Just a couple of days ago, we got the first official image of Daniel Craig reprising his role as the iconic James Bond in the upcoming Skyfall, previously known as Bond 23, apparently superseding what we’d thought was the first official image that surfaced last month.

We’ve now got some excellent new photos of Craig on the set of the film, via ComingSoon.net and SpoilerTV. Skyfall is currently filming here in the UK in London, and we can look forward to its release later this year in October. Over at 007.com, you can see the time countdown to the day of release – as time of writing, it stands at 265 days, 04 hours, 38 minutes, and 56 seconds.

“In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.”

Along with Craig, the film has a tremendous supporting cast that includes Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Helen McCrory, and Ola Rapace.

Sam Mendes, who won an Academy Award with his feature debut for American Beauty, will be behind the camera for this, with the script coming from long-time Bond writing duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, as well as one of my favourite screenwriters of all time, John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai).

Skyfall will be with us here in the UK on 26^th October, so just another eight and a half months to go until we get to see Craig return in one of the roles that made him famous. As usual, he looks awesome in these new photos from the set, which you can click to enlarge. And for all things Skyfall-related, just click right here.

A few weeks ago, we put up what we said was the first official image from James Bond 23 aka Skyfall. Well, turns out that wasn’t the first official image as this morning, via 007.com, Sony Pictures have released this first look image of Daniel Craig playing James Bond in the latest movie.

The last image shows Daniel Craig sitting by the pool at the Four Seasons hotel in London (and was a bit naff) and this image is rather a lot better and now I want to see more!! Check it out below and click it to enlarge.

Skyfall is directed by Sam Mendes and as well as Daniel Craig, stars Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Helen McCrory, Albert Finney. It’ll be with us October 26th later this year.

OK, I lied about the speedos but he is by a swimming pool! This has to be the most boring first image ever released by anyone ever! It is the first look at James Bond aka Daniel Craig in Bond 23 which has the title Skyfall. This photo was taken at the Four Seasons Hotel in London recently.

Skyfall is directed by Sam Mendes and as well as Daniel Craig, stars Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Helen McCrory, Albert Finney.

I don’t know what else to say about this image really other than Sony, please can we have some better ones in future? Thanks!

The movie is currently filming here in the UK and we snapped some set pics a week or so ago.

Source: Empire

We’re big fans of Bond, James Bond here at HeyUGuys and the announcement at CES2012 this evening from MGM and 20th Century Fox is a welcome one indeed. The entire collection of Bond films are heading to Blu-ray with a special Bond50 collection.

All twenty-two films are being given a HD polish, with nine films making their debut in high-definition and we are being promised some exclusive bonus content yet to be detailed. All you need is Alan Partridge doing the commentary tracks and it’ll be the ultimate collection.

Click here to pre-order your copy before it arrives October 1st 2012.

Here’s the launch trailer, crank it up all the way to 1080p and enjoy.

And don’t go anywhere without watching the animated packshot!

Here’s the box set picture which can be clicked to make it enormous.

Whilst strolling around London earlier this afternoon, I stumbled across a film set. In and of itself, that’s hardly extraordinary, a lot of filming goes on in the city, most of it commercials, promos and music videos, but this looked slightly different. Getting closer the scale of the operation became clear – countless lighting and camera trucks, somewhere in the region of twenty 50 Kilowatt lights, and a series of enormous white screens propped up against the side of a building.

I found a security guard and asked him what was filming, ‘sorry mate, I can’t tell you’. This got my mind racing, trying to remember what I knew to be shooting in London at the moment; there was really only one possibility – Skyfall. I wandered around more, looking for confirmation. Over by one of the camera trucks, an operator and his assistant were using a clapper board for camera tests, but I couldn’t get close enough to read it. Then I stumbled upon a unit sign.

Mystery solved, I set about taking a few snaps of the unit that completely surrounded the building (see gallery below). Sadly I couldn’t sneak inside, but a bit of research online revealed that they were filming in 10 Trinity Square, and inside it looks like this

Sadly I couldn’t find any cast members to get pictures of, but to be honest, if you don’t know what Daniel Craig looks like as Bond by now, you probably wouldn’t be reading this article.

Of the many films that we have to look forward to this year, the upcoming Skyfall, until recently known as Bond 23, is one of the biggest titles coming to us in 2012, and we’ve recently been getting a small flurry of news from the project since the official press conference back in November, all of which you can catch up on right here.

Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), the film has a fantastic cast with Daniel Craig of course reprising his role as James Bond, supported by the likes of Javier Bardem in the villain’s role, Dame Judi Dench as M, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Ola Rapace, Helen McCrory, and Albert Finney.

“In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.”

The film’s official website, 007.com, has launched, with a countdown to the film’s release date and a short introductory video from long-time Bond co-producer Michael G. Wilson, whose credits include Moonraker, Licence to Kill, Goldeneye, Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace, to name but a few.

One of the things that excites me most about the project is that John Logan is heading up the credits for the screenplay. Logan is the man who brought us the brilliant Gladiator and The Last Samurai, and he’s returning to work with Fiennes after scripting the actor’s directorial debut, Coriolanus, which is due out here on 20^th January this month.

Fiennes has been speaking to the Sunday Mail about his love of Bond and Ian Fleming’s original novels, and though he’s expectedly being kept to secrecy about his role, he did have this little piece of information to say:

“I’m allowed to say that I’m a government agent.”

Skyfall is released here in the UK on 26^th October – the countdown clock on the official site looks to be counting down (if I can count right) to our release date, rather than America’s two weeks later – and if all goes well, it will no doubt be a huge box office and critically acclaimed success. Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale both took more than half a billion dollars at the international box office, and though the former wasn’t received quite so well, Casino Royale was received by most people really well, and I think we can expect the same from Skyfall. At the time of writing, we have 297 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, and a handful of seconds to go. Be sure to check back in for more on Skyfall as we get it in the coming months.

Thanks to ComingSoon.net for the heads up.

So striking and unique was Swedish actress Noomi Rapace’s portrayal of 21^st century anti-heroine Lisbeth Salander in the original 2009 film that director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian already had their work cut out adapting author Stieg Larsson’s complex first book of his Millennium trilogy as an English-language film. The plot is so complex with its plethora of characters and emotions and deals with so many issues, including Nazism, serial murder, rape, torture and twisted family liaisons that it acts as both a cinematic dream and a hindrance if done incorrectly. Therefore, it’s a relief that Fincher and Zaillian not only appreciated that the central theme to refer everything to is the Salander journey and the breaking down of her defiant resolve, but also that the film could not be set anywhere else but in Sweden again, purely for the inherent cultural quality and mystique that the story desperately requires.

Disgraced magazine journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig taking on the Michael Nyqvist part) is hired by wealthy industrialist Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to discover what happened to his missing grandniece – presumed dead after forty years. Blomkvist learns that he has been investigated by a brilliant computer hacker – also hired by Vanger, the anti-social punk Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) who joins forces with Blomkvist on the search. The pair forms an unusual bond and uncovers dark and ugly family secrets and corporate corruption.

Fincher’s pedigree in gritty film noir thrillers (Zodiac, Se7en, Panic Room etc) is not necessarily apparent at first from the opening title sequence, a nod to Bond (and his 007 star, Craig, perhaps), but an eye-catching, fetish-like monochrome affair of writhing bodies trapped in oily gook, accompanied by the nerve-shredding and pumping cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The opener means business and suggests the story to be Salander’s and her fight against tyranny.

What accompanies this chic and mesmerising title sequence is a near-identical palette and chilling tone, as to the original film, without any Hollywood gloss, particularly as people will not necessarily come to this version afresh. As in Fincher’s Se7en and Fight Club, Jeff Cronenweth’s fluid interior cinematography sets the mood with its low-key lighting and shadowy depth, accentuating the whole Gothic flair and unease of the story’s environment, while bringing a heightened iciness and desolation to certain scenes with daylight blue temperature. Fincher certainly manages to still stamp his mark on the subject matter while retaining the alien and hostile environment of the original.

But where the film’s slick look matches and even surpasses expectations, Zaillian – who claimed he’d never seen the original – still had to decipher Larsson’s lengthy written word, and naturally because of the involved nature of the book and necessary elements to relay, the result for Fincher fans is a less succinct style of film than should be expected.

That said the lead performance does not disappoint and is surprising; if you wondered whether Mara is a fitting English-speaking substitute, she is. Her physical transformation, complete with dyed blonde eyebrows and chopped hair is spectacular. Her mental state as Salander is equally focused and wildly effective. Mara’s recent Oscar buzz is more than justified, as she ploughs through the injustice and transcends the story’s knottier moments like a biking avenging angel. Somewhat out of context with the darker, lurid secrets that the whole story represents, Mara confronts Salander’s notorious rape scene and subsequent revenge with full and startling aplomb, giving Salander more of a ‘damaged’ soul and worthy cause than Rapace’s emo-styled thug.

Embracing that gritty determination he and his screen characters are renowned for, Craig’s Blomkvist is equally compelling and dogged in his quest, perhaps almost too methodical in fact – like a Bond figure: Nyqvist’s 2009 portrayal of the embattled hack is more debilitated and at times, something of a closed emotional book, shown in the Swedish actor’s pitted, rugged and haunted features. In turn, the sexual attraction between Salander and Blomkvist feels less of an enigma in this film, and more overly simplified, as merely two social ‘outcasts’ finding solace from their work. Still, the nature of the story is such that the narrative naturally gives way to Salander’s domination, and Craig is generous in giving the Mara performance as much breathing power as possible.

As a standalone, dark and twisted thriller, the Fincher-Zaillian partnership does not fail to capture the viewer’s attention, and the story’s unsavoury familiar mystery is heightened by the strong performances of its dynamic leads – Mara, unquestionably. Like recent English adaptations of Scandinavian tales, such as Matt Reeves’s of Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 Let The Right One In, Let Me In (2010), fans can expect the translation to clarify elements of the characters’ psyches, even if the action needs no further explanation. For Fincher purists, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is lumpier in plot fluidity than his other, sleeker work, but his call sign is still very much present and he uses the Swedish environment to interpret foreboding events to full effect.

***½~ (3.5/5)

We’ve just received this rather interesting package through the post which is simply a book with the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo logo on the front. Love these puzzles so into the book I delved! Inside is a a small piece of paper with the website address: vanger-industries.eu and three numbers – 72, 21, 3.

After faffing around for a few minutes, I finally figured out that the code is referencing the 72nd page, the 21st line and the third word in which brings you finally to institutionalized. After visiting the website, I was presented with a password box – gritting my teeth I entered in hopefully and bingo, a brand new clip from the movie!

So, if you want to see a brand new clip from Sony’s new movie which hits UK cinemas on boxing day, head over to vanger-industries.eu and type in the word institutionalized.

Courtesy of Getty Images

Hollywood screenwriting veteran Steven Zaillian is the scribe behind such classics as Schindler’s List, Mission: Impossible, Gangs of New York, All The King’s Men, American Gangster and more recently, Moneyball. He has now taken the first book in the Stieg Larsson’s The Millenium Series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and adapted it for English-speaking audiences.

It stars Daniel Craig as disgraced magazine journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as computer expert and social outcast Lisbeth Salander who join forces to uncover the dark and deadly secrets of a wealthy Swedish family.

HeyUGuys: Are you a fan of The Millenium Series books?

Steven Zaillian: Yes, absolutely.

What is it about this trilogy that makes it so appealing?

I think it’s a lot of things. Obviously, the Lisbeth Salander character is a key reason. She’s a very modern character, a very modern sort of detective, and what Stieg Larsson has done in Dragon Tattoo that’s smart is taken a classic old mystery setup and put into that two very modern-day detectives. I think people are responding to that.

Did you and director David Fincher have any concerns about how to approach the remake, considering the original films are still fresh in audiences’ minds?

I didn’t see the original film so I didn’t have that in my head. That was helpful, actually. The book is quite descriptive, so in terms of what I had to do, was not a problem at all. It’s probably more of a question for David because he was in Sweden shooting it. As far as I was concerned I was just dealing with the story and I didn’t have to concern myself with those kinds of things.

Did you find anything of Larsson’s story tricky to adapt for screen?

You know a lot of the time I’ll come to a project and only see the problem. My job is like ‘problem solving’. But in this case I didn’t really feel that. I thought it was a very clear narrative, that he had told a very good story. It was long – I would say the biggest thing was how was I going to condense it down into a two-hour film. To me, though, that’s not a difficult challenge. I like the fact that Salander doesn’t say much ­– I like characters in movies where people don’t go on and on, and where you’re getting a lot of exposition or backstory through dialogue. I like the fact that she’s quiet. I think that the Daniel Craig character, Mikael Blomkvist, is a wonderful anchoring character. He brings a sense to the story, and then gradually over the course of the story, it starts transferring over to being her story. I like that we start the movie with him and end the movie with her. That’s quite an unusual thing to do, and I like that.

Lisbeth doesn’t say much as a character – did you find trying to portray the different facets of her character for screen at all difficult?

No. I think once I find the voice, whether someone says a lot or doesn’t, I can generally put that person in any situation and know how he or she will behave. This is the key for me. The same was true for Blomkvist. If you read the book, Salander does say a lot more, she’s much more explicit with how she feels and thinks about things. I’ve been doing this job long enough to know that when you actually shoot something, and you have an actress as good as Rooney is, less is always going to be more in the dialogue department.

The relationship between Salander and Blomkvist is a very compelling one in the way it changes over the story.

It’s a great relationship. The wonderful thing about Lisbeth is she’s very sophisticated in terms of how she approaches computers, and she’s had a very difficult life and she’s seen things that Blomkvist has never seen – until later on in the film, but emotionally, she’s quite young; she’s 24 in age, but she’s like 14 in terms of how she relates to men. In the story, it’s about how she opens up to somebody after a long time, and is going to get hurt for doing that. That was the element of the story we were always interested in. Ultimately, you can have a movie that’s about Nazis, murder, disappearances, but if you don’t have a strong relationship between the two main characters that is calibrated just as carefully as the plot of the mystery, it’s not going to work. So that was always really important to us.

There was a moment in the film when the door shuts on the abuse about to happen to Lisbeth at the hands of her mentor. We thought you might not show what actually happens, unlike in the original Niels Arden Oplev film, but you do decide to depict the violence.

Yes we do – you mean the rape scene? I don’t remember exactly what happens in the book, but I don’t think that scene is described in any great detail. It isn’t described in any great detail in our script either.  I always knew that that was a scene David was going to decide how much of it he wanted to show. I think the script simply says, “And then he rapes her”.

Are you involved in bringing the next two books in the trilogy to the big screen?

I have been looking at the next one and started making notes. If this goes well, then yeah I will probably go on and do the next one. But I have started to look at it.

Lots of Oscar predictions for the film, David Fincher, Rooney Mara and you; what do you say to that – how will The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo fare?

I don’t know. I think anyone who’s made a film or been involved in a film is the last person to know that. We’re so close to the film, it’s impossible to get a sense of what people feel about that.

Are you more attracted to adapting complex stories, like Michael Lewis’s book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, behind your recent film Moneyball?

Moneyball is more typical of what I do and am drawn to and is about an idea, as apposed to a fictional story where the narrative is quite clear. I’ve taken a project several times, like a book, where there’s not a clear narrative story but it just has a great subject matter. The Dragon Tattoo was kind of the opposite for me – it had too much narrative. It’s like using two different sides of the brain on those two projects.

How do you generally go about starting a new project?

I read the book, and I’ll get a sense immediately of if I think I can do this, or I don’t think I can do this. Then I’ll spend about three months sitting in a room alone in frustration, agony and terror and not thinking I can do it, and not thinking I can do it well, and making notes and basically hating everything. Finally, I get to a place where I sit down and just get on with it.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is in cinemas on Boxing Day.

This summer’s movie event becomes the Christmas holidays must-own Blu-ray^™ and DVD as a lone gunslinger leads an uprising against an alien threat in the explosive, stunningly-imagined film, Cowboys & Aliens.  To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with Paramount Home Entertainment to giveaway a copy of the movie on DVD to three lucky winners!

A blazingly original, cross-genre adventure from acclaimed director Jon Favreau, Cowboys & Aliens features heart-pumping action, spectacular visuals and a first-rate cast. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford headline as adversaries obliged to join forces against a terrifying enemy, with a supporting cast that includes Olivia Wilde and Sam Rockwell.

Arriving in stores on 26 December from Paramount Home Entertainment, the Blu-ray^™ Triple Play and DVD editions of Cowboys & Aliens bring all of the thrills and fun home. Available to pre-order now here.

To be in with a chance of winning the movie on DVD, simply answer the following question using the form below then click here to see our other competitions:

Who directed the movie Cowboys and Aliens?

Competition now closed.

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 26th December at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

In the past month or so, we’ve been treated to a flurry of news surrounding the upcoming next Bond film, until recently known simply as Bond 23, which has now been officially titled Skyfall.

In case you’ve missed all our coverage, you can catch up on it right here. To give you a quick run-down, Daniel Craig will of course be reprising his role as Bond, with Javier Bardem cast opposite him as Skyfall’s lead villain. Dame Judi Dench will return as M, and the film also has a brilliant supporting cast with Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Ola Rapace, Helen McCrory, and Albert Finney all attached too.

We’ve even been lucky enough to see the plot begin to surface with a short official synopsis:

“In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.”

We’ve now got some more photos from the set to share with you, courtesy of the Daily Mail, giving us a look at what appears to be an exchange taking place between Craig and Harris, with Craig giving Harris – who will play a field agent by the name of Eve – a conspicuous black box.

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) is taking the helm for what is already one of next year’s most highly anticipated films, with a current release date scheduled for 26^th October. Without further ado, here are the photos from the set to feast your eyes on (one of which is of Harris wrapped in a duvet for warmth between takes). As usual, click to enlarge.

I’m not entirely sure why but Sony have released an eight minute long trailer for their new movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The trailer gives bucket loads away so if you don’t want to be spoilt then don’t watch on.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a remake of the Swedish film released in 2010 but is based on the book by Stieg Larsson. It stars Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson, Steven Berkoff, David Dencik and is directed by David Fincher.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first film in Columbia Pictures’ three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s literary blockbuster The Millennium Trilogy. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether have sold 50 million copies in 46 countries and become a worldwide phenomenon. The screenplay is by Steven Zaillian.

The movie is set for release 12th December. Evil shall with evil be expelled!

Source: The Film Stage

We had suspicions that this would be the case but the BBC have confirmed the news that Ben Whishaw will play Q in the brand new Bond movie now known as Skyfall. The role was played by Desmond Llewelyn in 17 Bond movies to perfection and was more recently played by John Cleese. Wishaw has most recently starred in the 1950s new drama The Hour on the BBC.

The BBC make the good point that this will be the first time that Q is to be played by someone younger than James Bond (Daniel Craig), in this case, 12 years younger but in the age of hi-tech, maybe it’s just what the part required? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. He doesn’t really look like a Q that I ever imagined but then this is the new generation of Bond. Now all we need to know are the details of who Ralph Fiennes is playing! Blofeld anyone?

Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli are back Producing the movie while and Sam Mendes Directs with a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem​, Dame Judi Dench​, Naomie Harris​, Bérénice Marlohe, Ralph Fiennes​, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw​.

You can keep up to speed with all our James Bond coverage right here!

To celebrate the release of DREAM HOUSE on 25^th November, we’re giving two lucky winners the chance to win a horror DVD bundle including The Exorcist, The Shining and Se7en!

Once upon a time, there were two little girls who lived in a house. DANIEL CRAIG (Cowboys & Aliens, upcoming The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), NAOMI WATTS (The Ring, Fair Game) and Oscar^® winner RACHEL WEISZ (The Constant Gardener, The Lovely Bones) star in Dream House, a suspense thriller about a family that unknowingly moves into a home where grisly murders were committed…only to uncover even darker mysteries within its walls.  Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a high-power job in Manhattan to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town.  But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children.  And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates, he’s not sure if he’s starting to see ghosts or if the tragic story is just hitting too close to home.  His only clues come from Ann Patterson (Watts), a mysterious neighbour who knew those who were lost.  And as Will and Ann piece together the haunting puzzle, they must find out who murdered the family in Will’s dream house before he returns to kill again.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, all you need to do is answer the following question using the form below:

Who is the lead male actor in Dream House?

1. Pierce Brosnan
2. Daniel Craig
3. Harrison Ford

Dream House is in cinemas November 25^th

For more information on DREAM HOUSE please visit the official website here www.dreamhousemovie.co.uk

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

© 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment All Rights Reserved

T&C

• This competition is open to UK residents only
• There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions
• Winners will be picked at random and contacted by the site. The prize will be delivered to the winner within 28 days of confirmation of delivery address
• The Editor’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.
• Closing date – Monday 28th November 29:59 GMT
• Prize for 2 winners is DVD bundle containing the following:
• The Exorcist
• Nightmare on Elm Street
• The Shining
• One Missed Call
• Friday the 13^th
• The Rite
• Se7en

Without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated films of 2012, Skyfall – until now, known by the name Bond 23 – has been progressing excellently over the past few days, officially announcing its name, logo, cast, and synopsis.

Filming has commenced as of yesterday, with the first official image from the set tweeted courtesy of the official 007 Twitter page. The very same page has also now tweeted that Skyfall has added two more members to its cast, in the form of Helen McCrory and Ola Rapace.

“In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.”

The film will see the return of Daniel Craig in the Bond role – my personal favourite Bond actor to date – and of course Dame Judi Dench will be returning as M, with the rest of the cast including the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem as the villain, Albert Finney, Bérénice Marlohe, Naomi Harris (who will be playing a field agent called Eve, not Moneypenny, as previously thought), and Ben Wishaw. And now we can add to that McCrory, best known for her role as Draco Malfoy’s mother in the Harry Potter films, and Rapace, Swedish actor married but separated to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’s Noomi Rapace.

Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing the film, and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes will be taking the helm on this, which I couldn’t be happier about, having gone from strength to strength every step of the way since his feature debut with the classic American Beauty back in 1999.

Skyfall is scheduled for release on 26^th October next year, which means we have less than twelve months to go until we get to see the return of Bond to the big screens for the first time since 2008’s Quantum of Solace.

Incase you have been away from your computer or all English speaking newspapers in the last few days, here’s a little recap on all things Bond 23. It’s called Skyfall and shooting has commenced right here in London. For the first time ever, Bond has a new Twitter account (@007) and Facebook page which will be posting images and information right up until the movie is released (and no doubt beyond that too!).

The first official image tweeted this morning was this one which we’ve been emailed to post on the site and it’s now embedded below. It simply shows a clapper-board with the now official title, Skyfall along with the scene shooting first today which was Scene 45 on 7th November. We’re very excited that Skyfall is shooting here in London and especially back at the legendary Pinewood Studios. We don’t know for sure where this image was taken but who cares, Bond 23 is off and running people!

Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli are back Producing the movie while and Sam Mendes Directs with a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw.

You can keep up to speed with all our James Bond coverage right here!

ONE LIFE offers you a close encounter with all things wild this autumn. Created for a family audience the film reveals the bonds that connect all living creatures on our planet through a series of imaginative and vividly captured stories. It’s released on 21^st October on DVD and Blu-ray, and to mark the release we have 3 Blu-rays to give away!

A major feature length production from BBC Earth Films, ONE LIFE has been created from10,000 hours of incredible, intimate footage of amazing creatures that are in turn  heroic, strange, loveable, beautiful and surprisingly funny.

ONE LIFE is voiced by Daniel Craig and offers an accessible narrative that children will love.  It is directed by Michael Gunton and Martha Holmes from the BBC Natural History Unit and is a joyful celebration of the most brilliant and imaginative stories of survival from the natural world.  Families and filmgoers of all ages will marvel in this breathtaking and fascinating film that will offer a truly unique cinema experience this summer.

More than four years in the making and packed full of filming firsts, ONE LIFE captures unprecedented and beautiful sequences of animal behaviour guaranteed to bring you closer to nature than ever before.

ONE LIFE will be released on Double DVD and Blu-Ray 21 November.  Both will feature more than two hours of exclusive bonus content. To be in with a chance of winning, just answer this question using the form below:

Daniel Craig is best known for playing which action hero?

1. John McClane
2. James Bond
3. Jason Bourne

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 14th November at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

This morning, I blogged as fast as my fingers could carry me the James Bond 23 press conference. You can see Jon’s roundup post here including the synopsis but now our friends from Digital Spy have put the entire press conference up on their YouTube channel and it’s embedded for your viewing pleasure.

Joining Producers Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Director Sam Mendes were members of the cast of SKYFALL, including: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe. The filmmakers also announced Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw.

We can expect to see it some time in 2012 and we are rather excited about that fact!

Earlier today, I went along to the press conference for Bond 23 which we now know officially has the title Skyfall. I blogged my little heart out live and now Jon has already summarised all the main points from the press conference which you can see here.

Joining Producers Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Director Sam Mendes were members of the cast of SKYFALL, including: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe. The filmmakers also announced Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw.

Sony have just sent over the Title Treatment for Skyfall, the latest movie in the Bond franchise. Here it is in all it’s glory!

Click the image below to enlarge.

It’s been a long road but Bond 23, now given its official title of Skyfall at the press conference held in London this morning, is now firmly on the way to the big screen with director Sam Mendes and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announcing the title and the full cast.

What wasn’t announced but is making its way around the internet on the James Bond Facebook page right now is this brief synopsis, credited to Sony Pictures:

In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

UPDATE: The synopsis was confirmed by Sony, so this is the first word on how Skyfall will play out. Anything which guarantees more Dame Judi Dench is good in my book. It also may explain what Albert Finney is doing in the cast…

You may have been following our liveblog of the events here but we have collated the main points below.

• The title is Skyfall as suspected. Twitter nearly broke down with a pun-avalanche.
• Daniel Craig will face off against Javier Bardem as the villain with Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Wishaw confirmed to star but the names of their characters were not given as they ‘may’ be known to Bond fans.
• The film will be shooting in Istanbul, Scotland and Whitehall and Pinewood Studios (of course) in London.
• The film starts shooting today… Will it have Bond apprehending a bad guy at a London press conference? Is this all a ruse to get footage for the pre-credits sequence?
• The first film that director Sam Mendes saw was Live and Let Die, and after seeing Daniel Craig in Casino Royale he wanted to be part of it. Barbara Broccoli talked of the ‘childish enthusiasm’ of Mendes as a director. It seems half the people on the panel talked about watching Bond as children.
• Mendes confirmed there will be a lot of action but that it will have to ‘co-exist with the drama’.
• Actress Bérénice Marlohe will play a ‘glamorous, enigmatic character’ called Severin, Naomi Harris will play a field agent called Eve and not Miss Moneypenny as was previously thought. Harris talked of her training which involved two months of Yoga and firing guns which must be a tough class, and calls Skyfall a “rollercoaster that is about to commence”.
• Skyfall doesn’t relate to any previous element of the series, and therefore it won’t see the return of Quantum.
• The title has some ‘emotional context which will be revealed in the film’ – just like Quantum of Solace then…
• No announcement of who is dong the theme music.
• Mendes was asked if he would direct another and said if all goes well then he would, happily.
• Daniel Craig will take his shirt off. This should probably have gone at the top of this list I suppose.
• More importantly Craig was asked if he would return as Bond and answered, “If i could do this for a few more years then I’ll be happy”

And that’s all there is. If you’re in Whitehall today and see a dapper chap and a camera crew snap a few pics won’t you?