The LA Times spoke to Daniel Craig about the status of James Bond, and he revealed that it’s going to shoot in early 2011, he’s self-financing the picture and Eva Green will be returning to play the twin of her character from “Casino Royale.” Actually, we’re totally shitting you because that would be real news, and as you might have guessed from the headline, the status of the film — that it’s on hold until MGM sorts out their shit — remains the same.
“It’s out of my hands,” said Craig. “I’m ready and willing, and if I get the call, I’ll be there.” Utterly shocking. He goes on to elaborate, “You probably know more than I do. It is what it is. Unless MGM can sort themselves out, we can’t make a movie. It’s hard to talk about things that aren’t happening. There will be more to say when things are happening. I’m really keen to get going, it’s as simple as that. And I’m hoping that, in a while, we will.”
In fact, things might turn around sooner rather than later, with the current status being that Spyglass Entertainment are apparently near to closing a deal to run the beleaguered MGM, and high up on their list of projects to put into motion, should the deal happen, are, of course, the two New Line co-production “Hobbit” movies, and the James Bond franchise in general.
As regards the potential story for the next installment, Craig adds “I felt as if we were just getting going and that we’d get the chance to make a couple more. I’d like to fulfill the circle with the story. But, yes, there is nothing really to say until whoever gets that house [at MGM] in order. There’s no chance of getting it made until those things are taken care of.”
While the LA Times seems a bit worried that Craig’s forthcoming schedule may prevent him from bedding beauties and kicking ass again, the fact is that even when the actor signed on for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” it was worked around his potential schedule for “Bond 23” should MGM sort out their financial mess. Moreover, we would guess a sequel to “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” wouldn’t shoot until the latter half of 2011 at the earliest as Steven Spielberg is busy with “War Horse” and the post-production ‘Secret Of The Unicorn’ would probably only wrap up mid-year. That’s our guess anyway.
So yeah, just to recap. MGM is still fucked, but possibly in the process of un-fucking at least some of their big projects. “Bond 23” won’t happen until MGM sorts themselves out. And Daniel Craig wouldn’t mind reprising the role that made him an international star. Shocker.