A James Bond musical sounds a bit crazy, which is why it is thankfully not going to happen... at least any time soon. MGM has confirmed that there is no truth to the rumor that there will be a musical based on the world’s most famous fictional spy.
This rumor started with a report from Playbill on June 30. Merry Saltzman, the daughter of the late Bond film producer Harry Saltzman, told the site that she and her company Placeholder Productions had somehow secured the rights to make James Bond: The Musical. She even went as far as hiring Dave Clarke (Keep Hannah Waiting) to write the book and Jay Henry Weisz (Only One, Driving Home) to write the music and lyrics.
Saltzman said that the should would debut on Broadway or in Las Vegas in 2017 or 2018. There would be several classic Bond villains, as well as new ones.
However, MGM and Danjaq LLC, the company that holds the screen rights for Ian Fleming's characters, assured fans on Facebook that this is not going to happen. The companies stated that Saltzman did not obtain stage rights and cannot produce one without their permission.
“Danjaq LLC and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc confirm they have not licensed any rights to Merry Saltzman or her production company to create a James Bond musical. Danjaq and MGM jointly control all live stage rights in the Bond franchise, and therefore no James Bond stage show may be produced without their permission,” the statement reads.
MGM and Sony are currently working on SPECTRE, the 24th film in the franchise and fourth with Daniel Craig as Bond. It hits theaters in the U.S. on Nov. 6.
image courtesy of 007.com