Hollywood trade press report on `From Russia With Love` videogame

MI6 readers have known since January, when MI6 exclusively revealed the next James Bond video game to the world - "From Russia With Love" - starring Sean Connery, back as James Bond 007.

Now the Hollywood press is catching up to the story three months on, with reports on the forthcoming game hitting the trade press.

Actor Sean Connery, the original James Bond of the big screen, has agreed to reprise his role as Agent 007 for Electronic Arts' upcoming video game version of "From Russia With Love" - reports the Hollywood Reporter.


Image: Movie Market

Connery will record dialogue for the game, and his likeness will appear as it did in MGM's 1963 hit movie, his second outing as the suave British super spy.

He will be joined by other likenesses from the original film's characters, including Q (Desmond Llewelyn), Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw), Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), Kerim Bay (Pedro Armendariz) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell).

In addition, EA said it will work with Hollywood talent to round out the game's experience.

"As an artist, I see this as another way to explore the creative process," Connery said. "Video games are an extremely popular form of entertainment today, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all fits together."

"The combination of Sean Connery, the Bond universe and 'From Russia With Love' is about the best mix you can have in a Bond game without a new feature film," said John Taylor, video game analyst at Arcadia Research. "Connery set the standard for James Bond and is most people's favorite Bond. This game should have both a retro and contemporary appeal to a large audience."

The game is set for release in the fall on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, meaning it will come out before the next James Bond feature from MGM, "Casino Royale," an adaptation of the 1953 novel that introduced the Bond character. That film is slated for release in 2006.

EA achieved considerable success with the James Bond franchise before it decided to turn back the clock for its next interactive 007 adventure. The video game leader brought classic Bond characters back in 2004's "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" game, which put players in the shoes of the villain GoldenEye.

That title used the voice and likenesses of Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga from "The Man with the Golden Gun" and Judi Dench as M.

In addition, the likenesses of Auric Goldfinger, Dr. No, Oddjob, Xenia Onatopp and Pussy Galore were used in the video game story line told from the perspective of the villains.

Before that, EA worked with Pierce Brosnan as Bond in the original game, "Bond 007: Everything or Nothing," which featured the voice and likeness of the actor along with that of Dench and John Cleese.

Original characters were brought to life by Willem Dafoe (villain Nikolai Diavolo), Shannon Elizabeth (Bond girl Serena St. Germaine) and Heidi Klum (Russian agent Katya Nadanova).

The new game will follow the plot of the original "From Russia with Love" film, including the battle on the Orient Express and the boat chase sequence, but will expand the story with new action sequences.

The development team approached the game as a director's cut of the film, which will allow the player to utilize such cool toys as the jetpack and a Q-copter as well as the trusty Walther PPK handgun.

Click here for full coverage of "From Russia With Love" (VG) on MI6.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.

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