Be still my heart! New Bond movie was revealed this morning as "SPECTRE" with Christoph Waltz as the villain and Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra.
As an avid fan of Ian Fleming's James Bond, Agent 007, since the age of three, I was waiting eagerly for the announcement this morning at 3 a.m. PST at the official 007 website regarding Bond 24. The upcoming Bond film starts shooting this Monday and is scheduled for release Nov. 6 of next year.
It has now been confirmed that the film's title will be "SPECTRE" (an acronym for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, the global terrorist organization that Bond spent so many films pursuing) and Christoph Waltz ("Inglorious Bastards," "Django Unchained") will be the villain named Franz Oberhauser (there was talk that he would play classic Bond villain Blofield and that might still be the case since Eon has been known to use red herrings to throw people off). Also great news is that sexy Italian star and acclaimed actress Monica Bellucci ("Irreversible," "Malena") will also join the cast, as will "Guardians of the Galaxy's" Dave Bautista and Léa Seydoux ("Blue is the Warmest Color").
The Bond franchise will continue its partnership with Astin Martin and will feature a new specially equipped model.
The reboot Eon Productions launched of the Bond franchise in 2006 with "Casino Royale" and Daniel Craig as the new 007, brought a new vitality and grittiness to a film series that had become blandly formulaic. "Casino Royale" left the cartoonish antics of Roger Moore behind and returned to the more serious tone of Ian Fleming's books. "Casino Royale" was like manna from heaven for a fan who had grown bored with Pierce Brosnan and missed Sean Connery. "Quantum of Solace," second in the reboot, was a bit of a misstep but "Skyfall" put it back on track. So my level of excitement for the new Bond is high.
Check out my geeky discussion of Bond with fellow fans on Midday Edition.
