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"‘That’s when I thought of the motto of the school, you see? The vision is loftier than the reality, but both must be sought.’ Kostler crossed to a table facing the front row, and picked up the squat box of the movie camera. ‘I’ve done that, you see? My little films take dreams and make them real. I direct reality – I am the one in control!’"
― Anton Kostler[src]

Anton Kostler was a fictional American film director, chief executive of Allworld Studios, and patron of The Kostler Allworld Academy for Excellence in the Arts. The character served as the primary antagonist of Steve Cole's 2014 Young Bond novel, Shoot to Kill.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Anton Kostler was an American film director behind Allworld Studios, husband to Zelda Kostler and father to their only son, Martyn. Powerless to prevent his wife's death from renal failure in 1926[2], the mogul obsessively sought control over what he perceived to be a meaningless existence. His nihilistic worldview led him to pursue complete dominance over global film production - and through its subversive reach, the minds of the world itself. To this end he engaged in blackmail, intimidation and exploitation using his partnership with George Barron and the Chicago mafia (who he employed as security). In addition, using the reputation of his mentor and experimental educationalist, Dr. Tobias Leaver, Kostler established progressive schools around the world to spread his influence, beginning in 1930 with the The Kostler Allworld Academy for Excellence in the Arts in California, United States.[3] Kostler's desire for control extended to life and death itself, and the mogul developed a sadistic taste for filming and watching people suffer and die. Unsurprisingly, he had not been a positive influence on his son and led him onto the same dark path.

Shoot to Kill[]

During June 1934[1], a reel of torture footage accidentally ended up in the hands of a British writer and cinema manager named Stuart Sloman. The writer foolishly attempted to blackmail Kostler into giving him a job; which the mogul ostensibly agreed to in order to procure the film and lure him into a trap. He dispatched gangster Lenny Vasquez to get it back, but the reel had been secretly borrowed by Sloman's nephew, Daniel, and shown to James Bond and the students at the experimental Dartington Hall School. Meanwhile in California, Dr. Leaver had become disillusioned with his controlling patron and was searching for a way to escape. In a bid to solve multiple problems, Kostler extended an invitation to Sloman, along with his nephew, Leaver's protégée and confidant, Gillian de Vries, and her students from Dartington Hall. Together, they flew to Los Angeles onboard his Allworld zeppelin. Unknown to Kostler, his blackmailing operation had come to the attention of the Secret Intelligence Service, who sent an undercover agent named Adam Elmhirst to join them; posing as a producer for the German Reichsfilmkammer.

With them all now within his sphere of influence, Kostler entertained them - discerning what they all knew. With the help of his son, he eventually recovered the reel and had his enemies brought to the old Allworld Studios complex at Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles. As the ranks of Kostler's mafia "private security firm" swelled, he would hold "auditions" for prospective personnel in the old film studio - their dilapidated film sets providing an ample testing ground for new recruits. The unarmed James Bond, Stuart Sloman, the Dartington students, and an investigative journalist named Tori Wo, were to be slaughtered by the gangsters and filmed for Anton's sadistic pleasure. However, with the exception of Sloman, the captives managed to escape with the help of Elmhirst. Pursued by Bond, Kostler attempted to escape aboard his private airship, the Zelda, alongside his son, Barron, Dr. Leaver and a Dartington hostage. Eventually James was captured and Kostler, filming with his Parvo movie camera, encouraged the eager Martyn to gouge out his eyes with a screwdriver. In an attempt to stop the madness, Dr. Leaver ignited the hydrogen gas in the balloon with a pistol, and Kostler, his son, and his associates were caught in the conflagration. Badly burned, Kostler survived the initial fire long enough to pursue Bond, but as the ship hit a forest on the way down, a tree branch speared the mogul through his left eye.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 See Young Bond timeline.
  2. Cole, Steve (6 November 2014). "Chapter 13: All the Stage Is a World", Shoot to Kill, Young Bond (in En-UK). London: Doubleday Childrens. ISBN 0857533738. “He doesn’t like sleeping in the house any more. Ever since Zelda died, eight years back. [events occur in 1934]” 
  3. Cole, Steve (6 November 2014). "Chapter 17: Reality or the Vision", Shoot to Kill, Young Bond (in En-UK). London: Doubleday Childrens. ISBN 0857533738. “Mr Kostler approached me to set up this academy four years ago. [events occur in 1934]” 

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