With the release of the first trailer for Skyfall earlier this week and a handful of other Bond-related news stories, somehow I missed this intriguing little headline. As most 007 fans are probably aware, Bond’s creator Ian Fleming served as a Naval intelligence officer in WWII, and his experiences in the Royal Navy inspired the fictional adventures he would write later in life. We had been hearing about the possibility of a biopic about Ian Fleming for a few years now with James McAvoy and Leonardo DiCaprio both previously rumoured to be attached. While we still don’t know who will star, this week the project has been assigned a director in the form of Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code). Here is what he had to say about the announcement:

“Fleming lived through one of the most perilous periods in world history, in a position that allowed him a unique vantage point of all the players, all the stakes… He witnessed true heroism first-hand. And he saw the evil men could do. Then, when the war ended, he went off to write fiction. The essential question for me is: Where did Ian Fleming end and Bond begin?”

The movie has the working title of Fleming and is expected to go into production later this year. The script was written by Matt Brown (Ropewalk), based on the book Ian Fleming, the Man Behind James Bond by Andrew Lycett. I’m still not entirely sure if this is the same project that McAvoy and DiCaprio were once rumoured for, but if it is, it would appear that Warner Brothers is no longer involved.

Fleming was also known as a womanizer, having been kicked out of Eton College and the Royal Military Academy due to his playboy lifestyle. Clearly there is a lot of overlap and it could be cool to see a more realistic portrayal of Bond on screen, although casting will be crucial. Duncan Jones has mostly stuck to sci-fi thus far, but it’s definitely an interesting opportunity for him. Are you interested in seeing an Ian Fleming biopic?