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From a hectic month of media activity, MI6 rounds
up all the news on the locations, script, girls and
villains
on the
22nd
James
Bond film...
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Bond 22 Pre-Production Diary (19)
10th December 2007
November was a busy month for cast and crew talking to the media,
primarily lead by Daniel Craig on his publicity tour for "The
Golden Compass", director Marc Forster promoting his latest film
"The Kite Runner", and writer Paul Haggis on the picket line
of the WGA strike.
Script
Escapes Strike
At the start of the WGA
strike, Haggis dropped the bombshell that the script he
handed in to producers shortly before the cut-off was not
quite complete. "They haven’t gotten the polish
finished yet," he
said.
Paul Haggis (Casino Royale, Bond 22),
who predicts a lengthy strike, joined fellow Bond writers
Michael France
(Goldeneye), Bruce Feirstein (GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never
Dies, The World Is Not Enough), Neal Purvis & Robert
Wade (The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino
Royale, Bond 22) in the "not a word" campaign.
Haggis said he "gets calls from Amy (Pascal) [and]
Michael (Wilson). They hope this thing resolves. They're
really, really good people." |
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Haggis explained
the situation, "I just finished the second
draft of the Bond movie and was doing the polish when this thing
stopped. And I don't want that movie shooting where
it says "something happens here." I'm sure they can
figure it out for themselves. It sort of does that at one point.
Whatever, I can't tell you what it is, but it says "something
is like that," and I'm sure they can figure it out for themselves."
He later
revealed that the polish required was "mostly to
adapt it to locations." Industry watchers blogging on the
strike revealed that Haggis reportedly
earned more than $4m for
his work on the script.
There
is speculation that producer Michael G. Wilson may dust
off his screen-writing credentials. He last penned "Licence
To Kill"
during a previous WGA strike, and may perform any required
tweaks to the Bond 22 script. When announcing that some of
their upcoming slate was affected by the strike, distributor
Columbia
Pictures was keen to point
out that Bond 22 was moving ahead
without a hitch.
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Girls Gone Wild
November also saw the Bond girl hype reach its peak -
just before the door was slammed shut on the rumour mill.
Press in Brazil started the ball rolling by revealing that
some 40 models and actresses were reportedly tested for
a role, but the field of candidates had
been
cut down to Juliana Paes and Cléo Pires, Rita
Guedes, Guilhermina Guinle, Mexican model Luz Helena Gonzáles
and Polish-born actress Ludwika Paleta (who moved to Mexico
as a child).
The husband of Mexican actress Mayrin Villanueva then
appeared on breakfast television to announce that
he wife had landed a role in the film. She reportedly attended
several casting sessions before "producers requested
her presence for the film which is currently in pre-production".
Brazilian actress Juliana Paes cooled
expectations that she could be the next Bond girl.
She confirmed that she had attended the screentests,
but was unsure that she could land the role, especially
as
the producers are uncertain about the nationality of
the character. |
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Above: Mexican actress Mayrin Villanueva
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The local casting agency later distanced
themselves from the
'revelations'. Ricardo Hernandez, a representative from the casting
agency in Mexico (used by the production's casting agent Carla
Hool),
said that as the casting process was confidential, all statements
made about the status of actresses and the roles have "no
foundation". Hernandez said, "as some actresses have
been been making false statements about the process of casting
and generating unsubstantiated news, I feel the need to dispel
some of these assertions." Mayrin Villanueva was not specifically
mentioned. There has been little coverage of the search for a
Bond girl since, except for Eva Green confirming she will not
be filming any new material for Bond 22 (it was previously hinted
that she may appear again in pre-recorded
video or webcam footage).
Locations Confirmed (Almost)
MI6 first reported back
in September that Panama was a likely
location for the 22nd James Bond film, and Dame Judi
Dench first gave 'official'
word in November. She said, "M
is off to Panama - there's a big adventure with James." The next
location to receive attention was Austria, which had been visited
several times by production crew members. Another
recce was made in November to Old Town of Feldkirch in the
Voralberg region, and then to the town of Bregenz to finalise
negotiations with local officials and to make arrangements for
filming the floating opera stage that hosts "Tosca".
As the opera is only performed in summer months, a special performance
would have to take place in the spring to accommodate the James
Bond 22 shooting schedule. Daniel Craig later confirmed
the locales in an interview. "We're going
to start Central America [read: Panama], in Italy, maybe Austria.
And Pinewood, obviously", he
said, also confirming that there would be no skiing. Last week,
local press reported that a casting
session was held for extras
in Panama. Reports also stated that the filming will take place
in the country next year and will be centred around El Casco
Antiguo (The Old Town), Colón (the second largest city
in Panama) and la Bahía (the Bay).
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Villain Emerges
French actor Mathieu Amalric
confirmed rumours that he is to play the villain in Bond 22. Previously,
there was talk that
Sony had picked Mathieu Amalric, star of the upcoming "The Diving
Bell And The Butterfly", with Fox News saying it was a "a done
deal".
Amalric said "I will, it’s true. I play the villain,
yes. James Bond.It has to do with childhood, you know? To be a villain
in James Bond is just so funny. I never dreamt about that. It’s
not what I want to do with my career. It’s just that I have kids
and it’s so funny to do that. But it doesn’t mean that I’m
not going to do a very small French film for free with my friends."
Actor/director Mathieu Amalric was born
on October 25th 1965 in Neuilly-sur-Siene, France. He will
join a roster of French actors to play a lead villain role
in a James Bond film, including Michael
Lonsdale in "Moonraker", Louis
Jourdan in "Octopussy",
and Sophie Marceau in "The
World Is Not Enough" |
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Above: French actor Mathieu Amalric |
His character is yet to be revealed, but Eva Green gave
some potential clues when "Casino
Royale" was released. Back in November 2006, Green
said, "[Vesper Lynd]
had an Algerian boyfriend, and she's been sent on this mission,
and then she begins to feel guilty. She's in love with Bond.
It's a deep love. The Algerian boyfriend was something light,
an affair. So there's an internal conflict. The plan is, the
Algerian boyfriend is going to be the baddie in the second
Bond, and we'll understand [better]. But you don't have to
think about it too much. "
In Brief
Craig confirmed that filming
will start on 4th January. Trade
press noted the shift of start date from December to January
was "for
production reasons".
Briefing
Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (Eon
Productions), QUANTUM OF SOLACE was released in the
UK on October 31st 2008 and is directed by
Marc Forster. Principal photography started on January
3rd
2008 at
Pinewood Studios and around the UK, and foreign locations
including Italy, Panama, Chile, Peru and Austria.
Paul Haggis completed the script based on a first draft
screenplay developed by regular scribes Neal Purvis & Robert
Wade, with later polish by Joshua Zetumer. The story
is a direct continuation of the events of Casino
Royale. 007 faces off against
villains Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), Anatole
Taubman (Elvis) and Joaquin Cosío (General Medrano).
Olga Kurylenko (Camille) and Gemma Arterton (MI6 Agent
Fields) play the Bond Girls. Dame Judi Dench (M), Jeffrey
Wright (Felix Leiter) and Giancarlo Giannini (Mathis)
reprise their roles as Bond's allies. It is British
actor Daniel Craig’s second outing as James Bond,
following his debut film Casino Royale released November
16th 2006.
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