Here is our January 12 2021 edition of Spy Movie News with Mission: Impossible 7, The 355 . . . lots of James Bond and 007 news, AMC movie theaters and more!
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 FILMING AGAIN
After the holiday break and post-rant by Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible 7 returns to the UK for filming according to ScreenRant.com
Production is moving to Longcross Film Studios in Surrey in southeast England, and it is expected that principal photography will be wrapped up there.
But England is on Covid lockdown again – Literally as we are writing this, Boris Johnson declared a Tier-5 lockdown for the England. Film productions are expected to be able to continue as long as they stay within bubbles and adhere to covid-safe regulations.
We wish them the best and that they can get the principal photography wrapped up safely.
Principal photography, we remember is the phase of film production in which the bulk of the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production work.
See this article on ScreenRant.com for the whole story.
JAMES BOND AND 007 NEWS
NO TIME TO DIE – IS IT DELAYED UNTIL NOVEMBER, 2021?
First, let’s start with a No Time To Die delay rumor – thePlayList.net on Jan 11, 2021 says a Dutch cinema owner claims to have inside knowledge about it being delayed until Nov 2021. No word from MGM or Eon on this – so who knows. If so, CinemaBlend.com in Jan 8th article says, if another delay, at least put a new trailer out for the world to see. Let’s buckle up and see what happens.
You can read the PlayList.net article here. You can read the CinemaBlend.com article here.
RAMI’S MOVIE, THE LITTLE THINGS, BEATS NO TIME TO DIE TO RELEASE
Rami Malik shot a movie, The Little Things around the time filming on No Time To Die was wrapping up. The Little Things stars three Oscar winners (Malik, Denzel Washington, and Jared Leto). This movie will have its release the last weekend of January, 2021 in the US with its UK release February 12th. This will beat the No Time To Die release by just over two months.
In the article about The Little Things on digitalspy.com, they add this nugget about Malik’s character, Safin in No Time To Die:
No Time to Die director Cary Fukunaga recently teased that Malek’s villain Safin is set to be even “bigger” than Blofeld.
“Rami belongs in that company and in the same breath as any of the truly great actors,” Fukunaga said. “The awards tell you that but so does his work.
“Once we got into Christoph Waltz/Blofeld territory, you can’t go small again. We had to think bigger.”
You can read the article on DigitalSpy.com here.
IS THIS STAR FROM BRIGERTON THE NEXT 007?
An article on CinemaBlend.com asks “Could a Bridgerton Star Take Over As 007?” It points out a tweet by Regé-Jean Page which says “Regency, royalty” “ Shaken and Stirred” and discusses the possibility of him taking the Bond mantle.
He was born in Zimbabwe and schooled in the UK and is only 31 years old. This means he could hold the role for many Bond movies. That’s 10 years younger than many of the names talked about for Bond. Given the latest EON Productions release schedules, that means maybe Regé -Jean could play Bond in the 6 or 7 movies they release over the next 25 years.
OUR OPINION: The speculation around who will be the next Bond is fun, harmless, and we won’t know for sure until Eon Productions tells us, likely after the release of No Time To Die. All we know is that the first comment Tom’s wife said to him when she watched Bridgerton was: “He should be the next James Bond”. OK – there you go! Actually, he might be a good choice! He has the look!
You can read the article here on CinemaBlend.com.
OH, BILLIE
19-year old Billie Eilish has some “interesting” publicity. This is probably not what EON Productions wants in the ramp up to the release of No Time To Die. According to CinemaBlend.com, Billie lost thousands of followers on Instagram after posting some nude drawings. Her count is back up, but it shows how important image is in today’s world.
You can read this article here at CinemaBlend.com:
OUR OPINION: Yeah, if you don’t like what she’s doing on Instagram you can choose not to follow her. Of her 73 million followers, she lost about 100,000. But as of this recording, she is at 73, 500,000 followers. Ah – social media!
DID WE ALMOST GET A STEVEN SODERBERGH DIRECTED JAMES BOND MOVIE?
Adreon Patterson reports in a CinemaBlend.com article about how Steven Soderbergh and Eon Productions tried to come to an agreement on him directing a Bond movie. He’s directed movies like Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, Contagion AND LOTS more – he has directed 28 feature films and eight television programs.
While there were “some great conversations” they “just couldn’t figure it out”. It would have been interesting to see what Soderbergh and Eon Productions would have produced.
You can read the article here on CinemaBlend.com.
GEMMA ARTERTON SAYS THAT STRAWBERRY FIELDS SHOULD HAVE “JUST SAID NO”
Mike Reyes has an article where Gemma Arterton discusses her role as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace. She says “As I got older I realized there was so much wrong with Bond women”. Well, changing roles for women do appear to be the direction Eon Productions is headed so maybe Arterton isn’t alone in her thinking.
Her comments make us wonder what she’d say now about the movie she did after Quantum, The Disappearance of Alice Creed.
You can read the article here on Cinemablend.com.
JANE SEYMOUR INCAPACITATED ROGER MOORE
In another CinemaBlend.com article, Jane Seymour discusses that while filming a scene for Live and Let Die, Roger Moore kept her from getting hurt during an accident. It was when she and Roger were being lowered into Kananga’s lair from the gravestone. However, her body’s reaction ended up with her full body weight striking Roger’s, um, privates. Roger was out of circulation for two days! The article also discusses some of the other challenges they had shooting Live and Let Die giving us some insight we probably didn’t know. It’s great to read some of these back-stage happenings discussions.
You can read it about it here on CinemaBlend.com.
Speaking of villains lairs . . .
WHAT WOULD A BOND VILLIAN LAIR GO FOR TODAY?
Carla Passino gives us an interesting look at what it would take to buy a Bond Villian’s lair today, topping out at 33.6 million pounds for the Monsoon Palace from Octopussy down to Auric Goldfinger’s stud farm in Kentucky which they price at 2.5 million pounds.
It’s a fun read that you can find on CountryLife.co.uk. “No Mr Bond, I expect you to buy: The most expensive Bond villains’ lairs – Country Life”
Last in our Bond section, two sad notes:
Sadly, Tanya Roberts, who played Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill, passed away at the age of 65, in Los Angeles California. She was loved in life, and apparently was a very nice person who appreciated her fans. Read about it here at Variety.com.
In a similar sad note, Michael Apted, who directed The World Is Not Enough, passed away. He was 79. This British director, who was president of the Directors Guild of America from 2003-2009, helmed The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Nell, Gorillas in the Mist, the Up series of documentaries, and many other movies and television shows. You can read more about Michael here at Variety.com.
THE 355
The 355 movie, starring Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o – a female-dominated heist thriller movie – has pushed its release date back a whole year – from January 15, 2021 to January 14, 2022. The movie follows international spies trying to stop a world -changing event. 5 women form a faction called 355.
You can read about it here on ScreenRant.com.
HOLLYWOOD STILL ON HOLD
According to this article on MovieWeb.Com, most Hollywood productions will remain on hiatus until at least mid-January as we all deal with the COVID pandemic.
AMC THEATRES TRYING TO RAISE $125 MILLION TO FIGHT OFF BANKRUPTCY
In another sign of the struggles for the movie industry, AMC is seeking to sell up to 50 million shares of stock to avoid bankruptcy. They say that if they fail to raise the funds, bankruptcy is likely.
This really shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on the restaurant and entertainment business. We’re hoping that with vaccines starting around the world that they will be able to sell tickets and not just stock to keep going.
You can read the article here on MovieWeb.com.
THE MOLE AGENT IS CHILE’S OFFICIAL SELECTION AS BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FOR THE ACCADEMY AWARDS
Ok, so we thought we’d end with this one. This documentary is more about an undercover detective than what we would consider a spy movie, but, we love the name and the premise. This Spanish-language movie with English subtitles is about an “agent” recruited to detect the reality of what is happening in a nursing home. As the movie’s director says: “He was the worst spy in the world”. The Mole Agent is a documentary of an undercover operation, but it has spy written all over it in a touching way. No, no huge explosions or weapons, just sleuthing.
Read about it here at Deadline.com
That wraps up our Spy Movie News for January 12, 2021. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and Instagram too! Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!
