With a fevered level of anticipation usually reserved only for the countdown to the poster promoting the teaser for a trailer, the world’s press gathered on the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios for the reveal of the title, cast and other details of the 24th James Bond film.
With 007’s last entry, "Skyfall," being easily the most successful entry in the series to date, a billion-dollar, Oscar-winning smash, and the same creative team, led by director Sam Mendes, returning for the new outing, hopes have certainly been high for the new picture. And despite Sony’s recent hacking problems, details have mostly remained under wraps. The name of the film, then? "Spectre."
As fans will probably realize, and as Mendes hinted, the title seems to refer to the supervillainous organization led by Bond’s greatest foe, Blofeld. And who’ll be playing him? Well, Mendes wasn’t confirming anything, but did confirm that Christoph Waltz was joining the cast as a character called ‘Oberhauser,’ so that seems like a fairly good indication, unless there’s some bait-and-switch going on.
Beyond Waltz, Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear are all returning, while "Sherlock" and "Pride" star Andrew Scott is joining on the MI5 side (though as he was rumored to be playing a villain a few days ago, perhaps he’s not entirely to be trusted). Beyond that, the previously rumored Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci look to be the Bond girls this time around, as characters named Madeleine Swan and Luciana Sciarra, while "Guardians Of The Galaxy"’s breakout Dave Bautista is also on board as Mr. Hinx, likely to be the ‘iconic’ henchman in the vein of Odd Job and Jaws that’s been said to be part of the film too.
Beyond that, Mendes wasn’t spilling too many other beans, though confirmed that editor Lee Smith and DoP Hoyte Van Hoytema, both fresh off "Interstellar," were joining the creative team, and that the film shoots in London, Rome, Mexico City, Tangiers and Austria, starting Monday. Oh, and there’s a new car or something. Can Mendes top "Skyfall," or will this be his "Tomorrow Never Dies"? We’ll find out when "Spectre" opens on November 6th, 2015.