I’ve always been told that the story of Ian Fleming (the man who created James Bond) was a fascinating one, but one I confess I’ve never actually heard, so when news hit some time ago that a script was done on the life of Fleming, I was pretty curious. I still remember how much I loved “Finding Neverland” (a movie about Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie) and thought something like this on the man behind Bond would be great.
Some promising news on the project came out today with word that Leonardo DiCaprio may play the role. The folks over at IESB give us the following:
“It’s the real James Bond,” says the 35-year-old Stevenson, who previously worked as a development executive at Kopelson Entertainment and DreamWorks. “In England, Ian Fleming’s exploits are much better well known. Talking to people out here, no one had any idea that M was based on a real person, Miss Moneypenny was based on a real person.”
Some script time line details are also included, “His latest version of the screenplay begins on the eve of Fleming’s Jamaica wedding in 1952, just before his first Bond novel, “Casino Royale,” was published (a wedding present to his new wife). It then flashes back to Fleming’s years as a Reuters journalist stationed in Moscow and then a Commander of Naval Intelligence (MI6 code name “17F”) during World War II who devised innovative spying plots.”
Dicaprio’s production company is functioning as the producers for the film, so a rumor like this may well be founding in truth. Hard to say at this point, but it would be pretty cool. Dicaprio has evolved into one of the best actors working today, and a project like this one would see to be right up his ally.
