USA Shares Amazing TREADSTONE Clip on Eve of Premiere

USA's Bourne spin-off series Treadstone premieres tomorrow night. While I've been surprised by the paucity of advertising in the real world, the network has released many, many clips online over the past month--enough, seemingly, to create a fairly good assembly cut of the pilot episode! But they've saved the best for last. A clip with an extended fight scene and a chase across European rooftops shared today by the International Spy Museum really demonstrates that they appear to have captured the tone and feel of Doug Liman's 2002 movie The Bourne Identity. (The lead actor also seems to have been cast at least partly for bearing a slight resemblance to Matt Damon.) This has me very excited to sample the series tomorrow night! Watch the clip here.

Read my review of the novel that started it all, Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, here.

Treadstone premieres on Tuesday, October 15, at 10/9c on USA.

Clive Owen Returns as The Driver for BMW Films

He's not quite a spy, but Clive Owen's enigmatic character The Driver from the series of BMW Films in the early 2000s is certainly spy-adjacent. And he (somewhat circuitously) inspired an even more spy-adjacent character, The Transporter. The Driver first appeared in a series of eight short films produced in 2001 and 2002 known collectively as The Hire. It was an innovative idea. BMW approached top international directors including John Frankenheimer, Wong Kar-wai, Guy Ritchie and Alejandro González Iñárritu, to helm short films (or long, plot-driven commercials) featuring Owen driving various BMWs in various action/adventure scenarios ranging from comedic (Ritchie's) to downright surreal (Tony Scott's, which featured Gary Oldman as the devil). The shorts were collected on a now out of print DVD, and beloved by many fans. In 2005, Dark Horse published a less successful comic book version, which also tried the strategy of recruiting industry superstars like Kurt Busiek and Matt Wagner (and, oddly, Bruce Campbell, who is a superstar... but not as a comic book writer!), but kind of missed the mark by using concept cars instead of actual BMWs on the market. That was the last we had heard from The Driver. Until now.

Now, fifteen years later, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Owen is back in the role! Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) directs a new 11-minute short entitled The Escape, and intended, according to the trade, as "an homage to the original series." Does that mean it's not an actual sequel? Unclear, for the moment, but it certainly looks like a new entry in the franchise we're familiar with. Also unclear is whether this is simply a one-off, or if this is the first of a new series of Hire shorts. I'm certainly hoping for the latter! In addition to Owen, original series creative director Bruce Bildsten, executive producer Brian DiLorenzo, producer Steve Golin, and creative consultant David Carter all return. The latter co-wrote the new short with Blomkamp. Jon Bernthal (The Accountant), Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring) and Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire) co-star.

The Escape will premiere October 23 on the BMW Films official website.

Here's a teaser:



...and a short behind-the-scenes video:

Writing's On the Wall Music Video

The music video for Sam Smith's SPECTRE song "Writing's On the Wall" was released today, and contains some new footage from the upcoming James Bond movie not seen in trailers. (There are also much longer shots from the film than we ever get in the quick-cut trailers.) Unlike Adele's "Skyfall" video, there doesn't appear to be any material here from Daniel Kleinman's title sequence.

Another SPECTRE TV Spot

Another new SPECTRE TV spot was released yesterday. Check it out:

Video: The Bond Women of SPECTRE

MGM and Sony have released a new SPECTRE video blog, this one focusing on "The Bond Women of SPECTRE." And by "women of SPECTRE," they don't mean Helga Brandt and Fiona Volpe, or even Madam Spectra (obscure reference); they mean Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci, the female stars of the 24th James Bond movie. And by "Bond Women," they mean what used to be called "Bond Girls," appropriately updated for the 21st Century.

Tom Cruise's Latest Death-Defying Mission: Impossible Stunt

It's possible Tom Cruise might be totally nuts, but he harnesses that for our entertainment, which is really pretty awesome. He's a consummate showman, as proven in this utterly insane stunt. We saw some news footage of it when they shot this last fall, but in this new featurette you can see the actual dailies from a locked down camera on the actor (not a stuntman) as he clings to the side of an airplane as it takes off. It's just incredible. (A long way from Roger Moore's green-screened airplane clinging in Octopussy!) I'm sure the finished scene will be fantastic with wide shots and close-ups edited together and Joe Kraemer's version of Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible Theme blasting out of ATMOS speakers... but all that may not be quite as impressive as this simple locked-down camera on Cruise--even without his harness digitally removed. It's stunning. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation opens July 31.

Behind the Scenes Video Reveals SPECTRE's Mexico City Shoot

EON, MGM and Sony have posted a new video blog about filming SPECTRE, this time on location in Mexico City. I've been avoiding pretty much all news items and press photos about SPECTRE, because I want to go in knowing much less than I did about Skyfall, but I figure that anything put out officially is okay. But since I know some people are even more spoiler-conscious than I am about this movie, I'll warn that while the video below doesn't give away anything about the actual on-screen action of this scene, it does reveal what part of the movie the Mexico City action will happen in, and shows plenty of the background activity. If you don't even want to know that much, now is the time to avert your eyes.



This looks pretty incredible! "I wanted the audience to be dropped right into the middle of a very, very specific, very heady, rich environment. It’s the Day of the Dead, everywhere you look there’s colour and detail and life," says director Sam Mendes. I heartily approve! The Day of the Dead celebration is a perfect backdrop for some good James Bond action, reminiscent of Thunderball's Junkanoo, Live and Let Die's New Orleans funerals, and Moonraker's Carnival. It looks like a visually spectacular backdrop for whatever action Mendes and his crew have lined up to unfold there. And it also makes perfect sense as a setting for 007's first ever trip to Mexico as Mexico. While Licence to Kill was filmed there, the action took place in fictional Isthmus City.

Theme Song and Soundtrack for SPY Channel 007

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.

First Look at 007 in Action in SPECTRE

What an exciting week for spy fans! Hot on the heels of the awesome Man From U.N.C.L.E. trailer comes our first look at Daniel Craig in action as James Bond in Sam Mendes' SPECTRE, courtesy of 007.com. The first official still of Craig in the 24th official 007 movie shows the actor in winter gear clutching a pistol (not a Walther PPK) in a snowy Alpine setting with snowmobiles and off-road vehicles in the background. The shot is reminiscent of the famous still of George Lazenby in the Alps with a Sterling submachine gun, and the background elements seem the perfect ingredients for a classic James Bond action sequence—the creation of which is confirmed in the first official behind the scenes video from the set! I'm particularly excited to see Craig in the snow, because cold weather setpieces tend to be among my favorite in the Bond canon, but we haven't had a great one since The Living Daylights back in 1987. (I'm sorry, but the lackluster ski sequence in The World Is Not Enough just didn't cut it for me.) That's more than 25 years—or more than half the duration of the series! So it's about time for another great winter setpiece in a Bond flick. Check out the video below for a spoiler-free hint of how things will go down in this Austrian sequence. Now with Bond and U.N.C.L.E. videos this week, all we need is for Paramount to offer a first look at the next Mission: Impossible!


NOTE: While the plot of SPECTRE was leaked in the Sony hack, not all Bond fans want to know what's going to happen. So please be courteous and refrain from posting SPECTRE spoilers in the comments section.

Kingsman Music Video

They used to be a regular part of a major spy movie's marketing, but it's been quite a while now (to my recollection) since we've seen a music video associated with a big spy film. So it's kind of a refreshing throwback that Kingsman: The Secret Service sports a new song from Take That, "Get Ready For It," plus a music video tie-in using footage from Matthew Vaughn's movie. It's not a great video, but the band did go to the trouble of sporting some Kingsman-appropriate duds and shooting in the U.N.C.L.E.-esque tailor shop that serves as the titular spy agency's secret entrance. And there's even a cameo from the film's razor-legged femme fatale Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). I appreciate that. Plus, I have to admit, it's a catchy song! So... "Are you a fool or a Kingsman? 'Cause only you know!" Watch the video and find out!

"Get Ready For It" isn't included on the film's soundtrack album from La La Land, but the CD does feature a suitably spyish, horn-heavy score by Henry Jackman (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: First Class) and Matthew Margeson. You can buy it now (and listen to samples) as a digital download on Amazon, or pre-order the CD (with three extra tracks), out February 17. And if you really fancy yourself Kingsman material, you can also look the part—provided you're fairly well-heeled. The Kingsman line from fashion website Mr. Porter offers stylish overcoats, bespoke suits, high-end accessories and more—all from British manufacturers and all in the high style associated over the years with fashionable secret agents like John Steed, James Bond and Harry Palmer. So even if you don't care for Kingsman, you can look to Harry Hart's antecedents and enjoy dressing like your favorite undercover clotheshorse.

Pierce Brosnan Pokes Fun at His James Bond Image in Kia Sorento Super Bowl Spot

Well, Kia has managed to get me to give them free advertising by reposting their commercial by casting Pierce Brosnan in it. And I'll happily do so for any commercial with Brosnan! That's a good way to get my attention during Super Bowl advertising breaks. I found this pretty amusing.

Watch Archer on Conan... or Conan in Archer... or... I know, "Phrasing."

This is absolutely hilarious, and a must-watch for fans of FX's animated spy comedy Archer. Conan O'Brien announced on his TBS talkshow, Conan, the other night that his next guest would be the world's greatest secret agent, Sterling Archer. Of course that would be pretty tough because Archer is an animated character, and the actor who (brilliantly) voices him, H. John Benjamin, looks nothing like him. How would they pull off such a feat? Well, the phone rings, and Archer invites Conan to meet him outside the studio. Conan does, and enters the stylized cartoon world of  Archer (becoming an "Archerized" cartoon character himself), ending up in a hilarious car chase with Archer. Watch below to see what happens. While it's full of in-jokes and cool references to reward regular Archer viewers, there's more than enough general spy spoofery going on that any spy fan or James Bond fan should find it pretty funny. I really hope this ends up as a bonus feature on the eventual Archer Season 6 DVDs and Blu-rays. (Surely that was a condition of the Archer team animating the segment...?) Check it out!
(Via io9; thanks to Josh for the link.)

Another Archer Training Video: How Lana Deals With Ninjas

Here's another one of those great Dharma Iniative-style ISIS human resources training videos (this time courtesy of Vulture) promoting the upcoming fifth season of Archer on FX! Last time Sterling Archer taught us about gun safety; this time Lana shows the correct way to handle ninjas in the office:

Steve Coogan Shows Off His Bond Impressions on The Jonathan Ross Show

In The Trip, we saw Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden attempt to outdo each other with their hilarious Michael Caine impressions, and we saw Coogan do a terrific Roger Moore. On The Jonathan Ross Show last week, the British actor/comedian showed off his impressive impressions of other Bond actors. Coogan's Dalton leaves a lot to be desired (and sadly he doesn't do a Lazenby even though he claims to have every Bond actor but Craig in his repertoire), but his Moore and Brosnan are particularly spot-on. Check it out:



Coogan can currently be seen starring opposite former M actress Judi Dench in the Oscar-touted dramady Philomena. At one time he was linked (along with Ben Stiller) to play the Roger Moore role in a feature film remake of The Persuaders!, but sadly that never came to be. Coogan's career is littered with Bond reverence and references. His signature character Alan Partridge is obsessed with Roger Moore, and it's a running joke on the premiere of Coogan's first Partridge-centric series Knowing Me, Knowing You, that Moore fails to show up for an interview on Alan's chat show. In one of the most memorable episodes of the subsequent series, I'm Alan Partridge, Alan hilariously re-enacts the entirety of The Spy Who Loved Me for his friends when the VCR breaks.

Sterling Archer Teaches Gun Safety

I love Archer's viral video campaign leading up to the January premiere of the fourth season of the hilariously irreverent animated spy spoof. We've already seen an Archer remake of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" music video (it makes sense if you've watched the series) and an HR film on conflict resolution featuring Pam Poovey and her puppet. The latest video promoting the FX series is another Dharma Iniative-like ISIS training film with Archer himself teaching gun safety to new recruits. Check it out:

Hilarious A View To A Kill Video

This first came to my attention a few years ago via a memberon the CBn forums (Trevelyan 006). I meant to post the link then, but somehow never got around to it. Since then I've watched A View To A Kill twice (it's probably the Bond I watch the least often after Quantum of Solace), and every time I see it now I can't help but flash back to this video and laugh. Intrepid video editor m0gdred has made a particularly dated scene from that movie featuring Christopher Walken and Roger Moore quite hilarious. Enjoy.

Archer Flies Into the Danger Zone

I suppose it was in some way inevitable, yet I never saw it coming. Those magnificent bastards at the brilliant FX animated spy comedy Archer have created this Archerized version of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" video from the Top Gun soundtrack. And, of course, it is awesome. This was made for the Archer presentation at the New York Comic Con this weekend, but FX were kind enough to share it with the world to help tide us over until January, when Archer returns with a new season.

Watch a Russian Army Choir Cover Adele's "Skyfall" Tune

This has to be seen to be believed! MI6 (the James Bond fansite, not the spy agency) discovered this astounding video from a recent St. Petersburg morning show of a male Russian army choir performing the theme from Skyfall. Wearing the same sorts of uniforms that they wear to exchange gunfire with 007 in Octopussy and The Living Daylights and GoldenEye no less. Who could have imagined such a bizarre sight as a Russian military choir covering a James Bond theme song thirty years ago? It's not merely notable for its bizarreness, though; they actually do quite a good job! (Though I think that crazy Brazilian cover of "Live and Let Die" performed on toy instruments is still my favorite strange Bond song cover video.)

Full-Length Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer!

At their upfront presentation today, ABC unvelied a new three-minute trailer for their Joss Whedon-produced fall TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel spy comic. And it looks way better than this weekend's brief teaser! In fact, it looks pretty incredible. (I love the typically Whedon-ish bit calling out the preposterous acronym.) Check it out!

And for a full introduction to S.H.I.E.L.D. and its history, read my "S.H.I.E.L.D. primer" here.



Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air Tuesdays at 8 on ABC, starting this fall.

Support the SuperSeven Kickstarter in Its Final Week!

Do you watch the fantastic web series The Adventures of SuperSeven? If not, you really should! It's likely to appeal to just about anyone reading this blog. SuperSeven is a parody of and homage to not only Sixties Eurospy movies, but also that very specific subgenre of them that I identify as "costumed adventurer" movies (better known in some circles as fumettis), those movies where the Eurospy heroes wear masks. And skin-tight costumes. Movies like Fantastic Argoman and Flashman, to name two of the most must-see examples. But The Adventures of SuperSeven certainly isn't limited to those flicks! In any given week, you might catch multiple nods to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. or The Prisoner (really, Prisoner fans, be sure you check out the wonderfully bizarre SuperSeven homage "The Captive!") or any number of other examples of Sixties pop culture at its poppiest or most obscure. SuperSeven makes the most of its shoestring budget, boasting shockingly high production values in the form of nifty spy props and gadgets, hilarious performances that perfectly capture the essence of the era, bevies of beautiful women, and, perhaps best of all, tremendous fights and stunts performed and coordinated by some of the best stuntmen and stuntwomen in the business. (Yes, most of the cast as well as creator Scott Rhodes are professionals, and it definitely shows!)

But a shoestring can only go so far, and now Rhodes and his team are seeking an extremely modest goal to help fund the next season of Sixties spyjinx and shenanigans. That's where you come in. I've never shilled for a Kickstarter before, but I firmly believe that this one is a very worthy project to contribute to. Check out some of the episodes if you haven't seen them already, and if you're a Eurospy fan, I think you'll probably agree. (I happen to know for a fact that SuperSeven is a favorite among actual-factual, real-life spies in at least one branch of the Intelligence Community, which is pretty high praise... and shows that spooks do have a sense of humor.) But do it soon! There are only three days left in this campaign. Please visit Kickstarter and support this fantastic web series!

Support The Adventures of SuperSeven here!

And if you need further encouragement, check back tomorrow for a terrific SuperSeven contest!