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Lashana Lynch became the first woman to own the 007 title in the 2021 James Bond tentpole “No Time to Die,” but it turns out a plan to make James Bond a woman was actually pitched over 60 years prior. In Nicholas Shakespeare’s upcoming biography of Bond author Ian Fleming, titled “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,” it’s confirmed that producer Gregory Ratoff floated the idea of casting Susan Hayward in a film adaptation of Fleming’s first Bond novel “Casino Royale.”

Shakespeare writes in the biography (via IndieWire): “Since the mid-1950s, many well-known actors had been approached [to play Bond]. Gregory Ratoff had the arresting idea of having Bond played by a woman, Susan Hayward. Ian had entertained several possibilities, from Richard Burton (‘I think that Richard Burton would be by far the best James Bond’), to James Stewart (‘I wouldn’t at all mind him as Bond if he can slightly...

Yes, a female James Bond has been over a half-century in the making.

Before Lashana Lynch briefly donned the 007 title in “No Time to Die,” the film adaptation of “Dr. No,” a woman was in talks to lead the franchise 50 years prior.

In Nicholas Shakespeare’s upcoming biography of Bond author Ian Fleming, titled “Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,” it’s revealed that original “Casino Royale” producer Gregory Ratoff had imagined a woman in the titular lead role. In fact, Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward was in Ratoff’s mind to take the part.

Prior to “Casino Royale,” the two Bond films had floundered with “Thunderball” and “Casino Royale” receiving poor reviews, hence the proposed gender-swap.

Shakespeare writes in the biography, “Since the mid-1950s, many well-known actors had been approached. Gregory Ratoff had the arresting idea of having Bond played by a woman, Susan Hayward. Ian had entertained several possibilities,...

Phyllis Coates, who became television’s first Lois Lane when she was cast in the classic Adventures of Superman series starring George Reeves, died yesterday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills. She was 96.

Her death was announced by daughter Laura Press to our sister publication The Hollywood Reporter.

Born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell in Wichita Falls, Texas, on January 15, 1927, Coates and her family later moved to Hollywood. Along with some vaudeville-style performances, Coates launched her showbix career as a chorus girl during the 1940s, often touring the the Uso. Later in the decade, she landed small roles in such pictures as Smart Girls Don’t Talk and My Foolish Heart (1949), and appeared in a series of “Joe McDoakes” comedy shorts as Alice MacDoakes.

In 1951, Coates was invited to audition for the role of Lois Lane in the low-budget...

The Catcher In The Rye is one of the most popular American books of all time, but there has yet to be a movie adaptation. The book follows Holden Caulfield - a teenager who finds himself wandering aimlessly across the streets of New York after getting expelled from school. While the book didn't win any major prizes, it did bring Salinger into the spotlight, giving rise to topics, such as the protection of innocence in times when the shadow of war still hung nearby. However, that doesn't mean there haven't been any controversies surrounding it.

Although The Catcher In The Rye is a modern classic, it hasn't been warmly received by some members of the public. In schools, it has been banned because of concerns surrounding the obscene content and language (via Time). In 1980, the book was then surrounded by controversy once again after Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer,...

English-language political thriller takes inspiration from events in the aftermath of tragic crash.

Revolver Amsterdam has acquired adaptation rights to Dutch writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden’s novel Play Dead (Mooi doodliggen) to produce the Netherlands’ first feature based on the case of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster.

Van der Heijden’s novel does not deal directly with the tragic plane crash in Ukraine in 2014 but is inspired by its aftermath as state-backed investigators and bereaved relatives of the victims attempted to discover what happened and who was responsible for the tragedy.

“The novelist has taken events...

Dutch production house Revolver Amsterdam has acquired the film rights to A. F. Th. van der Heijden’s novel “Mooi doodliggen” (Play Dead), inspired by the 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster, and is developing it as a feature.

MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.

Dutch director Rolf van Eijk (“My Foolish Heart”) and screenwriter Roelof Jan Minneboo (“Pomegranate Orchard”) are attached to develop the project.

Producers Germen Boelens and Raymond van der Kaaij of Revolver said: “The MH17 disaster is etched in our national memory, a national trauma. Making a film about this is not an easy task, but A.F.Th. Van der Heijden’s novel turned out to be the perfect foundation. It paints a striking and highly topical picture of a political world where everyone is a victim.

Susan Hayward Centennial Week

by Timothy Brayton

Yesterday, Eric did an extraordinary job of tackling Susan Hayward's performance in I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955), which I think a lot of us might agree was her all-time best performance. Today, I'd like to offer up what I consider to be her most Susan Haywardiest performance: as the good girl-turned-wretched alcoholic in 1949's My Foolish Heart, the film that netted Hayward the second of her five Oscar nominations.

It's a story tailored with laser focus on letting the lead actress show off Everything with a capital "E"...

Do you see that look on Cate Blanchett's face?  Her expression conveys both hope and heartbreak and, in many ways, it's the signature moment of Todd Haynes' "Carol." The acclaimed drama debuted at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where Blanchett's co-star, Rooney Mara, took home the Best Actress award. It was quite a surprise as many believed the jury would award both actresses or just the two-time Oscar winner.  That curve ball win may slightly complicate The Weinstein Company's awards campaign for Blanchett (such troubles), but it's this particular moment that captivated so many across the Atlantic this past May.  We don't want to give too much away, but Blanchett's reaction occurs during a pivotal scene between Therese (Mara) and Carol (Blanchett) which bookends the film.  And, yes, her sixth nomination is almost guaranteed. An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt," "Carol" chronicles the unexpected...

Ah, l'amour. Cate Blanchett plays the rich married title character "Carol," who falls in love with a 20-year-old department store clerk named Therese (Rooney Mara) in Todd Haynes' adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1952 romance novel "The Price of Salt." The dreamy first teaser trailer was just dropped, set to Margaret Whiting's rendition of "My Foolish Heart."

Here's the trailer:

That song! It just makes us want to float around the room and swoon. Sigh. This story of "love against the odds" has the glamorous backdrop of New York in the 1950s. Director Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven," "Mildred Pierce") already has experience covering gay relationships in this time period, and now he's showcasing a romantic lesbian affair.

"Carol" also stars Kyle Chandler -- as Carol Aird's husband Harge Aird -- along with Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Cory Michael Smith, and Carrie Brownstein. The movie is scheduled for a...

Teresa Wright: Later years (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon.") Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson were divorced in 1978. They would remain friends in the ensuing years.[1] Wright spent most of the last decade of her life in Connecticut, making only sporadic public appearances. In 1998, she could be seen with her grandson, film producer Jonah Smith, at New York's Yankee Stadium, where she threw the ceremonial first pitch.[2] Wright also became involved in the Greater New York chapter of the Als Association. (The Pride of the Yankees subject, Lou Gehrig, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941.) The week she turned 82 in October 2000, Wright attended the 20th anniversary celebration of Somewhere in Time, where she posed for pictures with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In March 2003, she was a guest at the 75th Academy Awards, in the segment showcasing Oscar-winning actors of the past. Two years later,...

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

The best movie culture writing from around the internet-o-sphere. Just leave a tab open for us, will ya? “Damon Lindelof on Why Breaking Bad‘s Finale Let Him Say Goodbye to Lost” — True self-aware redemption (for those who actually still harbor disdain) with a killer ending line. “Why Letting Superman Kill Kills Superman” — Rob Bricken at io9 puts a flower in the barrel of Superman’s gun. “J.D. Salinger Opens Up About Hollywood in Never-Before-Seen Letter” — He had a point, ya know. My Foolish Heart was terrible. “How Gravity‘s triumph reveals CGI’s limitations” — Scott Tobias applauds the graphics that launch us into orbit but worries about the stakes they can’t replicate.

Part of Shane Salerno's film about The Catcher in the Rye author is screened at Cannes after nine years in production

It has been veiled in mystery and speculation, and has been nine years in the making. But now a few minutes of the highly anticipated documentary about Jd Salinger by Shane Salerno – chiefly known as a writer of action films including Savages and Alien vs Predator – has been shown at the Cannes film festival.

Through a bafflingly fast-paced montage of clips, showing fragments of interviews with figures such as Tom Wolfe, El Doctorow and the late Gore Vidal, the preview hinted at, rather than delivered, revelations about the writer's existence after he withdrew from public life in 1965, living in seclusion and no longer publishing though, it is speculated, writing feverishly until his death in 2010.

Asked whether the film, which is due for release in the autumn, contained any...

Thursday, November 1st and Friday Nov 2nd during the 2012 American Film Market for its third year in a row, DreamAgo, in partnership with Hamilton International, the renowned Swiss watch company, will host "Hamilton Helps DreamAgo Connect". Known for its annual Plume & Pellicule screenwriting workshop held annually in Sierre, Switzerland and for the development, support and promotion of films that make a difference, the program has 3 key phases.

First phase is a speed dating-style pitch session designed to introduce selected screenwriters, who benefitted from DreamAgo's screenwriting lab in Switzerland, to well-known producers and distributors.  Screenwriters in attendance will have 10 minutes with a producer to present their project before moving on to the next producer and starting again.  Among the producers participating are Linda Obst (Hope Floats, Sleepless In Seattle, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days), Golan Ramras (One Missed Call, The Incredible Hulk), Kelley Feldsott Reynolds (The Flyboys, The Unsaid, Five Fingers), Sukee Chew (Jesus Henry Christ, Fireflies In The Garden), Christina Piovesan (Red Lights, The Whistleblower, Amreeka), Paula Mazanedo-Schmit (VP Film Finances Inc.), David Miller (Amal Sidarth, My Foolish Heart) and Vanessa Adkins (Unthinkable, A Late Quartet). 

Second, the program offers the opportunity for any WGA writer to propose a feature project and try to win a six weeks Residency in Sierre (Switzerland), all costs covered. Among the more than 250 pitches submitted, DreamAgo & the Residence Ruffieux will select 15 projects and each of the writers will be given the opportunity to pitch it in person for 10 minutes. The lucky winner will be revealed during a brunch at the Swiss Consulate.

Third, DreamAgo will present a panel, in partnership with The Writers Guild of America,  the topic this year:  How to Preserve Your Vision When Those Around You Won't Leave It Alone? (Hint: An International Production Might Be Your Solution), on Friday, November 2nd. Panelists confirmed for this event include Barry Navidi (Producer, The Merchant Of Venice, Wild Salome), Sydney Levine (Creator of Sydney's Buzz a Network Blog on Indiewire, Founder of Film Finders), Vince Fischer (International Agent, Creator of the International Eci Agency), and Neil Landau (Writer, Tad The Lost Explorer).

Writer Howard Rodman (Joe Gould'S Secret, Savage Grace) will serve as moderator.

Additionally, DreamAgo will also have a part in the celebrated Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards that pay tribute to the off-screen talents. The 6th edition will take place in Hollywood on October 28, just prior to the start of Afm.  DreamAgo, in collaboration with Hamilton, has selected Zoe Kazan to receive the Best Screenwriter Award for Ruby Sparks. The award will be presented by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the filmmaking duo behind Little Miss Sunshine.

About Dreamago:

DreamAgo is a nonprofit organization that brings together film professionals of all nationalities: screenwriters, directors, producers and distributors.  Its purpose is to nurture and promote the creation of cinematic works on all continents, offering support at each stage of their development. In short: from script to screen. DreamAgo was founded in February 2005 by Pascale Rey and Soula Saad.

About Hamilton:

Hamilton was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. Hamilton watches combine the American spirit with the unrivalled precision of the latest Swiss movements and technologies.  Known for its innovative design, Hamilton has a strong foothold in Hollywood, with products appearing in over 300 films. The brand also boasts a strong aeronautical heritage.  Hamilton is a member of the Swatch group, the largest watch manufacturer and distributor in the world with 160 production sites in Switzerland.

From red-carpet thrillers to insider accounts, the Guardian's film critic hands out his gongs to the best Oscars literature out there

Partly because Academy Award madness is almost upon us, partly because like all former PhD students I love a good reading list, and partly out of sheer nerdiness, I have compiled an arbitrary list of the top 10 Oscar-related books. This has involved the incidental pleasure of hanging out in the Humanities One reading room of the British Library, and also in the library of the excellent and under-appreciated Cinema Museum in Kennington, south London.

1) Robert Osborne – 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards (2009)

A hefty, celebratory, coffee-table slab of a book, packed with stats and pictures like a book about sport. Very much the approved, authorised version.

2) Mason Wiley and Damien Bona – Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards (1977)

Notionally "unofficial" but in...

The most compelling aspect of the master class that Michael Feinstein recently taught at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, N.Y., was that by the time the two hours had elapsed, he had encountered—and made strides to correct—just about every problem faced by not only new but seasoned singers.Affable and amusing, as he always is on the bandstand, and consistently complimentary, Feinstein was there to help shape up eight wannabes taking a course taught by the singer La Tanya Hall, who performed behind him during his annual Christmas show at the New York club that bears his name, Feinstein's at Loews Regency. As this observer can attest, Feinstein was right to praise the participants for the quality of their voices and was also right in his introductory remarks to say he was there to assess their "truth in expressing the music."Awarded an honorary doctorate in...

Jose here.

Today is the anniversary of Susan Hayward's birth (she would've turned 93). Browsing through her filmography it struck me how conflicted I am regarding her acting. Despite her extreme beauty (what did they feed these women back then?) I find her acting slightly hammy sometimes and rather inexpressive on different occasions.

Hayward was nominated for five Best Actress Oscars and perhaps the reason for my slight discontent with her is that in a way, she created the "easy way to an Oscar nod". Let's take a look at the characters that got her Oscar's attention and the reasons why AMPAS couldn't resist to nominate her:

1946 Angelica 'Angie'/'Angel' Evans Conway in Smash-Up, The Story of a Woman

Angelica is a club singer who marries a rising performer, gives up her career and becomes an alcoholic. The plot is loosely based on the life of Dixie Lee, Bing Crosby's first wife.

When author J.D. Salinger died in January, there was immediate speculation that the movie rights to his landmark novel The Catcher in the Rye might finally be sold. Producers and stars have tried to make a movie for years, but after the resounding failure of the one film based on a Salinger story (My Foolish Heart) the author was resolute in his refusal to sell the rights to Catcher in the Rye. But there's a suggestion and speculation now that a tax loophole could put pressure on Salinger's estate to sell the rights in order to raise money. The Telegraph reports on the intersection between Salinger's estate and a tax law passed in 2001. Federal estate tax, in its most basic form, requires that a certain amount be paid based on the value of the estate after an exemption is taken, and then a percentage rate is paid on the remaining value.

If the film rights to Jd Salinger's cult novel do go on sale, who could possibly direct it – or play Holden Caulfield?

On hearing of Jd Salinger's recent death, most fans probably experienced a single emotion: sadness. Over in Hollywood, however, the hills shook with the cackling of a hundred avaricious studio execs. Finally, someone will get to make The Catcher in the Rye film.

Salinger never wanted one when he was alive. A letter to a Hollywood producer in 1957 makes it plain. Noting it's a "very novelistic novel", with the bulk of the book taking place inside Holden Caulfield's head, Salinger admitted what was left could, theoretically, be transferred to the big screen, but that the idea was "odious enough to keep me from selling the rights". He'd already been burnt by 1949's My Foolish Heart – a critical flop based on his 1948 short story Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut.

Yet now that might change.

When news of J.D. Salinger's death spread this week, I know that somewhere in Hollywood a producer was rubbing his hands together at the idea of finally being able to make a movie version of Catcher in the Rye. Many attempted to cajole the rights away from the famously reclusive author, but he was never convinced. After his one story licensed to a studio was turned into crap ('Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut' became the forgettable My Foolish Heart) Salinger vowed never to allow further film adaptations of his work. That doesn't mean we won't see a documentary, however. Salinger, which seeks to be a comprehensive account of the man's life, is just about ready to release. THR reports on the trust set up to oversee rights to Salinger's work. At the time of his death, the author was the sole trustee. Now that he has passed, Salinger's agent Phyllis...

Now that author J.D. Salinger has died at age 91, it's possible that the movie adaptation he so passionately opposed of The Catcher in the Rye could finally happen. He turned against Hollywood in 1949 after My Foolish Heart, adapted from his short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut," was badly panned. Early on, he indicated that he'd be willing to star as Holden Caulfield in a play, but later on his one-time girl friend Joyce Maynard wrote: "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger." He passed on actors interested in playing Caulfied, from Jerry Lewis and Marlon Brando to Jack Nicholson, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. John Cusack told Premiere he was sad the day he turned ...

The famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger has died, but chances remain slim to none that any adaptation of his classic literary works will reach the screen or stage.

With more than 65 million copies of "The Catcher in the Rye" in print, many have sought to turn Salinger's stories into movies, Broadway shows or book sequels over the past 63 years, but the author always adamantly refused.

That isn't about to change -- all because Salinger was unhappy about the one time he allowed an adaptation.

Salinger, who died Wednesday at age 91 in Cornish, N.H., agreed to have one of his short stories, "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut," made into a movie, which was released in 1949 as "My Foolish Heart." The film was a critical and commercial failure and apparently an affront to the author, who vowed never again to make the mistake of allowing others to interpret his vision.

Ever since,...