james bond

Roger Moore was the third man to portray James Bond in the official series based on Ian Fleming’s classic spy novels; today, sadly, he became the first of the six 007 actors to pass away. His contributions to the Bond franchise are enormous, but for a long time they were overlooked.

Acting legend and James Bond star Sir Roger Moore has died at the age of 89.

Chris Cornell, whose shocking death at age 52 has jolted the music world, may have been known best as the lead singer of Soundgarden, but his music also appeared prominently on numerous film soundtracks, and he even made the occasional onscreen cameo. Cornell’s signature high-pitched wail, either fronting his full band or as a solo artist, helped color movies across all genres, from action (The Avengers) to thriller (Pacific Heights), comedy (Wayne’s World) to drama (The Basketball Diaries), and even Tarantino (True Romance). To honor the late musician, we’ve rounded up the five best Cornell songs featured in movies.

Much online e-ink has been e-spilled over the question of which actor will take up the mantle of international superspy James Bond for the 25th installment of the perennial franchise. Will incumbent star Daniel Craig return for another go-round as 007, or will he be replaced by the likes of new challengers Tom Hiddleston, Dan Stevens, Emily Blunt, or Idris Elba? Who knows (not us), but as the mission to secure a star has been playing out, another big change-up has unfolded largely in the background.

The drama around who will play James Bond in the next (and 25th!) 007 adventure is already more intriguing than anything in the last 007 adventure. Incumbent Bond made it fairly clear during the press tour for Spectre that he wasn’t exactly dying to make another film as Britain’s greatest secret agent (unless I’m missing the subtext in his comment about preferring to slash his wrists rather than drink any more shaken martinis). Last summer, there came word that producers were very interested in Tom Hiddleston taking on the role for Bond 25. But a new report in Page Six says things have changed yet again.

We all got ourselves into a bit of a tizzy last fall when it looked like Daniel Craig might step down from playing James Bond, or that he was thinking about stepping down, or that he was maybe offered a lot of money to stay, or a number of other rumors that turned out to be unfounded. Many still speculated about who would take his place, which led to countless interviews where it seemed every British actor was getting the question. Recently, when asked whether he’d like to step into 007’s shoes, Tom Hardy had another suggestion.

Ah, my old friend, the James Bond rumor. No franchise has produced as many questions about the state of its current cast as the unnamed Bond sequel. Will Daniel Craig be returning to the role? Definitely not. Or, wait, probably. No, they’re actually casting a new James Bond as we speak. Scratch that, they’ve actually backed a dump truck full of money onto Craig’s front lawn to get him back. Or they’ll probably go in a different direction.

The fate of James Bond’s casting in the upcoming 25th official 007 adventure is the focus of more intrigue than many Bond movies. After the release of Spectre, Daniel Craig said things like “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists” when the subject of making a fifth Bond film came up. He wanted to move on he said. He was ready for something else

Remember way back when people criticized Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond, with some even saying he was too blond for the role? Well, the times have changed, and with Sony searching for new some new blood to eventually fill 007’s shoes, it looks like they’re willing to pay Craig the big bucks to stick around for a few more installments.

We’ve known for some time that Daniel Craig was tied to two-season Showtime drama Purity, adding another splash of kerosene to rumors of his leaving behind the role of James Bond. Now that Showtime has officially confirmed the two-season order however, executives don’t believe Purity would force Craig to hang up the tux.