Well, it’s about bloody time that evil criminal enterprise made a comeback!
After the massive franchise overhaul of Skyfall, which turned out to be a billion dollar plus box-office behemoth (just click at Box Office Mojo for the astounding figures), we now have some really solid information about what hitherto was just known as Bond 24.
Today’s official press launch at Pinewood Studios is timed to coincide with the commencement of official production after months, even years, of rumour and supposition. Here is what we now know to be true:
Returning from Skyfall, we have director Sam Mendes and the core cast of Daniel Craig as JB, Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Wishaw’s Q, Naomie Harris as Miss M and Rory Kinnear as BT. Behind the screen (sic) sees the return of screenwriters John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (the latter two, as a team, have worked on the scripts for all the Bond movies since The World is not Enough). Composer Thomas Newman, production designer Dennis Gassner, stunt arranger Gary Powell and special effects supervisor Chris Corbould are all returning too.
The cast for SPECTRE will include Christoph Waltz (presumably as the villain) and Léa Seydoux (presumably as the leading lady) and also includes Monica Bellucci, David Bautista and Andrew Scott.
Locations will include Mexico City, Rome, Tangier, Morocco and Austria.
The live stream was hosted at http://www.007.com and tweeted via the official James Bond handle: @007.
SPECTRE is out on 6 November 2015.
Me, I’ve very excited – and now it’s less than a year to go to see what they come up with …
Tipping My Fedora 
Sounds like quite an undertaking, Sergio. It’ll be interesting to see where the franchise goes with this.
It does seem to fall in the the ‘back to the origins’ feel at the conclusion of Skyfall, in which even M’s office was closely patterned on that of the first Bond movie – and it was the one that followed, From Russia with Love, that introduced SPECTRE …
Am not a great fan, Sergio, but two names have raised my interest: Monica Bellucci and Christoph Waltz
Sorry to hear you’re not a fan Jose Ignacio – it brings out the teenager in me – it also helps that Daniel Craig is my age, which I know will be the last time that will happen!
Sergio, I like the Bond movies and I think Craig makes a good 007. He’s more human than all the JBs so far. I’m going to miss Judi Dench but I guess a change was necessary and I can’t think of any one better than the unassuming and the often mild-mannered Fiennes to step into her shoes. Waltz would make a terrific villain.
Thanks Prashant – I am very much looking forward to this. And Craig is I think a splendid actor.
Good to have the old organization back for this. Waltz as Blofeld then?
Looks like it, even though they are trying to pretend he isn’t!
Can’t wait, I’m so excited about this.
It’s going to be a long wait Vinnieh!
But I’m sure it will be worth it!
Omes are very good, I agree 🙂
Growing up with Connery as Bond, I’ve not been able to warm to Craig as the character. I thought Brosnan was good and wish he’d stayed with it.
Well, I loved Brosnan but he was maybe getting a little old for it – I still think GOLDENEYE and TWINE are superb.
I hated Quantum of Solace with something approaching a passion as it represented all kinds of bad filmmaking to me. I thought Skyfall was just fine though as it felt more like a Bond movie and restored some of the features that made up the series over the years. With that altered sensibility in mind, and the return of Spectre, I have high hopes for this one.
I sort of half like Quantum – I despiated of the way it decided to copy the Bourne style, I felt very mcuh to its own detriment, especially after Casino Royale reinvented the series so successfully, but to me it was mostly just down to the editing and actually had that been relaxed I think we all would have liked it a lot! I always thought the Quantum group was meant to be a SPECTRE substitute but I guess now that the rights have been cleared they decided to go straight to the source – I hope its not too traditional though …
Yes, the editing was a big part of the problem but there were other issues for me too. I’m feeling pretty confident about the new movie though.
Also, after three films in 8 years that in essence rebooted the series from the ground up, it will be nice to have a story which perhaps truly rounds our a modernised re-creation of the entire mythos from the 60s.
Yes, that’s a nice way of putting it, and a nice thought.
I am guessing that, at best, Craig will do this and another because he will be knocking on 50 and I think, if we are lucky, his 5 outing will for the most part really stand out and I hope they have the sense to find a way to really give him a good send-off – also, and I may have mentioned this before, but Craig is 6 months older than I am – Bond will never be my age again so I want to enjoy it while he lasts (sic) but after that I suspect it’ll become all just a bit of nostalgia for me …
I’m in more or less the same position – he’s around 10 months older than me.
Our only hope after him is that Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes will catch up 🙂
Great news, Sergio. Thanks for the fanfare! Since Daniel Craig came on, I’ve been a James Bond fan most devoted. 🙂 And I love Ralph Fiennes as M.
He’s a great choice after the wonderful Judi Dench – so curious to see what happens next!
I enjoyed Casino Royale a great deal, but totally passed on Quantum of Solace when I heard all the Bourne references. Therefore, I was totally tuned out when Skyfall came out. But my son, bless him, absolutely insisted I see it, and darn if he wasn’t right. Back to the origins indeed! So hearing that Spectre and Blofeld will be back for the next one is very welcome news. And now I’ve got Monty Norman/John Barry’s theme song ringing in my head.
You son is a lad of taste clearly Jack 🙂
Looking forward to this one. Hope it is as good as Skyfall. Thanks for the information, Sergio.
Thanks Tracy – I dare say we all look forward to some proper escapism