Wow, so if this rumor is true it could potentially be very good or very bad for the Bond franchise, and, especially, Quantum of Solace. Now take this whole thing with a huge grain of salt because there is no proof or official word, but a scooper wrote into AICN with the name of an actor who might have snagged the chief villain role in the next James Bond film. No, I'm not talking about Mathieu Amalric -- who we already know is playing Bond's main opponent. And Anatole Taubman is apparently playing another baddie. I'm talking about the boss of all bosses -- the guy Bond was after in Casino Royale, and will be after in Quantum of Solace. The dude behind the entire operation -- the man behind the curtains -- the guy who reports to himself. Oh yes. Him. Well word has it Bond will finally meet up with this head boss at the end of the next film, and the actor currently rumored to be playing him is none other than -- drum roll please -- Al Pacino. Hoo-ahh!

Here's part of what the scooper wrote in to AICN: "But the big news that he leaked was that Al Pacino would be taking part in filming. I was a little shocked as the cast has been revealed already, but he said Pacino would play the head of the terrorist group introduced in CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Al is said to come to Pinewood in April-May to film what is said to be a brief cameo." Hmmm. Pacino? As the big villain in a Bond film? Keep in mind this is only a rumor right now, but if true, what do you think?

Just in case you weren't paying attention yesterday, Quantum of Solace is the title of the latest James Bond movie (previously referred to as "Bond 22"), which arrives in theaters this November. Yes, it sounds a little Supermanish, but as Jessica pointed out, the title does come from 007 creator Ian Fleming himself. So, we mustn't make too much fun of it, even if 2008 is fast becoming the most ridiculous year for movie titles (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Repo! The Genetic Opera). Yesterday, we also received the official plot synopsis of the sequel, a direct follow-up to Casino Royale. Now, as if the new installment was coming out this month instead of nine months from now, Empire has put up some new cast photos in order to acquaint us with the main characters of Quantum of Solace.

Of course, if you've seen Casino Royale, you're already familiar with at least four of the seven characters, and there isn't much that's new or interesting about the looks of Bond (Daniel Craig), M (Dame Judi Dench), Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) or Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). But it is quite exciting to see the beautiful new Bond girls, Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton) and Camille (Olga Kurylenko), and the new villain, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who Empire describes as being refined, as if he "could almost be Bond with madder eyes." I guess I was jokingly half-hoping Amalric's villain would have a fat lip and one of his eyes sewn up, but that would just be preposterous. These Craig-starred Bond films are certainly less hokey than that, and most of us agree that they're better that way.

Well, it's official. After referring to the latest Bond movie as Bond 22 for what seemed like forever, BBC News reports that producers of the 22nd installment of the Bond franchise say the official title will be...wait for it...Quantum of Solace. To be honest, my first reaction was -- huh? Then, however, I found out that the title was taken from a collection of short stories published by Bond creator Ian Fleming back in 1960, so I guess it has some retro charm in spite of the fact that it sounds kind of awkward; don't you think? (Once again, Daniel Craig might have been messing with us all, just a little, with hints that "007" was the official title.)

The announcement came during a press conference at the new Pinewood Studios, where the film has begun shooting. Journalists were shown some clips of Bond swinging out of an explosion of an art gallery in Italy, as well as a meeting between Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Judi Dench) in a snowy locale.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that they finally announced their new Bond Girl, Olga Kurylenko. So sure, the production has taken it's time assembling the cast around Daniel Craig; but now that it is all said and done, they have managed to put together a pretty interesting ensemble. There are some familiar faces from Casino Royale returning -- Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Plus, there are also some first-timers to the Bond franchise including critically acclaimed French actor Mathieu Amalric as our bad guy and Gemma Arterton as MI6 Agent Fields. We've gotten a couple of images from the film, but so far, most of the details about the story are still being kept under lock and key. So, if you can't wait for November 7th when Quantum of Solace hits theaters, stay tuned for any updates that come our way.

UPDATE: After the jump, you will find the film's synopsis, courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Read at your own risk!

With filming less than a week old, an entire mini-gallery of photos have arrived from the set of Bond 22. Some of those are 'out of the office' shots of M, played of course by Judi Dench. In the shots that leaked out we see M and one of her confederates walking down some London street -- the kind of scene that will probably comprise two to three seconds of screen time in the finished film, if at all. Some snaps of Daniel Craig were also obtained by JustJared this week and picked up by MI6, when the actor showed up to film some scenes at Burwood Place, London. According to the report on MI6, some are saying that the local fire department was on hand to help the production create fake rain for the location shoot, but this isn't confirmed. The only other thing to be said about the shots is that they are completely unrevealing of anything about the film, other than the fact that it's actually shooting.

Meanwhile, MI6 is also reporting that according to their sources, Gemma Arterton's role in the new Bond film is "not the major role," meaning the real Bond girl has yet to be cast. They stress that "extensive" casting searches have focused on finding a Latin American actress for that position and they also say that Moneypenny is not thought to figure into this film -- so who is Arterton playing? The fact that her given name is "Fields" instead of something like Baroness von Whoever, I now think it's likely to assume that she's some new MI6 recruit who either gets killed early on or turns out to be a villain later in the piece like Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day.

The British Times has gotten word that Bond 22 will be filming a scene next week at the Barbican, a performing arts center in the north of London. The center is typically used to host music concerts, art exhibitions and theater productions, and according to the paper the "a sign has gone up giving warning that next week it will be the venue for the filming of a scene from the next James Bond film, currently working title Bond 22, which will again star Daniel Craig. Relax, ladies, Craig won't be there as far as I know, but in the Sculpture Court ... they will film a man talking on a mobile phone, the sign says. We'll have to wait for the release of the film, set for November, to see why it was necessary to go to the Barbican to film someone talking on their mobile phone." And that's it. At first blush, this sounds to me a lot like the Miami Body Worlds scene in Casino Royale, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, a source who would know tells me that Eon Productions has yet to release any information whatsoever on Bond casting to Sony, and that includes a thumbs up or down on Gemma Arterton having a role in the film. In other words, they are trying their level best to keep all of this information secret for the time being. Still, I bet that whoever the actress is, she'll eventually be spotted lunching or walking down the street with Barbara Broccoli or Michael Wilson and the game will be up. The last time a major hiring decision was made -- Marc Forster -- the press knew about it before the release could be put out, because the press knew that Daniel Craig was incongruously walking down the street with Broccoli in L.A, obviously to talk business.

According to Commanderbond.net, the Mexican newspaper El Diario is running a "big story" on the casting of a villain role in Bond 22. Mexican actor Joaquin Cosio tells the paper he has been cast in the film as General Medrano, who is to face off with Bond in Latin America. Cosio says "I'm General Medrano, Bond's enemy in Latin America, but there are other enemies waiting in Europe for Bond." Medrano is very talkative for someone who is operating under a strict confidentiality agreement. He goes on to say "I'm really pleased to be chosen to participate in such a huge film, it's a great achievement that the film will feature a Mexican actor. I still don't know much of the script, I don't really know what my scenes will be like, but I know that I'm going to film in Panama, Bolivia and London."

The paper was smart about getting as much dirt from Cosio as possible, and although he's apparently not in the know on the major casting scoops still up in the air, he did confirm for the paper that Giancarlo Giannini will return as Rene Mathis. "I'm very delighted to be in one film with Giannini and Judi Dench," he said. "So far I'm not thinking about leaving for Hollywood after Bond 22. I'm very pleased with how my latest projects are going here in Mexico." I should think you would be pleased! I'm counting on this guy to blab some more details over the next few weeks -- someone set up another interview with him.

With pre-production now officially underway on Bond 22 -- or 007, if you believe the wild and unsubstantiated rumors -- more and more of the pieces will be falling into place as to what we can actually expect. To start things off, Bond fan site MI6 has picked up some photos from a British tabloid that show Daniel Craig racing speedboats in a Hampshire lake, and Craig reportedly let slip to someone that the script for the new film contains no car chases, so get ready for a lot of boat racing. Like most aspects of this production so far, I'm not too thrilled with this idea -- boat racing has already been done to death in the Bond series and, come to think of it, even in other series like Indiana Jones. What more can be done? I guess I'll have to give them the benefit of the doubt until I see some footage.

In other Bond news, the BBC is reporting that Cardiff University is now offering 007 studies as one of those throwaway undergraduate courses the way American universities will sometimes offer courses in Star Trek or Madonna or things like that. They never offered those at my college, by the way, though I wish they would have -- I could have used the grade point boost. The Bond course is a ten-week course that examines Ian Fleming's most famous character in terms of its significance historically and culturally.

One final note, concerning all the early speculation about Gemma Arterton being possibly cast as the next Bond girl -- if anything, she looks like a Moneypenny to me. She's 22, for starters, with a background in comedy and a very non-traditional look for a Bond love interest. I'm calling this one early -- if she's in, she's Moneypenny.

Yesterday, we ran the Guardian piece on Paul Haggis and noted that he hasn't yet laid claim to a title for his upcoming Bond film, still called Bond 22. Today there's more to report. This is very sketchy, and I've tried in vain to find the source video to investigate it myself, but here goes -- AICN is reporting the following, from a tipster who watches British television. Daniel Craig was on a U.K. television show called This Morning and some discussion of the title of the upcoming Bond film led to Craig maybe saying the title was going to simply be 007. Again, that's a giant maybe, because even the talkbackers on the AICN boards have noted that this appears to be more of an unfounded conclusion on the part of the commenter than anything with grounding. Specifically, Craig is "paraphrased" by the commenter as saying "It's more of a number. Because the first movie dealt with him earning his 00 status and now he is 007 for the first time."

Okay, what is more of a number? That's what's unclear here. The tipster is maddeningly vague on this point. After pasting the paraphrase from above, he goes on to say that Craig was specifically asked if 007 is the film's title, to which Craig responds that he 'may have said too much'. But did this come in response to the direct question about the title? If the interviewer put the question directly to Craig and he answered with "It's more of a number" then that's something. Otherwise, I think this is nothing more than a wild goose chase. By the way, I really need to get a life, don't I?

Gemma Arterton just spent some time Capturing Mary on television. She's about to follow that up by wreaking havoc at St. Trinian's, and from there -- she's spent some time in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, before being Lost in Austen as Elizabeth Bennet, and then co-starring in 3 and Out. Now, if the rumors are true, she's about to top all of that off with a stint as the next 007 lady. According to Marie Claire UK, Arterton will star opposite Daniel Craig as the new Bond girl in Bond 22. They say this will be only her second movie, but I guess they didn't check out IMDb. According to the website, an insider at Eon Productions said that she beat 1,500 hopefuls for the part because "She has the modern look."

If this is true, she's a force to be reckoned with. Fresh out of drama school, at the age of 21, she won the role of lead girl in St. Trinian's, even though Sienna Miller's name was thrown around for the part. Topping that with a sexy performance of Love's Labour's Lost on the stage, and she's already an old pro at the sexy ways. So beating out all the other possible Bond girls is a hell of an achievement, if Marie Claire's insider has the story right.

But can she hold her own against Craig and the Bond girls of films' past? Check out the gallery below and weigh in.

[via The Guardian]

Screenwriter and director Paul Haggis gives a pretty good interview over at the Guardian, parting with some amusing anecdotes, like the fact that David Cronenberg is apparently "quite upset" with him over using Crash as the title of his 2004 film, despite Cronenberg already having a film with that title. He also talks a bit about In the Valley of Elah, and defends its box office, saying that it did well in the Midwestern markets, where people go to see a movie because "I like Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, she's pretty." Gee, who would have ever thought Paul Haggis had a condescending attitude toward red-staters? Haggis also gives his views on the writer's strike and talks a bit about Million Dollar Baby, but the most interesting thing for me to note is that he's still not ready to part with the title for Bond 22, apparently because he doesn't have one.

According to the interviewer -- don't you wish the Guardian would just print Q&As instead of doing everything in profile, by the way? -- Haggis confirmed that the project is "still known only as Bond 22" and that his "contribution is unlikely to include advice on the title. He admits to never knowing what to call his scripts and when writing Crash, only used it as a working title." Although Haggis is known to have been not-quite-finished with the Bond 22 script when the strike happened, the producers were apparently satisfied enough that they decided to push forward anyway. I guess we'll find out how wise that decision was soon enough. In the meantime, what do you think the title of the next Bond picture should be? Take what you know of Casino Royale and Ian Fleming-sounding titles, and add in what you know so far about the next one -- it will be partially set in South America, it will have another Eurotrash villain, and will have Daniel Craig again.

It still doesn't have a title, and it still doesn't officially have a Bond girl, but according to Empire magazine, Bond 22 has found its villain. Of course, we don't know the character's name nor anything about him, except that he will be played by French actor Mathieu Amalric (Munich). The casting of Amalric was actually announced a few weeks ago by Fox News, but it couldn't be confirmed until Empire today got it out of the actor himself. He did hint at one loose detail about the movie, that it would be about childhood. Now, in the context of the quote, it actually appears that Amalric is saying that the desire to play a Bond villain stems from his childhood, but Empire understood his words differently, or at least spun them so that it seems like he said Bond 22 will focus on 007's childhood (as if James Bond Jr. and Agent Cody Banks weren't bad enough, now we may get a precocious young Bond). Empire also points out that Eva Green has dropped hints that Bond 22's villain will be her Casino Royale character's boyfriend, which would make sense now that we've heard Green will not appear in the next film, though photos of her character will.

This news would indicate that the Denver Post was wrong in claiming Robert Knepper would be playing the next Bond villain. Unless, of course, there's multiple bad guys -- a trend Hollywood has been a fan of lately. Either way, Amalric is an excellent choice to play the (or a) Bond baddie, and not just because he has that same foreign creepy look that Casino's Mads Mikkelsen has. The actor is receiving rave reviews for his starring role as a paralyzed sufferer of locked-in syndrome in Julian Schnabel's critically acclaimed new film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Fans of Amalric's need not worry that because of Bond 22 he will be more sought after for big Hollywood movies (as if any Bond villain actor ever was). The actor told Empire that taking the role is simply funny to him, it's not necessarily what he wants to do with his career and he will continue doing "very small French film[s] for free with [his] friends."

There's been a persistent rumor for months that the Bond producers had figured out a way to smuggle Eva Green into the next Bond film, still titled Bond 22 at this point -- the rumor was that the deceased Vesper Lynd would appear at some point in a pre-recorded video message intended for James Bond, and this message would somehow spark the action and link the film back to the first film. Well, Green has now put that rumor to rest in a big interview with The Observer that ran this past weekend. Green specifically tells the paper that she will not be appearing in the film, but that "there will be pictures [of Vesper] and things like that. I don't know who the Bond girl's gonna be. I'm a bit jealous! I hope it will be terrible. I will be the love of his life!"

Commanderbond.net is running the Eva Green news as well as pointing to a recent interview with Daniel Craig for New York Daily News, in which he lets it be known that he's now officially picking up his Bond 22 paychecks, doing stunt training in the run up to the January start-date. He also talks about seeing Casino Royale for the first time on an editing machine and breathing a sigh of relief over how well it turned out. He also tells the interviewer that he wants his Bond films to maintain a style that harkens back to the earliest entries in the Bond series, Dr. No and and From Russia With Love. "They had a style about them that was amazing and different," Craig says. Bond 22 is currently being prepped for a November 7, 2008 release date.

Well I guess MGM president Harry Sloan and Daniel Craig have a lot to talk about. MI6 is reporting that Craig has denied earlier reports that he committed to doing four more Bond films before his time as the super-spy was up. Sloan had told The Hollywood Reporter that the Bond franchise was one of MGM's most profitable franchises and that was why they "signed Daniel Craig to do four more James Bond films".

Well, that was in in October, and during a round table press event for The Golden Compass, Craig cleared up a few misconceptions regarding his involvement in the classic franchise. He says, "Well, that's what's been said, it's not that it's not true, because I haven't signed up. What I've done is I've signed up on the next movie [Bond 22], after that we'll see. That's the way I'm doing it, and certainly it's not four more - that's the truth. It's certainly not four more". Craig has been relatively chatty lately about the film. It was only a couple of days ago that he finally put fans minds at ease and admitted he had just been yanking our chains a little with that whole "comedy Bond" routine.

Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is more than a little relieved that Craig will not be mugging for the cameras this time around, but I am a tad disappointed that he might not return for more films. Especially since I thought Craig was one of the best Bonds in the bunch (how's that for an alliteration?). Bond 22 (and just as a side note: am I the only one who hopes this film gets a proper title soon? Bond 22 is just not doing it for me) is set for release on November 7th, 2008. So let the wild speculation begin -- who do you think would make a good Bond if Craig decides not to return?

Coming Soon has a new interview with Daniel Craig, and he's talking Bond 22. The script is done, and filming is expected to start very soon to avoid conflict with a possible Screen Actors Guild strike (different from the WGA strike -- ay caramba!). Craig confirms that Bond 22 immediately follows the events of Casino Royale, and praises director Marc Forster, saying, "If you look at Forster's current body of work, that in itself makes me very excited. If you look at Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, and then Kite Runner, which is just stunning, it's such a diverse look at the world, I'd want us to have that. Marc is very solid."

You Ian Fleming fans might be disappointed with one tidbit from the interview -- Craig says the new script isn't based on Fleming's work at all: "There's nothing left, as far as I know." As for Craig's controversial mention of adding Roger Moore-style "humor" to the new Bond, Craig insists he was "lying," and adds "I'm not going to shy away from the fact that occasionally there should be humor. I just don't like gags. I don't like written gags. That's not the way I've ever liked working and I don't think that's funny myself." And Craig fans can rest easy, he says he's totally game for another Bond, as well as a sequel to the soon-to-be-released and surprisingly controversial The Golden Compass. There is no Compass sequel script yet, but there is an outline Craig says is "pretty good." Just pretty good? Show us a little enthusiasm there, DC! The Golden Compass releases December 7th, Bond 22 on November 7th, 2008.

Is this the new Bond girl? According to MI6, a local television show in Mexico is reporting that actress Mayrin Villanueva (who's done a ton of TV work in Mexico) has landed a part in the next James Bond film, currently titled Bond 22. Producers for the film, as well as Daniel Craig, have been scouting dozens of actresses and models in South America in search of an unknown, yet unbelievably gorgeous girl as the next potential Bond female. Though we're not sure whether she'll play a huge role in the film, or just serve as one of Daniel Craig's flings while he's hanging out below the border, the gal definitely looks like she can handle the super spy between the sheets. Can she recite a line or two? Who knows ... and do we care? MI6 says local news coverage in Mexico cities are receiving their news from Villanueva's husband (sorry guys) who's apparently saying that she attended several casting sessions before "producers requested her presence for the film which is currently in pre-production." So until something official comes our way, we'll consider this just a rumor -- what do you think of the gal? Directed by Marc Forster, Bond 22 is due out on November 7, 2008.

[via Latino Review]