UPDATE: Variety is reporting that Olga Kurylenko, the hot Ukranian chick from Hitman, has been cast as the female lead (i.e. love interest) in Bond 22. I don’t know how I feel about Daniel Craig getting Timothy Olyphant’s sloppy seconds, but I do know how I feel about Olga, and you’ll thank me right now for not describing this feeling in vivid, tumescent detail. However, if you’d inexplicably like a fuller sense of my ardor, see the below picture.
As for Gemma Arterton, she’s still in the film as MI6 Agent Fields. She’s just not the Babe. So there.
My inbox has been getting inundated with links to a whole bevy of Bond 22 news, so I feel obliged to post my thoughts on shit that ain’t terribly newsworthy, but… it’s James Bond! And who doesn’t love to gab about 007, particularly when it’s ridiculously early in the process and we have next to nothing to go on story-wise!?!?
First, as reported rather definitively by Empire three weeks ago, Gemma Arterton has been confirmed as a "Bond Girl" in Daniel Craig’s second go-round as the MI6 agent. Apparently, there’s still some doubt as to whether she is the Bond Girl… as was the case, oh, about three weeks ago. But, hey, she’s definitely in the movie, and she definitely rates a four on Bruce McGill’s finger scale (I’m going by his standards, not mine). And while she might seem a tad unknown (i.e. to American audiences), it’s not like Talisa Soto or Carey Lowell were household names before License to Kill. They can’t all be Diana Rigg.
Next, we have our first unofficial photos from the production, courtesy of JustJared.com and PurePeople.com. And let me tell you, they are scorchers! For instance, the image to our right shows Daniel Craig either exiting or entering a building (I’m currently leaning toward exiting, but remain open to considering the latter)! Meanwhile, there are a number of scintillating pictures of Dame Judy Dench walking. And here I figured she’d be sitting all movie.
Finally, here’s a mildly interesting story about unit manager Mally Chung preparing for work in Panama.
Principal photography just got underway last Wednesday at Pinewood Studios, so I’m sure there’ll be further excuses to run stories about Bond 22. As for now, let’s just hope the improbable magic of Haggis via Purvis & Wade wasn’t a one-time blessed event.
