It’s James Bond Day this Sunday, if you didn’t know – 5 October is now a celebration of all things 007, thanks to this being the date of the world premiere of Dr No, the very first Bond film, starring Sean Connery, in 1962. Imagine it as a bit like Star Wars Day, with fewer Wookiees and Ewoks and a whole lot more tuxedoed swagger.
This year though, the advent of JBD (as no one has ever called it) is bit of a damp squib. It hasn’t been that long since Denis Villeneuve was announced as the director of the next Bond film (June, in fact) and even less time since Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight was hired to write the script. But there’s been little to no sign since then of the new 007 actually being revealed, and even less sense of where this venerable franchise is going next. All we have are whisperings on the wind via the Hollywood trades to the effect that the film-makers will be looking for a relatively youthful (in his 20s or 30s) Brit, who could be a person of colour but is not going to be a woman, a franchise star, or anyone we’ve vaguely heard of.
