The World Is Not Enough, the 19th installment in the James Bond series starring Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle and Denise Richards, starts production in London with Michael Apted at the helm, it was announced last Friday by producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of Danjaq and Lindsay Doran, President and Chief Operating Officer of United Artists Pictures.

Pierce Brosnan, who starred in the franchise's highly successful GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, reprises his role as James Bond, who must race to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the balance. Sophie Marceau also stars as Elektra King, the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon whom Bond is assigned to protect. Robert Carlyle joins the cast as the villain Renard, who has a bullet lodged in his brain rendering him unable to feel pain. The film also stars Denise Richards as nuclear weapons expert Dr. Christmas Jones. Desmond Llewelyn returns as Q along with appearances by Judi Dench as M and Samantha Bond as Moneypenny. Robbie Coltrane returns as Valentin Zukovsky, whose first series appearance was in GoldenEye.

Directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Neil Purvis & Robert Wade and Dana Stevens and Bruce Feirstein, The World Is Not Enough will shoot on location around the world, including London, Turkey, Spain and the French Alps. The World Is Not Enough opens on November 19 this year.

The World Is Not Enough is produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who carry on the family tradition founded by the late Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli, who 37 years ago began the most successful film franchise in cinema history with the groundbreaking Dr. No.

In addition to the box-office hits Tomorrow Never Dies and GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan will soon be seen opposite Rene Russo in United Artists' forthcoming romantic thriller The Thomas Crown Affair as well as The Nephew, both of which he also produced. He will also be seen in Grey Owl. Brosnan's recent credits include Quest For Camelot, Dante's Peak, Mars Attacks!, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Love Affair, Mrs Doubtfire, The Lawnmower Man and The Fourth Protocol, among numerous others. On television, he starred in the title role of the hit series Remington Steele, and appeared in many other telefilms and specials.

In addition to her critically-acclaimed role as Princess Isabelle in Braveheart, Sophie Marceau most recently starred in the title role of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. The star of numerous European films, her recent credits include Michelangelo Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds, the romantic drama Firelight and the forthcoming film adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and the comedy Lost and Found.

Robert Carlyle is perhaps best known for his highly lauded performance in The Full Monty, which garnered him the British Academy Award for best-leading actor among other awards. His credits also include Trainspotting and the forthcoming films Raverious directed by Antonia Bird and Angela's Ashes directed by Alan Parker.

Denise Richards most recently starred as the devious Kelly Van Ryan in Wild Things and as pilot Carmen Ibanez in Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. Richards made her debut on ABC-TV's Doogie Howser, M.D. Her television credits also include three episodes of Melrose Place. She will next be seen in Dairy Queens and Taillights Fade.

Director Michael Apted has helmed such acclaimed and successful films as Extreme Measures starring Hugh Grant; Nell starring Jodie Foster; Blink starring Madeleine Stowe; Thunderheart, Gorillas in the Mist and Gorky Park. He also created the award-winning documentaries which followed the lives of a group of children, beginning with Seven Up and revisiting the same individuals four more times, culminating in 1998's Forty Two Up. Among Apted's additional documentary credits is the highly acclaimed film about rock star Sting entitled Bring On the Night.

Writers Neil Purvis & Robert Wade, whose credits include the forthcoming Plunkett & Macleane, also co-wrote the British thriller Let Him Have It.

Dana Stevens's credits include Blink, directed by Michael Apted, as well as City of Angels directed by Brad Silberling and the forthcoming For the Love of the Game, starring Kevin Costner.

Bruce Feirstein previously penned the Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies and GoldenEye, which he co-wrote.

Michael G. Wilson produced the highly successful films GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, along with Barbara Broccoli. Wilson previously co-produced with his stepfather, the late Albert R Broccoli, the Bond films A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. He executive produced a number of Bond films, including Moonraker, and co-wrote For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.

Barbara Broccoli was an assistant director on Octapussy and A View to a Kill and was the associate producer with Tom Pevsner on The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. She produced GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies with Michael G. Wilson and continues in this capacity with the latest 007 adventure. Broccoli is also the head of development for Danjaq, LLC. Through her own independent production company. Astoria Productions, she recently produced (with Amanda Schiff) the Golden Globe Award nominated telefilm Crime of the Century for HBO, starring Stephen Rea and Isabella Rossellini.

*text taken from http://releases.twoten.press.net/releases/date/1999/01/11/FILM-Bond.html