Tradecraft: Another Tom Clancy Property Might Become a Movie

Deadline reports that videogame publisher Ubisoft is talking to studios hoping to develop the Tom Clancy game franchise Splinter Cell into a film. Paramount is seen as the frontrunner, as they are already home to Clancy's Jack Ryan franchise (the latest reboot of which seems perpetually in limbo) and have spent decades developing Without Remorse. The Splinter Cell series revolves around Sam Fisher, top covert operative for an ultra-secret U.S. spy agency known as Third Echelon. He's basically licensed to kill, which makes it particularly appropriate that former James Bond continuation author Raymond Benson wrote two novels in the series of Clancy-endorsed paperback originals based on the game, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Operation Barracuda. The books, told in the first person, are well worth seeking out for fans of Benson's Bond novels, but probably won't serve as the basis for a film version. According to the trade blog, "Ubisoft will be very involved and retain control over how the game is translated into a film."

Raymond Benson Reveals Cover Art For Second James Bond Anthology

James Bond author Raymond Benson has revealed the cover art on his website for the second anthology of his James Bond novels from Pegasus Books, now titled Choice of Weapons. The eye-catching artwork nicely complements that of the first volume, The Union Trilogy, published last year. Like The Union Trilogy, Choice of Weapons will also include a real treat for Bond fans: two rare Benson short stories, "Live At Five" and "A Midsummer Night's Doom." The former was first published in TV Guide (a 1999 issue with Pierce Brosnan on the cover promoting The World Is Not Enough) and the latter in Playboy; this will be the first time either story has been collected in book format, making this edition a must for collectors! Benson's first Bond short story, "Blast From the Past," appeared uncut for the first time in The Union Trilogy collection. There is no word yet on whether these two short stories will also be expanded in the new collection. For all I know, they may not have been cut to begin with. "Live At Five" was an extremely short story owing to TV Guide's limited page allotment. I jumped straight to the short story news because those are the rarest inclusions in this book, but the meat of the collection is three Benson novels: Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death and The Man With the Red Tattoo. Between the two volumes, all of Benson's original Bond novels will now be collected and back in print, which is great news! Perhaps if sales remain high, Pegasus will publish a third anthology containing his three movie novelizations, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day... Personally, I love the idea of these anthologies, and I'm really glad that they present an affordable way to keep Benson's Bond novels in print. I'd like to see a similar reprint program bundling John Gardner novels together in such omnibuses. Choice of Weapons will be out in spring 2010.

Benson also mentions in his latest update that he will be teaching an adult Continuing Education course on James Bond at the Oakton Community College in Illinois. The six-week course on the history of Bond is called "The James Bond Phenomenon." Benson reveals that "students will view films and read books and explore the world of 007 and his creator, Ian Fleming." Chicago area Bond fans take note. It would be pretty cool to take a class on 007 from the author of what I still consider to be the definitive book on the subject, The James Bond Bedside Companion.

Los Angeles Bond Events This Weekend

As a reminder to L.A. spy fans, former James Bond continuation author and all-around expert on the subject Raymond Benson will appear at The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood tomorrow (Saturday). At 12:30, Benson will present a lecture in honor of Ian Fleming's Centenary entitled "The James Bond Phenomenon" and then sign his latest books, including the original mystery A Hard Day's Death and the blockbuster videogame adaptation Metal Gear Solid. Benson doesn't make many West Coast appearances, so be sure to try to catch this one! I'm hoping to attend, but circumstances may prevent that.

That's not all the Bond that's going on in town this weekend, though. On Sunday and Monday (August 10 and 11), the New Beverly Cinema will screen Goldfinger (a new 35mm print!) and Thunderball. Showtimes vary depending on the night, so be sure to check their schedule...

Raymond Benson Plans West Coast Appearance

Former James Bond novelist and all-around 007 expert Raymond Benson (whose James Bond Bedside Companion is still the essential work on the subject, even two decades after its last edition) will make a rare West Coast appearance this August. Benson will sign his latest books, the rock'n'roll mystery A Hard Day's Death and the spy video game adaptation Metal Gear Solid (which is getting some nice displays at Borders right now), and present a slideshow lecture entitled "The James Bond Phenomenon" in celebration of Ian Fleming's Centenary. This all goes down at one of my favorite Los Angeles independent bookstores, The Mystery Bookstore on Broxton Avenue in Westwood, at 12:30pm on Saturday, August 9. Angelenos, mark your calenders!

Random Intelligence Dispatches: More Catching Up

Catch Up With Chuck On DVD

TVShowsOnDVD.com reports that the truncated first season of Chuck will hit DVD on September 16, from Warner Home Video. In addition to the thirteen Season One episodes, extras include deleted (er, declassified) scenes, the featurettes "Chuck On Chuck" (series stars join creators for some point/counterpoint) and "Chuck's World" (character development and original casting sessions), "Chuck vs. the Chuckles" (gag reel) and "Chuck's Online World" (gallery of web-originated mini-featurettes). The site also has the rear cover art. Retail is a little steep for such a short season at $39.99, but of course it can be found for much less.

In other Chuck news, there's now another venue, besides the previously mentioned comic book, to fill the Chuck void in your life over the summer hiatus: NBC has announced Chuck webisodes, set to begin airing in July.

Benson Spies Again

James Bond author Raymond Benson's newest spy novel, based on the videogame Metal Gear Solid, is in stores now! According to the Amazon description, the novel finds the game's hero, Solid Snake, "called out of retirement to do what he does best–neutralize a crisis of epic proportions. A deadly team of renegade FOXHOUND operatives has taken over the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in the icy Aleutians. If their demands aren’t met, a powerful, top-secret weapon will be unleashed upon the world... But nothing is as it seems. Somebody is hiding something. Somebody has a hidden agenda. And somebody wants Snake to learn secrets about his dark past." I'm not familiar with the game, but having enjoyed Benson's Bond novels and his previous stabs at espionage videogame adaptations (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, written as David Michaels), I'm in! Check it out at Amazon or visit Benson's website for more details.

The Bank Job Coming To DVD

According to DVDActive, Lionsgate will release the excellent period spy/heist/conspiracy thriller The Bank Job on Region 1 DVD on July 15. It will be one of those annoying "Digital Copy" dealies (like Hitman), where the single disc version boasts no features, and if you want them you have to spring for the two-disc version, even though all the features are just crammed onto Disc 1 with the movie, and all that the bonus disc includes is a useless copy of the film for your iPod. (Do people really watch movies this way?) Alright, sorry for the rant there. It was a great movie with a spot-on cast, and I'll be picking up the "Digital Copy Version" regardless, because I hope for some good featurettes on the actual events that inspired the film. (Or what little is known of them.)

Interestingly, Lionsgate has opted not to use the film's wonderfully Sixties theatrical poster artwork, but instead make this movie look like every other Jason Statham DVD...

Devil May Care Limited Editions

In the doldrums because that awesome-looking Bentley-designed limited edition of the new Bond pastiche Devil May Care costs so damn much? Take heart! CBN reports that slightly less expensive limited edition will also be offered, for the slightly less discriminating (or deep-pocked) Bond collector. And this one, signed and numbered (up to 500) with a slipcase and printed boards, sounds pretty cool in its own right.

Felix Leiter Forums

The internet is such a wonderful place that now there is an actual board where fans can go to exclusively discuss Felix Leiter! FelixLeiter.com recently opened up its forums section. Head on over and debate Van Nutter vs. Linder!

Fleming's Final Film

Charles Helfenstein, erstwhile publisher of the excellent Spies Magazine back in the 90s (when we still had to wait for information to reach our mailboxes rather than just logging onto the whatsitnet), has written an excellent new piece for CommanderBond.Net tracing the history of Ian Fleming's story contributions to the Terrence Young film The Poppy is Also a Flower. I once heard that this film was the inspiration for the British series Traffik, which in turn inspired the bigscreen Steven Soderbergh remake with a C. I'm not sure if there's any truth to that rumor (although the identical central premise of exploring the drug trade from the growers to the users is undeniable), but it's neat to think of Fleming as the originator of the concept!

Random Intelligence Dispatches For February 4

New Raymond Benson Anthology Cover

Raymond Benson has revealed the cover for the upcoming anthology of three of his James Bond novels on his website. The collection includes the "Union Trilogy," Benson's equivilant of Fleming's "SPECTRE Trilogy," wherein 007 battles a single villainous organization for three books. Doubleshot, the middle chapter of the Union Trilogy, is, in my opinion, Benson's best book. While I'm very happy that Benson's continuation novels are being anthologized and will be back in print, the obvious highlight of this collection is the inclusion of the entire, uncut version of his short Bond story, "Blast From the Past." I like the cover art, though it puzzles me why the designer didn't use a Walther PPK since that's the iconic weapon most associated with James Bond, and especially since Benson made such a big deal of re-arming 007 with the PPK after John Gardner had him using various other guns, most notably the ASP 9mm. Weird.

Game, Set, Match, Remake?

Dark Horizons quotes a recent interview with Sight and Sound Magazine wherein Quentin Tarantino expressed an interest in making a film based on all three of Len Deighton's "Game, Set, Match" novels. (That would be Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match.) This was the first of three trilogies featuring British Intelligence officer Bernard Samson, and was previously filmed as a television miniseries in 1988 starring Ian Holm as Samson and Mel Martin as his wife, Fiona. Many fans consider this version pretty definitive, but not among them, apparently, was Deighton. It's been rumored that his displeasure with the adaptation is what's kept the series from being available on DVD. If that's truly the case, then it's too bad, because it would be a welcome addition to any collection of great spy DVDs. If true, it would also seem to bode poorly for Tarantino's chances at securing the rights, as it's unlikely Deighton would want to be burned twice, and Tarantino's already suggested that he would radically alter the source material by excising the whole double agent plotline! Still, I've never been let down by Tarantino yet, and it would be great to see him finally make a spy flick. (He's previously mooted a Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature and, very loudly, a James Bond movie. He takes credit for the idea of filming a straight version of Casino Royale, but I seriously doubt that that hadn't occurred to the Broccolis already as soon as they won the rights to the novel!)

All of this should be taken with two large grains of salt:

1. Tarantino constantly talks about possibly remaking various movies he loves, but has yet to actually take the plunge with any of them. And why should he? He usually comes up with better stuff on his own by taking all of that source material and throwing it in a blender.

2. Dark Horizons is already jumping the gun a bit in its reporting. In the actual interview, Tarantino makes it clear that he's speaking in hypotheticals. The only reality of the conversation is that at the time of the interview, he was currently re-reading Berlin Game. The rest of the discussion is what he calls "an exercise," discussing how he would adapt if he were to do so.

Of Deighton's novels (and as much as I'd like to see the existing Game, Set, and Match available on DVD), I'd honestly rather see Harry Palmer revived (and not in a Midnight In St. Petersburg sort of way). I'd still love to see a movie made of Horse Under Water, which was at one point supposed to be the fourth Michael Caine movie, and then once Caine got out of his contract was still slated to go ahead starring his Play Dirty co-star Nigel Davenport in the lead. Unfortunately, the box office disappointment of Ken Russell's brilliant Billion Dollar Brain killed those prospects. I'd especially love to see it filmed as a period movie set in the Sixties…

Charlie Wilson's DVD

DVDActive reports a rumored April release date for Universal's DVD of Charlie Wilson's War, and they even have the snazzy cover art. Extras include a Making-Of and a featurette called "Who Is Charlie Wilson" which promises "a profile of the real Charlie Wilson" with interviews with Charlie Wilson, Tom Hanks, Aaron Sorkin and others. That one sounds pretty interesting; I'd be very curious to know how closely the movie stuck to reality.

British Hitchcock Spy Movies On British Hitchcock DVD

Network DVD in the UK will release a Region 2 collection of Hitchcock's early British films including the spy movies The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage and The Lady Vanishes, as well as The Pleasure Garden, The Lodger, Downhill, Jamaica Inn and Young and Innocent. (Is that one a spy movie? I've never seen it.) Many of these titles have only been issued in the U.S. on budget DVDs in dire need of remastering, so the Brits really luck out getting this kind of collection from a superior distributor like Network. Extras include script PDFs, trailers, "On Location" featurettes for Sabotage and The 39 Steps, a documentary called "Hitchcock: The Early Years," rare interviews with the director, a booklet by film historian Charles Barr and introductions by Barr to all of the films, among other things. Whew! Oh well, at least we Americans have that recent, amazing Criterion version of The Lady Vanishes to cherish...

Raymond Benson Revisited

Former James Bond author Raymond Benson has announced on his website that three of his Bond books will be re-released next year as an omnibus--along with the highly sought after short story "Blast From the Past!" I'm a little bit surprised, since Ian Fleming Publications has been pretending like none of the previous continuation novels ever existed in their publicity for Sebastian Faulks' upcoming Devil May Care, but I'm also thrilled. I've been hoping for a while that Benson's and John Gardner's Bond novels would be reissued as omnibuses, and now that's exactly what's happening... with Benson, anyway. Pegasus Books will publish this anthology, comprising the author's "Union Trilogy" of High Time To Kill, Doubleshot and Never Dream of Dying. The middle title is Benson's very best book, and one of the strangest Bond stories ever told. The other two are unfortunately his weakest. (Never Dream of Dying contains a bold twist sure to irk Fleming purists for years to come. I respect Benson for attempting it, but it didn't work for me.) The real treat of this collection is the inclusion of "Blast From the Past" (which I think was also the title of a completely unrelated James Bond Junior episode...), a short story initially published in Playboy and never before collected. It will also be appearing in its entirety for the first time in English, as the Playboy version was severely cut. Pegasus are also planning a second volume (presumably depending on sales of the first one), which would hopefully contain the author's remaining original novels and two other short stories. I'm so glad that Benson's short stories are finally being collected somewhere. Tracking down old magazines can be tough, and there aren't enough of them to warrant a collection, so inclusion in an omnibus is the perfect solution. Maybe this format will one day provide a place for Samantha Weinberg's Moneypenny short stories, too--in an omnibus of all of her James Bond writing. In the meantime, it's great news that Benson's Bonds will be back in print! His tenure as continuation author has been unfairly overshadowed (coming at the end of the last regime at IFP, and never properly promoted by the publisher), but like the overshadowed Dalton era of films, uncovering it is rewarding. Benson also wrote the best companion book ever about 007, The James Bond Bedside Companion, which is currently out of print.

For more information on the new omnibus, visit The Literary 007.