Daniel Craig and new director Sam Mendes announced the cast and title for the 23rd James Bond movie that will open next year. The movie will be called Skyfall and according Mendes, who won an Academy Award for American Beauty, filming would start immediately. As in, today.

The cast includes Craig (in his third turn as Bond), Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, and Javier Bardem as an unknown villain. Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris join the cast as the "Bond Girls" and Dame Judi Dench reprises her role as M.

MGM, the studio that has owned the franchise for decades, went bankrupt last year, threatening the development of this and other future Bond films, but after restructuring and a partnership with a new studio, the movie was finally able to go forward.

Today is also the 50th anniversary of the day Sean Connery was picked to star in the first Bond movie, Dr. No. The actors and producers were tight lipped about the plot of the film, which will open next October.

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Dashiell Bennett