A Bond fan site reports that Ben Cooke, Daniel Craig’s stunt double from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, has been promoted to stunt coordinator on Bond 25. This would mean he’s replacing Gary Powell, who’s done a pretty amazing job across the last four films. If this is indeed the case, we hope this move is an amicable one for all involved, and in reading the tea leaves we have to wonder if this indicates a return to rough-and-tumble practical work after the comparatively gentle feats (give or take a train fight) of Spectre.

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This week I learned that Ralph Fiennes' uncle, renowned explorer/adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, was considered for the role of 007 in 1970 after George Lazenby talked himself out of a lucrative contract. The elder Fiennes was not an actor, so this would have been a curious direction for the franchise. Ultimately, Cubby Broccoli said Fiennes had "a face like a farmer," so American actor John Gavin (Psycho) was instead hired. Which would have been another weird direction for the franchise to go - weirdly, Cubby would return to the idea of casting an American as Bond well into the ‘80s. Thankfully, a record-breaking salary enticed Connery back for Diamonds Are Forever, Gavin was paid in full (yay Cubby!) and today a Yank 007 remains a what-if.

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Insomnia is a motherfucker, fam. I went down a rabbit hole late last night and identified - BY EYE - all the medal ribbon bars on Bond’s Naval uniform in You Only Live Twice. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me.

This morning I discovered that the James Bond wiki had, as one might expect, already done this. I regret nothing; the thrill of the hunt is all. Anyway, you can buy these things online - they’re all over Ebay and various merchants will make reproductions for you. So that’s fun.

Okay, thanks for letting me get that out of my system.

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Attention cord-cutters: You don’t need no stinking cable packitch to have a Bond marathon this Thanksgiving! Every single Bond film except Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall will be hitting Amazon Prime on November 1st. No telling how long they'll be up (and a heads up that they usually appear simultaneously on Hulu when this happens), but it's usually at least a month. They even have Never Say Never Again, which tends to be somewhat elusive on physical media, and Spectre, which apparently will never leave Prime.