Chuck's John Casey On How To Be A Deadly Spy

One of the more intriguing special features from Warner's upcoming Chuck: The Complete Second Season DVD set has turned up on YouTube: "John Casey Presents: So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy?" In his tough secret agent character, Adam Baldwin humorously outlines what it takes to be a professional assassin a grainy training film.

Thanks to Rebecca for the heads-up!

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Half-Hour Danger Man Comes To UK

Surprisingly, the original half-hour episodes of Danger Man have been out of print in the UK for quite some time. There was a bare-bones set from Carlton early in the century, but more recently British fans have had to import the Region 1 A&E discs from America. (Beautiful, but also bare-bones.) Now Network is rectifying that. Danger Man: The Complete First Series, containing all thirty-nine of secret agent John Drake's half-hour, black and white adventures, will be out on January 25, 2010. This is the seminal Sixties spy series, setting the template for a decade's worth of ITC shows even before Dr. No hit theaters. (In fact, it was based on his performance as Drake that McGoohan was supposedly considered for the Bond role.) Danger Man was the true beginning of the Sixties spy boom–and it's excellent. The half-hour episodes are my favorites. It was also the first Sixties spy work for such integral contributors to the genre as Ralf Smart (who created the series), Brian Clemens, Robert Shaw, Donald Pleasence, Honor Blackman and, of course, McGoohan. Network's six-disc set is a bit light on extras compared to some of their other ITC offerings (including their version of the later, 1964-68 hourlong series of Danger Man), but still pretty good: you get trailers, image galleries and, best of all, a "commemorative booklet on the making of the series by Archive Television Historian Andrew Pixley." If Pixley's previous "booklets" are anything to judge by, chances are good that this will be considerably more than a "booklet." Pixley's exhaustive histories included in sets like Adam Adamant Lives! or the hour-long Danger Man are full-fledged books, and the definitive word on the series in question. Danger Man: The Complete First Series fills in a crucial gap in Network's fantastic line of ITC titles. Needless to say, it's an essential for any UK spy fan. The set is available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk for £39.48.

Read my review of A&E's Secret Agent aka Danger Man: The Complete Collection here.

New Eurospy Spoof Scream Of The Bikini

Wow, this is cool. Cinema Retro points the way to a new Sixties Eurospy spoof apparently made in the "of its time" style and spirit of such recent retro comedies as OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies, OSS 117: Lost in Rio and Black Dynamite (which, by the way, you really must try to see if you haven't already!). Scream of the Bikini (Asnesas en Vespa), billed as a lost spy thriller "filmed somewhere in South America in 1966, and poorly translated and dubbed by Germans," is in actuality an independently produced film currently making the rounds of the festival circuit. According to its official website, Scream of the Bikini is the brainchild of California-based actors and comedians Kelsey Wedeen, Bill Robens, Kiff Scholl, Rebecca Larsen and Darrett Sanders, all of whom share various duties behind and in front of the cameras. Taking the period spoof thing to a whole new degree (sort of a mixture of OSS 117 and Yuki 7), they've all assumed other identities for the sake of the production. In the Eurospy spirit, the actresses are credited as Jasmine Orozco and Paola Apanapal and the director as Fernando Fernandez, a Jess Franco-like figure. They've worked out characters for all of these supposed behind-the-scenes personalities, completely separate from their on-screen characters! The official website is a real treat, offering great Sixties posters, lobby cards, film clips, stills, behind-the-scenes tidbits (both real and imaginary) and, of course, a trailer. There's also information on upcoming screenings, and I'm depressed to learn that I actually just missed a Los Angeles screening tonight. If only I'd learned of it sooner! Oh well. Hopefully we'll all have the chance to check out Scream of the Bikini eventually. Personally, I can't wait!

Tradecraft: Red Attracts Bigger Cast

This movie Red seems like one to watch. The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog reports that one of the supposed finalists for the James Bond role in Casino Royale, Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon, has joined the cast of the Bruce Willis spy thriller based on the Warren Ellis comic book. Along with him comes some serious star power of yesteryear: Richard Dreyfuss, Ernest Borgnine and spy stalwart Brian Cox are all in talks to join the project. The trade reiterates the logline, “Red tells the tale of a former black ops agent (Willis), now in retirement, who has to contend with younger, more high-tech assassins who show up to kill him," then adds that "McMahon would play a Vice President with a dark side who is at the center of a shadow conspiracy. Borgnine will play the keeper of the CIA’s darkest records, while Dreyfuss will be a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts. Cox is a former Cold War spy and nemesis of Willis." This casting news comes hot on the heels of the news a few weeks ago that Helen Mirren, John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker had all joined Willis and the previously announced Morgan Freeman. This project is quickly shaping up to be the most all-star spy movie since Ronin! But none of these people seem the right age to play the "younger, more high-tech assassins" who come after Willis. So will we be seeing some younger talent named next? Red is being directed by Robert Schwentke, whose previous credits include Flightplan and The Time Traveller's Wife, from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber; Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing.

Tradecraft: Joe Wright Seeks Some Action

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog reports that director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) is looking to direct his first action movie, and he's leaning toward an action/spy script called Hanna. The script, written by Seth Lochhead and David Farr and set up at Focus Features, must be pretty good, because it's attracted some top directors. Alfonso Cuaron and Danny Boyle previously flirted with the material. According to the trade:

The project is described as having shades of La Femme Nikita and the Bourne movies. The story centers on a 14-year-old Eastern European girl who has been raised by her father to be a cold-blooded killing machine. She connects with a French family, forms a friendship with their daughter and goes through the pangs of adolescence. When the girl is dragged back to her father’s world and discovers that she was bred as a killing machine in a CIA prison camp, she must fight her way to a free life.

Wright, who was once engaged to Bond Girl Rosamund Pike, was set to direct Cate Blanchett in an Edwina Mountbatten biopic called Indian Summer. "But as [that] project’s budget rose," the trade reports, "and with the conditions for upscale adult dramas not favorable, the makers opted to put the project on hold." British tabloids have also linked the director with a remake of My Fair Lady touted to star Keira Knightley with current 007 Daniel Craig as Henry Higgins.

Spy Girls On Bish's Beat

Bish over at Bish's Beat is hosting a pictorial tribute to Spy Girls, including the greatest Spy Girl of all time (pictured)... and others. Check it out!

CW Back On The Global Frequency

Aintitcool reports that The CW Network has commissioned Pushing Daisies writer Scott Nimerfro to pen a new pilot based on Warren Ellis' comic book Global Frequency. Global Frequency actually has a lot in common with Sixties spy series like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible. Amazonian superspy Miranda Zero is a no-nonsense, Jim Phelps-like mastermind who recruits ordinary citizens to contribute whatever unique skill sets they have to offer to save the world from myriad crises. If your day begins with a telephone call telling you that you're on the global frequency, it's going to be a bad day. Unlike U.N.C.L.E., the ordinary citizens don't always survive the days Ellis puts them through. This is the second time an iteration of this network has flirted with an iteration of this series. In 2004, the WB (which later merged with UPN to become CW) commissioned a pilot from John Rogers, who went on to create TNT's Leverage. That version starred 24 alum Michelle Forbes as Miranda Zero and my friend Aimee Garcia as her associate, Aleph. And it would have been awesome. Let's hope the new one will as well!

Tradecraft: Shirley Bassey, Sean Connery Reunite

In a front page story, The Hollywood Reporter reports that "the voices of Shirley Bassey and Sean Connery have been drawn together on a feature for the first time since they were both involved in Goldfinger back in the day. Bassey has signed up to sing the title song named 'Guardian of the Highlands' for the CGI animated movie Sir Billi, which stars Connery's voice." Sir Billi is the indepently-produced Scottish film Connery has been involved with for several years. Goldeneye's Alan Cumming also lends his voice. The song was written especially with Bassey in mind, and she loved it. The final sentences of the Reporter's story are so weird that I'm going to reproduce them verbatim: "Connery is an exec producer and has been heavily involved with the independent studio project since its inception. The movie centers on a retired, skateboarding veterinarian who lives in a remote Scottish village and who spearheads the rescue of an illegal fugitive who also happens to be a beaver."

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: The Limits Of Control

That's right, after an embarrassment of riches these past few weeks, there is only one new spy title to speak of hitting DVD shelves this week. And it's a pretty offbeat spy title. Jim Jarmusch's existential might-be-spy deconstruction The Limits of Control starring Casino Royale's Isaac de Bankolé as a mysterious operative or assassin or something wandering around beautiful European locations meeting various eccentric contacts (including Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and John Hurt) and being given new coordinates at which to meet his next contact. Knowing Jarmusch, that might well be all there is to it. And knowing Jarmusch, I'd gladly watch it if it were! Sadly, I missed this during the one or two week theatrical run it enjoyed in Los Angeles this summer, but I'll definitely be checking it out on DVD. While some are a bit weaker than others, I don't think I've ever seen a Jarmusch movie I haven't enjoyed. (And I've seen them all except for this one.) And Jarmusch doing spies? I can't wait. I've also been a fan of De Bankolé's ever since his role on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and after scene-stealing supporting turns in other Jarmusch movies and 24 and Daniel Craig's James Bond debut, it's about time he got a leading role. Plus: Bill Murray!

R.I.P. Edward Woodward

Callan's Red File has finally caught up with him. Yesterday, the world lost Edward Woodward, star of two classic spy shows: the terrific, gritty British series Callan from the Sixties and Seventies and its Eighties counterpart, the also-gritty American action series The Equalizer. Edward Callan and Equalizer Robert McCall had a lot in common; they were related in almost the same way that Patrick McGoohan's Number 6 was to his previous character John Drake. As with The Prisoner, it didn't matter if McCall and Callan were actually the same character (as some have suggested); what mattered was the extra-textual associations that Woodward brought to the character from his prior series. Callan was a bitter civil servant who did his country's dirty work because he was forced to; the specific dirty work he did often left a bad taste in his mouth. McCall was a former intelligence officer hellbent on atoning for the dirty work he'd done in his past life by using his skills for good. Woodward brought to the role a believable sense of world weariness, lent all the more credibility thanks to his earlier role.

While Woodward went on to play many more parts after McCall, his two spy shows worked nicely as bookends for his career. First, he was the spy as angry young man; later he was the spy as cynical, embittered old man, his soul wrecked by a lifetime spent ruining lives and inflicting violence on behalf of a government not always in the right. Those two archetypes together pretty much define the serious side of the spy genre, and they defined Woodward's own estimable career. The Equalizer, while more iconic in the United States, was not nearly the gold standard of the genre that Callan was, and wasn't always all that "serious." But even when the plots (sometimes concoted by future 24 mastermind Joel Surnow) veered into typical 80s vigilante action and mayhem, Woodward himself always remained as serious as hell, firmly anchoring the whole show with his undeniable gravitas. He was the prototypical asskicking old guy. Before Alias' Jack Bristow or Taken's Bryan Mills, McCall was a bonafide silver-haired action hero. And it wasn't his Walther that told kidnappers and drug dealers and other assorted 80s riffraff that McCall wasn't a man to be trifled with; it was Woodward's ice-cold stare. He was a master of the stare, conveying many emotions without speaking a word, from Callan's "I hate you and I detest what you're making me do, but you know damn well I'll do it" defiant stare reserved for his ever-changing boss, Hunter, to McCall's "don't you dare f--k with me, because I've seen it all and done it all and I may be old but you haven't got a chance" steely gaze.

As iconic as those two roles were, Woodward's contributions to the spy genre actually went well beyond Callan and McCall. Early in his career, he turned in memorable guest performances on ITC staples like The Saint (where he played a tormented politician) and The Baron. His Belloq-like, unscrupulous antiques dealer on the very best episode of the latter series was the dark side of the Baron himself (Steve Forrest), and a far more complex and compelling character. It's a pity he was introduced so late in the series, as he would have made a fantastic recurring antagonist. He created the character of Callan in dramatisation of James Mitchell's "A Magnum For Schneider" on the anthology series Armchair Theatre. That led to four seasons of the series, and after that Woodward reprised the role twice, in the theatrical film Callan (a remake of "A Magnum For Schneider") and the reunion movie Wet Job (1981). Later spy roles included an MI6 officer in Codename: Kyril (1988) and, in the late 90s, stepping into Gordon Jackson's shoes as leader of The New Professionals, Brian Clemens' (The Avengers) more espionage-heavy revival of his 70s action drama.

As good as he was at wet work, Woodward's CV covered a great deal more genres than spy. He revealed an unexpected flair for black comedy in Edgar Wright's sublime Hot Fuzz (2007), his last major theatrical role. He shined in military roles in movies like Breaker Morant (1980) and Mister Johnson (1990, with Pierce Brosnan) and even took a stab at Sherlock Holmes in the TV movie Hands of a Murderer, but will probably remain best remembered for his stellar performance as Sgt. Howie in the 1973 cult horror classic The Wicker Man, opposite Christopher Lee. While Lee had the showier role, it was Woodward on whom it fell to carry the movie. And he did so in fantastic fashion, playing a stuffy, unlikable hero with such utter conviction that you can't help sympathize with the out-of-his-depth policeman by the film's final moments. The character may have lacked Callan's steely resolve or McCall's prickly badassery, but once more Woodward brought to the role that undeniable gravitas that defined his career. He was an unsung titan of the spy genre, and he will be missed. For a good idea of the legacy that Edward Woodward leaves behind, I highly recommend checking out Callan: Set 1, finally released on DVD in America just this year.

Read my review of Callan: Set One here.

The Prisoner Blu-Ray On Sale At Deep Discount

Deep Discount is running their semi-annual DVD sale right now, but it's not quite as good as it usually is. Instead of 20-15% off their usually already low prices, it's 40% off of the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price this winter. In some cases, that equation works out in the consumer's favor. But in most, it means you don't save as much as you used to. Still, with the site's free shipping, you can still find a number of good deals for your holiday spy shopping. Foremost among them is a special offer that appears to be available for a single day: you can save a whopping sixty percent on A&E's Blu-ray edition of The Prisoner: The Complete Series! That makes the entire series (and we're talking about the utterly brilliant Sixties original here, starring the great Patrick McGoohan, not the new version) in high-definition, including all of the fabulous extras available in the United States for the first time with this release, only $39.99 as opposed to a hundred bucks. Wow! If there's a spy fan on your shopping list this season, pick this up now! In fact, if there are any intelligent people who like great television on your list, pick this up. And, of course, get one for yourself. That's a hell of a deal. And, just to maintain a shred of dignity, I'd like to stress that I'm not shilling for Deep Discount, but for The Prisoner itself. This deal just happens to be the cheapest way to get it. The series is absolutely essential television, spy or otherwise.

ALEX RIDER CONTEST WINNER

Congratulations to Dennis McPeek of Ohio. He is the winner of the Double O Section's Third Blogiversary Contest, and the proud owner of the brand new Alex Rider novel by Anthony Horowitz, Crocodile Tears! Your book will be shipped out today, Dennis, so hopefully you should have it on Tuesday when it hits U.S. bookstores everywhere. Whether you're new to the world of Alex Rider or a long-time fan, I hope you enjoy it! As to everyone else who entered, you should be able to find the book in all bookstores come Tuesday, or you can order it from Amazon. And, as always, there will be other opportunities to win great spy stuff on the Double O Section in the near future, so keep reading!

More Upcoming Spy Music: Inspector Clouseau

Boy, there sure is a lot of spy music coming out in the final months of 2009! And that's a wonderful thing. Due out the second week of December is Ken Thorne's fantastic score to Inspector Clouseau (1968). Yes, Inspector Clouseau is a spy movie. It's basically a Bond parody, moreso than any of the other Clouseau movies. It's also, of course, the only movie of its era not to feature the inimitable Peter Sellers as Clouseau. Instead, Alan Arkin essays the title role. Audiences couldn't accept that, the movie flopped, and now it's the black sheep of the Pink Panther series. In truth, though, there have been much worse entries. Arkin isn't bad, but he suffers the same primary flaw as Steve Martin, Roberto Begnini, Roger Moore and everyone else who's ever tried to play that role: he isn't Sellers. Still, the movie is entertaining enough and worth a watch for spy fans. Clouseau is seconded to British Intelligence and outfitted with various spy gadgets in order to go after a gang of international bank robbers. Composer Ken Thorne (Help!, The Persuaders!) has a task about as thankless as Arkin's: he had to fill the shoes of the legendary Henry Mancini, also absent from this Clouseau outing. He doesn't use the famous Pink Panther Theme, and actually creates a wonderful score that stands well on its own outside of the movie. In fact, it's one of my favorite Sixties spy scores. I've got it on vinyl somewhere, but I thought the closest I'd ever come to having it on CD were the samples on the second Portishead album. But now it's coming out, on the Kritzerland label (the same people who are releasing Billion Dollar Brain), and it's available to order from Buysoundtrax. The first hundred copies ordered will come signed by Ken Thorne.

Upcoming Spy CDs: Johnny Dankworth's Fathom Score And Prisoner Remake Soundtrack

The fabulous spy music website Spy Bop Royale has alerted me to the news I've wanted to hear for years: Johnny Dankworth's score for the hugely enjoyable 1967 Raquel Welch spy movie Fathom will finally be available on CD from Harkit... next week! I can't even recall how long ago this was first announced, never to come to fruition at that time. I think it was when Harkit first released the Modesty Blaise score on CD. That has to have been at least five years ago, right? Loving Fathom and its score, and also loving Dankworth's other work, like his elusive theme for the Cathy Gale era Avengers, I couldn't wait to have this score on CD. But, as it turned out, I did wait, like everyone else. For years. Fathom became one of my spy music Holy Grails. (Not quite up there with Ken Thorne's Persuaders! music, though.) Well, now, apparently, the waiting is over, and we should all be able to possess this wonderful score on November 17! In fact, it can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now. (I'm not sure why they opted for that cover, though, instead of using one of the many more iconic and sexy poster images from the film. Oh well.)

I also learned from the "What's New" page at Spy Bop Royale that Varese Sarabande will release a soundtrack for AMC's new version of The Prisoner on that same day. (It's also available for pre-order.) No longer dreading this remake and encouraged by the footage that I saw at Comic-Con, I'm still approaching it with a lot of trepidation. That said, you can never have too many Prisoner CDs, as Network proved when they managed to dig up another three discs' worth of material from the original series on top of the three CDs (some of them now out of print) put out by Silva several years ago. I don't expect Rupert Gregson-Williams' music for the new version to be anything like that, but it's new spy music nonetheless, and I'm certainly curious about it.

CONTEST REMINDER: LAST DAY TO ENTER TO WIN THE NEW ALEX RIDER BOOK!

Don't forget! Today is the last day to get your entry in for a chance to win the brand new Alex Rider novel by Anthony Horowitz, Crocodile Tears! Enter by midnight tonight, Pacific Time. All the details on how to do so are here. If you've never read one of Horowitz's books, now's a great time to give them a try. These may be Young Adult novels, but they're as good as any adult spy novels on the market today. Both Alex Rider and Charlie Higson's Young Bond books are part of a post-Harry Potter renaissance in YA literature. And, despite the teenage spy protagonist, the emphasis in Horowitz's books is definitely more on the "adult" than the "young." These novels are honestly pretty gritty. This isn't Spy Kids stuff. As in Higson's books, people die–and "not well," as Daniel Craig would put it. Furthermore, the themes are also rather dark. Alex Rider is not a willing, for-the-fun-of-it teenage spy. He's actually a reluctant spy in the Harry Palmer school, repeatedly pressed into service–and danger–by the manipulative controllers at MI6. If you haven't yet discovered the world of Alex Rider, definitely give it a try!

Click here to enter the Double O Section Third Blogiversary Contest for a chance to win Crocodile Tears.

Spy In Your Eye Soundtrack CD Now Available

Screen Archives Entertainment now has the new CD soundtrack for the 1965 Brett Halsey Eurospy movie Spy In Your Eye (Berlino, appuntamento per le spie) in stock. This release on the Saimel label is limited to just 500 copies, so in no time it will be just another impossible to find, out of print Eurospy CD. Act quickly. I haven't seen Spy In Your Eye myself, but the indispensable Eurospy Guide says it's "one of the best." The Guide also calls Riz Ortolani's score "surprisingly unobtrusive." That might work well in the movie, but unobtrusive spy soundtracks don't necessarily tend to make the best listening on CD, in my experience. That said, there are some tracks you can listen to on the SAE website, and they all sound good. Plus, there's that cover. Awesome, isn't it?

Upcoming Spy Comics: Cold City

As marked by other COBRAS (like Mister 8), Monday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (I hate being old enough to actually remember historical events!), and comic book writer Antony Johnston used the occasion to announce an exciting new spy project on his blog. Johnston should be familiar to spy fans and comics fans as the only other writer to ever take a crack at Greg Rucka's Queen & Country (which he did quite abely, I should add), as well as the writer of the official graphic novel adaptations of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books. His new project, Cold City, certainly seems to fall closer to the former than the latter. Cold City, a digest-sized hardcover graphic novel, follows an MI-6 officer in Berlin in the days surrounding the fall of the Wall in November, 1989. Even in the last days of the Cold War, it seems, there is still intrigue aplenty in that divided city. Head on over to Johnston's blog to read all the details on a project said to be in the vein of Deighton and Le Carré. Cold City is due out from Oni Press (the publisher of Queen & Country) in 2010. Sam Hart is the artist.

Was There A Rejected Shirley Bassey Theme For Quantum Of Solace?

The Performance, the eagerly awaited new album from the great Shirley Bassey, came out in England this week. (There's no word yet on when we Americans can expect it. Let's hope we don't have to wait as long as we did for her last collection, Get the Party Started.) The Performance has been especially eagerly awaited by James Bond fans, as it's produced by Bond composer David Arnold and (among songs by such diverse artists as Rufus Wainwright, Manic Street Preachers, Kaiser Chiefs and KT Turnstall) contains a track written by Arnold and frequent 007 lyricist Don Black, "No Good About Goodbye." Now CommanderBond.net raises the prospect that the Arnold/Black song might, in fact, be a rejected title song for Quantum of Solace. Interesting! Head on over to CBn to read their evidence, listen to the song, and make your own conclusions. Personally, I think there's some merit in the argument. The prevalence of the word "solace" would seem a clue, and the lyrics themselves comment more on Bond's state of mind in the movie (following Vesper's death) than the Jack White song did. Bassey begins: "Where is the SOLACE that I crave?/Will it still haunt me to my grave?/Too broken to forgive/Too painful to relive..." (That "solace" is in caps to indicate that the word is belted out in that patented Bassey belt.) Furthermore, and perhaps most damningly, the song clocks in at 4:22, the exact same duration as White's "Another Way to Die." I have definitely grown to like the Jack White song (a duet with Alicia Keys) quite a lot since I first heard it, but I also hate to think that we missed out on another Shirley Bassey Bond theme! Whether or not it was intended for Quantum of Solace, the song makes a good listen, and I can't wait to hear the whole album.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Scarecrow And Mrs. King Due Out In March

Today TV Shows On DVD confirms a previously reported rumor that had originated from the site earlier: Scarecrow and Mrs. King, one of the most request spy shows not yet on DVD, will have its first season released by Warner Home Video this spring! The comedic, romantic spy series ran from 1984-1987 and starred Bruce Boxleitner as a professional secret agent codenamed "Scarecrow" and Kate Jackson as the housewife, Mrs. King, drawn into his fast-paced secret world. Scarecrow and Mrs. King: The Complete First Season is due out March 9 and includes all twenty-one hour-long Season One episodes on five DVDs. Retail is $39.98.

James Bond Weekend At USC Starts Tonight

The University of Southern California will host a weekend long Centenary tribute to legendary James Bond producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli this weekend in Los Angeles. The weekend will comprise screenings of many classic Bond films (including examples of every actor to play 007 in the official canon), panel discussions with key behind-the-scenes personnel and an exhibit of props and costumes used in Bond movies over the years. Tonight (Friday, November 6) is a Sean Connery double feature with Dr. No screening at 7PM and Goldfinger at 9. Saturday, November 7 is an all day event beginning with On Her Majesty's Secret Service at noon and continuing with Live and Let Die at 2:40, a panel discussion on "James Bond Today" at 5 featuring Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, screenwriters Robert Wade and Neal Purvis (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace), and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster, The Spy Who Loved Me at 6:45 and The Living Daylights at 9. While Connery movies seem to play all the time on the revival circuit, Moores are much rarer and Daltons practically unheard of, so to me the Saturday evening line-up looks to be the highlight of the weekend. Sunday things kick off with GoldenEye at noon followed by Tomorrow Never Dies at 2:50, and a panel discussion on Cubby Broccoli featuring family members Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz (Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun), actor Richard Kiel (Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker) and two-time Bond Girl Maud Adams (Octopussy, The Man With the Golden Gun). That's followed by a reception at 6:40, and the weekend wraps up with a screening of Casino Royale (2006) at 8PM. Both panels will be moderated by USC professor Rick Jewell, who's probably familiar to film aficionad's from his contributions to DVD commentaries and documentaries. All events are free and, according to USC's website, "open to all," but you do need to RSVP in advance through the site. Sounds like a great weekend! Personally, I'm planning to attend both conferences and as many of the screenings as I can on Saturday and Sunday.

BLOGIVERSARY CONTEST: WIN THE NEW ALEX RIDER BOOK!

I believe I promised a contest in my Blogiversary post a few days ago... That is a traditional way to celebrate. So here it is! Your chance, courtesy of Philomel Books, to win a copy of the brand new Alex Rider novel by Anthony Horowitz, Crocodile Tears! The contest is for the American First Edition hardcover. All you have to do to enter to win it is send an email with the subject heading "ALEX RIDER" including your name and mailing address to the Double O Section by midnight, Pacific Time on Thursday, November 12, 2009. The winner will be announced next Friday, November 13. The book will ship out that day and, with luck, should be in the winner's hands the same day it hits stores, on November 17.* Good luck!

*If the winner is in the U.S., anyway; international shipping will take longer.

The Fine Print: One entry per person, please. Double entries will be disqualified. One winner will be drawn at random and announced on Friday, November 13, 2009. The winners' name will be posted here and they will be notified via email. All entries will be deleted immediately after the contest’s close, and no personal information will be retained or transmitted to any third parties. The contest is open to anyone, in any country. Unfortunately, the Double O Section cannot assume responsibility for items lost or damaged in transit.

Tradecraft: J.J. Abrams To Direct Spy Pilot?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, bigtime movie director J.J. Abrams hopes to return to TV to direct his first pilot since the Lost premiere in 2004, "schedule permitting." The show will be NBC's Undercovers, the previously announced married couple spy drama he's producing. Abrams also co-wrote the pilot. Needless to say, Abrams has a pretty good track record as a spy director. Among many other wonderful things, he directed Mission: Impossible III and the fantastic pilot for Alias.

Salt Trailer Debuts

Yahoo has the first trailer for the Phillip Noyce-directed Angelina Jolie thriller Salt. And it looks awesome! Not this is a spy movie! Certainly more of one than we've had at all this year. It's got a bit of everything: Cold War-style intrigue, Russian defectors and moles at the CIA, and lots of spectacular looking action! I haven't been this excited about a trailer in a long while. I guess I can see why Tom Cruise supposedly felt that the project would be too much in the same vein as his Mission: Impossible movies, but it also looks a bit more Bourney than those. But the M:I comparison is certainly valid, because this has the look of a 90s action movie. And I mean that in the best way possible! Even the logo has that feel:

And that's not surprising, I suppose, considering Noyce directed the two Harrison Ford Jack Ryan movies in the 90s. After seeing this, I officially cannot wait to see Salt!

Tradecraft: Red Signals Tourists

The Tourist

Boy, that movie The Tourist has had one of the most convoluted roads to production of any recent spy film! Here's a brief recap with links to the relevant posts: In mid-2008, The Hollywood Reporter reported that superstar Tom Cruise had "entered into negotiations" to star in The Tourist, a remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer. Frequent MI-5 (Spooks) director Bharat Nalluri was set to direct from a script by Gosford Park screenwriter Julian Fellowes. A few months later, Variety reported that Charlize Theron was attached to play "a female Interpol agent who uses an American tourist in an attempt to flush out an elusive criminal with whom she once had an affair." Cruise remained attached as well, and shortly thereafter brought in his own favorite script doctor Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) to rewrite the script. McQuarrie was simultaneously tailoring a few other projects for Cruise, including Guillermo Del Toro's draft of The Champions, a remake of a cult classic ITC spy show from the Sixties. (I pray that that project is still alive!) When Cruise became attached to the Robert Ludlum spy film The Matarese Circle this past February, Variety asserted that The Tourist was still expected to be his next project. Then in May Cruise surprised everyone by selecting yet another spy movie as his next project instead, opting to co-star with Cameron Diaz in what was then known as Wichita, and is now called Knight & Day. Was he still involved with The Tourist? At the time, Variety thought it possible that he might still do it "down the line," but by August it became clear that wasn't the case; The Hollywood Reporter reported that Terminator: Salvation and Avatar star Sam Worthington had been selected to replace him. Theron remained attached... up until last month, anyway, when she bowed out only to be replaced by Angelina Jolie, who had previously come aboard another spy movie that Cruise had abandoned, Salt. Cruise and Theron had been replaced over the course of a year and a half, at different times, by Jolie and Worthington. And, quite excitingly, Jolie brought with her The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. (It's unclear when Nalluri left.) Now the project in perpetual flux has encountered still further changes!

Today, Variety reports that Worthington is out, along with von Donnersmarck (aww!), both exiting over "creative differences." Now another superstar on par with Cruise is in talks to star opposite Jolie: Johnny Depp. Additionally, "directors including Alfonso Cuaron are already circling" the long-gestating project. And Jeffrey Nachmanoff has done yet another rewrite on the script. The star wattage would certainly be high with Depp and Jolie. It sounds like a cool pairing to me. But will this one finally stick? It will be interesting to see...

Red

In other news, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the cast for Red, Summit's adaptation of a Wildstorm/DC comic book, is filling out. The trade offers a quick refresher on the premise: "It's the tale of a former black-ops agent (Bruce Willis), now in retirement, who has to contend with younger, more high-tech assassins who show up to kill him." As well as Willis, Morgan Freeman has long been attached. Earlier this week, Hellen Mirren joined the cast as a fellow assassin, and now John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker have also come aboard. According to the trade, "Reilly would play a retired CIA agent who is paranoid that everyone is out to kill him [and] Parker would play the romantic interest, a federal pension worker who becomes embroiled in the Willis character's struggle to stay alive." I've never read (or even heard of) this comic book, but the movie seems to be shaping up quite nicely with this cast. It seems like one to keep an eye on.

Signals

In a big day for spy news, The Hollywood Reporter also reports that Taken and From Paris With Love director Pierre Morel has signed on to direct a thriller called Signals. Since the logline is being kept under wraps, it's not entirely clear that this is a spy movie, but it sounds that way from the few clues that are given: "[Richard] Potter and [Matthew] Stravitz's contemporary story line is secret but is expected to take on the tone of a 1970s-era paranoid thriller like Three Days of the Condor. Morel, a former camera operator and cinematographer, spun similarly gritty material with Taken's kidnapping/revenge plot." The runaway success of Taken has put Morel in high demand. Earlier this year he became attached to Pursuit, a Ludlumesque thriller for Captivate Entertainment, the company built on Robert Ludlum's library of titles. He's also attached to an untitled Tokyo-set spy thriller for Paramount.

Tradecraft: Spooky Spooks Spark Fox

Variety reports that Fox is developing a new hourlong spy drama series with a twist. "The untitled spy thriller centers on a division of the CIA that specializes in 'remote viewing' -- the ability to gather information using paranormal means." Sounds like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s E.S.P. Division! (I know, I know, the CIA really does study remote viewing and other paranormal methods of intelligence gathering, and I think that's fascinating.) Former Fox exec Peter Chernin (who's also developing the Queen & Country movie) is producing; Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman will helm the script by Harris Wilkinson, whose credits prior to creating this series include a TV movie sequel called Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming. The article doesn't give any indication of the tone of the show, so it could be anything from a full-on science fiction show (like The X-Files in the CIA instead of the FBI) to a fairly realistic examination of a division experimenting in outre research (I'm sure the politics involved would be captivating, with senators wanting to slash the budget for such weird-sounding programs every time they discover them) to a comedic take along the lines of the approach taken to similar government programs in The Men Who Stare At Goats. Any one of those possibilities could be interesting...

New Spy DVDs Out This Week

Spy season continues! Following hot on the heels of last week's major releases of The Prisoner Blu-Ray and From the Orient With Fury, this week sees several more crucial spy discs. First and foremost, we've got the seventh and final season of the original Mission: Impossible. Season 7 sees the team take on a few more espionage-related threats than they did in the Syndicate-heavy sixth season, but the primary enemy remains organized crime. (Or bad Seventies fashions; it's a tough call.) And Jim's still got some great cons left up his sleeve! This release completes one of the cornerstones of the spy TV genre... although there are still two seasons' worth of a late Eighties revival yet to see release on DVD. Hopefully CBS/Paramount will put those out on the same twice-yearly schedule as the original series. When I first started this blog three years ago, the first season was just about to be released, and that was cause for excitement. Seven years' worth of Missions seemed so far away! And there was no guarantee we'd get them all. Now we have, and it seems appropriate that the seventh coincides with the Double O Section's Third Blogiversary. These DVD sets have been coming out as long as I've been blogging! Honestly, it will be weird not having more of them to look forward to. CBS/Paramount has conditioned me to get a hankering for Peter Graves & Co. every six months or so, quenchable only by tearing through a new season of the show. Then I burn out on it and need a break until that next pang. Hopefully the Eighties version will be in the pipeline by that time...

There is also a bundle available containing all seven seaons, Mission: Impossible: The Complete Series. It appears to be just the original releases shrinkwrapped together, though; there's no special new packaging. Given CBS/Paramount's release history, I'd fully expect a newly-packaged Complete Series boxed set somewhere down the line (as they did for The Wild Wild West), possibly once they've released the two revival seasons. If you really want the whole thing together, I'd hold off for now and wait for that.

Today also sees the long, long-awaited Region 1 debut of Casino Royale director Martin Campbell's 1986 surreal spy TV masterpiece Edge of Darkness: The Complete BBC Series. The late, great Bob Peck plays a dedicated cop (and former intelligence officer) investigating the murder of his environmental activist daughter. The investigation uncovers layer upon layer of nuclear conspiracy involving the CIA, MI5, the Thatcher government and big business. As he peels away these layers, though, he exposes himself to great danger–both physical and mental. Is his daughter's ghost really helping him? Or is he going mad? All six episodes feature music-only tracks, showcasing the score by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. There's a documentary (originally made for the 2003 Region 2 DVD release) revealing "The Secrets of Edge of Darkness" including new (then, anyway) cast and crew interviews as well as several vintage interviews. Those include the late Bob Peck's appearance on UK chat show Breakfast Time. Rounding out the special features are reviews of the original broadcast and excerpts from various awards shows at which Edge of Darkness cleaned up. Campbell has just remade the series as a theatrical feature starring Mel Gibson. I think it's due out this year.

Last, but certainly not least, we also get the Blu-ray debut–and a new DVD edition–of what's arguably the most influential spy movie of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's classic North by Northwest: The 50th Anniversary Edition. The 50th Anniversary Edition contains all of the features of the previous DVD edition (including a commentary track by screenwriter Ernest Lehman), as well as "Cary Grant: A Class Apart" and the new documentaries "The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style" and "North by Northwest: One for the Ages." The Blu-ray edition comes packaged in 44-page book "full of photos, film facts and insider information."

Third Blogiversary

Well, this time-sensitive post has been sitting unfinished for several days, thanks to me being busy. Not just with work, though; fun stuff, too, like a friend's wedding, Halloween (I dressed as The Prisoner) and an opportunity to see the first new theatrical Hammer movie in thirty-three years (surprisingly Hammerish, despite the American setting!). But I hate to let milestones go unmarked, so I still want to mention that October 30 marked the Third Blogiversary of the Double O Section.

I actually can't believe I've only been doing this for three years. It feels like forever! But, in fact, the Double O Section was born three years ago last Friday. The very first post was actually a series of posts, a list of seven people somehow important in the world of fictional spies circa late October 2006, coverage of whom would give potential readers an idea of what I'd be discussing on this blog. The seven individuals listed were, in ascending order, Elke Sommer, Mark Gatiss, Charlie Higson and Anthony Horowitz (together), Nick Fury, Greg Rucka, Roger Moore and Daniel Craig. While I've ended up writing more about some of those people than others over the past three years, I think that list did indeed give a pretty good indication of things to come. While they might not all have generated lots of news or reviews, each one of these people or characters has certainly informed the content of the Double O Section over the past three years.

Elke Sommer may not be making any new splashes in the world of spy movies these days, but just this year, I finally got around to reviewing her best spy movie in the inaugural post in an ongoing series about My Favorite Spy Movies. The film, of course, was Deadlier Than the Male, and the lavishly illustrated post (two and a half years in the making) is one of the ones that I'm most proud of. Subsequent entries in the series of extra-detailed reviews of my favorite spy films include Danger: Diabolik and Billion Dollar Brain. Look for another one soon.

At the time I wrote that initial list, Mark Gatiss had written just one of his Lucifer Box spy novels, the Edwardian-set Vesuvius Club. Since then he's rounded out the trilogy with the utterly fantastic Devil In Amber (reviewed here) and the uncharacteristically disappointing Bond parody Black Butterfly. Slight and full of typographical errors, that book felt very rushed, which is too bad. Gatiss has occasionally mentioned wanting to fill in the blanks between books with a few more Box volumes; I certainly hope that happens so that readers can witness a return to form. Black Butterfly did, however, have its merits, chief among them the fantastic cover, a pastiche of Richard Chopping's beautiful artwork adorning many Ian Fleming first editions. Gatiss is now at work on a contemporary-set Sherlock Holmes series for the BBC, which, while not being spy, is one of the media events I'm looking most forward to in the coming year.

Charlie Higson and Anthony Horowitz both remain key figures in the surprisingly robust young adult spy novel market. Higson may be taking a hiatus from his series of Young Bond novels, but that hasn't stopped him from penning a lengthy Young Bond short story in Danger Society: The Young Bond Companion, published just last week. Horowitz, meanwhile, has another Alex Rider novel due out in a few weeks. Crocodile Tears will be the eighth entry in the series. While Higson's books maintained a consistent degree of excellence from the very beginning, Horowitz's have only improved since then. Each Alex Rider novel is better than the last, and I'm greatly looking forward to reading Crocodile Tears. The novels fully deserve their bestselling success. While an attempted movie series may have failed (100% thanks to the studio that released it in America), a series of graphic novel adaptations have maintained brand visibility in other markets. The two friendly rivals recently interviewed each other about their respective teen spy characters for the Times of London, and it's well worth reading!

Nick Fury was the only fictional character on the original list, and while the Marvel Comics superspy took some time out of the spotlight for a little while following my original post on the subject, he's now more ubiquitous than ever! Besides headlining the monthly comic book Secret Warriors, he's also popped up in numerous other Marvel comics since resurfacing in the company's Secret Invasion event storyline. Recently, he starred in a Secret Warriors one-shot special with stunning artwork by Ed McGuinness, homaging the work of comic legend Jim Steranko (who defined the character more than anyone in his spy-crazy heyday of the 1960s) and popped up in a beautifully-drawn espionage yarn by indy comics superstar Matt Kindt, creator of Superspy, in Strange Tales. He's also all over the toy shelves, surprisingly enough. A recent wave of Hasbro's Marvel Legends line of seven inch action figures spotlighted Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D. associates, and even an "Urban Vinyl Bobblehead" figurine of the eyepatched agent can be found in most Toys 'R' Us stores. There's also a 3.75 inch figure available exclusively through Marvel's website. Fury's "Ultimate" incarnation popped up at the end of last year's hit superhero movie Iron Man in the person of Samuel L. Jackson, and looks to have a larger role in next year's sequel--as well as subsequent Marvel films.

Greg Rucka hasn't been very productive, spywise, since this blog began, and for that reason his sublime series of novels and comics, Queen & Country, doesn't get quite as much coverage as I would like to give it. But every time I mention it, I'm sure to also mention that I think it's simply the best contemporary example of the "serious" spy genre out there right now, in any medium. I simply cannot recommend this series enough. And it looks like it may extend to yet another medium soon, with progress finally happening on the long-in-the-works Q&C movie. Best of all, Rucka is hard at work on a new Q&C novel, as well! So while his series may have been mostly dormant in the years Double O Section has been around, it looks to be back soon in a major way. Now if only it would return in comics as well... To plunge into Rucka's Sandbaggers-inspired world, check out either the first of four convenient bumper editions collecting the entire comics series to date or else the first novel, Private Wars.

Roger Moore certainly hasn't made any new Bond movies, but he has been more visible than anytime since he hung up his Walther these past few years, with an utterly fantastic autobiography and a world tour to promote it. I like that he was the Bond I was thinking about when I created that original list, because I think that Moore may inform this blog more than any other 007. After all, he was not only James Bond, but also Simon Templar on The Saint and Lord Brett Sinclair on The Persuaders! In other words, his spy pedigree is impeccable. The latest Persuaders! news to hit the Double O Section is the inclusion of four tracks from the series (John Barry's main theme, the pop song that accompanies Moore and Tony Curtis' race in the pilot, an instrumental of that song and one piece of Ken Thorne incidental music) on Network's new Music of ITC double-CD, out this week. I'll have a full review of that shortly. Suffice it to say, it's essential.

Daniel Craig's last outing as 007 left me more than a bit cold. In fact, Quantum of Solace made me quite nostalgic for Sir Roger's days of Bondage. But Craig himself was excellent even in Quantum, and there is no denying the energy and vitality he has injected into the Bond franchise. I recently ranked all the Bond films for my own amusement, as such a list is constantly in flux for me. I hate to say how Quantum of Solace fared, but Casino Royale clocked in at an impressive second place the day I made that list, behind only On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The excitement from that Craig-powered revitalization still holds sway over audiences, and thanks to Craig, Bond–and the spy genre at large–enjoys more popularity now than any time since the Sixties. Case in point: this very blog, which received its most hits ever (in a month not seeing the release of a new 007 movie) in October! So Craig casts a long shadow over this blog, which is entirely appropriate--and wasn't hard to predict back at the beginning. All in all, there has been plenty to write about for three years without ever straying too far from that initial list.

Hm, I should probably do some sort of contest to celebrate this Blogiversary. Something good... Something relating to one of these people on this old list... Check back in the next few days for a cool, celebratory giveaway!

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Chuck: The Complete Second Season

I've been waiting for this announcement for a long time! Since NBC's spy comedy Chuck isn't coming back for a third go-round until mid-season this year, that, of course, means delayed DVDs of Season 2. I really don't understand the studios' need to release DVD seasons to coincide with new season premieres. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the DVDs available shortly after the end of the season in question, like Fox did with 24: Season 7, so that potential new viewers have lots of time to catch up and then tune in for increased ratings power when the new season does begin? Whatever. I digress. The news at hand (via TVShowsOnDVD) is that Warner Home Video has at last announced Chuck: The Complete Second Season on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 5, 2010. And check out that awesome, For Your Eyes Only-inspired cover! It's in keeping with the show's nerdy pedigree (and greatly to its credit!)that star Zachary Levi manages to duplicate Roger Moore's kind of weird stance from the Bond movie's teaser poster almost exactly. Besides the season's twenty-two episodes, the six-disc set will also include extras like webisodes, deleted scenes, a gag reel and four featurettes: "Truth, Spies and Regular Guys: Exploring the Mythology of Chuck," "Dude in Distress: Explore Some of the Season's Best Action Sequences," "Chuck: A Real-Life Captain Awesome's Tips For Being Awesome" and "John Casey Presents: So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy?" I like the sound of that last one! (Adam Baldwin's deadly-serious Agent Casey remains the highlight of the series.) Additionally, "for a limited time" (according to the press release), the set will include two pairs of 3D glasses and the 3D version of the episode "Chuck Versus the Third Dimension." (I tried watching it in 3D on my old-fashioned TV when it aired with no luck; apparently you need one of those newfangled TVs with the flat screens like all the kids have to make it work.)

Meanwhile, NBC has upped its third season Chuck episode order from 13 episodes to 19, according to Variety. That's great news for a show that was on the verge of cancellation last spring! Low ratings or not, Chuck is at least a proven commodity, which is more than can be said of the network's recently-cancelled Southland (which looks to be moving to cable) or probably soon-to-be-cancelled Trauma. Those shows' bad luck may be Chuck's good luck. While the network wasn't planning to bring the series back until after the winter Olympics, the trade reports that we may now see new Chucks as early as January. Tying in (coincidentally, I'm sure) with that January 5 DVD date...

It Takes A Thief Finally Coming To DVD?

This isn't news, per se; it's a rumor... but it's a good one! And apparently from a reliable source. TVShowsOnDVD (a very reliable source itself) reports that the wheels are in motion to bring the last remaining classic Sixties spy show not yet available on DVD to that format at last. That's right, I'm talking about It Takes A Thief, starring Robert Wagner as a cat burglar pressed into service for American Intelligence. The show ran for three seasons on ABC and featured heavy-hitting guest stars like Peter Sellers and Fred Astaire. TVShowsOnDVD really offers no more information other than that something might be in the works, though they do hint that the title might have been sub-licensed. Select episodes have been available to watch online on Hulu since last year (and almost all of them can be watched there now). When that news was reported I speculated that Time-Life, who released superb boxed sets of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Get Smart, might make a logical home for the show. If it's been sub-licensed, that just might be the case. Shout! Factor would also seem a plausible candidate. The website promises further updates when they know the company involved.

New Trailer For From Paris With Love

We saw an underwhelming European teaser; now the first U.S. trailer is out for Luc Besson's EuropaCorp's latest neo-Eurospy movie, From Paris With Love... and, sadly, it doesn't look much more promising. If only any of the footage lived up to that awesome, awesome teaser poster! Based purely on the footage we've seen in these two trailers, the problem I have is not with Taken director Pierre Morell's direction (the action looks quite cool), but with the lead actors. For some reason both John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers sport some odd facial hair. Now I don't mind beards; quite the opposite; I sport one myself. But these particular beards (if they can even be called that) for some reason make the actors in question look especially sleazy. And Travolta's predictably over-the-top performance doesn't help. It's too bad, because I feel like these actors might work fine in this sort of film in more subdued (and clean-cut) performances, but they're not clicking with me as is. Hopefully I'll feel differently when I see the movie. Oh yes, make no mistake; even if the trailers leave me cold, I will be first in line for Besson's latest stab in his single-handed reinvention of the Eurospy genre!