'Bond 23' shaken and stirred

(AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal)

Now that the MGM film studio is out of financial limbo, the new 007 film, Bond 23, is expected to get a greenlight after delays have suspended production for months. It is now scheduled for release November 2012.

In fact, it was announced that the studio would like to plan on a new James Bond movie every two years, according to The Financial Times, if EON Productions, which controls the development of James Bond films, will make arrangements.

Daniel Craig is expected to return as Bond. However, he is currently shooting the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with director David Fincher, and that and other possible scheduling conflicts have caused speculation about whether or not he can return.

In 2011 Craig will star in Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens and Jim Sheridan's Dream House with Naomi Watts, and he lends his voice to Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, due for release in December next year.

Sam Mendes ( Revolutionary Road, Away We Go) has been in discussions as the director.

Meanwhile, a new Bond novel will be published in May next year, written by the author of The Bone Collector, Jeffery Deaver. The story's working title, Project X, reframes the series with a young Bond as an Afghan War veteran and "a very dark, edgy character."

RC