UPDATE: Well, it looks like MGM hit this one fast and it's been taken down. We'll update with a link if one pops up, but it looks like Adi Shankar has a target on his back with these fan films. Y'know, because how DARE someone make an unofficial fan film, right? Sheesh. – PS
Adi Shankar is a name that movie fans are quickly coming to know by heart. In this decade alone, he's produced the likes of THE GREY, A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES and LONE SURVIVOR. Most of you will probably know him for bringing DREDD to silver screens and campaigning that movie like no tomorrow. Shankar is also quickly building another name for himself in the world of fan films. He brought back Thomas Jane for the Punisher short, DIRTY LAUNDRY, and more recently delivered a gritty take on the Power Rangers. A week later, there's another franchise he wants to deliver on, and that's Bond. His latest endeavor is an animated take on Sean Connery's Bond that follows the character long after his license to kill has been revoked.
Adi Shankar on why he produced a Bond fan film:
I always wondered what would happen to James Bond in his old age and in our borderless world. I'm not referring to the Bond we've seen in recent films, that incarnation is closer to Jason Bourne meets Batman. I'm referring to the swanky, alcoholic, serial killer, with mommy issues that we saw in films like DR. NO and GOLDFINGER. How would he find a sense of purpose in a self absorbed and impersonal modern world once his license to kill has been revoked?
I have a love/hate relationship with fan films in that I appreciate the time and effort that filmmakers are willing to put into such endeavors, but would prefer that they use that talent to create something new. Regardless, Shankar definitely seems to be on to something. He's out to placate the fan base and I think that's going to pay off in a big way. Also, while he's out to rekindle childhoods, if he wants to do his take on Dino Riders . . . I'd be hip to that.