Spy Movie News for September 27 2022 – Inheritance, Blackbird, Section 8, Mission: Impossible, James Bond and more!

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Spy Movie News for September 27 2022 – Inheritance, Blackbird, Section 8, Mission: Impossible, James Bond and more!

In this Spy Movie News -September 27, 2022 edition we remember Queen Elizabeth II and talk about the upcoming spy movies Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, The Gray Man, Inheritance, Blackbird, Section 8, Kandahar, Argylle, Spy Kids, James Bond, and more.

In this Spy Movie News for September 27 2022 we remember Queen Elizabeth II. We also discuss the upcoming spy movies Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, The Gray Man, Inheritance, Blackbird, Section 8, Kandahar, Argylle, Spy Kids, James Bond, and more.

Be in the know in under 19 minutes.

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Spy Movie News – August 30, 2022

Contributed by: Spy Movie Navigator

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Here’s our Spy Movie News – August 30, 2022 edition.

Today we will discuss the September releases of spy movies. We’ll also look at some ongoing projects like Bang!, “True Lies”, The Stranger, “Dr. Evil”, James Bond, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Enigma, and more!

We’re going to start this article by discussing a fun and unique way that one company is celebrating the 60 years of James Bond movies.  We’ll talk about some others later in this episode. About 60 miles north and west of Chicago is the Richardson Adventure Farm. Among their annual event calendar is what they call the “World’s Largest Most Intricate Corn Maze”.  Well, this year they are celebrating the 60 years of James Bond movies with their 28-acre maze. If you look at the aerial view of the maze this year you will see the gun barrel with Honey Rider, all of the actors who’ve played James Bond, the Aston Martin DB5, and more.  You find out more on their website.

Corn Maze celebrating James Bond's 60th anniversary in movies
Used with Permission: Richardson Adventure Farm

Spy Movie Navigator has received no compensation for this mention.

Ok, so now let’s talk about spy movies in development

Spy movies in development

Bang!

Idris Elba and Davide Leitch are joining forces for a spy thriller called Bang!. Elba will be starring as the world’s most famous spy.  His assignment?  Well, it’s to kill the author of a series of novels created by a group that wants to start the apocalypse.

Matt Kindt and Wilfredo Torres created the comic series “Bang!” that this movie will be based on.  Kindt and Zak Olkewicz will be creating the adaptation for the movie.

David Leetch, who directed Atomic Blonde and most recently Bullet Train will be directing this feature.

We don’t know when it will be filmed or released, but this sounds like a good one.  Netflix will be the platform to deliver Bang!.

Matt Kindt is on a hot streak with Netflix.  They have also picked up his “Mind MGMT” series which is about a government agency of spies.  They will be turning this into a Netflix series.  With Kindt getting set to release another comic series called “Spy Superb” can Netflix get a movie and two series out of Kindt’s work?   We’ll have to wait to find out as nothing on a Netflix/Spy Superb collaboration has been announced.

True Lies

We’ve mentioned the upcoming “True Lies” television series in a few Spy Movie News episodes now.  In the upcoming CBS series,  Steve Howey will take on the role of Harry.  Ginger Gonzaga will star as Helen.   As a reminder, those roles were played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in the movie. Omar Miller takes on the role of Gib who was played by Tom Arnold in the movie.

We got some encouraging news on this one.  In an article on movieweb.com, Howey says “We’re not going to do the Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis movie, it’s a classic, that stands alone. We’re doing something else and we’re doing our own thing, but that’s based in that system.”

We are very happy to see that this won’t just be a copy of the movie.  As Howey mentions, the movie is a classic.   Let’s see where they take it.

The Stranger

Sometimes a true story needs to be made into a movie.  Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this year, The Stranger is expected to be launched globally this October. This is a Netflix movie that hit Australia this month.   It is based on a real-life undercover operation in Australia.  Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris star in the movie.  

The description of the movie says “A friendship forms between two strangers. For Henry Teague (Sean Harris), worn down by a lifetime of physical labour, this is a dream come true. His new friend Mark (Joel Edgerton) becomes his saviour and ally. However, neither is who they appear to be, each carry secrets that threaten to ruin them – and in the background, one of the nation’s largest police operations is closing in.”

As a note, Netflix had a series in 2020 with the same title but on a different topic.

Enigma

A movie described as a cross between James Bond and Tomb: Raider has been picked up by Thunder Road Pictures.  Enigma, written by Kat Wood is called an “original contemporary supernatural spy thriller on Deadline.com.  The movie is about a British Spy called Emma Taylor.  She needs to hide a dangerous artifact keeping anyone from ever finding it again.

We haven’t seen anything about production or a release date, but we’ll keep an eye on this one.  As you know, we like spy movies that have a different twist than the genre usually produces.  It sounds like we have that in Enigma.

MR-9

We talked about MR-9 in our June 2022 Spy Movie News.  This is a spy movie based on the Masud Rana novels starring Frank Grillo.  The cast is filling out nicely as it has been announced that  Kelly Greyson is being brought on to play Gia, the lead henchwoman.

Chief of Station

Set to begin filming later this year, Chief of Station has announced its leads.  Alec Baldwin will play a former CIA station chief.  He teams up with a rogue agent played by Olga Kurylenko after finding out that his wife’s death was not an accident.

We have not seen an estimated release date for Chief of Station.

Dr. Evil

We’ve been talking for quite a while about a new Austin Powers movie and we hope we get one.  Well, movieweb.com tells us that New Line “would like to make a Dr. Evil movie”.   The article posits that the success of Joker, which was also focused on the villain,  means that  Dr. Evil could work.  We will just have to wait and see if anything finally happens in bringing out the fourth movie in the Austin Powers franchise.

Spy Kids

Another upcoming spy movie that we’ve talked about in the last few Spy Movie News episodes is the Netflix reboot of Spy Kids.  Now we find out that DJ Cotrona has signed on to appear in the movie. We don’t know what his role will be.  But, things seem to be moving quickly for this still-unwritten movie.   

Blackbird

We’re talking about the Michael Flately spy movie Blackbird, not the Apple + miniseries Black Bird.  We mentioned this movie in last month’s Spy Movie News and said that it would only be in theaters in Ireland.  Well, it looks like they have added some new theaters in the UK including The Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square in London, and will also show the city of Bristol.  We believe it may hit other UK cities too but we haven’t found confirmation as of our press time.

Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible 7

Variety.com tells us that “Paramount has reached a confidential settlement with Chubb, its insurer, over claims arising from repeated COVID-19 production delays on ‘Mission: Impossible 7.’”  This lawsuit came about in August 2021 with Paramount claiming it was owed much more than what Chubb was claiming.

Mission: Impossible 8

Ok, so let’s move on to Mission: Impossible 8 or I mean Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.  I’ll never get used to that name.

Anyway, we have a bit of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two news.  First, more of the cast has been flushed out as filming has begun.  Holt McCallany is joining the movie and will be playing secretary of Defense Bernstein.   Mindhunter fans will remember that McCallany played Bill Trench in that series.  He was not in Dead Reckoning Part One, so it will be interesting to see how his role plays out and if it is set up in Part One.

McQuarrie-speak

Next, we have an article on digitalspy.com with the headline “Mission: Impossible 8 might not be Tom Cruise’s final outing as Ethan Hunt.”   Hmmm. The rumor up to this point is that it will.  Well, director Christopher McQuarrie was asked about this on the Light the Fuse podcast.  His response was a classic non-answer:

“Let me tell you, I’ve been working with Tom Cruise for 15 years and I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been standing next to the man, witnessed an event, and then read about it in the trades the next day and none of what they describe is actually true,” he said.

McQuarrie needs to go into politics with an answer like that.

On that same podcast, McQuarrie explained the Dead Reckoning title this way:

“When I came up with the title, I knew it applied more to Part Two than it did to Part One, which is why it eventually settled on being Part One and Part Two. The title for the first movie was nearly … a title that referred to something like a Ghost Protocol kind of thing, it was a government policy – It wasn’t a government policy, it was a government, what would you call it? A government measure of last resort, with catastrophic consequences. By the time we got to the end of Part One, that had distilled down into an entirely different set of circumstances that appear in Part Two and not in Part One. So, the word would no longer have been appropriate for the title of Part One.”

Yeah, when McQuarrie speaks, we’re not sure we get exactly what he’s saying. And I think that’s his mission.

James Bond

James Bond at 60

We started this newscast by talking about a celebration of James Bond’s 60th anniversary.  Well, we’ve found out more about the official plans in an article on deadline.com

A two-party charity auction is being planned with Christie’s and Eon Productions.  There will be 60 lots and all 25 Eon Productions James Bond movies will be celebrated.  There will be an online auction with bidding starting on 15 September and a live auction will occur on 28 September. 

Now, if you have a spare £2 million (that’s pounds, not dollars), you might be able to get your hands on one of the auction pieces:  a silver birch Aston Martin DB5.  This replica was a stunt car used in No Time To Die.  If you don’t have that much money lying around, there are other vehicles on the auction block that are estimated to go for significantly less.

There are some interesting items for auction and you can see the lots on Christie’s website.

In addition to the auction, BFI will host a “James Bond at 60” weekend of screenings and live events from September 20-October 2nd.  Included will be an in-conversation event with Michael G.Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. There will also be a behind-the-scenes look at one thing we find fascinating.  Namely the stunts and Special Effects.  Chris Corbould will be hosting that.  There will also be a preview of The Sound of 007.  This is a new documentary that examines the music of Bond.

And finally, there will be screenings of the last three Bond movies on the BFI IMAX screen, including the first UK showing of No Time To Die in 3D.   In our podcast episode No Time To Die – Theater Viewing Formats Guide we talked about how much we liked the 3D work done in this version.  They did a great job with that.  As far as we are concerned, you should only ever watch the title sequence in 3d.

The next actor to play James Bond

On these podcast episodes, for the most part, we’ve been trying to stay away from all the rumors and the betting on who will be the next actor to play James Bond.  Many speculative articles are written about this every month. That said, there is an article on Cinemablend.com that quotes Lorraine entertainment reporter Ross King as saying: “The latest rumor – and in some ways part of this is very much true – which is, basically, the Bond producers are looking for a younger Bond. Someone probably in their 30s. At the end of the day they want someone who will be Bond for the next three movies.”

Now, here at Spy Movie Navigator, we’ve been saying for quite some time that we think that this has to be the strategy.  We think a lot of the “favorites” like Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, and maybe Henry Cavill are too old for what the franchise needs as it comes off the Daniel Craig run as Bond.  So we’ll see if this is right, but not until we hear officially from Eon Productions

What’s coming in September

Again we have a sparse month for spy movie fans as there are no theatrical release of any spy movies in September.  Actually, this September is a sparse month for movie releases in general.

It’s not much better on the streaming platforms

Netflix

On September 1st Netflix will bring all three Austin Powers movies to the platform.  Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Amazon Prime

Also  on September first, Amazon Prime will release both Skyfall and The Recruit.

And that’s about it for spy movie releases in September, 2022.

In Memorium

In today’s In Memorium section, we remember five people who have had an impact on spy movies who have passed this month.

Bernard Cribbins

Bernard Cribbins passed at the age of 93.   Among Cribbins 122 credits on IMDB are such roles as Felix in Hitchcock’s Frenzy and Wilfred Mott in the tv series “Dr. Who”.  Spy movie fans may remember him as the taxi driver in the 1967 version of Casino Royale as well as two appearances on “The Avengers” tv series.

Wolfgang Petersen

Director Wolfgang Petersen passed at the age of 81.  Petersen was nominated for both the Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium Academy Awards for The Boat (Das Boot) in 1981.  In the spy world, he directed Air Force One and In the Line of Fire.

Gene Lebell

Hollywood stuntman Gene Lebell died at age 89.   He had roles in more than 250 movies.  Besides his role as a stuntman, he also taught martial arts skills to Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagal. Spy movie fans would have seen him in Patriot Games, US Marshals, and the tv series “24”. 

Lou Barlia

Cameraman Lou Barlia passed at age 92. His career started as a cameraman for the movie Love Story in 1970 and continued through the 2000 movie Bruno. You’ve also seen his work in Superman, Steel Magnolias, and 61 other movies or tv shows.  Spy movie fans saw his work in Serpico.  In 2000, Lou received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Camera Operators.

Bill Pitman

We end this month’s In Memorium remembering Wrecking Crew guitarist Bill Pitman who died at the age of 102.  Pitman has played guitar, bass guitar, and ukulele on many songs and soundtracks.  He has played on so many songs that we think it is almost impossible that you haven’t heard him play.   Spy movie and tv fans will recognize his bass play on the theme song to the tv show “The Wild Wild West.”  He also played in Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain.

So, that’s a wrap!  We hope you enjoyed our Spy Movie News for August 30, 2022.

Spy Movie News – August 30 2022 – Bang!, Dr. Evil, James Bond, Mission: Impossible

Podcast Episode

Spy Movie News – August 30 2022 – Bang!, Dr. Evil, James Bond, Mission: Impossible

We discuss the upcoming spy movies like BANG!, TRUE LIES, THE STRANGER, James Bond, Dr. Evil, Mission: Impossible, Enigma, and more!

In this Spy Movie News – August 30 2022 edition we discuss the September releases of spy movies. We’ll also look at some ongoing projects like Bang!, “True Lies”, The Stranger, “Dr. Evil”, James Bond, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Enigma, MR-9, Chief of Station, Spy Kids, Blackbird, and more!

Be in the know in 18 minutes.

Find more details on the James Bond 60 year celebration corn maze here.

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Spy Movie News – July 26 2022 – Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Sicario 3, The Gray Man

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Spy Movie News – July 26 2022 – Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Sicario 3, The Gray Man

Learn about what's streaming and in the theater, BLACKBIRD, KINGSMAN 3, THE GRAY MAN 2, SICARIO 3, SPY KIDS and more.

Here is our Spy Movie News for 7/26/2022. We discuss the August releases of spy movies. We’ll look at some ongoing projects like Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One, The Gray Man 2, Sicario 3, Spy Kids, and take a quick look back at Austin Powers in Goldmember and True Lies.

Be in the know in 16 minutes and be up-to-date on the spy movie industry!

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Spy Movie News – July 26, 2022

Related: Spy Movie News – July 26 2022 – Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Sicario 3, The Gray Man

Contributed by: Spy Movie Navigator

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Here’s our Spy Movie News for July 26 2022!

This article discusses the August 2022 releases of spy movies and we’ll look at some ongoing projects like Blackbird, Kingsman 3, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One, The Gray Man 2, Sicario 3, Spy Kids, and oh, Happy 60th Birthday Tom Cruise.

Let’s start by looking at what’s coming in spy entertainment in August 2022.

We are in the summer doldrums here and our pickings for new or re-released spy movies are pretty slim. 

August Theatrical Spy Movie Releases

On August 12, IFC Films will release Rogue Agent both in theaters and on AMC+.  Their synopsis of the movie is: “The chilling true story of conman, Robert Freegard, who posed as an undercover MI5 agent kidnapping countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt until the woman who fell for him brought him to justice.”

We like seeing true spy stories brought to the screen.   The twist of having the MI5 agent just being a conman and not a real agent sounds intriguing to us. We’ll be checking this one out.

Ok, we had to stretch a bit for this next one.   On August 5th, we’ll see the theatrical-only release of Bullet Train.  This isn’t technically a spy movie, but it looks like it has a feel of a spy movie.

According to the Sony Pictures website:

“In Bullet Train, Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe—all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives”

Streaming Spy Movie Releases for July

This list is very sparse.  Come on streamers, give us spy fans more to watch.

Netflix

On August 5th Netflix will add:

Carter – This Korean Netflix original movie sounds like it has a bit of a Bourne feel to it.  The synopsis of this one is: Agent Carter wakes up one day in a motel room without any recollection of his identity and follows orders to join an explosive mission.

Skyfall – Also on the 5th, Netflix will re-release Skyfall for streaming.

Then on August 8th, they will release another Netflix Original Film, the Spanish movie – Code Name: Emperor.  This movie Follows Juan, an agent working for the intelligence services, who also reports to a parallel unit involved in illegal activities.

Hulu

Hulu will rerelease the 1993 movie In the Line of Fire on August 21st.

HBO Max

HBO Max has no new spy movie releases in August, not new releases or re-releases.

And that’s pretty much it for August.  So let’s now look to the future.

Upcoming Spy Movies

Spy Kids

We’ve mentioned the Spy Kids reboot that is being developed for Netflix in past Spy Movie News editions.  Billy Magnussen, who played Logan Ash in No Time To Die, has signed on to the Spy Kids reboot.  So this cast is really taking shape.  We can’t wait to see the finished product.

Kingsman 3

An article on movieweb.com gives us some insight (maybe) into Kingsman 3.  We’ll call it Kingsman 3 as that is what the article uses.  We know the name will change.  This is expected to be the last of the Eggsy and Harry Hart arc of the series.  It is not expected to be the last Kingsman movie, however.  It will just be the last with Eggsy and Harry. 

We remember that Eggsy and Harry weren’t in the most recent movie in the series The King’s Man.  That movie was a prelude to the Eggsy and Harry arc.  It hinted at more arcs in the series.   We like this as this is a series about an organization, not a person. People can be replaced or killed as part of the design. 

Mission: Impossible is in a similar position to the Kingsman series as it is technically about the Impossible Mission Force, not Ethan Hunt.  So, they can take that series forward if they want, even if Ethan Hunt dies or retires in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning part one or part two.  This avoids the problem that the Bond series has entrapped itself with.  These two series can go on easily unlike Bond.

So, here’s why we said maybe at the beginning of this discussion.  Here is Taron Edgerton’s quote from the article:

“My understanding is that we are to be shooting the third installment in my saga I believe next year. But you know, don’t listen to what I say because I don’t really know. You know, they’re grown-up decisions.” 

Edgerton does go on to say “there is a script”.

So, he hedges while giving us a clue.  Let’s hope he’s right as we like this series and would like to see more.  We need a replacement for James Bond and this one works.

The Gray Man

We have three things to discuss about The Gray Man which was just released in July on Netflix and in limited theaters.  As we’ve talked about before, the hope is that this movie will launch a series of movies based on Mark Greaney’s book series.

The Gray Man has some great chase scenes.  An article in Variety discusses how COVID affected the shooting in terms of locations.   Our favorite quote comes from production designer Dennis Gassner: “A rooftop chase scene was assembled from various locations, including a spot in Prague. “If you went to visit it, you wouldn’t find it,” he teases.”   That’s too bad for us here at SpyMovieNavigator.com because we love finding filming locations.  We guess we’ll have to move on to the next location.

Will there be a The Gray Man 2? Well, Ryan Gosling is ready to go on.  In an article by Jonathan Fuge, Gosling says:  “I loved making this film. I’d love to do it again. I’m hoping we can bump Six up to a name status at some point, just for his own sanity”.

The article continues to tell us that “both The Gray Man 2 and a prequel centering on Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen are already said to be ‘at the very early stage.’ ”

Well, we enjoyed watching this movie and hope they do press on with more from the series.  The prequel on Lloyd Hansen is an interesting take.  He is the antagonist in The Gray Man. We liked his crazy character very much. It would be awesome to get his backstory in a sequel.

And finally, director Joe Russo has been quoted in Variety as saying: If we do continue forward with the story, I can guarantee you that Dhanush’s character will be part of that world moving forward.”  This is great news for us.  We called out Dhanush’s character Lone Wolf in our no-spoiler review of The Gray Man.  His role and Dhanush’s performance were fantastic. [I changed the name here because in the credits he’s called Avik San, but in the closed captioning and in the movie they call him Lone Wolf.]

Blackbird

Some people will finally get a chance to see the Michael Flatley movie Blackbird.  This spy movie has been shrouded in intrigue since it debuted at London’s Raindance Film Festival in 2018. Hollywood reporter.com tells us that at that premier, no journalists were allowed to view it and there were no reviews or audience reactions on Twitter.  Then, like Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects, it disappeared.

Then, in July 2021, it was the opening night movie at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival.   Oh yeah, and they didn’t stream it. Michael Flatley won the best actor award at the festival for his performance as Blackbird.  He is described as a “troubled, sharply-dressed, James Bond-esque secret agent who retires from the service and seeks solace as the owner of a glamorous nightclub in the Caribbean.”

So, why did we start out saying “some people” will get the chance to see it?  Well, they are releasing Blackbird on September 2, 2022, but only in some theaters in Ireland.

So, the intrigue continues.  We hope nobody wanted a return on their investment quickly.  That said, we think this intrigue might set Blackbird up for a huge payday in the future.  If it does well in Ireland and given its mystique, this could just be marketing genius.

Sicario 3

Expected to get the title Sicario: Capos, Sicario 3 is in development.  This is the third movie in the Sicario series.  The cast hasn’t been announced.

In an article on movieweb.com, we’re told that the story will likely pick up from the Sicario: Day of the Soldado, ending.  Black Label Media is the producer and has confirmed that “the movie should enter production this year”.   It also quotes actor Josh Brolin, who has appeared in the previous two installments as saying that the script has been “written and rewritten”.  And, he joked “we may be 80” when they finally do film it.  Given that Brolin is only 54, let’s hope that was a joke.

Mission: Impossible

Ok, so we still have a year to wait for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One.  We still can’t believe that’s the title they came up with. Anyway, there are a couple of news items that caught our attention this month:

Tom Cruise Turns 60

Tom Cruise hit his 60th birthday on July 3rd.  That prompted director Christopher McQuarrie to tweet out a fantastic picture of Cruise doing a stunt for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part Two. Well, maybe it was Part Two.  We’ve also seen an article about this that says it was for Part One.  Either way, check it out.  It is an impressive look at a 60-year-old Cruise still going nuts with his stunts.  You can find it on JoBlo.com 

We don’t think Mickey Rourke and Tom Cruise will be having dinner anytime soon

We’re going to have to sensor this a bit due to the language, but Mickey Rourke lashed out at Tom Cruise on Piers Morgan Uncensored.   Morgan asked Rourke “When you see someone like Tom Cruise, grossing a billion dollars with Top Gun Maverick .. what do you think of that?”

“That doesn’t mean (bleep) to me,” Rourke said about the film’s success. “The guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years. … I got no respect for that. … I don’t care about money or power. I care about… when I watch Al Pacino working or Christopher Walken, and De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris’ work and Ray Winstone’s work, that’s the kind of actor I want to be like. …A lot of guys that tried to stretch as actors.”

Piers pressed Rourke and asked him “you don’t think Tom Cruise is a good actor” to which Rourke replied, “I think he’s irrelevant”. 

Wow, coming from a guy who’s had a hit-or-miss career, including one Oscar nomination while Cruise has 3, that is quite a statement. Yeah, we should probably keep these guys apart for a while. You can catch the interview on Twitter.  There is a link to it on Variety.com

Looking Backward

Two articles caught our attention this month looking back at older spy movies.

Austin Powers

In celebrating the 20th anniversary of Austin Powers in Goldmember, Vulture gave us an oral history of Beyonce and her role as Foxxy Cleopatra.  Makeup artist Kate Briscoe gave us some background on the making of one of the movie posters.  Beyonce thought it made her look too skinny.  Brisco said:

“When we were shooting, someone brought her a poster that would be promoting the movie,” Biscoe said. “He showed it to her, like, ‘Do you like it?’ And she was kind of like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘What’s the matter?’ And she says, ‘You made me too skinny. It’s not me.’ Then she did this hourglass shape. And he said, ‘Okay, we’ll fix that.’”

Briscoe continued, “She walked away to go do the scene, and I looked at him and smiled, like, ‘Is that the first time that you’ve ever had an actress ask to make her body bigger?’ He was like, ‘Yes. It’s going to cost me thousands of dollars, but I am going to do it.’”

We applaud the decision to both change the poster and to tell us about it.  Great job.

True Lies

Ok, this one looks back and forward.  We’ve already told you that there is an upcoming tv series based on the movie True Lies

Well, the movie just hit its 28th anniversary this year is True Lies.  Jamie Lee Curtis starred as Helen, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Jamie Lee recently discussed one of the stunts from the movie.  Namely, the stunt where she hangs off a helicopter in the movie. She credits her stunt double Donna Keegan but says one shot required Curtis to be wired to a helicopter.  The article has a picture from the movie, and one of the stunts being performed.  It’s nice work and it is fun to get a behind-the-scenes look at a very cool scene. You can check it out in this article on Movieweb.com.

In Memorium

Monty Norman

Well, the James Bond family lost a very important member of its history.  Monty Norman passed away at the age of 94.  

Norman created the James Bond theme that was then arranged by John Barry.  There were disputes how much Norman contributed versus John Barry, who orchestrated the Bond theme for the movie.  Yet, Norman is credited with writing it.  He also penned ‘Underneath the Mango Tree’ for Dr. No.

We can’t imagine James Bond without his theme.

James Caan

Probably best remembered for his roles in The Godfather and Misery, the prolific actor James Caan passed away at 82.  Spy movie fans may remember him playing The President in the 2008 movie Get Smart.  Caan also appeared in two episodes of the ‘Get Smart’ tv series in 1969.

Gregory Itzin

Gregory Itzin has passed at the age of 74.  He is most known for his role as President Charles Logan on the television series ‘24’.  He also played Henry Wilcox on the CIA-based tv series ‘Covert Affairs’.

David Warner

And finally veteran English actor, David Warner has passed at the age of 80.  Among his 228 IMDB credits, he starred in Titanic and The Omen, and several Star Trek productions .  Spy Movie fans may remember him from the 1992 movie Spies Inc., the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps,  or Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming where Warner played Admiral Godfrey.

So, that’s a wrap!  This has been the July 26, 2022 edition of our Spy Movie News. Please subscribe to our show – Cracking the Code of Spy Movies – in your favorite podcast app and on YouTube.  Tell your friends about us – Share info about our show on your own social media – Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too!   All the links are on our website.  SpyMovieNavigator.com –  Thanks for listening – we appreciate it!


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