Bond franchise shaken and stirred by Brosnan

Suave James Bond's next mission has been delayed as MGM studios searches for a new actor to play 007 and for a director to oversee his 21st screen outing.

The announcement by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) came less than a week after a deal to sell the Hollywood studio to a group led by Japan's Sony Corp. was sealed amid pledges that Bond business would continue business as usual.

The new film in the 42-year-old franchise had been due for release in November next year, but so far the picture has no director and no star, following Pierce Brosnan's announcement that he is set to retire as 007.

Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson are now wrangling over whether to release the new movie in the middle of 2006 or in November, Bond's traditional release month, studio officials said.

They conceded that it would be near impossible to start production on the film next January in the absence of a director.

In addition, a hunt is still on for an actor to incarnate the agent who likes his Martinis shaken and not stirred after the 51-year-old Irishman Brosnan announced his retirement from the spy world after four sorties.

British Ewan McGregor, Australians Eric Bana and Hugh Jackman and Britons Clive Owen, Jude Law and Orlando Bloom have all been tipped as the next spy legend, but no actor has yet been offered the prized job.

The delay in production also followed last week's confirmation that a consortium led by Sony Corp of America would buy the 80-year-old MGM studio, which has released the Bond films since 1962, for nearly 5 billion dollars.

The Bond franchise, created by the late Cubby Broccoli, remains MGM's biggest moneymaker, generating around US$3.8 billion in box office receipts and millions more in revenues from home video and broadcast rights.

Chewing the fat

Hollywood action hero Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) says he hates the American way life and would never want a green card residence permit as he much prefers living in his native Hong Kong.

Chow, who has spent a lot of time in Hollywood filming movies such as Anna and the King and Bulletproof Monk, told Chinese reporters that the US has never given him a sense of belonging and he would never apply for a permanent residency visa, commonly known as a green card.

"It's not that I can't get [a green card], I've never wanted to apply for one. I can't stand speaking English every day and I certainly can't stand the different lifestyle there, let alone the type of food," he said, according to Chinese-language newspaper The Sun.

Tall tales

Italian American groups opened fire Wednesday on movie mogul Steven Spielberg and star Robert DeNiro for what they say is a racist portrayal of Mafiosi sharks in the animated movie Shark Tale.

Organizations Americans of Italian descent and anti-discrimination groups called for a boycott of the hit children's film and accused its makers and stars of promoting violence and racial stereotyping.

The Dreamworks studios movie opened with US$47.6 million in its debut weekend, tells the story of a Mafia family led by patriarch Don Dino -- voiced by DeNiro.

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