Well hot-damn! This has now officially spread like wildfire across the web over the last 12 hours, since I posted it early yesterday morning; even mainstream sites like Entertainment Weekly, Huffington Post, and many others have picked up the story. So, I figured I’d repost it, along with the fact that it has indeed been officially confirmed, posted here yesterday (reminding you of where you read it first), and later by others, that, yes, British actress Naomie Harris is indeed in talks to play the “Bond Girl” role in the next 007 movie, Bond 23. Though the actress is still mum about whether or not she’ll take the role.

You can catch up on yesterday’s updates below…

UPDATE 6-6-11: Received a message from long-time trusted S&A scooper, who’s based in London (EC Forde) that he spoke to Naomie Harris today about all this, and she confirmed that she’d indeed been offered a role in the film (didn’t say which), but she wouldn’t confirm whether she’d accepted. So maybe the tabloid News Of The World may not have been so far off after all; stay tuned…

ORIGINAL POST: Take this piece of news with skepticism… it comes from British tabloid paper, News Of The World, which is one of the many newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and his media conglomerate, News Corp. Celebrity scoops and “populist news” are its bread and butter; it’s somewhat like TMZ, I guess. They’ve broken a few stories over the years that turned out to be true, and are known for using unethical methods to obtain information.

So, this could be bullshit (they don’t list a source here), or it might eventually be revealed as fact. We’ll just have to wait and see; I’m sure I’ll soon be posting another entry that either confirms or negates this one. I like those odds 🙂

“The spy who loved Naomie,” the title of the article reads; and within it, you’ll find this “PIRATES of the Caribbean babe Naomie Harris has jumped ship – and will shoot to megastardom as the new Bond girl. Naomie, 34, will be Daniel Craig’s sexy sidekick in the soon -to-be filmed new 007 movie. “

Now, we already know that another Bond movie is in the works, to be titled Bond 23, which will see star Daniel Craig return. Production was initially suspended thanks to MGM’s financial troubles last year; however, all is apparently back on track, as the film is officially now in pre-production, and was officially given a US release date of November 9th, 2012.

Sam Mendes is attached to direct; and while it’s been confirmed that Dame Judi Dench will return to her role as M, and offers had reportedly gone out to Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes for starring roles in the movie, the now symbolic, maybe even coveted “Bond Girl” role is yet to be cast, with production scheduled to begin this fall.

Will it be Naomie Harris? *Shrug* Like I said, take this with some skepticism. I haven’t been able to verify it, nor have I found any “trusted” sites reporting it. And Harris won’t be the first woman whose name has been attached to the film and role; Frieda Pinto, Olivia Wilde, and even Meagan Fox have all been rumored to be in the running for the part over the last couple of years.

We’ll know for sure eventually…