'James Bond' Creator Ian Fleming To Get A Bio-Pic

[Apologist Puncher]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/55876

Duncan Jones To Tell The Story Of Ian Fleming!
Published at: May 20, 2012 10:18:23 AM CDT



Nordling here.

Ian Fleming's life was at least as interesting as his fictional creation, James Bond. Fleming did a little bit of espionage of his own during World War II; he was head of a group of commandos that were specialist intelligence soldiers that made it their business to go after enemy documents, and later, one of the advisers to a special military task force called T-Force that went after specific targets as the war was winding down. Fleming used those experiences in the creation of his iconic character. There's even a television movie about those years called SPYMAKER, and Jason Connery starred as Ian Fleming, a role that he was born to play, so to speak.

Now, according to Empire, we will see those intriguing stories on the big screen. Duncan Jones, director of the impressive MOON and the time-twisting SOURCE CODE, will make this his third film, with producers Stuart Fenegan, Oliver Simon, and Daniel Baur. As Jones himself says,“Fleming lived through one of the most perilous periods in world history, in a position that allowed him a unique vantage point of all the players, all the stakes. He witnessed true heroism first-hand. And he saw the evil men could do. Then, when the war ended, he went off to write fiction. The essential question for me is: where did Ian Fleming end and Bond begin?”

Indeed. Jones is a terrific choice for this project - it will show his range as a filmmaker and I'm especially curious to see how he directs what will likely be a fairly sweeping story with a huge cast of characters. The film will be based on the book IAN FLEMING: THE MAN BEHIND JAMES BOND by Andrew Lycett.

So the big question is who do we cast as Ian Fleming? I'd imagine that all the usual suspects will make their way through casting - Michael Fassbender or Clive Owen perhaps? My personal pick would be, of course, Benedict Cumberbatch. Perhaps James MacAvoy, or maybe Ben Whishaw (with a decent haircut). Sometimes true stories are more interesting than the fictions they inspire, and I'm sure Duncan Jones will find that sweet spot between the two for this project.

Nordling, out. Follow me on Twitter!

[James Stocks]

Good choice, now they just need to cast someone good. Leonardo DiCaprio was at one point attached, I'm not sure how he would have played out but I would have been open. Geoffrey Rush would make a great choice for playing Fleming in his final years.

[Apologist Puncher]

I think they should cast mainly for acting ability, and not so much on his looks. Most people have no idea what he looks like anyway, and casting on looks will limit their choices.

James Mcavoy might be a good choice.

[James Stocks]

I could definitely picture James Mcavoy as Fleming circa WWII.

[webhead2006]

Sounds cool and good choice for director. I agree cast for acting skill then looks.

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

I always thought Christopher Lee would make another good "entertainer who fought in WWII" biopic. There was that story about how he asked his death scene to be changed in Lord of the Rings from crying out as he was stabbed to gasping as the knife went in. He told Peter Jackson that the director hadn't seen what happens when someone is stabbed, and Lee had. They did it Lee's way.

[Apologist Puncher]

I'm sure you all saw this, but here it is just in case:

http://www.slashfilm.com/dominic-cooper-to-play-james-bond-creator-ian-fleming/

Dominic Cooper to Play James Bond Creator Ian Fleming
Posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2013 by Angie Han



The $1 billion worldwide box office take for Skyfall is proof positive that affection for James Bond is alive and well. It only makes sense, then, that there are now plans in place to highlight the man who invented him. Dominic Cooper has signed on to play Bond author Ian Fleming in a four-episode British miniseries tentatively titled Fleming. He’s joined by Annabelle Wallis, who’ll play rumored Bond Girl inspiration Muriel Wright.

While some authors are more adventurous on the page than in real life, Fleming was by most accounts the basis for his famed creation. Many of Bond’s daring escapades were inspired by Fleming’s own experiences in intelligence. And also like Bond, Fleming was notorious for boozing and womanizing. Read more after the jump.

Variety got the scoop on Cooper’s casting. Sky Atlantic has just given the green light to the series, and production is expected to get underway in the UK and Budapest in the coming months. BBC America will co-produce. The goal is to get Fleming on the air (at least in the UK) by the end of this year. According to Deadline, the series will follow Fleming’s early life in war-torn London.

Although Fleming is best remembered for his books, his life story would’ve been an interesting one even without them. Born into a wealthy, well connected family, Fleming worked in journalism and finance as a young man before he was recruited for the Royal Navy at the start of World War II. He had a successful career in the intelligence division, forming his own unit of commandos. He returned to journalism once the war was over, and then a few years later began work on the first Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Wright met Fleming in the ’30s, and the two began a passionate affair that lasted nine years. Though he had been unable to commit to a monogamous relationship with her, he was reportedly torn with grief and guilt after her death in a London air raid in 1944. She has been called the archetypal Bond Girl, though of course Fleming would go on to have many more romances after her.

Sky Atlantic’s Fleming is only one of several recent attempts to get the writer’s tale to the screen. As of last year, Duncan Jones was attached to direct a feature, also titled Fleming, based on a biography by Andrew Lycett. A few years before that, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way was developing another incarnation. Probably the most recent portrayal of Fleming was James D’Arcy’s in 2011′s Age of Heroes, which was about Fleming’s 30 Commando unit. Fleming has also previously been played by Jason Connery (Sean’s son) and Charles Dance in TV movies.

Cooper was last seen in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and will next star with Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace in Niels Arden Oplev’s Dead Man Down. A couple of months ago, he joined Aaron Paul in Need for Speed, based on the video game franchise. Wallis has appeared in Pan Am and The Tudors. She recently wrapped the BBC series Peaky Blinders, co-starring Cillian Murphy.