190 replies to this topic

[Shrublands]

Yes, I was looking back over the news concerning the script. Logan told Empire that he was close to completing his draft back in March.

 

I suspect that this work with P&W has been going on for a bit longer than it first seemed. 

[SecretAgentFan]

An up date from Baz.

A script has been delivered that everyone is now happy with.
The production has received the green light for a late November / early December start of filming.

http://www.mailonsun...her-script.html

Sources told me yesterday that Purvis and Wade have delivered their work to producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson — and the green light has been given for filming to start in late November / early December.

‘Everyone’s excited, and all systems are pumping away at full speed,’ my 007 informant told me, adding that Purvis and Wade’s script is ‘substantially different’ from Logan’s.

‘There was an awful lot of work to do. It was a big job. The impression given was that Purvis and Wade were hired to add jokes — but it was a bigger deal than that,’ an executive at one of the studios associated with the Bond films explained.

A big thank you for this, Shrublands!

Massive news indeed, and even taking into account all the PR-spin it really seems that Logan dropped the ball on this one. Still, he will get credited for all the great parts while P&W will be blamed for the rest.

But I am delighted for them to be called back by Mendes who shoved them away for his yes man Logan.

[Matt_13]

Well, so long as things are moving ahead and Mendes is still on board we're in good shape. The fun stuff for us can now get under way.

All the same, it will be interesting to hear more about P&W's contribution. I can't imagine what was wrong with what Logan turned in, unless the situation was similar to what happened to Haggis on Bond 22 and the producers were too afraid to take a risk (though in their defense I think the whole "Vesper's kid" storyline was a pretty lame idea that was incredibly similar to the story for The Bourne Supremacy). I also wonder what this could mean for Logan's involvement in Bond 25.

[The Dove]

Wow..Logan's original script must have had more weaknesses than everyone thought. Still, its great that P&W have got their draft finished and turned in and that all things are go!

[SecretAgentFan]

Haggis' idea of Bond having a kid with Vesper would not have been a risk but a massive mistake. I do not think Logan suggested anything like this but created a story that was too serious and un-Bondian to work.

[Shrublands]

Haggis' idea of Bond having a kid with Vesper would not have been a risk but a massive mistake. I do not think Logan suggested anything like this but created a story that was too serious and un-Bondian to work.

 

My impression is that the story has been set from very early on, developed by Logan and Mendes working together for over a year. 

However, they had got as far as they could and  a fresh approach was needed, as the Logan draft lacked 'punch' and needed a few more thrills.

 

Even Roger Deakins said that Sam had a very clear story in mind. I suspect that it was the execution of that story that was the problem. 

[SecretAgentFan]

Interesting. Of course, I'm only speculating but maybe Logan took this a little too lightly and concentrated too much on his "Penny Dreadful"-series. In a recent interview he said that he has a been there done that-feeling towards blockbuster films and that he saw his future in television. He also said in two interviews that he had finished the script for Bond 24, without mentioning anything else.

The best thing would have been to say that he had to leave Bond 24 due to his commitment on the Showtime series. His statement about blockbuster films reeks of disappointment, however.

[Royal Dalton]

Remember that at one point this was planned to be a two-film story.

 

So, it's possible that Logan's script was a two-parter, as well.
 

In which case, Purvis and Wade would have had to collapse two scripts into one. Which would have been a massive restructuring job.
 

[SecretAgentFan]

I guess the two-parter was a rumor. DC denied it as well.

[Royal Dalton]

Didn't Mendes say he only agreed to direct another one after they agreed to drop the two-part idea?

 

Logan's script would have already been written by then.

[Matt_13]

My only other guess is that Logan's script lacked the scope Mendes and co. wanted. I'm sure some of Logan's typically excellent dialogue will still be in one piece, but I bet the set pieces and scale were ramped up a few notches by P&W. Logan's work has an intimacy to it, with characterization overriding just about every other aspect of his features. Time will tell how the end result will pan out obviously, but this has so far been a very interesting pre production.

[JohnnyWalker]

I think if they'd just gone for a newer, more interesting writer to "rework" it people wouldn't take it so dramatically.

[Guy Haines]

According to Baz Bamingboye in the Daily Mail - this was yesterday, online - all's well with the script, Purvis and Wade were brought in to add some "thrills", Craig and Mendes are involved in the re-write as well - but that the director "almost went down on his knees" to persuade P & W to return. Filming due to start November/December 2014.

[Odd Jobbies]

According to Baz Bamingboye in the Daily Mail - this was yesterday, online - all's well with the script, Purvis and Wade were brought in to add some "thrills", Craig and Mendes are involved in the re-write as well - but that the director "almost went down on his knees" to persuade P & W to return. Filming due to start November/December 2014.

This news just gets worse and worse. It's no secret that P&W are hacks, we have plenty of celluloid evidence of that and any attempts at optimism regarding this situation conveniently forgets DAD etc and is pure wishful thinking.

 

The notion that Mendes went down on bended knee for them, if true, does not erase their awful record of crimes against Bond, it simply shows how truly, unimaginably awful - no, disastrous - Logan's script must be.

 

Mendes et al are trapped by the ludicrous deadlines of studio release schedules, in which it's apparently better to plan to release a bad film in a good window than to release a good film in bad window. God forbid they cancel production until they have a good script!

 

So it's seems clear that the studio won't allow such a vague and perhaps extended delay and with production approaching rapidly and a script that's not up to it, Eon, Mendes and Craig are acting in desperation by turning to P&W - the dastardly duo that can't write dialogue for toffees, can't plot without holes, and work exclusively in cliches. But with a script that apparently can't get a lot worse and no time to hire a real writer at least P&W can hit the ground running.

 

Sorry to sound so downbeat and doom laden but in hiring these two there's really no way to interpret this other than an act of desperation. No one can pretend any of this is good, it's Bad, bad, bad....

 

My sympathies are for Craig, perhaps the greatest Fleming-esque Bond, who now looks to be going out with a whimper.

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 02 August 2014 - 10:44 AM.

[SecretAgentFan]

I think P&W coming back, saving this script, collaborating with Mendes and Craig himself is the first really good news about Bond 24!

Edited by SecretAgentFan, 02 August 2014 - 05:50 PM.

[007jamesbond]

I guess John Logan is busy with other project..........I think Bond 24 should had a second writer just in case Logan is not avaliable to finish the rework of the script.........I just hope P and W don't ruin Logan script as it is done but with Mendes/Craig also involved....it won't be that bad 

[Colossus]

Glad P&W is also coming back. )

[The Dove]

Indeed..the collaboration between P&W and John Logan proved to be a winner on Skyfall..Bond 24 is definitely gonna benefit from having the extra time taken to allow the script overhaul.

[sharpshooter]

Well, so long as things are moving ahead and Mendes is still on board we're in good shape. The fun stuff for us can now get under way.

Yes. If Craig and Mendes are happy with the script, that's good enough for me. I can't wait for filming to begin.

[Jim]

Do people really watch these things for the quality of their script?

[007jamesbond]

if the script is now finished, then I expect we will hear about some announcement of a press conference for Bond 24 in the new three months 

[tdalton]

I find it rather disappointing that Logan's script apparently wasn't up to par.  I was looking forward to the Bond franchise finally moving in a different creative direction with a fresh perspective on the character.  It's doubtful that we'll get that now for the duration of Craig's tenure, as I'd imagine that P&W will probably pen Craig's finale in Bond 25, since they've guided the ship for his first four films.  

 

I do hope, though, that they bring a new creative team into the fold for Bond 26 when Bond #7 makes his debut.  It's beyond time now that they shook things up a bit, something I was hoping to do when they "rebooted" the franchise.

[DavidJones]

I'm glad that Purvis & Wade are back again. I don't think their hacks at all. The DM article said that Logan's script has been "politely moved aside" which must mean that the new script is 100% a Purvis & Wade one, with no Logan material and no Logan credit.

[Odd Jobbies]

I imagine the original Logan script will eventually surface - they usually do - and we'll see for ourselves why Eon et al chose to ditch.

 

My guess is it's the suits that want this and what we'll find when we finally see Logan's is a thoughtful, more intellectual thriller, as opposed to the commercial big-bang product we'll now get from P&W. I know which one i'd definitely prefer.

 

Just a guess, but i wouldn't be surprised if 24/25 follow the Brosnan pattern; 24 being half thriller/half action movie - neither convincing because they amalgamate 2 entirely different approaches like TWINE. Then 25 will go all out action extravaganza like DAD, and suck balls as a result. I.e. they want to ramp up the explosions rather than the tension. If that happens i don't see another reboot, so soon being an option - they'll need to stay in that vein awhile with Craig's successor, burning money and losing fans.

 

Maybe P&W will do something out of character, but you don't pay a cat to bark like a dog - you get a dog (or 2 of them).

 

 

 

ETA: could it be Matthew Vaughn's recent dig that his new movie Secret Service would be more fun that recent Bonds that have MGM in a spin, panicking that Logan's script isn't 'fun' enough, so they've hired their go-to 'Carry-on-Bond' writers to 'fun it up' (*read* ruin it).  

 

MGM and Danjaq are in legal rangling with NBC Universal over their forthcoming film Section 6, directed by Joe Cornish (did the excellent 'Attack The Block), so maybe MGM are getting paranoid about their product and insisting on a 'fun' pass at the script to broaden the audience with all the lowest common denominator gags etc that the reboot had mercifully vanquished?

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 03 August 2014 - 06:57 PM.

[DavidJones]

Blimey, Oddjobies sounds bitter. He's rubbishing P&W and praising Logan's script without even reading it.

[glidrose]

Haggis' idea of Bond having a kid with Vesper would not have been a risk but a massive mistake. I do not think Logan suggested anything like this but created a story that was too serious and un-Bondian to work.

 

Unless I'm wrong - and I don't think I am - it wasn't Bond and Vesper having a kid, but rather Vesper had a child from a past relationship.

[Matt_13]

 

Haggis' idea of Bond having a kid with Vesper would not have been a risk but a massive mistake. I do not think Logan suggested anything like this but created a story that was too serious and un-Bondian to work.

 

Unless I'm wrong - and I don't think I am - it wasn't Bond and Vesper having a kid, but rather Vesper had a child from a past relationship.

 

 

Yeah it wasn't Bond's kid that he would have been pursuing. Again, very reminiscent to the Bourne Supremacy where Bourne tries to find the daughter of his first target.

[tdalton]

P&W aren't my favorite screenwriters to have taken a crack at a Bond film, but they're far from "hacks".  While yes, they were the duo behind Die Another Day, they also had a hand in Casino Royale, which everyone seems to fall all over themselves to say is the greatest Bond film since On Her Majesty's Secret Service (at least until Skyfall came around, which they also had a hand in).

[Matt_13]

I'm just curious to see how much of Logan's work is remaining. I mean logistically they couldn't completely wipe the slate and start from scratch. Guess we'll see.

[Vauxhall]

That's a really interesting level of detail from Baz. There must really have been serious issues with Logan's script (as far as the producers/Mendes were concerned) that Purvis & Wade were recalled to make substantial changes.

 

At least we're now in a position that we know the relevant parties are content with the script and it's full steam ahead for filming within just a few months.