Does No Time to Die evoke one of Fleming’s last ideas?

New No Time to Die poster

Is this a spoiler? Only if it’s correct. Nevertheless, don’t read any further if that upsets you.

The MI6 James Bond website today published a story about No Time to Die spoilers based on call sheets issued during filming in Italy last year.

The article reveals a number of details. But one in particular would catch the attention of Bond fans who’ve read Ian Fleming’s original novels.

Specifically, such fans would note the end of the author’s You Only Live Twice novel.

Here’s an excerpt:

One of the final scenes to be shot Italy back in September was with Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and Madeliene (Lea Seydoux) on the coast near Maratea Port for scene #235. This location is doubling for Safin’s island. Local press caught shots of a rib boat with Nomi in combat gear and Madeline on a radio.

But there is a third character included in these late scenes, and it is not James Bond. Her name is Mathilde and she is 5 years old. She appears in scene #235: “Nomi pilots Madeliene and Mathilde to safety with island in the background.”

Could Mathilde be the daughter of Bond? That would be similar to the You Only Live Twice novel, where Bond, suffering from amnesia and thinking he’s a Japanese fisherman, travels off to the Soviet Union. He’s unaware that Kissy Suzuki is pregnant with his son.

The MI6 article adds this at the end:

Could James Bond become a parent? Regular Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have for years worked on including elements of unused Ian Fleming material, and aside from Bond’s brainwashed attempt to assassinate M in ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’, one of the most glaring omissions from the film series is how Bond leaves Kissy at the end of ‘You Only Live Twice’.

We’ll see. Eventually.

Footnote: Bond continuation novel author Raymond Benson ran with the idea at the beginning of his 1997-2002 run. James Suzuki, the daughter of Bond and Kissy, figures into the short story Blast From the Past. That story was first published in Playboy.

James Suzuki is killed, bringing Bond into conflict with another old enemy.

Hugh Hefner, who helped popularize 007, dies

George Lazenby’s 007 reading a copy of Playboy

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy and who helped popularize James Bond for American audiences, has died at 91, according to CNBC, citing a statement from Playboy Enterprises.

Playboy published the Ian Fleming short story The Hildebrand Rarity in 1960, beginning a long relationship between the magazine and the fictional secret agent.

At the time, the literary Bond has his U.S. fans but the character’s popularity was far from its peak. Things changed a year later when the new U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, listed Fleming’s From Russia With Love as one of his 10 favorite books.

As Bond’s popularity surged in the 1960s, Playboy serialized the novels You Only Live Twice and The Man With The Golden Gun.

The relationship spread into the Bond movies produced by Eon Productions. In 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond (George Lazenby) kills time looking at an issue of Playboy while a safe cracking machine works away. Two years later, in Diamonds Are Forever, the audience is shown that Bond (Sean Connery) had a membership card at a Playboy club. Also, over the years, Playboy published Bond-related pictorials.

In the 1990s, the Playboy-literary Bond connection was revived. Playboy published some 007 short stories by continuation novelist Raymond Benson, including Blast From the Past as well as serializations of Benson novels.

One of Benson’s short stories published by Playboy, Midsummer Night’s Doom, was set at the Playboy Mansion. Hefner showed up as a character.

During the 21st century, Playboy “has struggled in the face of tough competition from the available of free pornography online,” CNBC said in its obituary. The magazine experimented with no nude photos “before returning to its previous formula,” CNBC said.

Playboy, 007’s old ally, may be subject of takeover fight

Playboy magazine and its parent company, Playboy Enterprises Inc., may be the target of a takeover fight. Why should James Bond fans care? Well, the magazine does have a half-century relationship with a certain gentleman agent.

First, the events of July 12 as described by Brett Pulley on Bloomberg.com:

FriendFinder Networks Inc., owner of Penthouse adult magazine, plans to submit a bid for Playboy Enterprises Inc., following a $123 million offer from Playboy’s founder Hugh Hefner.

Things began when Playboy issued a statement. Here’s how Pulley described it:

Hefner plans to offer $5.50 apiece in cash for the Class A and Class B shares, Chicago-based Playboy said in a statement today. Hefner, 84, is partnering with Rizvi Traverse Management LLC for the transaction. The offer, at a premium of more than 30 percent, values Playboy at about $185 million.

It was after that FriendFinder Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell gave interviews (to Bloomberg and elsewhere) that he was looking to counter. To read the entire Bloomberg story, JUST CLICK HERE.

Playboy has had a rough time. Hefner’s daughter, Christie, stepped down as CEO last year and the magazine has had some staff cuts because of declining advertising revenue and circulation. It’s a story that has been repeated at other storied magazines, including Newsweek (currently on the sales block by the Washington Post Co.).

Playboy’s situation is worth noting here because of the ties between the magazine and 007. Playboy published Ian Fleming’s short story The Hildebrand Rarity in its March 1960 issue. The magazine later serialized later Fleming Boind novels, including You Only Live Twice and The Man With The Golden Gun.

The magzine also published THE LAST INTERVIEW WITH FLEMING. And Playboy also had a MEMORABLE 1965 INTERVIEW WITH SEAN CONNERY that demonstrated the star was tiring of the 007 grind.

Bond films acknowledged thre relationship with the magazine. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the George Lazenby version of 007 looks over an issue of the magazine while a device is cracking the safe of a Swiss lawyer as Bond pursues Blofeld’s trail.

Two years later, in Diamonds Are Forever, we see Bond (Sean Connery) has a membership card at a Playboy club.

Over the years, there were various Bond-related pictorials. But the relationship, at least on the literary side, with Bond intensified during Raymond Benson’s 1997-2002 tenture writing 007 continuation novels. The magazine published Benson’s first Bond work, the Blast From the Past short story as well as another short story, Mid-Summer’s Night Doom, where Bond ends up at the Playboy mansion (strictly in the line of duty) and hanging out with Hefner.

The possible Playboy takeover fight is business, of course. But for Bond fans, there may be a bit more — including fond memories — at stake.

UPDATE: FriendFinder made its bid for Playboy on July 14 15. It’s bidding $210 million, which FriendFinder says is a premium over Hefner’s bid. We’ll see how it turns out.

Limited hardback version of The Union Trilogy available

There’s a limited, hardback version of the James Bond omnibus The Union Trilogy available at the Barnes & Noble Web site.

It costs $8.98 and contains three Raymond Benson novels (High Time to Kill, Doubleshot and Never Dream of Dying) and the complete version of the Benson short story Blast From the Past. The latter originally appeared in Playboy magazine but was pared substantially.

For full details, or if you don’t need details and just want to buy it, JUST CLICK HERE.