PEOPLE
LOS ANGELES — Daniel Craig is back as Bond, the spy series' producers confirmed, in a Danny Boyle-directed film due for release in 2019.
Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions announced Thursday that production on the 25th official James Bond thriller will begin in December at London's Pinewood Studios.
Craig will reprise his role as 007 and Oscar-winner Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire”) will direct from a screenplay by Boyle's frequent collaborator John Hodge.
Confirmation of Craig's fifth Bond film followed speculation that the 50-year-old actor was about to hand in his license to kill. He said in 2015 that he would rather “slash my wrists” than return to the role — but later backtracked on those remarks, made just after he finished filming his fourth Bond film, “Spectre.”
Boyle has directed Craig as Bond once before, in a 007-themed segment for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.
EON said that after more than a decade at Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures will release the next installment of the superspy franchise internationally. MGM will handle the U.S. release.
Sony's Bond contract expired in 2015 and many of the major studios competed for the chance to distribute the profitable franchise.
As per tradition Bond 25 will open a bit earlier in the U.K., on Oct. 25, 2019, than in the U.S., where it will debut on Nov. 8, 2019.
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VINALHAVEN, Maine — Reclusive pop artist Robert Indiana didn't open his island home to many strangers. That's going to change with his death.
Indiana's will calls for his Maine home and studio to be transformed into a museum and for his collection to be preserved and open to the public.
His attorney, James Brannan, filed the will in probate court on Friday in Rockland.
Indiana, whose “LOVE” series is instantly recognizable around the world, died on May 19 from respiratory failure at his Vinalhaven Island home.
Brannan declined Friday to place a figure on the artist's estate, but acknowledged that most of the value is in the artist's collection.
The attorney said it will take time and money to accomplish the late artist's goal because the Victorian home has fallen into disrepair.
———LONDON — Kensington Palace says Prince William will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of June — the first British royal to make an official visit there.The prince will begin his June 24-28 trip in Amman, Jordan, then travel to Jerash in Jordan; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah in the West Bank.No British royal has ever made an official visit to Israel, whose occupation of the Palestinian territories is considered illegal by the U.K. William's father, Prince Charles, attended the 2016 funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in a private capacity.This is also the first official royal visit to the Palestinian territories. It comes at the British government's request.By The Associated Press
