Father Geek here with what amounts to Euro-AICN's 1st honest to god big scoop. Sounds like some fun flicks may be in our future. Bond was at his best when he had to complete with Flint, Matt Helm, and all those other spies that flooded the cinemas in the late 60's and early 70's. Maybe this will force 007 to get his "edge" back, something that's been missing for a few years now. Good work on nailing down this scoop guys... keep it up!

Here's a special report from EURO AICN on a POSSIBLE new franchise to compete with the Bond films :

Hi guys... Edgard [and Darth Bond making stupid comments] here at EuroAICN HQ... James Bond fans: be happy! I might have good news for you. I don't know about you, but for me the last James Bond was disappointing... actually the last three James Bond were disappointing... [ouch! Are you gonna get flamed for that !-DB]

It's not I don't like Pierce Brosnan, au contraire, I think he has all it takes to be a good James Bond... but it's all the other stuff... it's hard to explain but I can't find the "old magic" in the new James Bond films... [so basically Edgard thinks Bond should go back to smoking and sleeping with half-witted bond girls -DB]. Today they just seem ordinary action movies. And I don't want to sound old fashioned (I am not that old, I grew up with Roger Moore as 007) but it's true that films like GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL or even -gasp! don't kill me! - ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE had some unique flavour you can't find today... Again, don't get me wrong... I enjoy to some level the "new" James Bond's... except the last one, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH... that was for me a list of the worst mistakes can do with a 007 film : bad JB Girls, a bad guy underwritten (and a wasted Robert Carlyle), no plot, no feelings, action sequences in automatic mode (spectacular but not great) and a "small scale" ending (where are the ninja's of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE ? ...where are the submarine army of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME ?). And most of all : James Bond himself seems on automatic pilot (again I have nothing against Brosnan, it's the way his character is written). Maybe I am the only one to like LICENCE TO KILL but in that one Bond was more human, he was seeking for revenge, he didn't care about his "licence to kill" anymore, he was killing with no remorse, no waiting... Where is that Bond ? (if you disagree on that, read again Harry's review of THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH... he's more efficient to make you believe that TWINE was a crap Bond film). [I liked TWINE better than the other two, so I don't agree with Ed there, oh well -DB]

Why Am I telling you all this ? ... well because I talked to someone (I will call him Cyrano) who was missing the old 007 too... someone who did not like TWINE either... someone who wants to introduce us to an alternative to today's Bond films...

Does "SAS" rings a bell to you ?.... Gérard de Villiers ?... okay here it is : "SAS" is the French answer to James Bond... or more the continuity of his work in a way. After Ian Fleming died, Gérard de Villiers, thinking sadly he could not read anymore James Bond novels, decided to create his own secret agent, Malko Linge, a secret agent working for the CIA, living in an Austrian castle. "SAS" stands for "Son Altesse Séréni ssime" (you can translate it as "His Most Serene Highness". These books were -and still are - very popular in France and Europe (250 million books sold)...To be honest it's not great quality, just pure entertainment . It's the kind of easy reading you take with you on vacations... One of the interesting thing was that de Villiers has always been a bit ahead of the headlines in his stories (like putting his hero in the middle of a civil war in a specific country, then 2 months after publication the civil war was really happening)... thus creating a curiosity buzz among his public.

So what now Edgard ? Well I have been contacted by Cyrano to bring you the news : Some American studio is planning to launch this new (hopefully for them) franchise.... as an alternative to what James Bond is today... This will be made by people who are fans of early 007 movies (I was told that two "oscar-winning" collaborators who worked on the Bond franchise will work on this one). I don't want to spoil anything about the plot but let's just say that here too there will be a real link to "future actuality" (I give you a huge hint, fellow Europeans, what will happen here on January 1st 2002 ??) [If like me you also said to yourself "wha*?" remember a certain currency that's supposed to roll out -DB]. Cyrano also told me that the "SAS's girl" would be more in the lining of a Pussy Galore than a Dr. Christmas. And actors shouldn't be famous faces (at least, for American audiences) but just enough to keep your attention on them. From what I understood, actors have been chosen from different European countries except the hero who - I think - should be Canadian (two words : "Due South"). Béatrice Dalle (Betty Blue) could probably be one of the actresses involved. Like in early James Bond, extravagant locations will be used. The "Mont Saint-Michel" in Normandy [I was there last month, beautiful place -DB] could be the SAS castle (instead of an Austrian castle) with lots of gadgets and traps to protect him. And best of the best; Paris might be the scene of a wild action sequence (remember how disappointed I was two days ago with "Taxi 2" which did not embrace the "fun capacity" of the French capital?) : here I heard - beware of spoilers - a huge fight between helicopters above Paris. Think about it : helicopters crashing all over Paris... could be extra great, no ??. Other action sequences are (more spoilers) : an entire office building imploding in Rome, a 10-minute TAXI-style car chase in Washington DC, an entire ski-lodge/hotel vaporizing.... To make all this correctly, you need a big budget you will say... well from what I heard, the big budget is definitely there.

So it's an American production... why was then the EuroAICN office contacted (very early in the morning, so I take this opportunity to apologise to my girlfriend who thinks I am stupid to spend an hour on the phone at 5.00 am) ? Because the hero is from a French book? Because the shooting will take place in many European locations including France, Austria, Germany and Italy? Because many actors will be European? Or maybe just because Cyrano loves Paris ? I don't really know actually... [so why ask? -DB]

And now, what should we think of all this ?... Shooting of "SAS" should start at the beginning of 2001... Should we get really excited about this project ? Do we want a different James Bond ? How different ? My opinion on this is that it is a risky project: maybe the public will stay faithful to James Bond and will not pay to see some SAS... (there was already a SAS movie made in the 80's and it was extremely bad... really really bad... so why this one should be better ?)... all I know is that if the people involved have the opportunity to stay faithful to their description of the project, meaning that the studio behind this project puts the money necessary to get the right actors, to get the action sequences well made and mainly to sell well the movie when it will come out, then maybe we could get a REAL James Bond movie... like they used to make 'em. But maybe I am just being too naive... Let's hope that however it is brought to the screen, it won't be worst than TWINE... [oh, c'mon Ed! "I never miss", that line alone saves the whole film! -DB]

Make sure to send all your Euro-scoops and any other ultra cool Euro-stuff to us at AICN's Paris Offices.