Newsletter Spring 2025

However, as with all developments of this kind, there was much more to the story than at first appeared. It was the outcome of something that had been evolving for quite some time. Thus, others claimed that, while the announcement seemed out of the blue and had stunned many people, sources on both sides of the reported $1billion (£800million) deal had said that the behind-the-scenes drama had been ‘simmering for years’. Insiders claimed that the Broccoli-controlled film franchise had been in 'crisis' since Daniel Craig’s final adventure as Ian Fleming’s iconic spy in 2021's No Time To Die, and went into 'death spiral mode' when Amazon bought MGM Studios, the home of Bond, for $8.5billion the following year. As many Bond fans know, that purchase gave Amazon the rights to the existing 25 smash-hit EON Bond films, but created an unusual situation: creative control remained firmly in the hands of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the daughter and stepson of legendary producer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, who acquired the film rights along with Harry Saltzman from Bond creator Ian Fleming in 1961. It was an uncomfortable arrangement, fraught with tensions. Another source who spoke to Ms Broccoli was quoted in the UK press as saying: 'Barbara and Amazon never saw eye to eye. To her, Bond is her family's legacy, something that must be nurtured and protected. She once told set designers to remove a door handle to a villain's lair because it didn't look 'evil' enough. That's the level of her attention to detail. She controls everything from the script to what bikini a Bond girl wears. Amazon wanted spin-off TV shows showing things like Miss Moneypenny's early years. In the end Barbara decided it was easier to take the money rather than carry on fighting’. As an unnamed Amazon ‘insider’ apparently put it: 'It wasn't a matter of if we would get full control of Bond, it was more 'how much will it cost?' Everyone has their price’.

While the precise details of the deal remain unknown (some eye-watering sums have been mentioned), it seems that Broccoli and Wilson signed a profit-sharing deal for all future Bond movies and spin-off shows, and will acquire Amazon shares along with a substantial one-off payment. For Bond fans, all this news brought a wide range of reactions, but what clearly emerged is the feeling that it will take quite some time to get used to the idea that the two EON co-producers will no longer be overseeing our favourite secret agent. Broccoli, 64, and her stepbrother Wilson, 83, took over from their father in 1995, and had seemingly managed to build EON into something that swam against all the odds in Hollywood – a family-run business with a reputation for consistent excellence in film-making and huge pride and loyalty from a largely British core workforce, some of whom have worked on the Bond movies for decades. It has been an open secret that, in private, Wilson, who had begun talking about retiring to focus on his philanthropic work and photographic collections shortly after the Amazon/MGM deal. A source said: 'That left Barbara very much alone to fight for the future of Bond’. And, it seems, without the ever-reliable Michael to back her up with his support and sage advice, Broccoli had concluded that to try to continue ‘solo’ (as, ironically, her father had done from 1976 onwards) was something that would be fraught with problems. Moreover, it is well-known that Barbara has plenty of other film projects she would like to concentrate on, and - while becoming free from Bond has been a very difficult decision for her to make - this new stage in her producing career will now provide her with new opportunities to pursue those ambitions.

In a nutshell, the situation between EON and Amazon had reached an impasse until Amazon made the family 'an offer they couldn't refuse'. The ‘friend’ of Broccoli told the Mail: 'In Barbara and Michael's minds, they created a legacy to stand alongside the films their father made which will be considered the golden era of Bond. But it's futile to push back against change. Hollywood has gone from a town dominated by powerful producers to a place where streamers like Amazon and Netflix rule. Amazon will monetise the hell out of Bond. They have millions of customers they can sell Bond-related content and products to’. For her part, Ms Broccoli is developing a remake of the children's film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written, like Bond was, by Ian Fleming. 'My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father… I feel it is time to focus on my other projects,' she said. The JBIFC would like to add our own heartfelt and sincere thanks to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson: whatever one may think of some of their more controversial decisions over the last 30 years, there is no doubt that they helped ensure that James Bond remained one of the most popular screen figures in cinema history, and their producing talents and impact on the industry will be much admired for many years to come. We salute them.

So what next for our favourite spy? While many have been quick to criticise Amazon’s boss, it is worth noting that Bezos (who is the second-richest man on the planet after Elon Musk) is a massive film fan and apparently adores 007. Someone who spoke to Bezos recently said he was 'determined to gain full control' over Bond because he believes Amazon can 'take the character forward in new and exciting ways'. And fans did not have to wait long for new details to emerge. It seems Amazon have decided to hit the ground running, quickly putting in place a new production team to take overall managerial responsibility for the next 007 movie. While the news had been doing the rumour circuits for a few weeks, it has now been officially confirmed who will be the key overseers on ‘Bond 26’. Amazon MGM Studios announced that the next James Bond film will be produced by the veteran duo Amy Pascal and David Heyman. The news comes after reputable sources in Hollywood, such as Variety magazine, ran with the rumour after it was first floated a few weeks ago in the British press. 

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Thus, on March 21, 2025, Variety carried a short but credible report entitled ‘Amy Pascal, David Heyman Eyed to Run James Bond Franchise for Amazon MGM Studios’, penned by Brent Lang. Lang said the pair had been described as being ‘in talks’. No deal could be signed, however, until the streamer finalized its pact to buy creative control from EON’s Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the producers whose family has overseen all things 007 for over six decades. It now seems, though, that Amazon were fully confident the deal was on and have now confirmed the new 007 producing team. In a statement released on Tuesday, March 25, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of film, Courtenay Valenti, described Amy Pascal and David Heyman as ‘two of the most accomplished, experienced, and respected film producers in our industry’. In a joint statement themselves, Pascal and Heyman called 007 ‘one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema’. They continued: ‘We are humbled to follow in the footsteps of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson who made so many extraordinary films and honoured and excited to keep the spirit of Bond very much alive as he embarks on his next adventure’. Amazon’s Valenti added: ‘We are honoured to be working with them on James Bond’s next chapter and are excited to deliver to global audiences storytelling that upholds the impeccable legacy of this beloved character’.

Amy Pascal, the former head of Sony, is familiar to dedicated Bond aficionados, as she was involved with Bond oversight and marketing in the past, but appeared to fall on her sword after some script details were leaked by hackers. Since stepping down from her role at Sony in 2015, she has reinvented herself in recent times as one of the movie industry’s most successful producers. In addition to producing the hugely successful Spider-Man franchise, she is also involved in such critical hits as Challengers and Little Women. Interestingly, at Sony, Pascal oversaw the studio’s deal to distribute several Bond films, including Skyfall, the highest-grossing movie in the history of the spy series. There can be no doubt that this Bond distribution knowledge was a big factor in Amazon’s choice. David Heyman is a highly respected British producer, who founded Heyday Films, and whose most recent success was Barbie in 2023, which generated huge amounts at the global box-office. He is probably best-known to the cinema-going public as the producer of all eight instalments of the Harry Potter film series, after which he produced the three instalments of its spin-off prequel series, Fantastic Beasts. Hollywood insiders, reacting to the confirmation announcement, suggested the pair are regarded in the film industry as a ‘safe pair of hands’ who will remain loyal to the traditions and key elements that have characterised the James Bond franchise over the years. As far as the JBIFC is concerned, after all the uncertainty that has shaped the first few months of 2025, this latest announcement is good and reassuring news.

One person who took a positive view of the Amazon takeover situation was Bond continuation author Anthony Horowitz. Interviewed on BBC Breakfast TV about the future of Bond, the 3-times Bond novelist praised Barbara Broccoli and her time as Bond producer, and also argued that, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman taking the helm, the James Bond movies are in ‘safe hands’. He said he was ‘looking forward to seeing what would happen next’. When asked about the possible plot for ‘Bond 26’, he reflected: ‘I do think it was a mistake, if I may say so, to kill Bond at the end of the last film and I regretted seeing that – because Bond, you can’t kill him, he’s an icon, he’s a legend... He was a huge part of my life’. Horowitz said the next film would have to ignore the previous [Bond 25] storyline completely, as Bond ‘was killed big time’. He added: ‘But I am positive, I can’t wait to see what they do next’. Acknowledging all the tremendous interest in Bond – who will sing the theme tune? Who will be the new Bond? etc – Horowitz said there is no other film franchise like it that creates such attention. He said Bond is a ‘major cultural event in this country [UK]’. Horowitz has been very busy recently promoting his new novel, Marble Hall Murders, the third in a trilogy of crime books featuring a murder-solving book editor Susan Ryeland. Horowitz has ‘scribbled’ (to use his own description) more than 60 books now, in a writing career that stretches back nearly five decades. Long may he continue.

How have previous 007 actors themselves been responding to the news of the dramatic Amazon deal with EON? In a round of interviews given to help publicise his role in 1923, Taylor Sheridan’s TV series about the American West which is back for a second series, former two-times James Bond star Timothy Dalton offered a number of interesting comments about the big news, and the new deal that is being struck for Amazon to take over creative control of Bond. There remains, of course, a huge interest in Dalton’s 007 screen appearances and, in a sense, the current uncertainty about the precise creative direction the former EON franchise will now take after the departure of Daniel Craig and the ‘handover’ of the reins by Broccoli and Wilson recalls some of the disquiet and intense speculation that preceded the surprise and welcome appointment of Timothy Dalton as 007 back in 1986. Significantly, the choice of former Shakespearean actor Dalton as Bond had signalled back then a chance for a big reset of the franchise and a new and more gritty direction and tone. Dalton was determined to take Bond back to Ian Fleming, and very much based his interpretation of 007 on the character as found in the original novels, something that the then-director John Glen was more than happy to support and which had the full backing of producer Cubby Broccoli. But whether the cinemagoing public were quite ready for this was open to question. In hindsight, however, the choice of Dalton as Bond is now looked back on very fondly by a large number of 007 aficionados, and it is now common to hear the view expressed that is a pity he was not able to make a third appearance as 007. 

It was no surprise, then, to see the great interest that was taken in Dalton’s perspective on the current Bond situation. A good example came in the Telegraph newspaper. In one of the more detailed interviews Dalton has given in recent times, conducted by Anita Singh and which appeared in the ‘Features’ section of the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper (February 26), the ex-007 showed that he was very much aware of the latest Bond developments and said he shared some of the ‘sadness’ that many fans have expressed that the 63-year link to the Broccoli family dynasty has now effectively ended. He said: ‘I think it’s sad as well’. He added: ‘Barbara is one of the best women in the whole world. I think she’s fantastic’. Dalton continued: ‘Around a Bond movie, everyone’s got an opinion. That tends to make something less special, but if you keep it to people who know what they’re doing and know what they want, then it will sharpen up and be good. Barbara had that’. Reflecting on the Amazon deal, Timothy observed: ‘I have no idea what Amazon would do with it, and I have no idea what the relationship of Amazon to the Broccolis will be. But it is a damn fine series of movies. I was watching it when I was young – we all were. It’s been part of our lives, so anything that threatens it is kind of sad’. When the interviewer suggested some of the concern at the new deal is that Bond may lose its Britishness and become just another bit of Americanized Amazon ‘content’ (a term that reportedly made Barbara Broccoli shudder when she heard it applied to her Bond films), Dalton responded: ‘I would agree with that. It is one of the few wonderful stories we’ve got in film that is British. The leading character is British. We can call it our own’. When Dalton was also asked whether he is of the mindset that the next actor to play Bond must be British, he was emphatic about this: ‘Yes. Yes. Because that’s where it was born, that’s what the stories are. Definitely. One hundred per cent’. On the other hand, he made it clear to the interviewer that he wasn’t too gloomy about the deal, either: ‘Everyone who’s got anything to do with it will be working very hard to make it a hit. Amazon are quite capable of making it a hit, I should think’.

Another very popular voice who offered his views on the Amazon takeover of the franchise was former 007 Pierce Brosnan. As with Dalton, Pierce retains a legion of devoted fans, who remain eager to hear his views. And he did not disappoint them. The former four-times James Bond actor told the UK’s Sunday Telegraph  newspaper (March 9) that the next James Bond actor should not be American, as he lamented Amazon’s takeover of the EON franchise, and he also said he hoped the company handles the character with imagination and respect. He also spoke about life after James Bond, as he prepared to launch a new art collaboration, and discussed the inspiration behind his line drawings. His comments came, of course, in the wake of the dramatic news that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the long-time custodians of the 007 franchise, had agreed to a deal with Amazon to hand over creative control of the character. Now aged 71, the ex-Bond has carved out both a highly successful new stage in his career as a ‘character’ actor in films, and has also increasingly won praise for his other real-life role as an accomplished artist. He also has a number of new acting projects in the pipeline, in development or completed, including the highly praised new Guy Ritchie TV show MobLand, which has seen Brosnan starring alongside Tom Hardy as rival crime bosses. The new show, which was released on Paramount Plus, also reunited Pierce with Helen Mirren, as they were both in the classic gangster film The Long Good Friday back in 1980 (it was Brosnan’s first film role, where he was billed as ‘1st Irishman’ for his brief part as an IRA henchman). And it was delicious to see Brosnan’s face adorning London Red Buses again during April to publicise MobLand! It was certainly great publicity for the former 007 and his excellent new gangster series.

Speaking at some length to the Sunday Telegraph on Bond and the future, Brosnan said it is a ‘given’ that Daniel Craig’s successor as 007 should be British, despite the rumours that an American could be tipped for the iconic role. He also said that he ‘lamented’ the Amazon takeover and that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson had shown ‘great courage’ in handing over creative control to the U.S. company after more than 30 years. Explaining his thoughts further, Pierce said: ‘I thought it was coming for some time I guess, but I think it was the right decision for Barbara and Michael’. He continued: ‘It takes great courage for them to let go, they will still have a say in matters. I hope that [Amazon] handles the work and the character with dignity and imagination and respect’. He also said that ‘no one really knows’ what will happen to 007 under Amazon’s control: ‘In this world that is moving so fast now, at the speed of light, the change does come with a certain lament. History has been passed on and I’m very proud to have been part of that history and the legacy of Bond and the movies that I made with Barbara and Michael’. He added: ‘That we moved the needle, that we brought it back to life. It had been dormant for six years and Goldeneye was such a success that it continued and went from strength to strength… I wish them well’. Brosnan’s comments in the Telegraph interview also complement some other observations he offered in a separate interview he recently did with GQ magazine, where he was asked if he knew of calls for him to reprise the role of 007 (there has been quite a lot of lobbying on social media for this to happen, some of it quite bizarre and calling for Pierce to be an ‘old man Bond’). He said: ‘I’ve heard of that. Of course, how could I not be interested? But I think it’s delicate situation now. I think it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, really. I think so. It’s a rather romantic notion and idea, but I think everything changes, everything falls part. I think that its best left to another man, really. Fresh blood’. Brosnan remains notably proud of his time as Bond, and this has often emerged in interviews that he has done over the years since he made his last Bond movie, Die Another Day (2002).

There has been no word, thus far, on which actor may be in with a chance of becoming the next 007. At one stage, Jeff Bezos, a figure some have cruelly compared to cat-stroking Bond villain Ernst Blofeld, took to social media to ask: 'Who'd you pick as the next Bond?' Clearly, he was trying to get some general feedback from the public on who they might prefer to see in the highly coveted role. Among the names Bezos was given by fans on ‘X’ (formerly twitter) were British actors James McAvoy, 45, and Henry Cavill, 41. Cavill, who once tested for Bond but lost out to Daniel Craig, seemed to be especially popular with respondents. Surprisingly, Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise, 62, was also named by some fans as a candidate! Since then, however, things have gone rather silent. It seems that Amazon were, instead, concentrating on sorting out who would be the key players in the new production team that will oversee Bond 26. However, almost inevitably, there was a media frenzy for a short while on possible names of actors who might be in with a chance. And, as night follows day, the British satirical magazine Private Eye also could not resist putting forward its own plot suggestions for the next Bond movie, but from a slightly different angle – the magazine asked: ‘Who should be the next Blofeld?’ Their candidate was none other than Amazon boss Jeff Bezos! The magazine also provided a leaked ‘script’ on how an Amazon Bond movie might turn out, with Bond now working as a parcels delivery driver. The first scene was from Blofeld’s lair: Blofeld says: ‘Ah, Mr. Bond. I’ve been expecting you. Since yesterday afternoon. But you didn’t arrive’. Bond responds: ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that. I thought your lair was at Number 37, Volcano Street. But it wasn’t. So I got the wrong address, then ended up with your neighbour’. Blofeld is not impressed, so Bond says he should take it up with complaints. Blofeld responds: ‘Have you tried?! You can’t get through. You can’t speak to a human being’. Bond: ‘I can see – it's enough to make you pull all your hair out’. Blofeld: ‘Very funny, Mr. Bond. But now you will die. As soon as my laser beam is delivered’. Bond: ‘How long have I got to live?’ Blofeld: ‘Who knows? - I ordered it through Prime’.

Two of the big stars from No Time To Die - Ralph Fiennes, who played ‘M’, and Rami Malek, who played the main villain Safin - have been very much in the sights of UK film fans and critics in recent months, and both actors remain in high demand by studios and as busy as ever. Fiennes’s new movie The Return, which is a stripped-down version of Homer’s famous play The Odyssey, in which Fiennes plays Odysseus, received some great reviews in UK publications. The movie, which sees Odysseus washed up on a beach after some 20 years at sea, was also a chance for Fiennes to show off his new super-honed physique, something which caused particular comment from film reviewers and gossip columnists. In interviews, Fiennes said he had spent five disciplined months dieting and weight-training to transform his physique for the movie, which was shot in the Summer of 2023. And the results were striking. Female fans were especially in awe. Even Bond would be impressed! Meanwhile, Ramil Malek’s latest movie, The Amateur, returns him back the world of espionage, but this time the set is a basement at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. He plays Charlie, an introverted CIA technical boffin, a high IQ puzzle-solving cryptologist who is suddenly drawn into a murderous conspiracy. After his wife is killed by mercenaries in London, the quiet spy blackmails his boss, Moore, into letting him track down the killers: ‘Anything else you want? An Aston Martin? A jet pack?’, Moore sneers. It’s a nice touch, a kind of knowing nod to Malek’s previous dip into the world of spying. Unfortunately, the film has received some rather lukewarm reviews from critics, with The Times (April 11) saying Malek is ‘miscast’, while the Metro newspaper (April 11) called out what it called the ‘inconsistencies’ in the plot, but also noted: ‘There’s fun to be had with the elaborate booby-traps Charlie sets for his victims’.

The James Bond music tribute band, ‘Q The Music’, started off their latest UK tour with an excellent first night at the New Theatre in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, on the evening of Sunday, April 6. Naturally, the JBIFC had an agent in the audience. True to form, the band and its superb lead singers, Kerry Schultz and Matt Walker, were hugely popular with the audience. And where else to kick off their new tour than Peterborough, which saw the nearby Nene Valley Railway used for key location sequences for both Octopussy and Goldeneye? The evening was hosted by former two-times Miss Monepenny actress Caroline Bliss, who entertained the audience with a variety of memories and anecdotes concerning her time as Bond’s favourite secretary. The British band, which adopted its Bond tribute guise back in October, 2004, has become tremendously popular with 007 fans over the years, and always delivers a top-notch show, with renditions of all our favourite Bond theme songs and other classic James Bond tracks. And for those attending, there was the bonus of being able to buy their latest glossy souvenir programme. The 2025 edition includes articles on the history of the band, a celebration of Thunderball and the theme song that never was (‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’), the locations for A View To A Kill, and (appropriately enough) on the Peterborough filming for Goldeneye (which celebrates its 30^th Anniversary in 2025). What a great purchase! Catch one of their shows if you can – you will thoroughly enjoy it.

It was with great sadness that the JBIFC learnt of the passing of the American character actor Bruce Glover, who played the villainous henchman Mr Kidd opposite Putter Smith’s Mr. Kidd in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). He died on March 12. Chicago-born Glover enjoyed a long and varied screen career, with more than 100 credits to his name across both film and TV. For Bond fans, it was his role as the sinister Mr. Wint that secured him a firm and popular place in Bond film history. As an obituary to Bruce in the London Times newspaper (April 7) put it, the interplay between Glover and Smith ‘was exquisite as they played sadistic killers with a lightly comic touch, finishing each other’s sentences and revelling in black humour’. However, their three main attempts to kill Sean Connery’s Bond (cremation, burial in a pipeline, and a bomb hidden in a cake) did not go plan, as you can never kill 007 (or so it seemed, until Daniel Craig’s final film!). As the Times also noted, Glover’s bravura performance as Mr. Wint opened the floodgates to a whole number of new roles: his later career highlights included appearing opposite Jack Nicolson in Chinatown, and he became a familiar face on TV in shows such as Kojak and The Dukes of Hazzard. Everybody who met him or interviewed him, including Bond fans, always commented what a charming and interesting man Bruce was, and he will be sorely missed. Bruce Glover (1932-2025), R.I.P.

Bruce Glover claimed that much of the responsibility for the morbid humour in Diamonds Are Forever was down to him, after he had held discussions on how he wanted to play his character with director Guy Hamilton. He said later: ‘Those are the best Bond villains ever written and a lot of it I take credit for because the funny ideas were mine. The final moment where Sean Connery does that rude thing pushing the hooha up my yaha and giving that character his final sexual encounter is the biggest laugh in the movie’.

Live and Let Bye: It was with regret that the JBIFC learnt of another key departure from EON in light of the new Amazon deal. The highly talented EON casting director Debbie McWilliams, veteran of 13 Bond films, announced her retirement in February, shortly after the Amazon takeover news broke, and offered some hard-hitting comments. She said: ‘Looking at Amazon’s previous theatrical films does not fill me with any great enthusiasm’. She warned: ‘If they mess with the essence of Bond, they risk alienating a huge audience. Choosing the actor to fill the role is a huge task and not one I would hand over to subscribers of X [Twitter]’...

Fleming as ‘M’: There has long been interest in whether 007 creator Ian Fleming somehow retained connections to the world of espionage even in his later career, perhaps doing occasional freelance favours for MI6. Until the relevant archives are opened, we shall never know (MI6, in contrast to MI5, does not have an official rolling public declassification programme for its ‘historical’ files). But, occasionally, clues emerge. In the Sunday Times magazine on February 9, an article on the mystery surrounding the journalist and spy David Holden noted that, during the 1950s, when Fleming became foreign manager for the Sunday Times, the Bond author often hired ex-intelligence officers or ‘journalists’ who still worked for MI6. Intriguing...

Bond Not British? Former Bond woman Valerie Leon, who was in The Spy Who Loved Me opposite Roger Moore and in Never Say Never Again opposite Sean Connery, expressed her concerns in February about the new Amazon takeover. The actress, still stunning at 81 years young, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show: ‘The Bond franchise was very British and it won’t be anymore’. She added that ‘everything is so changed now, it just won’t be the same’. Well, as the old saying goes, time will tell...

For Their Ears and Eyes Only: The Ninety-Seventh Academy Awards, held in March, contained a Bond music medley and a short screen tribute to the iconic work of EON producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, although some fans were not too impressed: the songs were a bit lacklustre, and the film segment included the non-EON 007 film Never Say Never Again! Hmm. Ms Broccoli, as usual, remained ever the diplomat, although it must have felt quite emotional to have to publicly ‘let go’ of something that has dominated her life for so long...

From Black Bag to Bond? According to the UK’s Metro newspaper (March 13), the stars of the new spy film Black Bag faced a red carpet grilling at the London premiere about whether they thought Rege-Jean Page should be cast as the next 007. Page himself batted off the questioning by saying ‘It’s not something I’ve thought about very much’. But his co-star, Marisa Abel, said ‘I think we should nominate Rege!’, while Naomie (Moneypenny) Harris was also keen: ‘I’d love Rege to be the next James Bond. But who knows? I don’t know what’s going to happen’. Steven Soderbergh’s tongue-in-cheek movie also has a role for Pierce Brosnan, who plays a spy chief...

Moonfaker: Bizarre headline of the last few months was arguably in the UK’s Sunday Sport ‘newspaper’ (we used the description reluctantly!), which proclaimed excitedly on its front page on March 21: ‘New James Bond... is Sean Connery’. The paper claimed that Amazon are planning to use CGI to bring back Sean from the dead for the new James Bond movie! Apart from the fact it was a story in rather poor taste, we suspect the remaining members of the Connery family would quickly make use of the late Sir Sean’s penchant for strong legal action if there was even any hint of truth to this silly story...

Icebreaker: Former Bond star Daniel Craig, while promoting his latest critically appraised film Queer on a publicity tour in Italy, gave an interview to the TV show Che Tempo Che Fa, and recalled the moment he found out he had won the role of James Bond: he said he got the call in a supermarket: ‘I had this trolley full of food. I gave it a shove, I threw it aside. I took a bottle of vodka and I said, “Now I’m going to have a Martini!”’…

For His Eyes Only: Craig was in a UK news again in April when it was revealed that he had won permission to install security gates at his listed home in Primrose Hill in north London, after neighbours said ‘random’ people tended to loiter on doorsteps and park on their driveways, no doubt hoping to catch a glimpse of the former 007 star. Craig and his wife, Rachel Weisz sought planning consent for a black steel gate at their house and Council officials gave them the green light. If this additional security measure fails, we suppose Craig could always install a pool full of sharks…

From Bond to Beatles: Two-times Bond director Sir Sam Mendes made news headlines in early April when he revealed at CinemaCon in Las Vegas the cast of his hotly anticipated four Beatles biopic movies. The Oscar-winning director is making four individual films, one about each of the Fab Four, which will be released in 2028. He said: ‘I’ve tried to make a story about the Beatles for years’. Meanwhile, Sir Sam’s other very personal and moving project, What They Found, his first ever documentary (which uses British military footage about the liberation of the wartime Nazi death-camps) was premiered in BBC-2 on April 7, and received much critical praise…

His Living Highlights: The Oscar-winning film music composer Hans Zimmer, who created the music for No Time To Die, was profiled in the UK’s ‘I’ newspaper on March 20, and gave some background to how the loss of his father at a young age helped shape his music, most notably in The Lion King. Zimmer, 67, said, at first, he turned the film down, but his daughter, Zoe, convinced him otherwise, and the film became a deeply personal requiem to his own father. Zimmer’s huge range of soundtrack music has been celebrated in Hans Zimmer and Friends, a new film which features live performances of his greatest hits and includes candid conversations with people he has worked with such as Billie Eilish, Sir Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve…

Truly Bonded: Speaking on the David Tennant Does a Podcast With podcast, Rosamund Pike, who played the traitorous MI6 agent Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, said she inadvertently waxed Pierce Brosnan’s chest in her sex scene with 007: ‘We have this clinch, and then we separate, and I look at this body tape and the nipple covers and they’re covered in hair!’…

Too Hot to Handle: Rosamund certainly caused a media stir and much camera-clicking among fashion-watchers when she attended a screening of her new film, the thriller Hallow Road, at the Curzon Cinema in London’s Soho. She bravely donned what looked like furry slippers and a bright ankle-length red dress, with a big chain and lock and key hanging around her neck. Intriguing. Perhaps it was the key she used to her old MI6 office? Just a theory...

Another Way to Spy: If you want to see the lighter side of the world of espionage, a brand new show entitled The Comedy About Spies recently opened at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. Set in the 1960s, the play sees the world’s best secret agents all converge on London’s Piccadilly Hotel and, predictably, mayhem ensues, with bungled missions, mistaken identities and riotous fun. The leading man poses in the play’s poster in a bow-tie and tuxedo, holding his arm across his chest in classic Bond-with-gun style – except, instead of a gun, he has a hair-dryer!...

Colonel Fun: The month of April saw the British government announce a new Universal theme park is to open in Bedfordshire in the UK in the year 2031, which it is hoped will generate billions of pounds for the British economy. It will have rides and film theme experiences based on the major movie franchises, such as the Harry Potter films. Inevitably, the UK newspapers and media were full of speculation about the possible Bond-related experiences that may also be included in the new park...

Return Another Day: It was a very welcome return to the role of James Bond for Toby Stephens, when his latest Bond radio adaptation, Casino Royale, was broadcast on BBC Radio-4 on Sunday, April 20 (Easter Sunday), at 3.00pm. Hugh Bonneville played Le Chiffre and Susannah Fielding played Vester Lynd, while John Standing returned as ‘M’. The adaptation was directed by Martin Jarvis, in his tenth Bond production, and he was also the voice of Ian Fleming. Toby Stephens, of course, was the main villain, Gustav Graves, in Die Another Day (2002), but has since become a veteran at playing 007 in these radio plays, and he makes a very convincing ‘Flemingesque’ 007...

Halle or Maud? According to the UK’s Sun newspaper (April 25), Halle Berry (Die Another Day) is ‘the best Bond girl ever’. Yet the very next day, one of the paper’s own columnists said: ‘Yes, but she isn’t though’. The best Bond girl, he said, was Maud Adams, who appeared, of course, in two Bond films. As far as we are concerned, both Halle and Maude were exemplary Bond women...

Golden Host: Actor Alan Cumming, who played the memorably devious Boris Grishenko in Goldeneye 30 years ago, was selected to host the 2025 Bafta Television Awards, broadcast by the BBC in the UK on Sunday, May 11. The organisers said the actor, who has been helming the popular U.S. version of The Traitors, would ‘bring a playful sense of mischief and fun’ to the awards. Yep. He Boris remains ‘invincible’...



Bond Work Begins: After all the dizzying drama of the last few weeks, Cinema Con, the recent annual film industry gathering held in Las Vegas, saw Amazon MGM Studios executives confirm that Amy Pascal and David Heyman were both in London getting started on the next James Bond film. As one chapter in Bond history closes, another one opens...

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