Bond 23 gets the girl and a release date

It appears that the James Bond news trawl has been making tracks of late with the rumour that British actress Naomie Harris will star alongside Daniel Craig in the next Bond adventure. It came to great delight when scouring through this week’s edition of the News of the World that the London-born stunner is being strongly considered for the meaty role. Harris is a fine fine choice for the role and one which I believe she will nail. She will follow in the footsteps of some of the most glamorous and stunning women to appear alongside 007 including the likes of Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman and most recently Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace.

It appears that Bond producers are keeping along the similar trend of not hiring pure A-list totty for such a high-profile role. I’m not implying that Harris is not talented nor is she a looker, because she is on both fronts. She is building up a very stable and diverse list of credentials after taking to the high seas with Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, romping with Jamie Foxx in the, lets face it, awful Miami Vice remake and giving a strong turn opposite Cillian Murphy in Danny Boyle’s apocalyptic horror 28 Days Later. No details of her role have been revealed yet, it all seems For Your Eyes Only at this stage.

Another piece of slightly mehh yet essential news is keep an ear out for the clinking of Vodka Martini flutes on October 26^th of next year when Bond 23 will officially be hitting cinemas. But I would say it will only be a matter of time until we really get into the nitty gritty details such as the title of James Bond’s 23 mission as well of course who will be unveiled as 007’s nemesis. Mr Ralph Fiennes seems the favourite at this stage, something which I would wholeheartedly welcome with open arms. You just have to glance at his track record of villainous and dastardly roles in the likes of In Bruges, the Harry Potter movies, Clash of the Titans, Red Dragon and Schindler’s List to tell he would be perfect to face off against Britain’s deadliest MI6 agent.

Long-term producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli appear to be keeping the British end up with Sam Mendes in the director’s chair, Daniel Craig, once again as Bond and Dame Judi Dench returning as M. As we have now gotten past the whole, let’s revitalise the Bond franchise for the fifteen time, I really do hope they bring back some of the key ingredients that made the old school 60’s Bond movies such as From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service into real British gems. Q Branch is at the top of my list to make a comeback. Remember Little Nellie from You Only Live Twice. Remember the jet-pack in Thunderball. Remember, of course, the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger. At times they got a little too far-fetched *cough* the invisible car in Die Another Day *cough*. But you can’t shy away from the fact that the gadgets were such a key component in the earlier Bond movies. Another feature I would like brought back is the good old disfigured, psychopathic henchmen that brought another level of entertainment. Jaws, Oddjob, Red Grant and of course Xenia Onatopp and her thunder thighs that could kill with a little squeeze. A little bit of tradition needs to ideally be brought back to the franchise and I believe Sam Mendes is a superb director to bring all these to the table and bring back some of the essence seen in earlier James Bond adventures.

Oh and a few laughs from the stone-faced Craig perhaps with another return, this time from Miss Moneypenny would be a bonus. Maybe I’m being a little too old school but as a die hard James Bond fan I can only take so much reinvigoration.

Written by Michael Cunneen

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