Hello Mr Waltz . . . we’ve been expecting you
From assassin to bank robber – Jodie aims for big time in Hollywood
BLOFELD is back. James Bond’s white Persian-cat-loving arch nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld will return in Bond 25.
Christoph Waltz, the Oscarwinning actor who played the diabolical villain in Spectre three years ago, has been filming scenes, I can exclusively reveal, at Pinewood studios, for the latest adventure based on Ian Fleming’s thrillers about 007.
Waltz’s involvement as Blofeld has been kept top secret . . . until now. When visitors to the set spotted him, the Austrian-born star put a finger to his lips and in hushed tones told them: ‘You haven’t seen me. I’m not here.’
An executive on the film told me: ‘There’s unfinished business between Bond and Blofeld. If I told you any more, I’d have to kill you.’ That may not even have been a joke.
Waltz joins Daniel Craig in what many on the movie believe will be his final outing as Bond. Rami Malek, winner of the Academy Award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, is also a ‘ baddie’, though it’s not yet known, outside of the 007 circle, how the bad guys are connected. Blofeld’s survival at the conclusion of Spectre was widely noted, leading to speculation — shot down by Bond film producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson — that he might reappear in Bond 25.
Someone on the picture mentioned that Blofeld’s ‘pretty p***ed’ about what Bond and Madeleine Swann (played by Lea Seydoux) did to him in Spectre. Blofeld was left disfigured: there’s a whopping great scar down the right side of his face, and he’s got a milky eye, thanks to an explosion orchestrated by Swann and Bond.
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga has managed to fulfil his desire to get as many actors as possible from the Spectre film back for the new picture. ‘The ones that weren’t killed off, obviously,’ he said, several months ago.
Along with Waltz, there’s Seydoux and regulars Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear. They’ll be joined by newbies Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas — and Jeffrey Wright returning after a break as the CIA’s Felix Leiter.
There have been several incidents, including Craig requiring ankle surgery after an on-set accident, that have delayed filming. I was told the project would be several weeks late in finishing but a spokesperson pushed back against that, insisting the film has made up for lost time. The official also strenuously denied that the ending was still being written.
Extra post-production technicians and other experts have been drafted in to ensure that Bond 25 makes its scheduled April 3 release date next year.
JODIE Comer is shooting the final scenes of what’s being called a ‘game changer’ of a role for her.
The Killing Eve actress has been filming the movie Free Guy, an action adventure comedy picture, in Boston. It’s her first major film and she stars with Ryan Reynolds, who plays a bank clerk who realises that he’s stuck in the middle of an immersive video game.
Comer’s in the game too, as a bank robber, and she has a second role in the ‘real’ world, playing what has been described as a ‘regular’ person. The film has been set a July 3, 2020, opening date for here and America. ‘ It’s a big date to release blockbusters, particularly in the U.S.,’ a film consultant based in New York explained.
‘It’s a game changer for Comer. She’s rightly massive because of Killing Eve but it’s something else entirely if a big movie takes off at the box office,’ the consultant added. At one point Kenneth Branagh was eager for Comer to be in his film of Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile but filming dates clashed with the third series of Killing Eve, which begins shooting next month.
Reynolds is also a producer of Free Guy, along with Shawn Levy, the director known for his Night At The Museum film series and the Netflix hit Stranger Things.
Levy cast Stranger Things actor Joe Keery in the film, along with Taika Waititi, Utkarsh Ambudkar (who are pictured above with Reynolds, Comer and Levy). Lil Rel Howery of Get Out fame is also in Free Guy.
n AS I watched Clive Owen superbly inhabit the wretched body of a debauched, defrocked priest during a preview of Tennessee Williams’s The Night Of The Iguana, I felt that it’s a must-see for all our clergy — so they can witness what happens when the sins of the flesh become irresistible.
I asked Owen’s view backstage and he agreed, jokingly, that clergy should check in to see what they’re missing.