Tabloids wheel out fake Bond 25 rumours, shot down by author

31-Jul-2017 • No Time To Die

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The Daily Mirror instigated the latest round of fake James Bond news yesterday by claiming that the new film will be based on the continuation novel 'Never Dream of Dying' by author Raymond Benson.

"It is based on the 1999 thriller Never Dream Of Dying by US author Raymond Benson, who also wrote Bond books Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough,' the paper misleads. A 'source' told them: 'Bond scriptwriters feel it could be the perfect follow-up to Spectre. They are hoping to film in Croatia next year."

Not only did the paper get the year of publication wrong (it was released in 2001, not 1999 as they report), they also claim they spoke to Benson himself about it: "Author Mr. Benson said the film would hit cinemas in November 2019, with the film taking inspiration from the 1960s 007 outings You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service."

The problem with this is that Raymond Benson never spoke to the Mirror. On his Facebook page, the author released this statement:

"Some of you may have seen an article published by U.K.'s The Mirror yesterday that claims that the next Bond movie will be based on my novel Never Dream of Dying. I know nothing of this, but as I have not spoken with any Mirror journalists at all, I can only assume that the article is a piece of fabrication. It would, of course, be wonderful if it were true."

The Sun has now hit the copy and paste button on the Mirror's story without any fact checking.