It’s been a long road but Bond 23, now given its official title of Skyfall at the press conference held in London this morning, is now firmly on the way to the big screen with director Sam Mendes and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announcing the title and the full cast.
What wasn’t announced but is making its way around the internet on the James Bond Facebook page right now is this brief synopsis, credited to Sony Pictures:
In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
UPDATE: The synopsis was confirmed by Sony, so this is the first word on how Skyfall will play out. Anything which guarantees more Dame Judi Dench is good in my book. It also may explain what Albert Finney is doing in the cast…
You may have been following our liveblog of the events here but we have collated the main points below.
- The title is Skyfall as suspected. Twitter nearly broke down with a pun-avalanche.
- Daniel Craig will face off against Javier Bardem as the villain with Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Wishaw confirmed to star but the names of their characters were not given as they ‘may’ be known to Bond fans.
- The film will be shooting in Istanbul, Scotland and Whitehall and Pinewood Studios (of course) in London.
- The film starts shooting today… Will it have Bond apprehending a bad guy at a London press conference? Is this all a ruse to get footage for the pre-credits sequence?
- The first film that director Sam Mendes saw was Live and Let Die, and after seeing Daniel Craig in Casino Royale he wanted to be part of it. Barbara Broccoli talked of the ‘childish enthusiasm’ of Mendes as a director. It seems half the people on the panel talked about watching Bond as children.
- Mendes confirmed there will be a lot of action but that it will have to ‘co-exist with the drama’.
- Actress Bérénice Marlohe will play a ‘glamorous, enigmatic character’ called Severin, Naomi Harris will play a field agent called Eve and not Miss Moneypenny as was previously thought. Harris talked of her training which involved two months of Yoga and firing guns which must be a tough class, and calls Skyfall a “rollercoaster that is about to commence”.
- Skyfall doesn’t relate to any previous element of the series, and therefore it won’t see the return of Quantum.
- The title has some ’emotional context which will be revealed in the film’ – just like Quantum of Solace then…
- No announcement of who is dong the theme music.
- Mendes was asked if he would direct another and said if all goes well then he would, happily.
- Daniel Craig will take his shirt off. This should probably have gone at the top of this list I suppose.
- More importantly Craig was asked if he would return as Bond and answered, “If i could do this for a few more years then I’ll be happy”
And that’s all there is. If you’re in Whitehall today and see a dapper chap and a camera crew snap a few pics won’t you?
