James Bond Articles

In 1964, after Terrence Young turned down the opportunity to direct the third Bond movie, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned to another young British director instead, Guy Hamilton. The choice of Hamilton was not a particularly surprising one; the producers of the bond movies had long considered him for the position and in fact [...]

It has recently been revealed that permission has been granted for Bond 23 to shoot on location in Istanbul, already well used in From Russia With Love and featuring at the end of The World Is Not Enough. In this article we take a look at the Maiden’s Tower, which served as M’s prison in [...]

Now firmly established as the James Bond franchise composer after his excellent scores for Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, David Arnold returned for this third Bond outing on what would become Pierce Brosnan’s final appearance as 007. Initially, Arnold turned once again to lyricist Don Black with whom he had collaborated [...]

Above: Actor George Lazenby at the November 2008 Big Apple Convention in Manhattan. When Sean Connery announced his retirement form the James Bond films after You Only Live Twice (1967) and Timothy Dalton who was the favoured replacement counted himself out for being too young, Cubby Broccoli began to seriously consider a young Australian as [...]

One of the trademarks of the James Bond books, especially those written by Ian Fleming, is the attention to detail given to what 007 drives, wears, eats and drinks. Since the release of the 2006 film, Casino Royale, the Vesper has rocketed to popularity in bars across the world. So it comes as little surprise [...]

For the finale of For Your Eyes Only (1981) – the twelfth James Bond film and the fourth to start Roger Moore – Melina Havelock and Colombo assist 007 to gain access to an abandoned Greek monastery where Kristatos plans to hand over the top secret ATAC over to KGB chief General Gogol. The monastery [...]

This article is by guest writer Edward Biddulph. It is clear from the words given to M, and the description of James Bond reading the book, that, rather than simply referencing the title, Ian Fleming read in detail Alan Moyle’s guide on naturopathy, Nature Cure Explained (1950), before he wrote Thunderball (1961), the adventure in [...]

In the film version of Casino Royale James Bond and Vesper stay in Hotel Splendide in an unidentified town in Montenegro. While there does turn out to be a Hotel Splendide in Montenegro, it is a concrete highrise rather than the neo-baroque design of the film. The real Hotel Splendide is located in Becici, on [...]

After the warm reception for his soundtrack to Tomorrow Never Dies, the producers had a relatively simple choice when deciding who to select to score the next instalment in the 007 series.  So, in September 1998, David Arnold became the first person to be invited to score a second Bond film since John Barry when [...]

This article is by guest writer Edward Biddulph. The actor Mark Greenstreet screen-tested for the role of James Bond in The Living Daylights in 1986 when Roger Moore retired from the part after completing A View to a Kill (1985). He came very close to winning the role, but it ultimately went to Timothy Dalton. [...]