No, of course not.
M’s quick turnaround: M shows up with several agents to take Bond in because (wait for it) he’s gone rogue. Bond beats the agents up. Then M says she trusts Bond because she’s his guy. Oh.
This week, I heard from a Quantum fan who said he doesn’t watch movies to find mistakes.
Guess what? Neither do I. But when the filmmakers throw them your face, it’s hard to overlook.
If you love Quantum, great. But don’t claim those of us who can detect imperfections are at fault.
The Spy Command 