Writer, Author, Bond Fan

Tag: Catching Bullets (Page 9 of 10)

WATCHING SKIES – STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US has now landed in the forest!

A book that is 3 million light years from home.
A book that marks the return of the great adventure.
A book that thought it was safe to go back in the water.
A book that knows what scares you.
A book that is 43 years in the making.

Cue a John Williams overture, a cascade of BMX bikes, a trail of Reece’s Pieces and flying with friends from other stars…

WATCHING SKIES – STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US is now published and has landed in the forest of all good book and e-book stockists!

Click to buy.

Mark O’Connell didn’t want to be Luke Skywalker. He wanted to be one of the mop-haired kids on the Star Wars toy commercials. And he would have done it had his parents had better pine furniture and a condo in California.

Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman didn’t just change cinema – they made lasting highways into our childhoods, toy boxes and video stores like never before.

In Watching Skies, O’Connell pilots a gilded X-Wing flight through that shared universe of bedroom remakes of Return of the Jedi, close encounters with Christopher Reeve, sticker album swaps, the trauma of losing an entire Star Wars figure collection and honeymooning on Amity Island.

From the author of Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan, Watching Skies is a timely hologram from all our memory systems. It is about how George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, a shark, two motherships, some gremlins, ghostbusters and a man of steel jumped a whole generation to hyperspace*.

*Action figures sold separately.

Mark Gatiss (SHERLOCK, DOCTOR WHO) on WATCHING SKIES.

Mark Millar (KICK ASS, KINGSMAN, X-MEN) on WATCHING SKIES

Please rewind all memories before returning.

A BIG and heartfelt thanks to The History Press for the brilliant production and blockbusting efforts to make Watching Skies a true summer blockbuster!

£16.99
Paperback ISBN 9780750970198
eBook ISBN 9780750986151

For all Watching Skies press, reviewing and media enquiries :
Jess Gofton @ The History Press
01453 732513
[email protected]

For all writer enquiries:
Vivienne Clore
020 7497 0849
[email protected]

Press Release – WATCHING SKIES – STAR WARS, SPIELBERG AND US by Mark O’Connell – Summer 2018

 

THE CARS OF SPECTRE – Catching BOND IN MOTION’s new SPECTRE collection

THE CARS OF SPECTRE Launch - 17-11-15 - Photo © Mark O'Connell (11)

Since Bond In Motion‘s launch in March 2014 (full review and galleries), EON Productions and the London Film Museum’s collection of Bond vehicle gems has been attracting fans, tourists, kids and petrol heads alike from across the globe. Masterminded by the London Film Museum’s Jonathan Sands with EON Productions and its Archive Director Meg Simmonds on keen godparent duties, Bond In Motion celebrates those magnificent 007 men and women of Bond and especially their flying, driving and diving machines. Catching Bullets’ Mark O’Connell was invited to take the new display for a spin. And yes, he got to sit in an Aston. And yes, there were buttons to press.

THE CARS OF SPECTRE Launch - DB10 - 17-11-15 - Photo © Mark O'Connell (12)

 

Hot on the heels (or tyre tracks) of 007’s newest bullet, SPECTRE, the London Film Museum has now just launched its first special exhibition celebrating a new 007 movie – The Cars of SPECTRE. Since its 2014 launch where producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson first announced Bond’s newest Aston Martin, this new exhibition helps makes the welcome statement that Bond In Motion will be continuing indefinitely – much to the pride of Jonathan Sands and his museum team who have thoroughly enjoyed the ride, feedback and public enthusiasm so far.

“We are so excited to be presenting our first exhibition dedicated to SPECTRE. We regularly update Bond In Motion with never-before-seen gems from previous adventures but this is the first time we’ve been able to display vehicles from a film that is currently in cinemas around the world”

Jonathan Sands, London Film Museum founder & CEO

Sited in a brand new space amidst 007’s greatest vehicles (which in turn have had a great bout of feng-shui which has refreshed the whole exhibition in the best way – and sees the entire exhibition really using that underground space), The Cars of SPECTRE has now opened its bespoke car doors for the public with apt timing for cinemagoers.

THE CARS OF SPECTRE Launch - Rolls Royce Silver Wraith - 17-11-15 - Photo © Mark O'Connell (10)

As other SPECTRE exhibits are added to EON’s other two exhibitions (Washington DC’s Exquisitely Evil and the touring Designing Bond), The Cars of SPECTRE‘s main four-wheeled stars are the gleaming triumvirate of Hinx’s Jaguar C-X75, Oberhauser’s 1951 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith and of course the uber exclusive, Aston Martin DB10. Only around ten DB10s were reportedly commissioned but Bond In Motion in fact has two already. Well, one and a very cool half. The DB10 ejector seat stunt rig and a Land Rover Defender (straight from a mountain in Austria) are on display too and testament to the wizardry of Bond, the mathematics of such stunt sequences and the sheer effort that goes into making 007 look effortless. Though there is no Frank Sinatra CD left over in the DB10 by 009.

Montage 2

Added to that is a rich array of SPECTRE storyboards, clapperboards, props and costumes. Easily the coolest cabinet aptly flanking the DB10 is Daniel Craig’s Tom Ford Windsor three piece suit from the Rome funeral scenes and subsequent car chase (complete with collar pin, Tom Ford tie and Crockett & Jones Camberley boots). Yet equally striking is Hinx’s black on black suit on sentry duty by the fire damaged Jaguar and costume designer Jany Temime’s Moroccan trouser suit for Dr Madeleine Swann. Q gets his own display with his ID card, spectacles (SPECTRE-cals….sorry), Q Lab production models, the Omega Seamaster 300 watch and already iconic SPECTRE ring complete the line-up.

The Cars of SPECTRE opens on the 18th November 2015 as part of Bond In Motion. There is no extra charge for the new exhibition (beyond the normal admission price) and the gift shop is certainly stocked with SPECTRE goodies….but no cat food. And be sure to check out the cutest SPECTRE exhibit already making itself at home at Covent Garden – namely Blofeld’s Bath-o-Sub from Diamonds Are Forever.

For a full gallery of photos go to Catching Bullets Facebook page.

THE CARS OF SPECTRE (from left) The Jaguar C-X75, The Day of the Dead skulduggery & the Rolls Royce Silver Wraith. Photo © Mark O'Connell / 2015

The Cars of SPECTRE

Bond In Motion, 45 Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London.

Full price – £14.50

Child Ticket – [5-15years] £9.50

Concession Ticket – £9.50 [Students, 65 + and freedom pass holders]

Family Ticket – £38

Under 5 – Free

THE CARS OF SPECTRE Launch - DB10 - 17-11-15 - Photo © Mark O'Connell (15)

With thanks to EON Productions, Meg Simmonds, Jonathan Sands, White Ltd and the team at Bond In Motion.

 

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