Things are finally underway on the 23rd entry in the James Bond series, with filming starting late last week, a title confirmed as "Skyfall," the cast of Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney and Naomie Harris formally announced, and even a vague plot synopsis being revealed. Now that shooting has begun in London, there's been a couple of last-minute casting announcements; one a name previously linked with the project, one a brand new one.
The official @007 Twitter feed (via Coming Soon) announced yesterday that Helen McCrory and Ola Rapace are among the cast of "Skyfall." McCrory, perhaps best known internationallly for playing Narcissa Malfoy in the last few "Harry Potter" films, has a history with director Sam Mendes, having appeared alongside Emily Watson and Mark Strong in his final productions at the Donmar Warehouse in 2002, "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya." Her name's been connected to the project for over a month now, but this is the first word from inside Sony that she's involved.
Ola Rapace, meanwhile, is less familiar; the Swedish actor perhaps being best known for being married, until recently, to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and "Prometheus" star Noomi Rapace. He stars alongside her in this year's Swedish Oscars entry "Beyond," and had, a decade ago, a role in Lukas Moodysson's excellent "Together," as well as plenty of Swedish film and TV drama since.
There's no news on who either actor will be playing, and it's likely some time before we'll find out. The film won't hit theaters in the U.S. til November 9th, 2012, with a European date two weeks before that. Whether there's more casting to be revealed remains to be seen…