What We Learned from the Bond 25 Announcement

Yesterday afternoon  (25th April 2019) director Cary Fukunaga, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, along with several cast members of James Bond’s 25th adventure took part in a live press release with an audience Q&A. The announcement took place at GoldenEye in Jamaica, once the home of Ian Fleming where he created the James Bond character in 1952. Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels and two collections of short stories on the island.

Left to Right: Michael G Wilson, Léa Seydoux, Cary Fukunaga, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Naomi Harris, Lashana Lynch, Barbara Broccoli

Dates for your diary

Principal shooting will begin on Sunday 28th April 2019 with a release date of April 8th 2020.

Plot

Here is the official synopsis from Universal Pictures International:

“Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica.  His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”

Locations

As expected, Bond will return to its favourite soundstage at Pinewood Studios in the UK with on-location shooting set to take place in London, Italy, Norway (where some filming has already been completed due to weather-related requirements) and Jamaica, the latter of which was, of course, a shooting location for 1962’s Dr No and 1973’s Live & Let Die. Approximately 500 local Jamaican people will be employed as cast and crew during the shoot, which has the support of the GOvernment of Jamaica led by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Film Commission.

A bespoke house has been built as Bond’s home at the start of the film and it was confirmed that GoldenEye will not be used as a filming location for Bond 25.

Cast

As has already been heavily reported on. Daniel Craig will be returning to the role of James Bond. It has now been confirmed that this will be his final outing.

Other returning characters include M (played by Ralph Fiennes), Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), Moneypenny (Naomi Harris), Q (Ben Wishaw), Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) and Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright).

As yet unnamed new characters will be played by Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch and Billy Magnussen.

Finally, Rami Malek, who has long been rumoured as the villain of the piece, was confirmed as joining the cast and he promised to make sure “Mr Bond does not have an easy ride of it in this, his 25th outing”.

Q & A’s

Some of the present cast were posed questions during the stream.

Daniel Craig, upon being asked how Bond’s appeal has lasted so long said “The movies have been an event… The new Bond coming out was incredibly exciting”. Craig also said that his favourite item from Bond’s extensive catalogue of gadgets and cars was the classic Aston Martin DB5.

Naomi Harris expressed her own (and her family’s) excitement at her being cast as Moneypenny for Skyfall and she also spoke of how much it meant to be launching Bond 25 from Jamaica, where her family hail from. But when pressed on details about Moneypenny’s role in the forthcoming film, she remained tight-lipped, saying “That’s way too much information, unfortunately so you’ll just have to wait and see.”

Cary Fukunaga, when asked what he might bring to the franchise, said he will “keep upping the ante”.

So What’s It Called?

Unfortunately, the one detail which most people tuned in for was not announced. Broccoli and Wilson were asked what the title is, but they refused to be drawn on it. Wilson said “I can’t remember the last time we had a title when we announced the beginning of the film,” adding “It’s a tradition now.”

Broccoli said that for now it’s just called “Bond 25”

Photos

The official cast photos come courtesy of Universal Pictures International (click to enlarge).

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Images are credited as follows:

Ana de Armas: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Ben Whishaw: Jasonbellphoto
Billy Magnussen: Jenna Greene/WWD/Shutterstock
Dali Benssalah: Jasonbellphoto
Daniel Craig: Jasonbellphoto
David Dencik: Jasonbellphoto
Jeffrey Wright: Justin Bettman/AUGUST
Lashana Lynch: Jasonbellphoto
Lea Seydoux: Jasonbellphoto
Naomie Harris: Jasonbellphoto
Ralph Fiennes: Jasonbellphoto
Rami Malek: Erik Tanner/Getty Images
Rory Kinnear: Jasonbellphoto

 

Paul Childs

As well as writing for Den of Geek and Your Truth, Paul also runs Badgers Crossing, a site for ghost stories. He loves the 1980s and thanks to a keen interest in Public Information Films he has never been electrocuted or set himself on fire.

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