Eager James Bond fans have been fooled by a hoax trailer purporting to present the first glimpse of 007's next big screen adventure.
The trailer, which falsely revealed that the 24th official Bond film would be titled Come and Dive, spread quickly across the blogosphere before being taken down by YouTube. It was even accompanied by a fake press release sent out to a number of news organisations, including Total Film and the Los Angeles Times, pretending to be from Sony Pictures. The Japanese-owned Hollywood studio is behind the current iteration of Bond in association with MGM and perennial rights owners Eon Productions.
The press release reportedly revealed: "In Come and Dive, Bond will be swept away by a dangerous love story. As MI6 rises from its ashes, 007 must protect a mysterious stranger and unveil long forgotten secrets."
Total Film immediately questioned the promotional film's veracity, musing: "Look at the head movement again during that close-up of Craig's face in the Come and Dive video, it feels unnatural, like it's been reversed," and adding: "This moment looks like a zoomed and flipped version of this eye-roll from Bond's Olympic video."
The LA Times also spotted the hoax, but pointed out there was little to distinguish the ersatz from the bona fide in modern Hollywood. "It's easy to understand how it could seem real, though, at least for a second," wrote the newspaper's blogger. "The log line was vague — as though someone had just used some daring-sounding adjectives and threw them together with phrases like 'long-forgotten secrets' — but then, all log lines these days are kind of like that.
"And Come and Dive isn't the snappiest name, but then, neither was Quantum of Solace."
The real 24th Bond movie, once again starring Daniel Craig as the suave super-agent, does not start filming until October. It is due in cinemas the following autumn.
