TIME is running out for James Bond. Filming of the next 007 movie, Casino Royale, is scheduled to start within 12 weeks but the makers have no script, no Miss Moneypenny and nobody to play Britain’s most enduring spy, writes John Harlow.

Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony Pictures, which will be raising the £70m budget for the film, will this week convene a second 007 summit to pick a new Bond. The first, last year in a London club, ended in disarray.

Sony has told Eon, the British-based company that holds production rights to the Bond series, that it may have to postpone the film. Cinemas have already started booking it for October 19, 2006.

Many replacements for the ousted Pierce Brosnan, who played Bond in the past four movies, have been discussed, but so far all have failed to match up to either the Irish actor or the other perennial favourite, Sir Sean Connery, at one time considered as director for Casino Royale.

Rejection can cut both ways. Everyone had agreed Clive Owen, 41, should play Bond, so director Martin Campbell offered him the role. But he turned it down, telling friends he finds Bond dated. He will instead play agent 006 in a Steve Martin remake of The Pink Panther.

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