James Bond Casting Rumors Denounced

July 3 -- Despite swirling rumors pegging Scottish actor Gerard Butler as the new 007, reigning James Bond Pierce Brosnan will continue in his post as the supersuave spy for "the foreseeable future," the franchise's producers announced this weekend.

"It just isn't true," a spokeswoman for the Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said of British tabloid and Internet reports that 32-year-old Butler, star of Wes Craven's Dracula 2000, is replacing the 48-year-old Brosnan as Bond.

Filming Set for Next January

"I wish these rumors would stop. We have been inundated with calls all week," the spokeswoman told Reuters adding, "Pierce Brosnan will play James Bond in the forthcoming production and for the foreseeable future."

Tell that to Butler, who reportedly confirmed the casting to Scotland's Daily Record, where he was quoted as saying that CNN had even reported the "news.""Barbara hasn't even spoken to [Butler], but I'm sure he's just as embarrassed by this as we are," said the spokeswoman.

Brosnan is due to start filming the yet-to-be-titled next Bond film at London's Pinewood studios in January.

The Irish-born Brosnan has played Bond in three movies, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Golden Eye.

Reuters contributed to this story.