Todd's James Bond Page - News and Rumors

Never Say Never Again - Brosnan's Back!
Pierce Brosnan to portray 007 in Casino Royale

Industry trade papers are widely reporting that Pierce Brosnan and Eon Productions have come to terms. Brosnan, who was earlier told that his services were not needed for Casino Royale, will indeed portray James Bond in the 21st film of the series.

Many had speculated on the reason for Brosnan's departure from the role. Such rumors included that the producers felt Pierce was too old for the part or that he was demanding too much money to reprise the role. As of 9/12/2005, Brosnan put to rest all such speculation with the following, taken from an interview with GQ:

"Twenty million? Oh no, rubbish. Oh for God's sake. Bollocks. No way. No, it was a handsome figure of maybe £10 million or something like that. Given what the films make it was a spit in the bucket. I wasn't being greedy. The age issue? Bollocks to that, too....I think I was caught up between the egos of the producers and the studios, really. They (the producers) didn't know whether to go younger, they didn't know what to do, period. I don't know what the truth is. It could be as honest as that, but it seems strange, especially as each film made more and more money."

August 17th, 2005

Brosnan Finished as Bond
Phone call ends Pierce's tenure as 007

Pierce Brosnan In a surprising move, the man who reinvigorated the James Bond film franchise has been cut loose by the film's producers. Brosnan has previously been invited back to star as Bond in a fifth film, and was in the midst of negotiations. The four films in which Brosnan has portrayed Bond are GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002). Combined, the four films have grossed approximately $1.5 billion dollars. While no official explanation has been given for Brosnan's departure, it has been speculated that any combination of the following reasons may have caused the decision:

Brosnans's salary requirements
Brosnan's age (he is currently 52).
The desire to use younger actresses as "Bond Girls" without a noticable age differential between theactor portraying Bond and his love interest(s).
Assuming that the plotline for Casino Royale will remain faithful to the original Fleming novel, the twenty first Bond film will be a departure from the style of Bond films seen in recent years and will return the series to the more "Fleming-esque" interpretation of Bond. The producers may want a new face to put on this new "attitude". When Roger Moore decided against coming back as Agent 007 and Timothy Dalton was cast as Bond, the script for The Living Daylights was reworked to exclude much of the humor it originally had incorporated for Moore's more jovial portrayal of Bond. In this case, the producers may have made a similiar decision, but with the elements reversed - the film's content caused them to desire an actor with different traits.

July 20th, 2005

Connery to Reprise His Role As Bond
Original Bond actor provided voice for Agent 007 in new From Russia With Love game.

Electronic Arts hopes a video game interpretation of the 1963 classic film will gain them world domination - of the video game world. In the follow-up to the hit game Everything or Nothing (2004), From Russia With Love will star the actor who portrayed Agent 007 in the original film - Sir Sean Connery. This is the first video game to which Connery has lent his voice.

The game will utilize the same "over the shoulder" game-play perspective that was popular with Everything or Nothing. The game will allow you to fight evil forces with weapons as well as in hand-to-hand combat. Fans of the series are sure to love this game, with other classic Bond elements thrown in to enhance the game (i.e. Thunderball's pre-credits jetpack).

The game hits store shelves on November 1st, 2005. Be sure to check back here for more details.

If you have any news and/or rumors about anything concerning James Bond, or any of the actors in the Bond films, fill out this form and send it to me. Please include your name so that I can give you credit. Thank you.