Bond fan Elon Musk agrees to buy Twitter

Elon Musk photo on Twitter in 2015.

Notorious James Bond fan Elon Musk will buy Twitter for $44 billion. The social media service announced it accepted Musk’s bid, The Verge reported.

In 2015, Musk’s Twitter avatar was a parody of Blofeld and Dr. Evil. (See above). The billionaire industrialist In 2013 bought one of the submarine cars from The Spy Who Loved Me. In 2016, the Jalopnik website reported that Musk had a secret “Project Goldfinger” undertaking.

Subsequently, various news outlets have compared Musk to a James Bond villain. Like Ian Fleming’s Hugo Drax character, Musk’s activities include launching rockets via his SpaceX company.

NTTD U.S. spot: Now you see it…

Something rather peculiar happened tonight concerning a new U.S. commercial for No Time to Die.

The official Bond Twitter feed posted it around 10:45 p.m. New York time. It was up for about five minutes, then got yanked.

Then, shortly before 11 p.m., the spot aired during NBC’s telecast of the Dallas Cowboys-Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game.

At 11:04 p.m., the tweet went out again. Here’s what it looks like (assuming it doesn’t get yanked again).

Bond is back. Only on the big screen. Check out the new US TV spot for #NoTimeToDie. pic.twitter.com/QoqKI2ouMQ

— James Bond (@007) September 10, 2021

Musk-see TV: Mogul’s SNL episode skips Bond skit

Elon Musk photo on Twitter in 2015.

James Bond fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Elon Musk, a billionaire involved with electric vehicles and rockets (Tesla and SpaceX), hosted Saturday Night Live but avoided a “Woke James Bond” skit.

Musk on May 1 floated the idea of a “Woke James Bond” skit on social media. That seemed a real possibility because the billionaire has a Bond fixation. In 2013, he purchased the submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me at auction. At one point, his photo on Twitter had him posing as a combination of Blofeld and Dr. Evil. (see above)

Saturday Night Live has been televised on NBC since 1975. The comedy show helped launch the careers of, among others, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy and Kate McKinnon. But critics depict the show in recent years as wildly uneven. And some of the skits on the May 8 telecast were awful.

Vox on May 7 published a story explaining why Musk was a controversial choice to host the show as well as examining its “outsize importance.” Robert Reich, a former U.S. labor secretary, posted a video on social media calling Musk “a modern day robber baron.”

SNL was scheduled to be livestreamed internationally on YouTube, a first for the show, according to Deadline Hollywood.

Could Elon Musk do a Bond skit on SNL?

Elon Musk photo on Twitter in 2015.

Billionaire Elon Musk is scheduled to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live on May 8. Musk also has a fascination with James Bond. Could Musk have the comedy show do a Bond skit?

On Twitter the night of May 1, Musk ssaid he was throwing out skit ideas. This tweet apparently was one of them.

Woke James Bond
SNL May 8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2021

Wikipedia has this definition for woke:

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a term that refers to awareness of issues that concern social justice and racial justice. It is sometimes used in the African-American Vernacular English expression stay woke. Woke resurfaced in 2014 during the Black Lives Matter movement as a label for vigilance and activism concerning racial inequalities and other social disparities such as discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, women, immigrants and other marginalized populations.

Woke has also been the subject of memes, ironic usage and criticism.

Some critics argue woke goes too far. If you type in “James Bond woke” into YouTube’s search engine, you’ll find a variety of fan videos who argue Bond has gone woke with No Time to Die, a movie nobody has seen yet outside of Eon Production and its studio partners.

To be sure, Elon Musk generates a lot of publicity. Could he be seeking some more attention with this? That’s an absolute possibility.

On the other hand, when a billionaire who is into electric vehicles and rockets teases the possibility you have to note it. If Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett pulled something like this, it would get attention.

On top of that, Musk may be the world’s richest James Bond fan. He purchased the submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me. At one point he had a Twitter avatar that evoked Blofeld and/or Dr. Evil (see above). And Musk’s Tesla electric-car company, Tesla, once had a “Project Goldfinger.”

Clearly, Musk has Bond on the brain. On Saturday Night Live, guest hosts get a lot of input into comedy sketches. We’ll see if Musk’s Bond enthusiasm spills into SNL on May 8.

M:I 7-8’s social media campaign is underway

Mission: Impossible-Fallout poster

Mission: Impossible 7 won’t be out until July 23, 2021 and M:I 8 isn’t due out until Aug. 5, 2022. But the social media campaign already is underway, thanks to director Christopher McQuarrie.

Earlier this month, McQuarrie used an Instagram post to tease how actress Hayley Atwell will be in the two movies.

The director’s post was a bit vague. It had a photo of Atwell on top of an Impossible Missions Force holder. “Should you choose to accept…,” he wrote.

The post evoked the 1966-73 television series, where either Dan Briggs or Jim Phelps looked at operative photos while selecting those who would participate in a mission.

In any case, entertainment outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter jumped on McQuarrie’s post and did stories.

Atwell later did her own Instagram post to make clear she’s in both M:I 7 and MI: 8.

” I’m thrilled to have joined @tomcruise and @christophermcquarrie for the next TWO Mission Impossible movies,” she wrote. “To have gone from a classical play in the west-end to an audio book recording of a great new novel to a Disney/Marvel animation and now the female lead in a huge action franchise is the kind of variety that fuels my curiosity and keeps me learning and striving to be better and do better.”

McQuarrie, though, wasn’t done. Today, he posted a glimpse of new M:I story boards on both Twitter and Instagram.

All of this shows how marketing of movies has changed with social media. Projects try to attract and maintain attention long before films come out. It will be interesting see what happens when filming actually starts.

Here’s a look at McQuarrie’s tweet from today.

Fear not, @MarkBristol1 is on the case. pic.twitter.com/hA6tSQjAvf

— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) September 13, 2019

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Literary 007 returns to social media

Part of the original Twitter home page for @JB_UnivEX

The literary James Bond is about to make a return to social media, starting Aug. 19.

Starting in 2018 and running into early 2019, @JB_UnivEx provided a look at what the literary James Bond would have done on Twitter.

Because Bond’s missions were classified, @JB_UnivEx often couldn’t state what was really happening — and that was part of the fun. Also, late in the run, literary Bond (brainwashed by the Soviets at the time) saw From Russia With Love in the theater and took issue with it.

Now, @JB_UnivEx had edited those original tweets. It appears there will be some new graphics. Also, the exploits will now be on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Here are a couple of tweets that were put out to promote his return.

1 Jun 52: Just setting up my social media accounts. I will be sharing my life as an Import & Export merchant, splitting my time between travelling the world and living in my flat in Chelsea. #MyFirstTweet #FirstPost pic.twitter.com/68QEH9vsfX

— James Bond (1952-64) (@JB_UnivEx) August 14, 2019

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By popular demand, #JamesBond will return on Monday 19 August 2019 in #CasinoRoyale.

Follow his adventures exclusively on your preferred social media service:
Twitter: https://t.co/MZSfTfMxS7
Instagram: https://t.co/PTfIqV6YbH
Facebook: https://t.co/VICAQs86sF pic.twitter.com/SkgjqMXwCd

— James Bond (1952-64) (@JB_UnivEx) August 15, 2019

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Eon seeks to regain the B25 narrative with Craig photo

Eon’s Bond 25 logo

The official 007 Twitter account of Eon Productions today posted a photograph of Daniel Craig working out at the gym of Pinewood Studios.

“#007 Daniel Craig hitting the gym hard, prepping for shooting next week!” according to the caption that accompanied the photo.

When last seen out in public, the 51-year-old actor was on crutches and his left foot in a cast while at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. He had previously underwent surgery for an ankle injury suffered during Bond 25’s shoot in Jamaica.

It’s not much of a stretch to view the tweet (and new photo of Craig in the gym) as Eon trying to regain control of the Bond 25 narrative. The only sign of the actor’s injury is the cast he’s still wearing.

Besides Craig’s injury, a June 4 explosion damaged the 007 Stage, causing one minor injury. Both incidents have generated bad publicity for the film, with British tabloids, led by the Sun, generating multiple stories.

Also, this week, director Cary Fukunaga posted a photo on Instagram of a crew member with an over-sized clapperboard. The Eon 007 Twitter account also sent that out. The message: Production continues despite the problems.

Here’s the new Tweet from Eon:

#007 Daniel Craig hitting the gym hard @pinewoodstudios, prepping for shooting next week! #Bond25 📷 @GregWInsight pic.twitter.com/PrXZDnSX0O

— James Bond (@007) June 15, 2019

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Bond 25 questions: Eve of the announcement Part II

Everyone is getting revved up for the April 25 Bond 25 announcement.

So, according to Eon Productions’ official Twitter feed, there’s going to be an online Bond 25 announcement on April 25. But, of course, the blog has more questions.

What time is the announcement again?

The text of the tweet says it will be “13:10 BST/05:10 PST.” But the tweet embeds a video that says it will be “13:10 GMT/5:10 PST.”

BST refers to British Summer Time. GMT refers to Greenwich Mean Time. They’re not the same thing. This website refers to GMT as currently an “inactive zone” and to use BST.

BST is akin to Daylight Saving Time in the United States. GMT is akin to standard time in the U.S.

Right now, BST is five hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time (i.e. eastern time in the U.S.) So 13:10 BST would be 8:10 EDT. It would also be 5:10 Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). But that’s not the same thing as PST (Pacific Standard Time).

Oh my. What do you suggest?

You might want to be ready to go an hour earlier just in case. Given how many 007 film fans are starved for Bond 25 news, that’s probably not much of a stretch.

I see. Any other observations?

Here’s one: 007 & Co. did deals with Good Morning Britain in the U.K. and Good Morning America in the U.S. for Bond 25-related programming on April 25 and 26. The British morning show started doing promos last week, and the U.S. program began promotions this week.

So those programs were, more or less, setting the media agenda for Bond 25 over the past few days. It wasn’t clear whether there’d be an actual announcement or no.

Then, today, Eon put out the aforementioned tweet. It looks like this:

Coming tomorrow at 13:10 BST/05:10 PST, the #BOND25 Live Reveal from an iconic 007 location. Ask the cast a question using #BOND25 pic.twitter.com/OwfjrRYZQd

— James Bond (@007) April 24, 2019

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OK, so now we know there is an actual announcement coming. But things were a little uncertain for a while. Admittedly hindsight is 20-20. But perhaps Eon should have made its advisory first, with the two morning shows following. Just a thought.

UPDATE: I have a pretty strong feeling, re: time zones, they mean BST (British Summer Time). So perhaps you shouldn’t worry and get up too early. NEVERTHELESS, this is why public announcements require care, especially when it comes to references to time of day and time zones.

If Twitter existed in the early days of 007 films

Twitter logo

Twitter, founded in 2006, drives a lot of the conversation on social media.

When it comes to movies and TV shows, Twitter often is a medium for fans to express themselves about movies and TV shows. It’s also a way for various media outlets to blast out headlines before publishing stories.

With that in mind, here are some of the tweets that could have been posted in the earliest days of the James Bond film franchise.

Sean Connery’s casting as James Bond is announced.

–They cast WHO? The guy is balding and he has bad teeth!

Production on Dr. No begins

–Dr. No is a half-day behind schedule after its first day of filming! This movie is doomed!

–I hear the reason for the delay was Jack Lord was late. Bloody American!

–Rumor has it the fourth day of shooting was almost a total loss. Does this production know what it’s doing?

–The Dragon keeps breaking down! Lousiest machine I’ve had to work on!

Things get serious when the movie goes to post-production.

–Film Finances, the company that provided the completion bond for Dr. No, has taken over control. This production is doomed!

–Word is Film Finances has impounded a big chunk of Terence Young’s salary until it gets its money back. What a messed up production this is!

The movie comes out

–Felix Leiter?! He wasn’t in the book!

–Hey! They changed the ending! What happened to Dr. No being buried under guano?!

Eon makes From Russia With Love as the second film in the series

–Call Me Bwana? It was Niagara in the book! And it was Marilyn Monroe, not Anita Ekberg!

–I must say Lotte Lenya is far too glamorous to play Rosa Klebb!

–Pedro Armendariz just committed suicide. How tragic! I wonder if they got all the Darko Kerim footage they needed.

–Terence Young was almost killed in a helicopter accident! Is this production jinxed?

–There’s a rumor that they set off explosions for what was intended as run-through. Do these jokers know what they’re doing?

–Hey! They changed the ending! Bond went all the way to Paris in the book!

–I still don’t know about this Connery guy.

Historian takes a brief look at North by Northwest

Cover art for a North by Northwest Blu Ray release

Michael Beschloss, a historian who writes about U.S. presidents, turned his attention over the weekend to North by Northwest.

Beschloss’ Twitter feed (@BeschlossDC) often notes the anniversary of major historical events, accompanied by photos and illustrations. But he also posts tweets about the arts and society.

For North by Northwest, the 1959 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Beschloss had two posts.

One tweet included part of a document from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which would release the movie, to National Park Service concerning how Mount Rushmore would be used in the movie.

“None of our characters would tread upon the faces of the Presidents,” the document reads.

Beschloss also tweeted a photo of a brochure marked up by screenwriter to work out the Mount Rushmore sequence.

You can take a look for yourself.

MGM’s unkept 1958 promise to National Park Service before filming “North by Northwest” at Mount Rushmore and in studio: “None of our characters would tread upon the faces of the Presidents”: pic.twitter.com/gP6n1FVoqi

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) July 14, 2018

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“North by Northwest” screenwriter Ernest Lehman maps out chase scene on Mount Rushmore brochure: pic.twitter.com/z9GDplfjeg

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) July 14, 2018

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