EXCLUSIVE: Tom Hiddleston spotted in 'meeting with 007 director Sam Mendes'... fuelling speculation he's set to play James Bond

DAILY MAIL
By EMILY SHERIDAN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:11 EST, 12 May 2016 | UPDATED: 11:23 EST, 12 May 2016

He won over even more fans with his performance as suave Jonathan Pine in TV hit The Night Manager.

And now it looks like Tom Hiddleston could be even closer to replacing Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond after he was spotted at the same venue as the franchise's film-maker.

A source told MailOnline how the actor was spotted at London's Soho House: Dean Street on Wednesday, with 007 director Sam Mendes.

Sam has helmed two Bond films in recent years, but also has non-007 interests, having recently announced he will direct and produce The Voyeur's Motel, adapted from Gay Talese's novel.

Tom, 35, has been one of the names in the frame to replace Daniel, who has played the suave MI6 agent since Casino Royale 10 years ago.

Although Daniel, 48, or producers haven't confirmed the actor has retired the role, there has been a flurry of speculation in recent months.

Last week, Tom played down the rumours, telling chat show host Graham Norton: 'The thing is the position isn't vacant as far as I am aware. No one has talked to me about it.

'I think the rumours have all come about because in the Night Manager I play a spy and people have made the link.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3586994/Tom-Hiddleston-spotted-meeting-007-director-Sam-Mendes-Soho-House.html#ixzz48Uc3281K 
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Martin Freeman wins Empire Award best actor for performance in The Hobbit (THE INDEPENDENT)

Martin Freeman was the epitome of modesty as he overcame star competition to win best actor at the Jameson Empire Film Awards tonight.

“It's possible that my performance was not the best if the year,” he said of his performance in The Hobbit. “but I'll take it.”

Similar modesty came when Dame Helen Mirren was named an Empire “legend”. “I feel more of a leg-over than a legend,” she quipped. “I have been more in my career.”

Jennifer Lawrence won best actress and Sam Mendes was named both best director and the “inspiration” awards, held in the Grosvenor House Hotel.

READ MORE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jameson-empire-film-awards-martin-freeman-wins-best-actor-for-performance-in-the-hobbit-8547600.html

Dame Helen Mirren Hints At Sam Mendes Sexism At Empire Awards 25 March 2013 (CONTACT MUSIC)

Oscar-winning alumni disappointed at Skyfall director's lack of female influences

Dame Helen Mirren doesn’t indulge herself in any sort of beef too often, so when she does you tend to listen, as it’s normally based on some pretty solid foundations. So what, then, of her Empire Awards acceptance speech, where she lambasted Sam Mendes, suggesting slightly cryptically that he might be sexist?

According to The Guardian, Mirren’s issue with the Skyfall director after he’d listed an exclusively male set of influences upon picking up his best director award on stage, neglecting any female film makers. When it came to Mirren to pick her Legend award, she took to the stage and said in her acceptance speech "I don't want to unduly pick on Sam Mendes, but when he spoke about his inspirations earlier this evening, I'm afraid not a single one of the people he mentioned was a woman.” Receiving cheers from the audience. "Hopefully in five or 10 years, when Sam's successor is collecting their Inspiration award, the list will be slightly more balanced in terms of its sexual make-up. In the meantime, this one is for the girls."

READ MORE: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/dame-helen-mirren-samuel-mendes-sexist-empire-awards_3575154

Dame Judi Dench: Why the sky won’t fall in on a living legend (YORKSHIRE POST)

Dame Judi Dench and director Sam Mendes (right) on the set of the James Bond film Skyfall.

Published on Friday 15 February 2013 09:53

She’s a dame, an Oscar winner, she’s one of our truly great actors and has achieved the status of National Treasure. Film critic Tony Earnshaw talks to Yorkshire’s own Judi Dench.

It would be wrong to assume that Judi Dench, dame of the theatre, film industry darling and – cough, cough – national treasure, treats movies as secondary to theatre or that she sees them in some way as a lesser form of the day job.

She takes the work seriously. Herself she takes far less seriously. This despite the seven Olivier awards (a record), 11 BAFTAs, two Golden Globes, a Tony and an Oscar, the latter for playing one of her many single-minded monarchs.


And she can still be taken by surprise. When the phone rang at her home in Surrey and the voice on the other end of the line announced it was Clint Eastwood, she thought it was a mischievous pal pulling her leg.

The call was genuine, the offer to play J Edgar Hoover’s mother very real. That was how Cleopatra came to be working with Dirty Harry. Even now Dench pinches herself, recalling the experience of acting for Eastwood as “a bit terrifying”. She has admitted to being star-struck.

She is refreshingly free of ego, as most truly great people are. And at 78 refreshingly free of any hang-ups about retirement. She’ll work ’til she drops – in movies, on TV or on the stage.


Thus it was that in the same year as she made her seventh appearance as ‘M’ in a James Bond film she popped up as a bag lady in arch farceur Ray Cooney’s film of his own ’80s hit Run for Your Wife.

Judi Dench likes to work. And it matters not to her if the role is a meaty one in the world’s longest-running iconic franchise or a cameo amongst 150 others in an old-fashioned comedy with an old friend at the helm.

READ MORE: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/the-arts/cinema/dame-judi-dench-why-the-sky-won-t-fall-in-on-a-living-legend-1-5412834

Dame Judi Dench: Skyfall Oscar omission 'a pity' (BBC NEWS)

Dame Judi, who plays spy chief M, told BBC Radio 4 it was a "great pity" the movie did not feature in the best film, director or acting categories.

"I'm very, very sorry that nothing has been recognised," she told Eddie Mair.

"That's a great pity. I thought Sam Mendes directed it absolutely beautifully. It was a terrific film.

Skyfall featured five times in the 2013 nominations list, announced in Los Angeles on Thursday.

But most of the nods were for the film's production, including cinematography, sound editing and sound mixing.

The film also scooped a nomination for its theme song, sung by Adele, which went to number two in the UK singles chart in October.

Asked by the PM programme if she thought there was a bias against Bond movies when it came to awards, Dame Judi said she "hoped not".

"There may be. I don't know. I hope not. I just think that all round it was really wonderfully directed and presented and filmed and lit and shot," she said.

"But I've got a Bafta nomination and that's terrific.

"I think it's good luck if you get an Oscar nomination and bad luck if you don't."

READ MORE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20976116

Skyfall becomes the first billion dollar Bond film (YAHOO MOVIES)

Skyfall has become the first Bond film to make $1 billion at the box office.

Bond 23, which was released in October in the UK and November in the US, breached the record-breaking barrier over the Christmas holidays.

So far, the film – directed by Sam Mendes and the third film to star Daniel Craig as 007 –  has made $289,600,000 (£179,274,563) in the US, and then a sturdy $710,600,000 (£439,891,245) around the world – a total of $1,000,200,000.

It's the first Bond film ever to amass the sum, though it should add another substantial figure to that once it opens in China in the New Year.

READ MORE: http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/skyfall-becomes-the-first-billion-dollar-bond-film-091406070.html

New James Bond Film Gets Five-Star Vatican Blessing October 31, 2012 (JAKARTA GLOBE)

Vatican City. If anyone thinks the Vatican newspaper is still a staid broadsheet that publishes only religious news and harsh papal edicts, consider this: On Tuesday it ran not one but five articles about the new James Bond film.

"Skyfall" gets a rave review in l'Osservatore Romano, which calls it one of the best of the 23 James Bond films made over the past 50 years.

In the main article, titled "007 License to Cry," the newspaper says the latest incarnation of the world's most famous spy is a rather good one because it makes him less of a cliché, and "more human, capable of being moved and of crying: in a word, more real."

A second article compares the different actors who have played James Bond, from the original Sean Connery to the current Daniel Craig.

In an interview with the newspaper, Craig says he feels "very different" from the actors who have preceded him in playing Bond but does concede that Connery is "a point of reference."

Another article explains why author Ian Fleming chose the name James Bond for his hero (Fleming wanted an ordinary sounding name), and the fifth article analyses the various soundtracks composed for the 23 films.

The Bond splash shows just how much the newspaper has changed.

READ MORE: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/new-james-bond-film-gets-five-star-vatican-blessing/553408

Daniel Craig: First Full Trailer for New James Bond Movie SKYFALL Plus the New International Trailer by Matt Goldberg Posted: July 31st, 2012 at 6:58 am (COLLIDER)

A full trailer for Skyfall has been released, and it looks like Bond is back in a big way.  Anyone who was disappointed by Quantum of Solace (about 90% of the population, myself included), will likely be back on board with director Sam Mendes‘ take on the franchise.  The upcoming flick looks like it has everything audiences want from a James Bond picture: style, big set pieces, sex, and more style.  Mendes looks like he knows what sets Bond apart from other action stars and taken full advantage of it.  If you’ve been let down by the majority of this summer’s action movies, there may be an excellent one this November.

READ MORE: http://collider.com/james-bond-skyfall-trailer/169061/

Bond 23 set to add Albert Finney to Cast - Veteran apparently joined Daniel Craig and co for 'Skyfall' script-reading

NME

Veteran actor Albert Finney is set to join the cast of the 23rd James Bond film, according to reports. The 75-year-old recently joined the likes of Daniel Craig and Judi Dench for a script-reading session at Pinewood Studios with a view to playing a Foreign Office worker in the film, reports the Daily Mail.

The film - widely reported to be titled Skyfall after Sony registered a number of URLs with the name last month - is due to hit cinemas on October 26, 2012.

The cast already includes Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Helen McCroary, with Craig taking the lead role for the third time.

Earlier this week, it was reported that director Sam Mendes was planning to focus on drama and dialogue rather than the usual high-octane action scenes in a bid to win an Oscar for the film.

Mendes, known for dramas such as American Beauty and Road To Perdition, is thought to be planning "characterful performances".

007 himself Craig has previously said he'd like to bring more "emotional depth" to the role.

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Kate Winslet: Divorce Was "Hard" for Sam Mendes and Me

2011-10-04 10:23:43

US Weekly

 Celebrity News October 4, 2011 AT 10:34AM By Justin Ravitz

Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

Kate Winslet has garnered worldwide acclaim -- plus an Oscar and many nominations -- for capturing the anguish of romantic heartache onscreen.
It helps that the actress, who turns 36 Tuesday, knows from experience. In March 2010, she and Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes ended their marriage of seven years.

"One thing I will say about me and Sam is that it's fine, it's really fine," the star tells Harper's Bazaar UK -- and she has no intention of slinging mud or worse at her second husband. "I'm not going to s***fling, there's no point in even going there. It is what it is."
Shooting her Emmy-winning role in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce amidst the split came especially naturally, she admitted. "There's a scene where Mildred and Bert are divorced and they sit down together, because they've got to settle on a cause," Winslet explained. "The first stage of my divorce with Sam came through on the very day that we were shooting. So that scene is nothing to do with acting."

One key to keeping the peace with Mendes: the couple's son, Jack, 7. "We're grown-ups at the end of the day, and however hard it's been for me, it’s been equally hard for him. And we have a child together who we both love - and raising him together, jointly and without any conflict, is absolutely key," Winslet explains.
And Winslet has been through this before, too. She has a daughter, Mia, nearly 12, with her first husband Jim Threapleton.

"[Co-parenting with an ex] is the only way to do it, and I've really learnt that with Mia," Winslet explains.
And as far as the future -- Winslet is now dating "Ned Rocknroll," the wild nephew of Richard Branson -- the star is ready for whatever comes.
"I feel that I'm just at the beginning of a new narrative, and it's incredibly exciting," she tells Harper's Bazaar. "It's complicated, I know, and uncertain - but it's where life happens, between the cracks. It can be a painful process, but I truly hope that never stops for me."