Duncan Jones agrees to direct biopic on late James Bond creator Ian Fleming

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This is going to be one of those stories where the actual news portion is quite short, but the bit where we explain to the unaware why they ought to be excited might run a bit long. If you’re already in the know, you’re aware of how much awesome is contained in that headline.

The news here is that Duncan Jones will be directing a film based on the life of Ian Fleming. According to Twitch, the film is “backed by K5 and Palmstar” and should enter production later this year.

Now, on to the fun bit.

Duncan Jones is one of Hollywood’s most promising up-and-coming directors. In 2009 he debuted with the utterly brilliant Moon, then followed that up with the less brilliant Source Code. Not that Source Code was a bad movie, mind you — it was still far better than most Hollywood fare — it’s just that Jake Gyllenhaal is no match for Sam Rockwell in the acting department, regardless of how talented the director of a film might be.

Oh, also, Duncan Jones is the son of David Bowie. That’s mostly irrelevant to the topic at hand, but it’s still pretty cool.

Ian Fleming is best known as the creator of James Bond, the most famous spy in history. His Bond books have sold more than 100 million copies to date, and we feel safe in assuming that you’re aware of the ridiculous number of films the series has spawned.

That’s all common knowledge though. Fleming created Bond. Everyone knows that. What’s lesser know about the man however, is how utterly bizarre and fascinating his life was.

For instance, did you know that Ian Fleming was a soldier? More specifically, during World War II Fleming worked in British intelligence, wreaking havoc on the Nazis via sabotage and subterfuge. If that sounds like his most famous creation, there’s a good reason for that. It’s widely believed that the James Bond series (or at least its early tomes) are directly based on things Fleming experienced during World War II. Granted, the man obviously took some artistic liberties in his retelling — we sincerely hope that Hitler never developed a Moonraker laser — but even if 75-percent of those tales are utterly fiction, then Fleming spent an immense amount of time knee-deep in intrigue and beautiful, dangerous women.

He also wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. Weird, right? Yeah, the man’s life is full of bizarre twists.

Ian Fleming is the perfect subject for a biographical film, and Jones is a phenomenal director, so this project has us very excited. It’s just too bad that David Niven has been since 1983, as he’d be perfect in the role.

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