The Gray Man’s mishmash

Poster for The Gray Man

The Gray Man, the new spy adventure on Netfix, is a bit of a mishmash.

It’s one part Bond (especially one action sequence that seems taken from Die Another Day), one part Bourne (a cynical universe), one part Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible (over-the-top action sequences), one part John Wick (impressive casualty counts) and one part Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The latter is no surprise. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo helmed some of Marvel’s biggest films, including Avengers: Endgame.

In their Marvel movies, the Russos loved to tell you the locations in BIG LETTERS. That carried over to The Gray Man (“BANGKOK,” “VIENNA,” “LANGLEY,” etc.). The brothers also like to have frantic camera movements and that’s the case here as well.

Ryan Gosling as Six, an assassin in the employ of the CIA, is more Bourne than Bond. But the script by Joe Russo and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, makes sure to work in a Bond reference. “007 was taken,” Six says at one point.

Six has been assigned a kill but doesn’t perform it as planned. This sets up a McGuffin that drives the plot. Six now is a hunted man. One of the hunters is mercenary Lloyd Hansen, played by Chris Evans, who worked on all four of the Marvel movies directed by the Russos.

At Marvel, Evans played the straight-laced Captain America. Since his exit from the MCU, Evans has been doing different types of parts.

Here, Evans revels as the movie’s villain. However, his performance is about as subtle as Snidely Whiplash. (Google it.) The actor achieves this effect, in part, with a weird-looking mustache. He probably had a lot of fun but the Russos might have been better served if they had Evans cool it a bit.

Ana de Armas plays a CIA operative, Dani Miranda, who’s very similar to Paloma in No Time to Die (I originally typed Die Another Day; too many “Die” titles). Dani Miranda gets beaten up more than Paloma.

The Gray Man isn’t the most impressive spy entertainment. But with Bond films in another hiatus and Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series on hold until 2023, it fills a vacuum for spy fans. GRADE: B-Minus.

Russo brothers look to create a spy franchise

Promotional image for The Gray Man

We’re in the midst of another attempt to establish a spy franchise, this one by Anthony and Joe Russo.

The Gray Man had a limited release in U.S. theaters this weekend before being shown on Netflix on July 22.

The Russos directed some of the biggest hits for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War plus two Avengers movies).

The brothers’ new effort has a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans (retired from playing Cap for Marvel) and Ana de Armas. Streaming service Netflix provided the Russos an estimated $200 million to play with.

The New York Times published a story today about the project. According to the Times, the Russos spent $40 million and one month on a single extensive action sequence.

The Gray Man comes as the James Bond film series has entered a hiatus as it tries to decide where to go following the end of Daniel Craig’s five-film run as Bond. The Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible series is looking to conclude following movies in 2023 and 2024.

So a vacuum does exist in spy entertainment. According to the Times:

Should (The Gray Man) work, the Russos have plans for expanding the “Gray Man” universe with additional films and television series, as Disney has done with its Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

On top of all this, the once-invincible Netflix is having problems. Subscriptions for the streaming service are down. Its stock price also is down. Netflix has cut jobs.

As a result, the stakes are large all around.

De Armas says her Bond woman is — wait for it — different

Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas as photographed by The Hollywood Reporter

Ana de Armas is featured in a July 20 story by Harper’s Bazaar. Most of the article deals with beauty products and hair styling. But she also took some time to say her No Time to Die character is a different Bond woman.

Veteran Bond fans might find this similar to talking points of other James Bond films. But judge for yourself in this excerpt.

“Paloma is actually a really complete character. Cary [Joji Fukunaga, director] created her from zero and he asked me if I wanted to do it. It was very appealing from the very beginning, when he was telling me what he was going to do with the character. I was very excited, and I did feel like she was different, unique. She’s definitely something else that I don’t think we’ve seen in other Bond girls in previous movies. She’s a lot of fun – very active, very badass!” (emphasis added)

This, of course, has been an Eon Productions talking point for decades. Various actresses have said the same thing about their Bond woman characters. And Barbara Broccoli, the boss at Eon, has said much the same thing over the years.

What’s more, de Armas’ remarks aren’t surprising given trailers like this one where she’s fighting and firing automatic weapons in trailers like the one below.

Bond 25 questions: The pish posh edition

“Wait? What? We’re not relevant anymore?”

There’s a lot of uncertainty concerning when Bond 25/No Time to Die will actually be seen by audiences. Regardless, there’s a lot of inconsequential gossip related to the movie.

Naturally, the blog has questions.

Hey, I read that Ben Affleck is breaking up with Ana de Armas. Does that have anything concerning No Time to Die?

Not really.

Are you sure?

Back in August, The Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s gossipy U.K. tabloid (the New York Post is Murdoch’s U.S. version) breathlessly reported that the makers of No Time to Die wanted to make sure Affleck didn’t show up to the premiere with de Armas. Other gossipy publications breathlessly picked up on it.

So that means the makers of No Time to Die must be happy, right?

I suppose.

What does that mean?

The makers of No Time to Die have a lot more to worry about. For example: Just when will No Time to Die really come out? Few really think it will be April (the current release date, only the latest among many).

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which is on the hook for almost $290 million (as of mid-2020) for No Time to Die is reportedly up for sale and it has more on its mind than Ben Affleck’s volatile love life.

Eon Productions, which actually makes the Bond films, probably isn’t happy that de Armas (who likely has a small part in No Time to Die) is a bigger star than Daniel Craig according to IMDB.COM’s STARmeter. Craig is the star and got paid a reported $25 million.

What makes you think that de Armas has a small part?

Because she wears the same evening dress in all the trailers and TV spots for No Time to Die. At this point, you’d think the editor of the trailers and TV spots could up with different shots of de Armas — if there were any.

Why do you refer to this as “pish posh”?

At this point, there’s not really much substantive to talk about No Time to Die. Gossip, like nature, abhors a vacuum.

10-second teaser released for new NTTD trailer

No Time to Die poster released Sept. 1.

A 10-second teaser was released today ahead of a Sept. 3 release of a new No Time to Die trailer.

The teaser includes previously unreleased footage of a ship firing missiles, a jet firing missiles, an evening dress-clad Ana de Armas kicking a thug and a Land Rover in the midst of a chase.

The teaser was included in a post by Eon Productions’s official Twitter feed.

On Monday, a new No Time to Die poster was released along with the disclosure of the impending trailer release.

In the Monday announcement, Eon said No Time to Die was still on track for a November release.

The 25th James Bond film had been set for an April release following a March 31 world premiere. But the release got postponed because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Many Bond fans have been bolstered by the international release of Tenet, the newest Christopher Nolan movies that combines spy fiction with science fiction.

Here’s the Eon tweet with the teaser:

New. Trailer. Tomorrow. #NoTimeToDie pic.twitter.com/f62bCey5Sv

— James Bond (@007) September 2, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): The teaser is now on YouTube.

New No Time to Die poster is out

A new No Time to Die poster is out today. It includes credits and a few things leaped out.

— Ana de Armas isn’t referenced among the cast. She is a rising star and has drawn a fair amount of publicity. Fans have suspected she has a small part and this may be a confirmation.

— Daniel Craig is again credited as a co-producer, as he was in SPECTRE. Personally, I was wondering if he might get promoted to executive producer but that’s not the case.

— The writing credit matches a Jan. 21 entry in a Writers Guild of America East database. The writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, director Cary Fukunaga and scribe Phoebe Waller-Bridge all get some form of writing credit. Scott Z. Burns, once hailed as coming in to save the script, is out man out.

— Hans Zimmer gets a “music by” credit. Presumably, that means that Steve Mazzaro, who has assisted Zimmer, will get an “additional music” credit (probably in the end titles).

The version below was tweeted out by UIPSA, which distributes Universal and Paramount films in South Africa. Universal is handling international distribution of No Time to Die.

The official @007 account on Twitter also had a tweet about the poster. But that version had no credits at the bottom.

UPDATE (4:20 p.m. New York time): A separate e-mailed release has a longer cast list. Ana de Armas is listed with Rory Kinnear, Dali Bessalah, David Dencik, and Billy Magnussen.

New No Time to Die poster

Ana de Armas speaks in (another) new NTTD spot

No Time to Die is out with yet another new spot, this time the viewer finally gets to hear Ana de Armas’ speak.

In the 30-second commercial, de Armas’ Paloma character chides Daniel Craig’s James Bond for tardiness. “You’re late,” she says when the characters meet.

This marks the second time a woman character has put Craig/Bond in his place. In the first trailer, Lashana Lynch’s Nomi threatened to shoot him in the knee (“the one that works”) if Bond didn’t stay out of her way.

Also, M (Ralph Fiennes) is heard from a bit more. In a previous spot, he said, “Come on, Bond.” Now it’s, “Come on, Bond, where the hell are you?”

The spot is below if you want to view it for yourself.

Broccoli & Wilson talk up diversity in Bond films

Barbara Broccoli, boss of Eon Productions

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions have talked up how the James Bond film series has embraced diversity over its almost 58-year history in an interview with the Blackfilm website.

“We’ve always tried to have diversity in the films,” Wilson said in the interview.

“We’ve always had international casts, and they’ve all been different ethnicities,” Wilso added. “So it’s nothing new. However, people are more sensitive to what they want to see, and when they see it — they point it out. I think we have a great diverse cast from all over the world. It’s in keeping with the times, but I think we’ve always been a little ahead of the times.”

Barbara Broccoli added the following: “Look at Live and Let Die, which was 1973. It was one of the first interracial relationships, Bond with Gloria Hendry. I mean, it’s crazy.”

Fact check: In Dr. No, Sean Connery’s Bond told Quarrel to “fetch my shoes.” This occurred seven years after the Montgomery bus boycott (a major event in the U.S. civil rights movement) and hasn’t aged well since.

What’s more, Live And Let Die screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz got shot down when he proposed that Solitaire (Jane Seymour in the movie) be played by an African American actress. So Bond films weren’t that ahead of the times. (Soliaire was written as a white woman in Ian Fleming’s novel.)

Broccoli also talked about Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas:

“These women have trained like you can’t imagine. They are absolutely in tip-top, peak condition, and they could take anyone on. It is not just strength; it’s flexibility. Your muscles have to be in good condition, you have to be able to stop and start. So it’s a constant training thing. And then they have weapons training. They have to look like they know how to shoot a weapon, and you want them to be safe, and you want them to look good. It’s been a long, intensive training program for both of them.”

Broccoli also talked up how No Time to Die ties up the Daniel Craig era for Bond films.

“I think the story is really an accumulation of the past four films and this one. So the five-film cycle, and I think the arc of his character — particularly the emotional arc of his character, is completed. We feel it’s a very satisfying conclusion to his movies; hopefully, the audiences will too.”

No Time to Die character posters unveiled

No Time to Die logo

Character posters for No Time to die were unveiled on Twitter this morning U.S. time.

The posters were contained in three tweets. The first had Daniel Craig in character as Bond and Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann. The second featured Rami Malek as Safin and Lashana Lynch as Nomi.

The third had Ben Whishaw as Q and Ana de Armas as Paloma. No sign yet (as of this writing) of Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter or Ralph Fiennes as M.

Here are the tweets:

Tomorrow… the first trailer for #NoTimeToDie #Bond25 pic.twitter.com/9Wc5CRzhO1

— James Bond (@007) December 3, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

pic.twitter.com/FTnjP2nEPQ

— James Bond (@007) December 3, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Eon teases release of No Time to Die trailer

No Time to Die teaser poster

Eon Productions has confirmed the first No Time to Die trailer debuts Dec. 4 and provided some shots of the film in the process.

Eon sent out a tweet Sunday night. Besides confirming the Dec. 4 date, it had very quick shots from the 25th James Bond film.

The tweet shows nine shots within 14 seconds. Included were some action shots, including what appears to be a motorcycle jump done during filming in Matera, Italy.

There’s also a shot of machine guns emerging from the Aston Martin DB5 replica. Star Daniel Craig is featured in several of the shots. Yet another shot shows Ana de Armas firing two machine guns.

One shot is of a mysterious figure. Whether it’s Rami Malek’s villain character remains to be seen.

The text was short as well: “Bond is back. The first trailer for #NoTimeToDie arrives this Wednesday #Bond25 #BondJamesBond.”

The tweet is below

Bond is back. The first trailer for #NoTimeToDie arrives this Wednesday #Bond25 #BondJamesBond pic.twitter.com/ThIEdXn82N

— James Bond (@007) December 2, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

UPDATE (8:58 p.m. New York time): The video also has been posted by Eon to YouTube.

UPDATE II (9:35 p.m. New York time): The video was also used as short commercial on NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast. Comcast owns both NBC and Universal, the latter which is handling international distribution of No Time to Die.