23rd Bond Flick Starts Filming

James Bond is back for a 23rd time in Skyfall, which begins filming today and will be out next year after a four-year gap in the 007 franchise. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as the super spy for the third time, going up against Javier Bardem as the villain. Skyfall’s Bond girls are French actress Berenice Marlohe and British actress Naomie Harris, Reuters reports. Though some feared the new director—American Beauty’s Sam Mendes—might tone down the franchise, he assured reporters at today’s launch that the script includes “lots of action.”

In Skyfall, Bond will visit London, China, Turkey, and Scotland. His loyalty to spy boss M, played again by Dame Judi Dench, will be tested. Spy headquarters MI6 will face an attack. “There’s lots of surprises” in the “fantastic script,” Mendes says. The movie is out next Nov. 9 in the US; 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the film franchise. The BBC notes that only four unused titles from Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories remain, including one that isn’t all that exciting (“007 in New York”).