The positive signs of James Bond’s escape from the pit of alligators he’s been dangling over ever since MGM’s financial issues shoved the spy franchise into limbo are building. Composer David G Arnold told Film Music Mag that Bond 23** is looking much more likely and now Kate Winslet has hinted to the Daily Mail (via The Playlist) that Sam Mendes has a plan to move to England later next year to kick off shooting.
Before you start mixing a celebratory Vesper cocktail, we’d warn you that Winslet’s chat with Baz Bamigboye including a lot of hedging and unspecific language. Plus, we'd remind you that she’s not exactly the spokeswoman for either EON Productions or MGM.
“Sam is doing the next Bond film, all being well, and we’ll all be in England if that happens. It’s such a massive commitment for him and it’s not fair for him to commute backwards and forwards to New York from London. It would be impossible. The children will be there with me,” Winslet says. The couple separated last year, but seem to be staying good friends. Bamigboye also makes mention of Mendes shooting in Pinewood towards the end of next year. He'll also be in the UK this coming June to direct Kevin Spacey in Richard III at the Old Vic.
And there are more Bond possibilities – the director and franchise overseer Barbara Broccoli has been taking meetings about casting, with the producer twice attending the play Deathtrap, which features stage and screen stalwart Simon Russell Beale as its leading man. Mendes and Beale are regular collaborators, and Beale has previously mentioned his desire to play a villain in a Bond movie. Could this mean the two old friends might make it happen? Frankly, the idea of a great actor like Beale as a bad guy makes us jump up and down with glee.
While nothing is set in stone – or if it is, no one has whipped the sheet off the carved tablet just yet – it’s looking more and more likely that that rumoured November 2012 release date could actually see the return of 007.