The much delayed 25th official James Bond film is due to begin filming in April at Pinewood studios, under the working title “Shatterhand,” which was taken from an alias used by series supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Ian Fleming’s 1964 Bond novel “You Only Live Twice.”
The news comes after the film’s release date was pushed back to April 2020 amid reports of script rewrites. “Bourne Ultimatum” writer Scott Z Burns has been hired to rework the screenplay for Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as 007. Original director Danny Boyle dropped out in August 2018 after “creative differences” with the producers, and there have since been script drafts by Paul Haggis and the series’ writing team Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
Many fans are questioning (while some are making fun of) the new 007’s film’s working title, and while Shatterhand stands as an undeniably odd title, it certainly exists on a continuum of other wacky Bond movie names from over the years, such as “Octopussy,” “Moonraker,” and “Thunderball.”
In other 007 news, Rami Malek is entering final negotiations to appear as the villain in Bond 25. Variety reports Bond producers spent the last several months figuring out how to accommodate Malek’s Bond shooting schedule with his commitment to the final season of “Mr. Robot.” Rami Malek is currently recently won an Oscar for his acclaimed performance in “Bohemian Rhasody.”
