IN THE KNOW / A Look at the Week Ahead

Madonna Bonds With a Fellow Icon

Could there be a more intriguing couple than Madonna and James Bond? A musical marriage is in the works between the platinum one and the super-suave spy, with Madonna in the studio this week working on the title song she composed for “Die Another Day,” the 20th Bond film.

There’s a rich but erratic history for the Bond tunes. Shirley Bassey had career-defining hits (“Diamonds Are Forever,” “Goldfinger”) and Paul McCartney and Wings tapped into their edgier side for the smash “Live and Let Die,” but most recent Bond songs have neither shaken nor stirred music fans.

“There’s still tremendous attention on who is chosen to do the Bond songs, but the last big hit, really, was Duran Duran,” says radio and film music consultant Jeff Pollack, referring to “View to a Kill,” a No. 1 hit in 1985. “It has not been an automatic hit, even for people like Sheryl Crow and Garbage.”

That could change with Madonna, who has been enjoying a critical and commercial renaissance with her recent albums. She is working on her next collection, and though no release date has been set, the Bond film release in November will give her a chance to stay in the ear of pop fans in a major way. She also has some spy film experience: Her “Beautiful Stranger” for the second “Austin Powers” movie was a hit and a Grammy winner.

“This is an absolutely perfect vehicle for Madonna and great for the film,” Pollack said. “The music videos, too, are almost like trailers for the film. It’s the best choice for a Bond film in years.”

Ah, but there is one plot twist remaining: “It has to be a good song, of course,” he adds. “That’s what really matters.”

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Williams Gives In to the Dark Side

Will the real Robin Williams please stand up?

Is he the wildly improvising, motor-mouth comic epitomized by his extraterrestrial character Mork from Ork in the 1970s TV sitcom “Mork & Mindy”? and the Army DJ in “Good Morning, Vietnam”? Or the man with teddy bear charm in “Flubber” and “Father’s Day”? Or the unorthodox intellectual in “Dead Poets Society” and “Good Will Hunting,” the latter of which won him an Academy Award for best supporting actor?

In recent years, Williams has been severely criticized for taking sappy roles in such films as “Patch Adams,” “Jakob the Liar,” “Jack” and “What Dreams May Come.” As one critic puts it, Williams seems to play “the Wise Clown meant to show us the way.”

Now, Williams is taking a severe departure from his usual comic or manic persona with three consecutive films that accent the darker side of his acting talents: “Death to Smoochy,” “Insomnia” and “One Hour Photo.”

In the dark comedy “Death to Smoochy,” which opens Friday, Williams plays Randolph Smiley, the costumed star of the highest-rated kids’ show on TV whose life crumbles after a scandal breaks. Homeless and bent on revenge, he goes after the new star of kids’ TV, named Smoochy. The film is directed by Danny DeVito, who also co-stars.

In the thriller “Insomnia,” which opens in May, Williams plays a twisted mystery writer; in “One Hour Photo” (tentatively scheduled to be a summer release), he is a psychotic loner working at the photo counter at a suburban discount department store.

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Compiled by Times staff writers