James Bond 19 (The World is not Enough?)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Sequel.

Studio: MGM.
Production Company: Danjaq/Eon Productions.

Project Phase: Greenlighted.

Who's In It: Pierce Brosnan (James Bond, Agent 007); Denise Richards (Dr. Christmas Jones); Sophie Marceau (Elektra King); Robert Carlyle (Renard); Denise Van Outen; Desmond Llewelyn (Q); Judi Dench (M); John Cleese.
Who's Making It: Michael Apted (Director); Neal Purvis, Robert Wade (Screenwriters); Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Brocolli (Producers).

Premise: James Bond faces his most dangerous opponent: a young woman who blames Bond for the death of her father. Will Bond be able to prevent her from taking revenge?

Release Date: November 19, 1999.

Comments: When the second outing with Pierce Brosnan (Tomorrow Never Dies) makes more box office than the first (Goldeneye), what do you do? Greenlight the sequel, silly.

Judging from the number of rumors and false leads that our Tomorrow Never Dies managed to print, we assume this page will become an active one as well.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

December, 1997 - January, 1998... The smash success of the latest Bond film has sparked interest in what James' next adventure will be. We've received a number of best guesses, scoops and outright lies, so naturally we want to share them with you and any possible EON Productions readers visiting the site. You've been warned, though: we think it's far too early in the game for any solid storylines to begin making the rounds just yet...

One rumor heard in early January would have the world's top assassin hunting down the world's top spy (Bond, naturally.) [Transmitted by rogue agent 'pcw0003'.]

While listening to a radio station with the callsign 'WAAF 107.3 FM', the scooper heard Metallica is in talks to do the themesong to the sequel of Tomorrow Never Dies. It should be pointed out that we here at CA have found it almost always the case that these radio variety shows report pure speculation, and are often completely wrong. [Anonymous.]

This scooper heard MGM is planning on the cost of the next sequel being around $80-100 million, which is about the same as TND. [Scoop by 'sandoval'.]

There exists the possibility that Michelle Yeoh's character may come back soon. The actress has stated that at some point she would like to see her character return. [Report issued by 'nuvs'.]

One of the movie's central locales may be Sydney, Australia. Reports coming from some various sources tell us MGM is looking at the area, perhaps because the Summer 2000 Olympics will be held there. [Anonymous.]

Then a scooper tell us this: "A friend at Access Hollywood had interviewed Michelle Yeoh for TND and ran into her in an LA restaurant. She told him she's very close to signing on for Bond 19 as Wai Lin. One possible story line is a loose remake of On Her Majesty's Secret Service with Bond helping Wai Lin defect and their actually marrying with of course tragic consequences." [Anonymous reported this to us first, followed by 'Oddjob'.]

'Oddjob' also first scooped us about the possibility that Robert Carlysle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting) is being seriously considered for the villain role. Also, filming may not take place at Pinewood due to Britain's economic climate for movie production (as was the case with Licence to Kill.) [Thanks to our ma'Oddjob'.]

Week of January 4, 1998... Talk about booking ahead: MGM announces it will debut its next Bond picture on November 19, 1999. [Thanks to ZENtertainment, 'universalexport' and Douglas and Winnie for looking out for us.]

January 16, 1998... It looks like MGM wants our new Bond 19 page to not get out-of-hand. Today they announced the two new screenwriters for the picture, the writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The two wrote the 1991 true-crime film Let Him Have It and an upcoming biography about three days in the life of Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. [Joe Hanna, 'corleone', 'nuvs', anonymous.]

[Thanks to Drew Babcock and 'ZaBu' as well for scooping us.]

February 23, 1998... Fresh from uploading our new Bond page draws its first scoop. According to this fellow, composer David Arnold has been already approached to score the next film, and he's already said yes. [Sent in by 'C'.]

April 11, 1998... One of our scoopers would like to have the floor, Mr. Speaker...

"Keeping with the tradition that only British directors can bring the proper flavor to a James Bond movie, United Artists and Bond producers are seriously considering British director Peter Medak to helm the as-yet untitled 19th feature. MGM/UA is reportedly extremely happy with the job Medak did directing the soon-to-be-released SPECIES 2 and thinks he has the necessary experience to direct a Bond film. Medak has directed for both television, including early episodes of the Roger Moore series 'The Persuaders,' and films such as THE DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG, THE KRAYS, and ROMEO IS BLEEDING. He also directed second unit for FUNERAL IN BERLIN. What makes him appealing to the Bond camp is he directed the feature LET HIM HAVE IT, which was written by the new Bond writers, Neil Purvis and Robert Wade. He has also worked with Pierce Brosnan before, having directed him in several of the first episodes of 'Remington Steele.'

"Although Medak is seriously being considered at this point, no directing announcement will be made until Purvis and Wade deliver their first draft of the script sometime this summer." [Anonymous.]

April 19, 1998... In an interview with James Hetfield on an Australian radio station, the interviewer chuckled and said "Is there any truth in the rumor you will be writing the theme song to the next James Bond film?" Hetfield just laughed and said "Well that's the first of heard of it!" ['tommmo007'.]

April 21, 1998... Several London papers (including The Daily Mail) report that an insider has leaked the main villains name to the press. According to these papers, the villain is a woman called Electra and the film's plot has been already decided upon. [Scooped by Roger Connery.]

April 28, 1998... This scooper's film class was recently taught by none other than Bond producer Michael G. Wilson. Of course, Wilson didn't give away any bombshell news on Bond 19, but he did reveal a character element for the next villain...

During the discussion on the GoldenEye marketing campaign, Mr. Wilson stated that he was disappointed by the film's trailer because it revealed the identity of the villain (006/Janus). Apparently, he didn't want the trailer to reveal this major spoiler.

"We have the same problem on the next film," he admitted.

In other words, it seems the villain in Bond 19 will at first be allied with 007 but becomes the nemesis as the film progresses. Also in attendance at the lecture were the two new writers, Purvis and Wade. [Some good MI5 investigative homework submitted by 'Sartre'.]

May 18, 1998... According to our scooper, a source at United Artists revealed two interesting items about the new Bond film. First, Academy Award winner Peter Lamont will return to do the production design on Bond 19. Up until GoldenEye, Lamont had been involved with every Bond film since From Russia With Love. Lamont missed working on Tomorrow Never Dies because he was busy doing the design work for Titanic. Our scooper was told Lamont is reportedly very excited about working on the new Bond film. "He had to do the GOLDENEYE design on a very limited budget, so he is excited about having a much bigger budget to work with on Bond 19," our source said.

The second interesting item involves the return of Robbie Coltrane, who played Valentin Zukovsky in GoldenEye. Apparently, Coltrane will have a much bigger role in Bond 19 as Bond's aide and ally, more in the tradition of Pedro Amendariz's Kerim Bey character in From Russia With Love, Felix Leiter reoccurring character, and Topol's Columbo in For Your Eyes Only. But what about Joe Don Baker, who's been holding the fort as Brosnan's screen buddy Jack Wade in the last two films? "As of this writing, the Joe Don Baker character of Jack Wade is not expected to return." [Scooped anonymously.]

June 10, 1998... We were first made aware of the possible new Bond film's title last week. Karl Berry, a reader of the British newspaper The Daily Mail, came across this blurb on June 5th concerning the whereabouts of Pierce Brosnan and 007...

"Pierce Brosnan arrives soon from Canada to complete filming on Richard Attenborough's film Grey Owl. Meanwhile, the pre-production will begin on Bond film number 19, Pressure Point, which is set to go before the cameras in January. There seems to be a lot of talk about Robert Carlyle being asked to play the bad guy, but so far, his people and the Bond people are denying it. Absolutely nothing has been shot, but there's a release date - November 19, 1999."

Pressure Point? Well, it just may be the working title of the next Bond flick. But given the producers track record of keeping the film's title a secret for as long as possible, is Pressure Point the real deal? [Scoops sent in by Karl Berry, 'That Man in Istanbul', Douglas and Winnie, Mario, 'darioale' and anonymously.]

But other fan-speculated titles such as 'Fire and Ice', 'Stonecold' and 'The World is Not Enough' have been traded across Bond Internet sites. In addition to the Robert Carlyle casting rumor, another mentioned actress Mary Page Keller (Duet and Baby Talk) in talks to play the role of Electra. [Submitted by John Cole.]

July 1, 1998... On the Bond 19: 007s's Latest Escapade website a recent article entitled 'An Evening with Q' dispelled some of the rumors that've been swirling about this project.

Laurent Perriot, the President of Club James Bond 007 France, had dinner with actor Desmond Llewelyn (Q) and Douglas James (Brosnan's stunt double in Tomorrow Never Dies) and talked a bit about the new Bond film being developed. Both Llewelyn and James will be involved in the next film, and both said rumors of the title being 'Pressure Point' are false. Also, the rumor of a female villain is without merit. EON Productions was scheduled to receive the script at the end of June.

What about the Robert Carlyle rumor, you say? Carlyle has indeed screentested for a role in the film but the two gentlemen said it may not have been necessarily for the role of Bond's nemesis. Llewelyn and James also confirmed the business about Robbie Coltrane reviving his role of Valentine Zukovsky, and composer David Arnold will return to score the soundtrack. [A commendation to 'That Man from Istanbul' and an anonymous scooper for providing us with the file; originally appeared on the Bond 19: 007's Latest Escapade website.]

July 21, 1998... A scooper writes to CA about three juicy details for Bond 19 that was supposedly leaked by their friend within United Artists. According to the scooper the latest title on the script is 'Dangerously Yours' -- which was the title originally used for the 14th Bond film, and that later became the title for the French release of 1985's A View to a Kill.

The second and more interesting detail is the mention of Robbie Coltrane as the new Bond villain. "As the first draft of the script goes now, Coltrane's character Valentin Zukovsky starts off as Bond's ally, but midway through the film quickly becomes a deadly enemy for Pierce Brosnan's James Bond," our scooper writes. " My United Artists source tells me that it was decided among the writers and producers that Coltrane has what it takes to make a great Bond villain (in the tradition of Gert Frobe's Goldfinger). They think he can be both sinister and funny at the same time. And I for one agree. Just witness Coltrane's excellent performance in his two short scenes in GOLDENEYE."

The final piece of news is that a director will be announced in August. Again according to our scooper United Artists and the Bond producers have it narrowed down to three possible choices: Peter Medak, Martin Campbell, and Stephen Frears. [Scooped by anonymous.]

August 6, 1998... Michael Apted, noted director of the 14 Up series of documentaries as well as films such as Coal Miner's Daughter, Thunderheart and Gorillas in the Mist is in talks to direct next year's Bond film. Variety report also mentions the possibility that the villain may be a female who holds a personal grudge against James; that rumor resurfaces the Electra rumor that made the rounds months ago. [Thanks to 'Pontevin', Joe Hanna, '005', 'clayj','Swedish Cartman', and anonymous ; originally reported by Variety.]

September 1, 1998... Ignoring the plethora of wild speculation and rumors that we can't confirm but nevertheless have been sent, we're chosing to focus our attention on the widespread recent coverage given to the production's possible use of England's 'Millennium Dome'. The dome owners, who are scheduling to open in time to celebrate the beginning of the year 2000, have confirmed that they've been in contact with Eon Productions to film inside of the Dome. However Eon said that the Dome was not the central focus of the picture, which leads us to speculate that this is not where the final climactic moments in Bond 19 take place.

[Nick Allen, 'The London Connection', 'psambrakos', Karl Berry, Michael Kingsley, 'The Bard', Kevin McDonald and anonymous did it for their countries.]

Meanwhile, 'The London Connection' reports an interesting development Bond fans will no doubt be interested to read about:

"According to 'Minaret', an Islamic newspaper, official production of the film begins January 4th 1999. Michael Apted and Michael G. Wilson will scout locations in early September.

"The article claims that one of the villains is a Middle Eastern terrorist and the plot concerns James Bond assasinating a political figure. As the story unfolds, he is betrayed by someone --a woman-- close to him. This seems like an echo of the Electra/female villain rumour." [Thanks to 'The London Connection'.]

The UK newspaper The Daily Mail ran the story that the Bond producers have come up with the idea of having cameos for all former Bond girls in the new picture. When we first heard of that rumor we had a hard time imagining it to be true; it seems like a lot of effort to place nearly two dozen ladies in visible cameo shots, if not supporting roles. Nevertheless, the actresses mentioned include Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Jill St. John, Jane Seymour, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams and Barbara Bach, plus some of the later Bond girls, namely: Tanya Roberts, Maryam d'Abo, Carrey Lowell, Talisa Soto, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen and Michelle Yeoh. The Daily Mail also said there will be "a poignant moment when the the film's researchers come to the name of Cassandra Harris." Harris appeared opposite Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only, and was married to Pierce Brosnan. She tragically died in 1991 after a long illness. [With thanks to Karl Berry for passing along the news.]

Then, yesterday, this new development. While giving an interview to the Swedish newspaper Verdens Gang Pierce Brosnan apparently mentioned the name of the new film: The World is not Enough. Brosnan also confirmed a scene in the Millennium Done as well as shooting taking place in locations in Turkey and Australia. Notice the resurfacing of the Australia location?? Regardless, MGM/UA hasn't confirmed the new title but we're running it for the moment at the top of the film's page. [Thanks to 'Limbaugh' and Mario for tipping us off.]

Scooper William Wilson told CA that the original newspaper interview (in Swedish!) can be accessed online at www.aftonbladet.se/noje/9808/30/bond.html.

September 10, 1998... OK, there are rumors now spreading that MGM has taken to refer to the project as 'Dangerously Yours' -- but for now, our money's on 'The World is Not Enough'.

While everyone's wondering if there is a character named Electra -- and if the character is the main villain or not -- we've been given the low down on the storyline from a Hollywood Reporter journalist. Is Stone in the running for the Electra part, another role or not even being considered? Read on and the fog may begin to lift for you...but we've got to issue a HEAVY SPOILERS WARNING here. If you swipe the space below you'll see what we mean.

" A recent interview I had with Pierce Brosnan, for the Hollywood Reporter, had some interesting script details. Sharon Stone is being touted to be the next Bond girl but with a twist. She could also be the villainess. Also, talks about her henchman, a mysterious stalking killer who is not seen fully until the last reel. But here is the kicker. Sharon Stone may be playing the part of Electra, an ex-flame of Bond's and who is now an international terrorist. Apparently, she and Bond were allies at one time, had a fling, and she was scorned. She now plans to cause as much pain to Bond by making him the one who must stop 'many' nuclear bombs and other life-threatening events that are set to explode at various times around the world. In the last moments of the film, Bond must fight her henchman, a 20 year old assassin, who is also Electra's and Bond's bastard son. When Bond confronts Electra and asks 'Why she is doing this?' Electra replies by saying, 'Without you in my life, the world is not enough.' "

[Drew Babcock, freelance entertainment reporter, would like to get some of M's gadgets for his next writing assignment.]

October 7, 1998... Some interesting news: "My dad is a plastic pipes salesman in England (don't laugh, it gets him to all sorts of film studios and stuff - he's been to the offices of LOST IN SPACE and STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE) and a job he was sent to do last week was the new Bond movie (which I've heard is titled THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH) at Pinewood. They haven't started filming yet, but they're making a big submarine set down there for it (aren't they always?) Dad's an ex-Navy man and noticed a few inaccuracies in the model of the sub they were doing and, along with another mate who was there, pointed it out to the production designers. It's my personal hope he gets a 'SUBMARINE CONSULTANT' credit on the final film." [Scoop provided by 'James Flower'.]

October 19, 1998... Some interesting research concerning the proposed title of this latest Bond movie: "From reading the last few scoops, the most commonly rumoured name for the new James Bond film seems to be 'The World is Not Enough', and I think I may have some insight as to the origin of this name, if this is of any interest to you. I have just finished reading 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' by Ian Fleming, in which 007 poses as Sir Hilary Bray from the Royal College of Arms. A man called Griffon Or from the Royal College of Arms gives Bond some information on his own family history, including the motto of the Bond family - you guessed it - 'The World is Not Enough'. Also, it is interesting that in the book, Bond says of 'The World is Not Enough', 'It is an excellent motto, that I shall most certainly use.' I cannot remember if this is mentioned in the film of OHMSS." [Research sent in by 'Alex'.]

October 20, 1998... Another interesting corrolary to yesterday's scoop that'll have videophiles taking a trip down to the local video store to rent a certain Bond film. In the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service Bond makes a stop at the College of Arms where Sir Hilary Bray shows him the Bond family heraldric shield. Their motto? 'The World is Not Enough'. [Thanks to 'Greg 007' and 'Agent 0011' for their follow-ups.]

November 16, 1998... We were just told that screenwriter Dana Stevens has been brought in to rewrite the script turned in by Wade and Purvis. [Cool, thanks Adam.]

Also, our first script review is in. SPOILERS abound. We chose to make some comments at the end of 'Necros' review:

"Just finished reading the first draft of The World Is Not Enough, aka Bond 19. First I'll summarize the plot briefly (this will likely include spoilers), and then I'll talk about my personal reactions to the script.

"Before I begin, let me put some rumors to rest. 1) None of the script takes place in the Millenium Dome (we only see it once on a flyby); 2) There is no illegitimate-son-assassin character. 3) There are no attempts to assassinate M.

"TWINE begins with a huge explosion that blows up half of the MI-6 building and kills an oil tycoon named Sir Robert King. After King's funeral, Bond is assigned to protect the man's daughter, Elektra, and search for his killer. The prime suspect is a crazy French assassin named Renard, who has a bullet embedded in his brain and therefore feels no pain (hey, that rhymes). Bond's investigation leads him to a Russian test facility in Chechnya, and during his visit the place blows up (do we see a pattern here?) and a nuclear core is stolen, presumably by Renard. Bond then ventures through the Middle East as he attempts to track down Renard. He also begins to suspect that Elektra has something to do with all this. On the way, he is assisted by Valentin Zukofsky (the Russian mafia kingpin from GoldenEye) and a French-Polynesian nuclear technician named--ouch--Christmas Jones.

"The best term I can come up with to describe this script is 'aggressively bland'. The first act is written quite well, with an exciting pre-title sequence and the beginnings of an intriguing plot. Then, around page 45, it starts to turn into a mindless shoot-em-up that steals more than a few plot points from The Peacemaker. The action and dialogue are stale and unimaginative, Christmas just screams 'Typical Bond Girl,' and Renard, the only remotely interesting character in the script, barely shows up until the very end. So, even if the rumors are true about Jean Reno being cast in this role, he might not have much more than a cameo.

"Still, it's hard to predict how TWINE will turn out. The absolutely laughable first draft of Tomorrow Never Dies was rewritten into something fairly watchable, so one never knows. In any case, we should all keep our eyes pealed for forthcoming drafts of this script. Presumably, it will only get better."

[Script reviewed by 'Necros'.]

In an act that makes us suspect divine intervention is commonplace, the script for TWINE arrived at CA the same day 'Necros' review was emailed! We were able to confirm the facts that our reviewer stated in their review. We're also gonna reveal the film's last line since it's already appeared elsewhere on the 'net...but you'll have the choice to unwrap the present early by swiping the space below, OK?

As Christmas Jones and our favorite 00 lie in bed together, she seductively looks up and into James eyes and says these magic words: "Christmas came early."

December 10, 1998... She's 26 years old and set to become the next Bond girl. She's Denise Richards, last seen in Wild Things, and she'll play nuclear scientist Dr. Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough. Filming begins in mid-January in London, then switches to Turkey next. Our male readers may begin whooping now. ['AMC Dave', Dan Mitro, 'Dredd', Mattsp, Marcus Burchette, Mario, 'Agent 0011', 'Greg007', ''I'm Tuba', Triple Lutz', 'Kish', 'IceHawk' and anonymous are all Denise fans.]

There's also a report that veteran Bond screenwriter Bruce Feirstein is rewriting the original script by Pervis and Wade. We were scooped last month that Dana Stevens has that job, though.

January 5, 1999... Another addition to the cast that we're happy to report to you: "In the British newspaper the Sunday Mirror they printed a article saying that Denise Van Outen, a popular British tv presenter, will be in the movie as M's assistant or as one of her staff. People say this will be a big boost for her career working alongside famous people like Pierce Brosnan and Judi Dench." [Salmaan Khan gets the paper.]

One more license aquired that N64 fans will be happy to know about. "Nintendo Of America has picked up the video game rights to this movie. Nintendo's company Rare which worked on GoldenEye OO7 will help develop the game." If the TWINE game is half as good as the GoldenEye game was we'll be happy (although there might not be as many updates to the site when the game is released...) [Scoop provided by 'Fri'.]

"The rumor mill on this one has been working overtime lately:

[Update provided by CA's 'Agent 0011'.]

January 12, 1999... New Zealand rugby player Jonah Lomu has apparently turned down the offer from EON to play a minor role in TWINE, citing concerns that filming would conflict with the 1999 Rugby World Cup. You can't fault a man for having his priorities. ['Agent 0011'.]

And yes, Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting) has accepted the job of playing Elektra's bodyguard, a pain-immune fellow named Renard. Renard also has a hawk that he uses to gauge out a person's eyes with. No word if he sends them Christmas cards, though.

January 14, 1999... John Cleese has been cast as the mayhem-proned assistant to Q in the film. Whether or not Cleese's character will indeed inherit the role as Bond's techno-gadget specialist remains unknown. [Thanks to Joe Hanna.]

Related Sites:

Bond 19: 007s's Latest Escapade -- Charts the latest cast and crew announcements as well as covering anything Bond-related. The site even sports a clock counting down the days and minutes until the premiere.



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