After the massive success of 2012’s installment into the James Bond series, Skyfall, director Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, and company have a lot to live up to with the 24th film in the franchise. Instead of resting on their heels, they have decided to tackle one of the most famous aspects of the Bond universe: SPECTRE. They are tackling it in such a head-on way that the title of the new film is, indeed, Spectre. That is a pretty bold movie, if I say so myself.
SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is of course the global terrorist organization led by the most famous of all the Bond villains, Ernst Blofeld. There was much speculation around Christoph Waltz joining the film as the criminal mastermind, but that does not seem to be the case. He is in the film, but he will be playing the character of Oberhauser. That name is one in the Bond canon. Hannes Oberhauser was an Austrian skiing and climbing instructor who taught Bond while he was in school. The two formed a father-son bond, if you pardon the pun. Waltz’s Oberhauser was not given the first name Hannes, so they could be doing something different there. I also would not rule out the possibility of them pulling a John Harrison/Khan (Star Trek Into Darkness) thing here. If you are calling your movie SPECTRE, Blofeld better be around.
The casting rumors that surfaced yesterday were indeed true, as Sherlock‘s Andrew Scott will be joining the cast as Denbigh and Monica Bellucci will be playing Lucia Sciarra. Also in the new members of the cast are Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann and Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx. They all join returning cast members Ralph Fiennes as the new M, Naomi Harris as Ms. Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q, and Rory Kinnear as Tanner. On the production side, Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar, Her) has come on as director of photography and Lee Smith (Interstellar, The Dark Knight) will edit the film.
A logline for SPECTRE is below:
A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.
Along with all of this was the reveal of the new car Bond will be cruising around in, and it is the gorgeous looking Aston Martin DB10.
That is one sexy looking car. Bond will also drive a Fiat 500 at one point in the film, but this Aston Martin more than makes up for that.
I am a huge Bond fan, and all of this news brings a big smile to my face. I may not have wholly loved Skyfall, but the way the film ended brought the character and world back to a place every Bond fan loved. I cannot wait until I see this film. A year is too long a wait.
