“Bond 24” – Holding our breath for the next 007 feature

James Bond fans are always grasping on to any rumour that surfaces about the movie franchise, especially when it comes to the next release in the 007 series. This time around, it’s no different as we all await the next Bond release in 2015 which has just started to generate talk and speculation about the plot and, more intriguingly, who will star in it.

   Any 007 release is exciting; it becomes an event for the entire world to reminisce over the Bond collection. Since 1962, there have been 23 Bond films released and in 2015 we’re set to see the next one aptly dubbed “Bond 24”. Producers of the Bond film franchise were aiming at a new Bond flick every two years but when “Bond 24” releases in November 2015, it will have been 3 years since the last release in 2012 which was “Skyfall”. But these spectacular films have always proven to be worth the wait.

Daniel Craig will be returning to star in the 007 instalment, playing James Bond for the fourth time. His “Skyfall” stars are also rumoured to join him again, with Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q and (POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!) remarkable Ralph Fiennes, who was fantastic in Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” this year, as the new M. “Skyfall” director, Sam Mendes, is also geared up to direct. This certainly whets our appetite.

But that’s not all. “12 Years a Slave” star Chiwetel Ejiofor is being sought to play the Bond villain. After he garnered much praise and critical acclaim for the multi Oscar-winning film, he has caught the attention of many filmmakers. The producers' decision to target Ejiofor is said to have been motivated by the winning recruitment of Oscar-winner Javier Bardem to play Silva, the villain of “Skyfall”. If Ejiofor’s performance in Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” is anything to go by, we know that he has the ability to step up to the role of even a villain.

Filming on “Bond 24” is soon to be underway after Craig and his significant other, Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz, have just performed on Broadway. “Skyfall” was the most successful James Bond movie so far, breaking the $1 billion mark at the box office, which means it will be even more demanding to top that with the next film. But with a clever release date set for November 2015, wisely avoiding the crazy summer period as well as “Star Wars” Month; who knows the heights that “Bond 24” could scale to.

Bérénice Marlohe for Omega

It wouldn’t be the first time that clinching the role as a Bond girl has set an actress’s career into top gear. And it’s no different with Skyfall’s Bérénice Marlohe.

She's been busy promoting the latest 007 movie over the last few weeks, even making an appearance in Cape Town, and posing to perfection on red carpets across the world. And now she is using her looks - and time keeping skills - to promote a new product. The French actress has become the brand ambassador for Omega watches.

All the attention the 33-year-old of Chinese, Cambodian, and French descent was getting, prompted Omega to choose her as their latest ambassador. And from the chic, elegant, and crisp images; she is sure to have many more campaign offers streaming in.

James Bond - The Spy who cannot Die

“This man is supposed to be a spy and yet everybody knows he is a spy. Every bartender in the world offers him martinis that are shaken not stirred.”

-       Roger Moore

Not many enterprises can boast of never going out of fashion or of never failing to get people talking fifty years down the line. It’s been fifty years since the first Bond film, Dr No, and this past week saw the Bond brand still going strong with the release of the latest film, Skyfall.

The James Bond brand has become such an ever-present part of society that we take for granted the lengths that are gone to to keep the fire of the enterprise burning bright. One of the tricks to this feat is that the Bond character is continually being reborn – from only falling in love twice, giving comic relief through Roger Moore, to the laddish Bond portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. The Bond of each time has to some extent fitted into the generation of his incarnation.

It all began with the books from the 50’s penned by Ian Fleming. The 50’s saw radical change, before the flashy and revolutionary 60’s, and people were looking to inhabit a new radical world apart from the horrors and tragedies of the war. Ian Fleming was a radical in his own way and was witness to a different kind of heroes in action – the intellectual badass and the tough, ruthless men who were well-educated and part of high society. They were the commandoes and special agents that inspired Fleming to write the character of Bond, an Eton dropout and government assassin who was bored by the demure traditions of courtship. Even Bond’s name was a deliberate distancing from the convention of upper-class British “gentlemen” crime fighters. Bond might not be a gentleman in the customary sense of the word, but he is a hero in all kinds of ways.

Although the literary embodiment of Bond provided escapism through a spy who traipsed to exotic locations around the world and bedded highly desirable women, he was not suited to the time he was born into through the novels and the words could not quite do justice to his larger-than-life persona and escapades. Bond became the poster boy of the Swinging 60’s – flippant, sexy, amoral, and oh-so-charming. The first Bond, Sean Connery, and arguably the finest, set the bar for the Bond actor very high.

James Bond is a fantasy, but he has become real enough to millions of fans around the world who have remained faithful to the brand for years and will continue to do so just because there is no hero quite like “Bond, James Bond”.

The Bond Girl

"The nature of Bond's job rules out any long term commitments. For one thing, as soon as another mission comes along, he'll fall in lust with a new girl."

They are sex-pots and saviors. They might be threats to the hero's life or the most ornamental distraction. Whatever may change in the 007 series, you can't have a James Bond film without Bond girls. The Bond girl has become an omnipresent symbol of glamour, sophistication, and beauty. Everyone knows that she is the love-interest of James Bond and that the actress who gets to play the character of one of the most sought-after roles in the Hollywood film business will have her career made.

The first Bond girl, Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress in Dr No in 1962 rising from the sea in a white bikini, was a Playboy centerfold in smooth motion. This first film in the series set the Bond-girl standard, as spectacularly embodied by Andress, the coolly carnal Swiss miss, extremely high and the standard has not lowered since. One of the unique traits of the Bond girl is her name. The Bond girls have had some particularly unusual and pun-infused names that have also made way for some exceptionally wry and amusing script one-liners. Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, 1964, is a perfect example. This aviatrix-dominatrix is the captain of Auric Goldfinger's all-girl pilot squad, “Pussy Galore's Flying Circus”. Her first name cued millions of teen-boy sniggers, but Blackman, fresh from TV's The Avengers, gave Miss G. a mature sensuality. At 38, she was the oldest Bond girl in the official series. Upon hearing Galore say, “My name is Pussy Galore”, Bond suavely replies, “I must be dreaming.”

The latest Bond offering, Skyfall, introduces another sultry actress playing one of the most important Bond girls to date as this year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Bond franchise. At age 33, Bérénice Marlohe, with a husky voice slightly north of Betty Bacall’s, a killer accent, and a substantial build, she is no walk-over. Unlike previous femmes de Bond, Marlohe’s does not have the pun-infused name. She is, simply, Sévérine.

The Bond girl will always be the perfect elixir of sex-appeal, girl-next-door, and femme fatale. And with Skyfall’s local release this Friday 30^th November 2012, tongues are set to be wagging in every cinema theatre at not just her form but the unmatched charm and allure.