U.K. cover for A Spy Like Me Ian Fleming Publications, in an email, published a statement from author Kim Sherwood about her new 00-agent book, A Spy Like Me. A few highlights: –Plot synopsis: The book concerns “a Breguet montre à tract, otherwise known as a ‘blind man’s watch’ and the agents in my story follow it into the heart of a terrorist plot that could not only cripple the Western world but potentially spell the ruin of the Double O section.” –Agent lineup: Joseph Dryden, 004, is following the money, tracking the sale of rare artifacts that funnels money to the terrorist organization ..read more

Cover to A Spy Like Me Kim Sherwood’s second Double O universe novel, A Spy Like Me, officially went on sale in the U.S. today. It’s scheduled to go on sale in the U.K. on April 25. “Johanna Harwood, Agent 003, is on the hunt – for revenge and for James Bond…,” Ian Fleming Publications said in a Jan. 29 list of its publication plans for this year. The author has been promoting the new book on social media. Here is an example: Jumping for joy! #aspylikeme is out in America today. Only in my wildest dreams could I have imagined writing #jamesbond & publishing in – that today brings both ..read more

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is No. 4 at the U.S. box office this weekend. It was a quiet movie-going weekend overall. The Guy Ritchie-directed World War II spy movie generated an estimated $9 million this weekend, according to a social media post on X by Exhibitor Relations Co., which tracks box office trends. The top movie for the weekend was Civil War, now in its second week at $11 million. Here’s the post with the other top five: TOP 5 DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE 1. CIVIL WAR ($11M) 2. ABIGAIL ($10M) 3. GxK ($9.4M) 4. MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE ($9M) 5. SPY x FAMILY CODE: WHITE ..read more

Director Guy Ritchie and actor Henry Cavill have had their share of ups and downs. Each has fans and detractors. With The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the director and star basically share an upswing. The story, a spy tale set in World War II, isn’t especially innovative. A team of misfits is sent on an impossible assignment? The Dirty Dozen in 1967 covered similar territory. Still, how you carry out such basic ideas matters a lot. We all know how World War II ended and Germany didn’t win it. The trick is to show the audience that an Allied victory wasn’t a sure thing. This movie should ..read more

Cover to the original soundtrack release of The World Is Not Enough Updated from previous posts. The World Is Not Enough, the 19th film in the 007 film series made by Eon Productions, marked a transition. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli hired a director, Michael Apted, with little experience in action movies. Apted was brought on because of his drama experience. Apted also was charged with increasing the female audience for a Bond film. “I didn’t understand why they picked me to do (The World Is Not Enough),” Apted told The Hollywood Reporter in an October 2018 intervie ..read more

Where’s that signed contract? Remember when The Sun said last month that actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been offered the part of James Bond? Supposedly, the actor would sign the contract in a few days. Many, many other outlets did stories, citing The Sun. We’re almost halfway through April. No sign yet a deal has been struck. As the blog has pointed out before (including a March 7 post), British tabloids count on readers having amnesia about what the publications have posted before. When real life catches up to tabloid stories, the tabloids have a tendency to forget what they’ve “reported ..read more

Robert MacNeil (1931-2024) Robert MacNeil, a long-time television journalist, died this week at the age of 93. During his day job, he covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and hosted the MacNeil/Lehrer Report (later the PBS News Hour) for years. MacNeil also had a spy entertainment footnote: He hosted PBS’s presentation of the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries in 1980. The miniseries debuted in 1979 in the U.K. MacNeil made clear in his introductions that he was a big fan of David Cornwell/John Le Carre. In one of his Tinker Tailor introductions, he took a dig at I ..read more

Khigh Dhiegh, who appeared in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and in many episodes of Hawaii Five-O. The SpyHards podcast recently had an episode reviewing the 1969 movie The Chairman, where Gregory Peck goes into China on a mission. During the episode, there was a discussion concerning Mao Zedong and how he ranked with real-life figures such as Hitler and Stalin. This post won’t make a judgment. But in the 1960s, into the 1970s, Mao was viewed as a really, really bad guy. This showed up in popular entertainment. The Manchurian Candidate (1962): This movie, based on a Richard Condon novel, det ..read more

Wolfgang Thurauf, a prominent German fan of James Bond, has died. Thurauf’s passing was reported on social media on Tuesday. His many friends posted about his passing. I had exchanges with Wolfgang. I asked — pleaded, even — for more details from his friends. Age? Bond affiliation? Nothing was forthcoming. Over the years, I had seen photos of him at different Bond movie premieres. Based on the social media announcements, Wolfgang had a huge impact on other Bond fans. As the 007 film franchise advances, the likes of fans such as Wolfgang are passing from the scene. Such fans are no longer ar ..read more

A damaged Ford Mustang after getting the Ben-Hur treatment from Bond’s Aston-Martin DB5 in Goldfinger This month marks the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The model’s first cinema appearance took place during the filming of 1964’s Goldfinger. James Bond (Sean Connery) was driving the soon-to-be-iconic Aston Martin DB5 while following Auric Goldfinger. Suddenly, a woman (Tania Mallet) driving the Mustang initially passes the DB5 on the roads of Switzerland. After Bond seems to have been targeted for a killing attempt, the British agen ..read more