Pierce Brosnan has revealed he's been working hard to "break the shackles" of James Bond, since stepping down as 007 in 2004.

The 56-year-old was Golden Globe nominated for his first major post Bond role, in 2005's The Matador, and appears in five new films this year, but feels the mantle of the iconic character is hard to shake.

Brosnan told the LA Times: "At the time, I was definitely still very connected to the image and the history of Bond, even when I was in it - it just lives with you."

He continued: "It permeates your life. And you know that going in, but the reality of it - the overcoat is really large, and can be quite heavy at times. So you have to break the shackles of that."

Lady Gaga will be asked to write a theme tune for the next James Bond film, it's been reported.

The US singer is understood to be producers “top choice” to create a song for the iconic spy franchise.

"Bond bosses are all huge Gaga fans,” a source told The Sun.

“Her sound and sense of drama make her the top choice. Gaga has the look as well as the voice to tackle a thundering ballad.

“She's a great songwriter too. This is perfect on every level."

Civil servants in Paris have written a storyline for James Bond in the hope that they can persuade producers of the multi-million dollar film franchise to set part of the next 007 film in the Palace of Versailles.

A pursuit in the castle park, rowing duel on the Grand Canal and an escape by helicopter from the roofs of the palace are among the few scenes imagined by the Paris region film commission to convince EON Productions to make part of the next James Bond in Versailles.

More than 160 films have been shot at Versailles, but the 17th century château has not yet hosted the legendary British spy.

"We want to give the producers some ideas, because it would be great to have James in the magnificent decor of the château," Stéphane Martinet, the deputy director of the Paris region film commission, told The Times.

"Producers tend to think of it as a setting for period movies, but these are not the most profitable films these days. We would like to get across the message that Versailles could be a location for all sorts of different movies."

Fan Festival is proud to announce a lifetime achievement award by Cinema Retro Magazine to Sir Christopher Lee to be held in the Debating Chamber at the London Film Museum, County Hall as part of the Fan Festival Weekend on 24th April at 5.30pm.

In a career spanning over five decades of acting, singing and adding his voice to nearly 300 films and television performances, Christopher Lee has become one of Britains most endearing actors.

And at 56, slim and elegant in a black suit, he could undoubtedly still kindle many more. His leading-man days are hardly behind him.

Sir Christopher Lee will receive Cinema Retro magazine's Lifetime Achievement award followed by a very rare chance to see the great actor being interviewed on stage by publisher Lee Pfeiffer - exclusively at The London Film Museum.

He’s been Bond, James Bond — and Remington Steele, and the subject of countless fervid female fantasies.

And at 56, slim and elegant in a black suit, he could undoubtedly still kindle many more. His leading-man days are hardly behind him.

But currently, Pierce Brosnan is, as he likes to put it, a “working actor,” happily taking on a variety of character parts — a brave centaur in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” a duplicitous politician in Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer,” a stubborn Brooklyn father in “Remember Me” — and, soon, a grieving parent in “The Greatest,” a “little jewel” of a movie he produced himself.

It only makes sense that Judi Dench, below, after accumulating a lifetime’s worth of theater, film and television credits that could easily fill a book, should finally write one. St. Martin’s Press said it had acquired a memoir from Ms. Dench, called “And Furthermore,” that described her professional and private lives, according to a press release from the publisher.

Though she has lately come to be known for her role as M in the James Bond franchise, and as Queen Elizabeth in “Shakespeare in Love” (for which she won an Academy Award for just a few minutes of screen time), Ms. Dench covers the breadth of her acting career in the memoir, from her start with the Old Vic theater company in 1957. St. Martin’s plans to publish “And Furthermore” in October.

Sara Keene, Mendes's British publicist, confirmed today that the director, who won an Academy Award for his first movie, American Beauty, in 1999, had met representatives of the Bond franchise to discuss the 23rd film in the series, but said nothing had been finalised.

"I can confirm that he has had a meeting, but Sam always has lots of projects on the table that he might direct next," Keene said. "Sam's method is to have a number of projects as possible next films and at some point to confirm which film he's going to do."

Screenwriter Peter Morgan has tantalisingly teased 007 fans just before the Christmas holidays with the first glimpse in to the creative process behind the 23rd James Bond film.

Morgan, who was drafted in to compliment regular James Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, has moved from London to Vienna, Austria.

Renowned for his scripting of the award-winning films "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon", Morgan moved to the city in the summer along with his wife and four children, telling the local press that the lack of direct flights to Los Angeles makes it a 15 hour trip back to Hollywood.

From July until October this year, Morgan was writing the first draft of Bond 23 - the third outing for Daniel Craig as 007. "It's a shocking story", he said after admitting he couldn't give anything more away.

It's a far cry from Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever. But animated tale Sir Billi the Vet, about the attempts of a retired Scottish animal doctor to rescue a fugitive beaver, will have one thing in common with the James Bond classics: the voices of Sean Connery and Shirley Bassey.

The veteran Scots actor has signed up to voice the lead, while Bassey takes singing duties on the title song, Guardian of the Highlands, according to the Hollywood Reporter. It's the first time their vocal talents have appeared in the same film since Diamonds Are Forever in 1971

Ian Fleming -- author of 12 thrillers turned films about James Bond, the super spy known as 007 who always lived on the edge -- is now the subject of his own movie. Yesterday (December 29), James McAvoy was approached to play the biographical film's lead role, retelling Ian Fleming’s experiences from his wartime involvement to the process he used when writing his famous tomes.

According to the UK Independent, the producers of the Ian Fleming flick approached James McAvoy to play the title role in the $40 million production. Among other aspects in the telling of the life and times of Ian Fleming, the author lived in Jamaica while working on his famous books.

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Mel Gibson wanted to play the coveted role of James Bond but was turned down by legendary 007 producer Cubby Broccoli, scriptwriter Tom Mankiewicz has revealed.

Speaking at a Bond convention in Los Angeles, Mankiewicz, who scripted Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun, said Gibson’s 5ft 9in frame took him out of the race for the spy’s role.

“At one point Mel Gibson wanted to play Bond,” the Daily Express quoted Mankiewicz, as saying.

He added: “And Cubby was against it. Cubby first of all had a thing about tall people. Bond had to be tall. And so Mel Gibson was too short. But he was a big star. Somebody at United Artists said to me, ‘Call him and tell him Mel Gibson would be great.’ And Cubby said, ‘I don’t want to make a Mel Gibson movie, I want to make a James Bond movie.’”

A rare comic book featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond dating back to the 1960s has sold in a London auction.

The book, based on the 1962 classic Dr No, was released by DC Comics to coincide with the fictional spy's big screen debut. It raised $227 when it was put under the hammer by Cameo Auctioneers.

"This Dr No comic is extremely rare and in impeccable condition given it is nearly 50 years old," said film memorabilia and comic consultant Adrian Cowdry. "It is a 'must have' for fans of James Bond, Ian Fleming or Sean Connery.

"The comic was aimed at reaching the comic reading masses. Hundreds were printed but in those days very few people thought comics would be worth keeping. Kids read them then gave them to friends or threw them out, or their parents would put them on the coal fire."

In the early '60s, movie producers adapting Ian Fleming's novels about a suave British spy named James Bond plucked a relative unknown, Sean Connery, out of obscurity and offered him the role of a lifetime. And when Connery left the franchise after five movies, the hunt for Bond was on again.

LIFE sent photographer Loomis Dean to the final casting sessions for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (released 40 years ago this week), and the magazine published a handful of those photos.