Monday, January 28, 2013

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING released on DVD and streaming

The 50th Anniversary James Bond documentary Everything or Nothing is released today in the UK on DVD. This is an excellent, documentary about the making of the James Bond books (see what I did there?) with lots of Ian Fleming info and film footage of the author. It also features an interview with Lucy Fleming.

While the doc is not (yet?) available on DVD in the U.S., you can steam it from Netflix and Amazon. Amazon Prime members can stream it for free (that's how I watched it).


Don't miss this one. It's the Skyfall of Bond docs!

Friday, January 25, 2013

FLEMING biopic to shoot in Budapest next month


Deadline Hollywood reports that Lara Pulver is joining the cast of the Sky Atlantic/BBC America biopic, Fleming. The four-part drama stars Dominic Cooper as James Bond creator Ian Fleming and Annabelle Wallis as Muriel Wright, said to be "the original inspiration for the Bond Girl".

Pulver will play Ann O’Neill, with whom Fleming had a longterm on-off relationship before she became his wife in 1952, the year Fleming wrote the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Also onboard is Samuel West as Admiral John Godfrey with whom Fleming worked during WWII and who put him in charge of Operation Golden Eye. Lesley Manville will play Fleming's mother, Eve, and Rupert Evans plays his brother Peter. Anna Chancellor plays Lieutenant Monday, an inspiration for Miss Moneypenny.

Fleming is an Ecosse Films production for Sky Atlantic and BBC America and, according to Dateline, "takes a no-holds-barred look at the 007 creator and his early life set against the permissive society of war-torn WWII London."

Mat Whitecross is directing from a script by John Brownlow and Don MacPherson with shooting to start in Budapest next month. BBC Worldwide is distributing internationally.

Fleming Girls Lara Pulver (left) and Annabelle Wallis (right).

Thursday, January 24, 2013

LINK: Sebastian Faulks ridicules 'distasteful' Bond film Skyfall

Well this certainly isn't going to make Devil May Care author Sebastian Faulks any more popular with Bond fans. For the record, I really enjoyed Faulks' book. But I'm not onboard with him here. Go nuts.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Chris Moore's little known novelizations of OCTOPUSSY and A VIEW TO A KILL

Pop quiz, hot-shot! Name two novelizations of Roger Moore James Bond films written by an author named Chris?

If you answered The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker by Christopher Wood...okay, you're not wrong. But did you know another Chris -- Chris Moore -- wrote novelizations of Octopussy and A View To A Kill!?

These were Dutch novelizations written in the '80s and released with their respective films. They were never published in English. Both books are profusely illustrated with color photos from the films. While Octopussy is somewhat slight at 95 pages, A View To A Kill is a nice trade paperback coming in at 175 pages.

I've long had a copy of Octopussy, but I've never been able to score a copy of A View To A Kill. But now Edwin de Jonge, a reader from The Netherlands, has hooked me up with that elusive second Moore novelization.

So now I can share with you images these two largely unknown James Bond novelizations. Enjoy.


Thank you again, Edwin!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Buy IAN FLEMING: THE BIBLIOGRAPHY on Amazon

You can now purchase Jon Gilbert's monumental new work, Ian Fleming: The Bibliography on Amazon.co.uk. The availability of the book comes and goes, but it's there! And if you could, please buy the book by clicking the link on this page. The price is the same, but entering Amazon from my site gives me a small kickback via their Associates program and goes toward award points so I can eventually afford to buy the book for myself. Thanks. :)


Thursday, January 3, 2013

BOYD'S BOND HITS AMAZON

It's untitled, there's no cover art, and it doesn't even mention James Bond; but based on the publisher (Jonathan Cape), I'd say THIS LISTING on Amazon.co.uk is the new James Bond novel by William Boyd. Woo hoo! One concrete thing we do get from this is a release date: October 3, 2013. Also check out that healthy page count: 432.

Click to view on Amazon.co.uk

Happy 2013.

UPDATE: Release date now shows September 26, 2013.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

LEN DEIGHTON goes in search of James Bond

What's this? A James Bond book by Len Deighton? Well...kinda. This is a non-fiction work by Deighton about the creation of the James Bond character. James Bond: My Long And Eventful Search For His Father is available as an eBook only. Here's the description:

The James Bond we know and mostly love was a creation as much of the movies as of the books by Ian Fleming. Len Deighton, author of the classic espionage novel 'The Ipcress File', knew both sides intimately. An acquaintance of Ian Fleming’s (who had praised Deighton’s debut novel in the 'Sunday Times') Deighton was also close to the man who was to become Fleming’s nemesis – Kevin McClory, a veteran of the British film industry.

The history of Bond’s development under the arc lights becomes, in Deighton’s expert hands, a saga-like story of inflated egos and poisonous vendettas, exotic locations and claustrophobic courtooms, all involving household names. As an eye witness to the protracted disputes that complicated Bond’s depiction both on screen and on the page, Deighton is in a unique position to tell what he saw. Candid, comical, always steely-eyed, this hefty slice of cinematic memoir reads with all the high-powered pace of a Len Deighton thriller.

Len Deighton is the bestselling author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel 'The Ipcress File' which was made into a film starring Michael Caine.

Makes one wonder whether IFP could persuade Deighton to pen an actual James Bond novel in the future?

Purchase James Bond: My Long And Eventful Search For His Father by Len Deighton on Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).