It's almost been two years since the last James Bond film, "Skyfall," was released to critical and commercial success. Since that time, the next Bond film has gone into pre-production, only to face script troubles almost immediately. It was announced that "Bond 24" would miss its original shooting start-date of October and was delayed.
Thankfully, it seems that any troubles have been taken care of: "Bond 24" (obvious wokring title) is now set to begin principal photography on Dec. 6, roughly two months later than originally planned.
The problems began when writer John Logan's original script was brought back for last-minute rewrites, and the production team enlisted the help of veteran Bond writers Robert Wade and Neal Purvis to rework the script. What exactly was changed in the script is still unknown.
After a read-through of the script at Pinewood Studios, the cast and crew will move to Austria and Rome for shooting. Word is that a sequence may be filmed in Morocco as well, but no official statements have been made.
"Bond 24" will be Daniel Craig's fourth appearance as the titular spy, following "Casino Roayle," "Quantum of Solace" and "Skyfall." Samuel Mendez will return to direct the film, and there are even rumors of a 'classic, physically-imposing' Bond villain making a return (most likely referencing Jaws), though nothing has yet been confirmed.
"Skyfall," which features most of the same cast and crew as "Bond 24," was a major success for the Bond franchise. The film earned $1.1 billion worldwide and managed to set opening-date records overseas. It's also the highest-grossing Bond premiere in North America to date.
"Bond 24" is hardly the first Bond production to suffer production troubles. "Skyfall" was suspended for much of 2010 due to financial troubles on the part of MGM, and legal troubles have surrounded the films and their productions companies for decades ("Bond 24" is actually the 26th Bond film). The legal battles have even leaked over to the video game adaptations, preventing a remake of fan-favorite GoldenEye from being made for nearly 15 years.
Interestingly enough, even with all of the troubles with production, the film's release date has not changed. Production on "Bond 24" begins in December, and the team will have less than a year to create the film: "Bond 24" is still set for a U.K. release on Oct. 23, 2015, and will be released in the U.S. on Nov. 6, 2015.
