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Terrific interview with TND's Roger Spottiswoode


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#1 zencat

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 12:46 AM

Check it out HERE.

#2 Qwerty

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 01:16 AM

Hey, thanks Zencat!!

I love to read interviews with this guy!

#3 Bond111

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 01:23 AM

Very interesting interview!

Great find, zencat! :)

#4 Roger Moore's Bad Facelift

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 02:31 AM

I absolutely adore this passage from the interview...

Q: "Were you involved in the pre-production writing of the script?"

A: "Yeah, for instance, that was my idea to have at least a strong woman in the story -- not just an

Edited by Roger_Moore's_Bad_Facelift, 11 April 2004 - 02:39 AM.


#5 Qwerty

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 02:46 AM

Wai Lin was the first total equal in my opinion, even more so than Anya.

#6 [dark]

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 04:54 AM

Nice to finally have the story behind Tomorrow Never Dies's title laid to rest.

I wonder if the person who made the error is actually aware that they did it.

#7 Dmitri Mishkin

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:38 AM

[dark], I'd have to think they would be, by now, right? A little embarrassing for he/she, but at least they can claim having a hand in the title for "a Bond movie"! :)

Roger Moore's Bad Facelift (is it really that bad?), you do have a point. But I liked the character of Wai Lin, and I think she worked as a "strong" Bond girl. Rather than the character of Jinx, Wai Lin seemed more convincing a heroine and and more mature as well. And unlike Jinx, I think Wai Lin was an example of the "007 equal" that actually worked, within the story. So I don't rag on Spottiswoode too much because he had success. It could have been worse, with Denise Richards or Halle in the role.

The part of the interview I was intrigued (and surprised) by was Spottiswoode admitting he'd been asked back for what would be TWINE. Now I wonder how TWINE would have looked and turned out with Spottiswoode at the helm? Would there have been much difference in terms of drama? Can we judge Spottiswoode on how he handled the bedroom scene between Bond and Paris in TND, and apply it to how he would have handled the Bond and Elektra scenes? For one thing, I'm confident the action scenes in TWINE would have been miles ahead easy.

#8 Qwerty

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:42 AM

Roger Moore's Bad Facelift (is it really that bad?), you do have a point. But I liked the character of Wai Lin, and I think she worked as a "strong" Bond girl. Rather than the character of Jinx, Wai Lin seemed more convincing a heroine and and more mature as well. And unlike Jinx, I think Wai Lin was an example of the "007 equal" that actually worked, within the story. So I don't rag on Spottiswoode too much because he had success. It could have been worse, with Denise Richards or Halle in the role.

Exactly. Far superior that way.

#9 zencat

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 03:21 PM

Nice to finally have the story behind Tomorrow Never Dies's title laid to rest.

I wonder if the person who made the error is actually aware that they did it.

I really stunned this is true. Not just that a typo became the title...but that they would be "afraid" to tell them. Can you image this happening in Cubby's day?

I don't believe Spottiswoode was asked back for TWINE. I think he's just saying that to put his own spin on things.

#10 Loomis

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 03:28 PM

I don't believe Spottiswoode was asked back for TWINE. I think he's just saying that to put his own spin on things.

Really? Calling him a liar, then, are you? :)

Personally, I wish he had done TWINE. Apted is, in my humble opinion, the most hideously wrong director ever attached to a Bond film. He did the most horrible job.

#11 zencat

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 03:32 PM

I don't believe Spottiswoode was asked back for TWINE. I think he's just saying that to put his own spin on things.

Really? Calling him a liar, then, are you? :)

Personally, I wish he had done TWINE. Apted is, in my humble opinion, the most hideously wrong director ever attached to a Bond film. He did the most horrible job.

Well...I hate to say "liar"...I think it's just "spin" in a political/professional sense. "Yeah, they asked me if I wanted to come back, but I had bigger and better offers."

#12 Qwerty

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 04:47 PM

I must agree that I wished, although there were some disagreements sometimes, that he directed another Bond film.

#13 Icephoenix

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:05 PM

Ugh, anyone remember that "hover chopper" scene in the 6th day? *shudders*

#14 Loomis

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:19 PM

Spottiswoode's done some splendid stuff. I bought HIROSHIMA (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113309/) on DVD recently, and I'm told UNDER FIRE is terrific.

Not only is Spottiswoode versatile and a real pro, he's also one of those directors who really knows his stuff about editing - hardly surprising since he started out as an editor, working for the likes of Sam Peckinpah, Karel Reisz and Walter Hill. I believe there's a line in Pfeiffer and Worrall's "The Essential Bond" that calls TOMORROW NEVER DIES "the most tightly-edited Bond film in many years", or something like that.

Check out Spottiswoode's filmography (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006854/), and ignore the likes of STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT. He really has had a very impressive film career, and The Powers That Be could do a lot worse than ask him back for BOND 21.

#15 Qwerty

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:24 PM

I believe there's a line in Pfeiffer and Worrall's "The Essential Bond" that calls TOMORROW NEVER DIES "the most tightly-edited Bond film in many years", or something like that.

I think you're right, Loomis. They praised it, to the ffect of it being a terrific film, and the first since Diamonds Are Forever to be under the two hour limit. They also gave the analogy of how to judge a Bond film, by the quality of it's villain, and Carver didn't dissapoint.

Spottiswoode made one of my all time favorites.

#16 Icephoenix

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 05:46 PM

I agree, I loved the editing in Tomorrow Never Dies, modern - yet old school. While I think Christian Wagner did an okay job, it doesn't need speed ramping or slow motion shots in order for it to be effective. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid :)

#17 YOLT

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 06:03 PM

TND, is a magnificent film, but it could have been better if they had a bit more time. Why did they ruined the first screenplay. If the second half could have been a little bit better, then it would have been my number1.

#18 mccartney007

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 07:10 PM

TND is certainly an underrated film. After I get some of my other projects finished I plan on writing an EDITORIAL about TND.

#19 ChandlerBing

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Posted 11 April 2004 - 07:26 PM

Look forward to it. It was the first and only Bond that I saw with Andrea. I wish I could have fit that experience in there somewhere in the narrative for "All The Time In The World" but there's always another book!

#20 Qwerty

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 01:00 AM

TND is certainly an underrated film.  After I get some of my other projects finished I plan on writing an EDITORIAL about TND.

I would LOVE to see that, McCartney007! You have my support on that all the way!!

Icephoenix, agreed entirely. Speed ramps are tacky! :)

#21 Turn

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 06:25 PM

Here's something I can't understand about the first draft of TND: If the plot had to do with the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese and was handed in in January of '97, why didn't anybody realize before that that this would be old news before it was ever written?

Or were they just trying to avoid a lawsuit from Raymond Benson as he wrote about the same thing in Zero Minus Ten? Of course, it didn't really matter as they've plundered all the other writers' works anyway without credit. :)

But if they had this completed screenplay and only then realized it would be old news, it kind of makes that Tommorow Never Lies thing even more understandable.

#22 zencat

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 06:30 PM

TND is certainly an underrated film. After I get some of my other projects finished I plan on writing an EDITORIAL about TND.

Hey, I look forward to reading that, Jordan. :)

#23 Genrewriter

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 06:37 PM

I'm looking forward to that as well, Jordan. I agree that it's very underrated.

#24 Qwerty

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 09:16 PM

Definitely Genrewriter.

McCartney007, if you don't mind me asking as I'm very curious, what will you be concentrating on about the film Tomorrow Never Dies in your article? The entire film itself, how fans accept it, or soemthing totally different?

If you'd rather not say I understand, I just anticipate this since I think it's a terrific film.

#25 marktmurphy

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 09:21 PM

Nice little piece. I still think TND is the most successful of the Brosnans. It's just plain good fun!

#26 DanMan

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 11:07 PM

TND is my third favorite Brosnan movie. Don't think that I don't love it though. It gets an 8/10 in my book but I think DAD and GE are the two best Bond films.

BTW, if I think TWINE would have been better if RS directed it.

#27 Qwerty

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 11:19 PM

I've always wondered, DanMan, what Spottiswoode could have done with TWINE.

#28 DanMan

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 11:44 PM

I'm pretty sure the movie would be radically different, it could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your opinion of TWINE. It sort of annoys me because GE, TND, and DAD are all fantastic Bond films and TWINE is the only weak link in Brosnan's otherwise solid lineup of movies IMO.

#29 Qwerty

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Posted 12 April 2004 - 11:56 PM

Well, I love them all, the four of them are fine to me, basically. :)

I'd be interested because I thought Spottiswoode did a good job on Tomorrow Never Dies. :)

#30 Icephoenix

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Posted 13 April 2004 - 12:01 AM

I think the whole production of TWINE would have went along much smoother, and a crisper image on the final screen.