By Bond 25 - or Shatterhand, as it seems likely to be called - is getting its act together ahead of the start of production in the spring, and that means we're getting closer to the official confirmation of who's going to play the villain.
According to Collider, it's going to be recent Oscar winner and proud owner of the most gigantic prosthetic dentures in Los Angeles, Rami Malek. The site says that, according to its sources, he's in "final negotiations" now, and that part of the delay in sorting the deal is because both sides were waiting to see whether he'd win the Best Actor gong and thus be able to command a bit more bunse. The deal's reportedly still on the go, though.
That's about all we know so far, aside from Malek having long been tagged for involvement in Bond 25 but unable to commit thanks to his commitments on Mr Robot. Happily, Collider reckons all those kinks have been worked out and everything's dandy on that front.
Rumours abound that Shatterhand's villain will be blind, and it would certainly be in the vein of recent Bond villains for Malek's do-badder to have some kind of physical disability - think of Skyfall villain Raoul Silva and his cyanide-rotted gob, Le Chiffre crying blood, and Christoph Waltz's complete lack of socks in Spectre. It'd be a bit of a departure to have a villain marked out by their preposterously huge teeth, but let's not count it out.
