Gemma’s eyes are on the spies in new thriller
JAMES BOND fans, frustrated at having to wait seven months to see No Time To Die, can find solace in the knowledge that they can catch two 007 stars in a spy thriller well before the 25th Bond feature opens in November.
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson pulled Daniel Craig’s final outing as Ian Fleming’s secret service hero from its April 2 release date because of the coronavirus. It will now open here on November 12.
But don’t despair. Ralph Fiennes (who plays M) and Gemma Arterton (who was operative Strawberry Fields in the 2008 Bond picture Quantum Of Solace) appear in The King’s Man, an epic World War I film directed by Matthew Vaughn. Fiennes is the fictional Duke of Oxford while Arterton plays Polly the nanny.
‘She’s a mysterious character,’ the actress told me when I visited the set of what will amount to an origins story of sorts to Vaughn’s Kingsman series. Gemma added: ‘ Polly’s incredibly quick. And smart.’
She and the duke seem to know a lot about what German enemy forces are up to. There were indications they might have connections to the nascent British intelligence service. The King’s Man, which opens on September 16, appears to have a different vibe from the contemporary Kingsman films. I saw some terrific scenes being shot and I’m desperate to see how it turns out.
Hot shot: Gemma in The King’s Man Vaughn and his associates assembled a great cast that also includes Alison Steadman, Djimon Hounsou, Rhys Ifans, Tom Hollander, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci and Charles Dance.
Meanwhile, No Time To Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga has plenty more time to give his 007 movie a really good polish in the editing suite.
I’d heard very good things about the picture but he had been heard to say he would have loved a few more weeks to shape the film more.
His prayers have been answered.