MGM's 007 plans shaken up
Thu 30 September, 2004 07:01
By Liza Foreman
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - MGM, which is in the process of being sold to a group headed by Sony Corp., has insisted on a business-as-usual stance, but that business no longer involves the immediate production of a new James Bond movie.
The studio confirmed on Wednesday that it has put the development of a new instalment of its most important franchise on hold.
As a result, the movie, which had been billed simply as "Bond 21" and was scheduled for release November 21, 2005, will not be hitting theatres in its traditional November slot as originally planned.
According to an MGM spokesperson, the studio made the decision because it has not yet found a director for the film. Sources familiar with the situation said that the producers plan to meet next month to decide whether to aim for a summer 2006 or November 2006 release date.
The five months of negotiations that preceded the Sony deal also are said to have affected the development of the film because during that period, executives were unable to move forward on the project.
Typically, the studio's Bond films go into production in January or February of the year in which a November release is planned, but to do that, a director has to be on board by the end of the previous summer.
A steady flow of directors' names has been associated with the assignment, with Paul McGuigan, who directed MGM's recent "Wicker Park," understood to be the first choice of producers.
There also has been speculation that Pierce Brosnan will not resume the role of James Bond, which would necessitate recasting. MGM was unable to confirm that possibility
__________________
Hugh Jackman refuses to regret his past in the adult industry, because actors need to grab whatever opportunities they're offered when starting out.
"That was my early career. I did a couple of porn movies. We all start somewhere."
Nose is important
Bond should NEVER NEVER be played by an actor with HUGE, LONG, POINTY NOSE, and WOLFISH facial feature, it is very very UnBondish
Basically speaking, and like I said AGES ago, MGM have been bought out by a Japanese Corporation...SONY.
Little surprise THE FRANCHISE is on hold! THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN can smell a DYING franchise a mile away...let's just hope THEY can put a little more imagination, style and panache into that DINOSAUR...
__________________ #I've kicked the habit...
shed my skin...
this is the new stuff...#
"The failure to land a director means a mid-January start date would be tough to meet, making the previously planned release date almost impossible to make." While it is likely it will be 2006 it could still be sooner... but more important was this..
While the studio is keeping under wraps the script, by writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (the duo that wrote Die Another Day and The World Is Not Enough), the plot is said to revisit the grittier spy elements of earlier Bond pics, and to stray from the effects-packed entries of late.
"At the moment it doesn't look like we're going to make our start date just based on the fact that we haven't found a director yet," said the MGM spokesman.
"We want to get the elements right and not be shoe-horned into a release date," the MGM rep said. "It just depends on when we find the next director and settle on him and how quickly we can ramp it up and go."
MGM declined to say whether Brosnan would return.
"Currently he's not under contract to play James Bond," the studio spokesman said. "Once we get a director then I think we can get into casting."
KMC Community Forums
Bond 21 delayed to 2006
Sep 30th, 2004 03:45 PM
