Legendary artist Jim Steranko, who innovated comic book storytelling in the 1960s with his iconic run on Marvel's entry in that decade's superspy sweepstakes, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is once again contributing his talent to spy pop culture. On Sunday night the artist Tweeted a series of design drawings he made for TNT's upcoming spy series Agent X, starring Jeff Hephner and Sharon Stone. It's unclear if this sequence is intended for the show's main titles or for promotional spots, but it sure is cool!
According to Steranko, he "developed about 20 sequences for possible promo use," so this batch is just a teaser. TNT's creative director had noticed his influence on a number of recent film title sequences and asked if he had "the time and inclination" to contribute to Agent X. Steranko said he read the show bible and liked what he saw—which certainly bodes well for the series! (Steranko provided spot-on critiques of each episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the show's problematic first season, proving he's still got his finger on the pulse when it comes to determining what makes good spy entertainment.)
These are just a few extracts from the lengthy storyboard sequence he Tweeted (and sadly excerpting them takes a bit away from the full concept), so be sure to check out his Twitter feed and see the whole thing, along with his stage directions. On top of henchmen who could be right out of one of his Nick Fury comics, Steranko's sequence also offers nods to Saul Bass, Maurice Binder, and the terrific animated main titles from the Sixties TV classic The Wild Wild West. I really hope they use this on the show!
As previously reported, Agent X debuts on TNT on Sunday, November 8 at 9/8c. Steranko is currently busy at work on the follow-up to IDW's spectacular Artist's Edition of his classic Nick Fury comics from Strange Tales. The first oversize hardcover volume, which reprints the artist's original, uncolored drawings at full size, meticulously reproduced from the original artwork itself, just earned Steranko a Harvey Award for his design work on it. In last night's barrage of Tweets (an unmissable weekly event), he revealed that the eagerly anticipated Volume 2 (collecting his art from the Nick Fury monthly as well as his brief but spectacular run on Captain America from the same era) would be 265 pages, with "extras in full color." I'm afraid there's still no word on a release date.
20th Century Fox debuted the official theme song for Paul Feig's James Bond parody Spy today. The music video (which I suppose may contain elements seen in the film's credits) is done as an homage to the classic Bond title sequences of Maurice Binder and Daniel Kleinman. The song is performed by LA-based singer/songwriter Ivy Levan. While there's no question she's got the powerful vocal chops to belt out a Bond-style title song, I wish the hook came earlier in the tune. It's a somewhat disjointed affair (and nowhere near as addictively hummable as Take That's Kingsman theme, "Get Ready For It"), but still a cool, distinctively "spy" song, and likely to serve its purpose just fine in the context of the movie. In another throwback to the classic Bonds, Levan's song will be included on Theodore Shapiro's original motion picture score album. Remember when the Bond songs were included on the score albums? That's how it should be! Speaking of that album, the retro-style cover artwork is fantastic. I hope the score itself is as good as Henry Jackman's Kingsman score. With all the espionage movies in the pipeline, this should be a very good year indeed for spy music! Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, Morena Baccarin and Peter Serafinowicz, opens on June 5.
MI6 has managed to get the answer to the Skyfall question that's been at the forefront of my own thoughts for some time: who will create the title sequence for the 23rd James Bond movie? And the answer is indeed good news: Daniel Kleinman, who created such memorable opening credits for GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day and Casino Royale, but sat out the last movie, will return! I'm so glad. Kleinman does fantastic work. For Quantum of Solace, director Marc Forster brought on his own preferred title creators, a firm called MK12, and they in turn delivered a strong contender for the weakest opening title sequence of the entire series. It's a relief to have Kleinman back in the driver's seat after that debacle. I'm very curious to see whether he returns to the classic silhouetted nude women dancing or swimming that Maurice Binder pioneered, or instead follow up on his own impressive departure from Daniel Craig's debut film, which featured cool rotoscoped animation. Either way, I'm confident he'll deliver the goods! The reliable fan site previously reported that the sequence has already been shot, and unsuprisingly involved female models.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is currently running an installation exhibit featuring all of the James Bond title sequences playing on giant video screens.
This is a very cool surprise. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is celebrating the 50th anniversary of James Bond in the cinema with an installation exhibit called "...is James Bond" running from June 9 through September 9, 2012. The exhibit will present the opening credits sequences from all the 007 movies arranged thematically on six monitors while the full set of sequences is looped and projected with audio in large format on one of the gallery walls. That sounds awesome! I'm thrilled to see Bond credit sequences (pioneered by the great Maurice Binder) recognized and legitimized as the works of art they are at an actual art museum, and I love the idea of standing in a room with them playing all around me, so I can't wait to experience it this summer. Here's the official write-up:
Over the course of twenty-two films covering the life of 007, James Bond, one element has remained constant: the opening credit sequence. Beginning with Dr. No, the opening credits, created by Maurice Binder, have functioned as separate and unique works of art—a ground-breaking exercise of cinema as daring as the title character, calculated to immerse us in the sensibility of 007.
This exhibition was co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television. The organizers are grateful for the special collaboration of Danjaq LLC and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.
I hope LACMA screens some of the Bond films in their fantastic theater to accompany the exhibit!
USA is conducting a poll in which fans vote for the title sequence that will accompany the upcoming sixth season of its flagship spy series Burn Notice, and today is the last day to vote. You can choose between an updated version of the classic opening (adding Coby Bell's Jesse Porter as "a down-and-out spy you met along the way," per Michael's narration) or an all-new one. I like change (well, sometimes), so I voted for the all-new opening. It's more spyish, and besides I'm sick of that old intro calling Sam (Bruce Campbell) "an old friend who used to inform on you for the FBI." That's not a great intro for Sam, and it's five seasons out of date anyway! Vote here and vote today, before it's too late! Burn Notice returns on June 14.
Dec 10, 2010
New Spy-Inspired Music Video
The Man From Brussels on the Eurospy Forum pointed out this new music video for the song "SPY" by Paris-based rapper Beat Assailant. It's a pretty good video, drawing inspiration in equal parts from Maurice Binder's Dr. No title sequence, Daniel Kleinman's Casino Royale title sequence, and classic, lurid pulp fiction covers.
Though I post here under the name Tanner, my real name is Matthew Bradford, and I'm a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. I'm coauthor of the graphic novel Night and Fog and I co-wrote and co-produced the 2014 horror feature Dead Within.
