The new wartime drama stars Sean Bean as Captain Jones, Danny Dyer as Corporal Bob Rains, and Izabella Miko. Bean, of course, is very familiar to Bond fans, as he played villainous Alec Trevelyan opposite Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in ‘Goldeneye’ (1995). He is also an accomplished TV and stage actor, who returned to the London stage in 2002 to play ‘Macbeth’ alongside former Miss Moneypenny actress Samantha Bond. Bean has also played the hero in ITV’s long-running and popular Napoleonic drama ‘Sharpe’. 

Interestingly, there is also a key role in ‘Age of Heroes’ for British actor James D’Arcy, who plays Ian Fleming. The official synopsis for the film reveals that it is based on the true story of the formation of James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s 30 Commando, one of the most respected, secretive and exclusive special forces regiments formed during the Second World War…. The plot tells the story of how maverick but talented soldier Corporal Rains is recruited into the new unit by Captain Jones, a Commando force that was given special and particularly dangerous tasks by the British military. The main action in the film then takes place in the tough snowy terrain of the mountains of Norway, and involves the Commando unit, led by Captain Jones, carrying out a daring attack on a top secret German radar station, an outpost which has the latest hi-tech equipment and is heavily guarded. 

During the filming James D’Arcy, whose previous roles have included British navy First Lt. Tom Pullings in ‘Master and Commander’ (2003), Father Francis in ‘Exorcist: The Beginning’ (2003), and numerous British TV roles, offered some brief thoughts on his role as Ian Fleming to the Norwegian press. He said: ‘Fleming lived an unreal life. It’s strange, really, that the story of his life isn’t better known’. 

Stuntmen extras recruited for the fight scenes on the film included 20 former British soldiers, who all once served in the SAS and other units, and were supplied by Andy Macnab, former SAS operative and author of ‘Bravo Two Zero’, who also gave military advice to the new production. He remains good friends with Sean Bean, who played Macnab in the ITV film version of the now famous account of a real-life SAS operation that went badly wrong during the first Gulf War. Adrian Vitoria, the director of ‘Age of Heroes’, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ed Scates, was so keen to have everything appear as authentic as possible in the new movie that he persuaded several of the actors to train with former British soldiers for a number of weeks prior to the start of the filming in Norway. 

However, not everything went to plan while the main unit filmed on location. Many of the cast and crew were hit in April by a vomiting virus, which forced a temporary halt to the production. The Icelandic volcanic ash crisis also threatened at one point to seriously disrupt proceedings and maroon the crew in Norway. But both cast and crew have revealed in online blogs how much they enjoyed working on the movie, despite the brief setbacks. And preview stills released from the film certainly look stunning. 

The UK release date for the new 5 million movie has been set for 1 st October, 2010, and it is currently in post-production. The next movie in the trilogy will apparently be set in Africa.