海角大神

managed to do more than commemorate the James Bond franchise鈥檚 50th anniversary in $TYLE, between it grossing $1 billion worldwide and securing two Oscars for its efforts. The film also introduced the 21st century versions of 007鈥瞫 famous helping hands 鈥� MI6 head secretary Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and techno-invention wizard 鈥楺鈥� (Ben Whishaw) 鈥� in addition to (SPOILER?) introducing Ralph Fiennes as the new 鈥楳鈥�, who will serve as the boss for Daniel Craig鈥檚 Bond on future missions.

Craig will be returning to star in the upcoming 24th James Bond movie installment (his Skyfall costars are expected to join him), as will Skyfall director Sam Mendes 鈥� who, after much deliberation while he took a break from moviemaking to work in the world of theater stage production, decided to accept the Bond series producers鈥� offers for him to .

It鈥檚 a bit early to to expect any concrete details on the story and new characters that will be featured in Bond 24, as Skyfall co-screenwriter John Logan is still plugging away at the film鈥檚 script right now. However, Craig did offer the following tease to , with regard to what he鈥檚 planning (or, rather, hoping) for in the movie, tone-wise:

鈥淗opefully we鈥檒l reclaim some of the old irony, and make sure it doesn鈥檛 become pastiche. I can鈥檛 do shtick, I鈥檓 not very good at it. Unless it kind of suddenly makes sense. Does that make sense? I sometimes wish I hammed it up more, but I just can鈥檛 do it very well, so I don鈥檛 do it.鈥�

Filming on Bond 24 will be underway by the beginning of next year, after Craig and his significant other 鈥� Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz 鈥� finish a fourteen-week run of performing in a fresh Broadway revival of Harold Pinter鈥檚 play Betrayal (with Mike Nichols directing). At that point, we鈥檒l know for certain whether or not there鈥檚 any truth to those rumors about in the film; not to mention, who鈥檚 playing the dastardly villain, this time around.

By the sound of it, Craig is hoping that Bond 24 strikes a tone that鈥檚 more similar to Casino Royale than his prior two outings as the Bond character. , for example, shows us a vengeful 007 seeking personal payback in a story with darker (read: post-9/11) political overtones, whereas聽Skyfall聽is more about 鈥� both literally (in the context of the film鈥檚 setting) and metaphorically, as a pop cultural icon.

By comparison, Casino Royale is the sole Craig-starring Bond flick so far to have incorporated just enough of the old-school Bond playfulness (read: 鈥渋rony鈥�) without going overboard; while, at the same time, successfully updating the character for the new century (unlike the final Pierce Brosnan/007 installment, Die Another Day). Following that train of logic, Craig鈥檚 suggestion doesn鈥檛 sound like a bad idea, in part because聽that approach would help to give Bond 24 a more unique identity 鈥� and distinguish the movie from on the Bond franchise with Skyfall.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .