Early Thursday morning in the U.S. — but during the evening in the UK — the name of the new James Bond film was announced in dramatic fashion on stage at Pinewood Studios. The next Bond movie, the 24th in the series, is titled Spectre.
For long time fans of Agent 007, that holds some significance. Spectre (which stands for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is the name of the terrorist organization first introduced in Ian Fleming’s novel Thunderball and seen on screen in 1962’s Dr. No.
The 24th James Bond 007 film is called… #SPECTRE https://t.co/g8CCxtk5ga
— James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014
The cast of the new film was also introduced by director Sam Mendes, who directed the previous Bond film, Skyfall. Joining Daniel Craig’s Bond, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M, and Ben Whishaw’s Q are Andrew Scott (Sherlock), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Revolutions), Lea Seydoux (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Christoph Waltz. (You can watch the announcement here, which includes the unveiling of Bond’s sweet new Aston Martin ride.)
Bond’s new car, the @astonmartin DB10 #SPECTRE pic.twitter.com/cv85x8leuf — James Bond (@007) December 4, 2014
Bautista and Waltz were already rumored to be in the movie as villains, and it appears Bellucci and Seydoux are on that side as well. When Scott’s name was linked to the cast, several speculated that he would also be a bad guy, since he was so good as Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis Moriarty on the BBC series. But he’ll be a member of MI6.
Bautista will play Hinx, a bruising henchman that will surely put a few beatings on Bond. According to Mendes, Waltz’s character is named Oberhauser, which doesn’t seem to have any particular meaning. Many movie bloggers and Bond fans (including former 007 Roger Moore) are speculating that this is a red herring, and that Waltz will actually be playing the infamous leader of Spectre, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Blofeld has been portrayed by six actors throughout Bond film history. In his first two on-screen appearances, the character was played by Anthony Dawson, but his face was never shown. Blofeld has also been played by Telly Savalas, Charles Gray, John Hollis and Max Von Sydow.
The best known is probably Donald Pleasance, who sported the bald, scarred right eye look that was parodied by Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers series. But that has hardly been the signature look for a character that often changed his appearance in Fleming’s novels, sometimes through plastic surgery. So if Waltz is indeed Blofeld, he doesn’t necessarily have to shave his head or wear a bald cap. Here’s hoping Waltz is playing the legendary Bond villain, however, because he could be the best actor that role has ever had.
(Both Spectre and Blofeld haven’t been previously used in the Craig Bond films because those names and characters were tied up in a legal dispute. The terrorist organization in 2008’s Quantum of Solace was called Quantum, but likely would have been Spectre had those rights been available.)
Spectre will begin shooting next Monday (Dec. 8) and will film on location in Rome, Mexico City, Tangiers, Austria and, of course, London. The movie is scheduled for a Nov. 6, 2015 release.
