1017 replies to this topic

[antovolk]

There's a Nolan interview in the latest Playboy where he talks about talking to BB/MGW and he said he'd love to do Bond but "you'd need to be needed....it has to need reinvention, it has to need you. And they're doing just fine"

[Odd Jobbies]

Well i'm glad to see Arnold got the birthday right.

[DavidJones]

At what point would it be too late to start shooting for a November 2019 release? Early next year, perhaps?

[Dustin]

Depends very much who is going to shoot what kind of script, how much post production they are going to need, so on. Some directors are used to deliver inside a tight schedule and need a little less time in the cutting room. Maybe mid-2018 would be the deadline for a 'traditional' Bond film if they aimed to release it in November 2019.

[SecretAgentFan]

Oh, boy... 2019...  Can´t believe that it will be another four years hiatus - at best!

 

Personally, i´m very pessimistic about substantial movement on BOND 25 with news later this year.

 

Something must have gone wrong, and every delay this year will make it likelier for Craig not to return and for starting the casting rounds again.  With no clear frontrunner now.

[Dustin]

The weak point may have been MGM - yet again. Their search for potential buyers earlier this year points to increasing 'differences' behind-the-scenes with regard to the general course. It's possible suitors for BOND 25 fear to stumble into another situation similar to the last drama.

Frankly, I would, too...

[KHergesheimer]

Sigh. Can't help but agree the longer the silence the higher the probability of a new Bond search, another reboot of some kind, and at least 2019 before we see anything new. Hope I'm wrong, and I hope Craig wants to go out on a high note with one more film. But the silence and lack of any substantial rumors makes me uneasy that something has gone off the rails (can't agree on a decent script? MGM?).

[Dustin]

The script - frankly, that cannot be such an impossible hurdle. Scripts are there to be rewritten as the production moves along. P&W know quite well what is expected of them, and for the most part that's what they deliver. I suspect it's just the ordinary mix of unlucky breaks and adverse circumstances that's bogged down many a production since the dawn of Hollywood. May take a while. Or then it may be over next week.

[SecretAgentFan]

It really is surprising that there was not even a rumour during the last weeks since the meetings with potential distributors.  

 

Nolan is now doing press for DUNKIRK - and should he be asked something about a possible Bond film he will revert to the usual non-info.

 

Also, I don´t think Craig will say anything worthwhile during the PR rounds for LUCKY LOGAN.  At best he will say: we´re in talks but there´s nothing definitive.

[DaveBond21]

And now some more rumour articles spring up:-

 

http://screenrant.co...-james-bond-25/

 

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[Napoleon Solo]

And now some more rumour articles spring up:-

 

http://screenrant.co...-james-bond-25/

 

_

Here's the story (it's from the Mirror) that started this. A number of sites besides Screen Rant have summarized it.

http://www.mirror.co...s-bond-10760121

 

 

It's sort of similar to this April story from Page Six, the gossip operation of the New York Post. (The Post didn't mention Adele.)

http://pagesix.com/2...-my-wrist-diss/

[SecretAgentFan]

Thanks for the reminder!

 

Why did the Mirror reheat that?  New intel?

 

Let´s look at it from a brighter angle: it´s the modern equivalent to Sir Roger being asked to return after other contenders have been rumoured.

[MISALA1994]

Oh, boy... 2019... Can´t believe that it will be another four years hiatus - at best!

Personally, i´m very pessimistic about substantial movement on BOND 25 with news later this year.

Something must have gone wrong, and every delay this year will make it likelier for Craig not to return and for starting the casting rounds again. With no clear frontrunner now.

Who was frontrunner in 04-05?

[Dustin]

Oh, boy... 2019... Can´t believe that it will be another four years hiatus - at best!

Personally, i´m very pessimistic about substantial movement on BOND 25 with news later this year.

Something must have gone wrong, and every delay this year will make it likelier for Craig not to return and for starting the casting rounds again. With no clear frontrunner now.

Who was frontrunner in 04-05?

Depends who you're talking to.

The general public got stories served about the then-en-vogue/flavour-of-the-day suspects, the likes of Gerard Butler, Eric Bana, Clive Owen and Ewan McGregor. Most of these stories were utter tosh, but people liked reading them regardless.

Those in-the-know supposedly had their sights on just three - or four, according to some accounts - guys: Craig, Cavill and possibly Goran Višnić (not sure if that was ever confirmed) and some guy whose name I have forgotten but who was arguably already a bit older than Craig and looked it.

But it's important to remember not all the names on such a short list are really meant as a serious alternative; sometimes there just has to be one more option so you can 'choose'...

Anyway, supposedly Cavill was a very strong contender and would have been Campbell's choice.

But the real frontrunner with the only faculty that counts, Eon, was Craig.

[Orion]

Cavill and Craig were the only two serious options - Can't find it right this second, but around the time of CR's release Campbell talked about this, where he was saying himself and MGW wanted Cavill (I remeber the words "I was stuck in the oold way of thinking about it") whilst Pascall and BB wanted Craig. They eventually decided Cavill was too young to have had the career Bond would needed to have had.

[Dustin]

That's a bit nonsensical, the whole 'Commander Bond' hullaballoo is pretty laughable these days anyway. A commander is now a largely administrative rank and you will have trouble finding one concerned with anything other than highly specialised weapons/vehicles systems or buried deep inside MoD nomenclature. The work Bond is supposed to have done fictionally is largely a job for NCOs today.

 

Cavill was young, and definitely looking it. But if we can swallow Craig as a beginner 00 I think we could just as well have swallowed Cavill as 'Commander Bond'. But in the end you point out the crucial thing here: minds were made up, and once that is the case the decision is then rationalised. Craig and Cavill were both daring choices at the time, I can absolutely believe other names were just thrown in for good measure and never realistically had a chance.   

[Orion]

That's a bit nonsensical, the whole 'Commander Bond' hullaballoo is pretty laughable these days anyway. A commander is now a largely administrative rank and you will have trouble finding one concerned with anything other than highly specialised weapons/vehicles systems or buried deep inside MoD nomenclature. The work Bond is supposed to have done fictionally is largely a job for NCOs today.

 

Cavill was young, and definitely looking it. But if we can swallow Craig as a beginner 00 I think we could just as well have swallowed Cavill as 'Commander Bond'. But in the end you point out the crucial thing here: minds were made up, and once that is the case the decision is then rationalised. Craig and Cavill were both daring choices at the time, I can absolutely believe other names were just thrown in for good measure and never realistically had a chance.   

 

I'd agree, It sounded at the time more they like were at a stage of looking for a reason why not, rather than this being an actual deal breaker for any of them - especially as you could very easily miss Bond's rank in the Craig films. The only film I've seen with Cavill looking particularly young was The Count of Monte Cristo, and in that instance it was very intentional. Craig though has always looked like that, just look at his appearance in the second Sharpe episode for how easily Craig's age can be altered - Something Mendes praises on the Skyfall commentary, Craig's lack of vanity in acting allowing you to do so much more as a director.

[Tiin007]

[Post deleted] 

[DavidJones]

I hope Disney buy the whole thing from MGM/Eon at some point and we can start having Bond films regularly again.

[KHergesheimer]

About time we got a glimmer of news. Maybe someone from Eon actually picked up on this forum's growing frustration. Sounds like they've got a decent script (Craig wouldn't be back without one) ...would a 2019 release mean Mendes is back as well? Not sure how far out he is booked? Feels like they want to repeat the Skyfall model, which wouldn't suck.

[SecretAgentFan]

Well, I loved SKYFALL.  But to be stuck on that model would be a huge mistake IMO (see, um, SPECTRE).

 

To lure Craig back, I believe, it must have been BB promising him a lot of money, a lot of possibilities to go home or have his family around during the (long) shoot, and a lot of involvement into the story - all of this not the recipe for a necessarily great film.

 

Maybe the deciding factor is indeed Craig´s urge to go out with a really good film and not SPECTRE.  

 

But I am wary of any actor who knows that enough deciders think he is indispensable so he can dictate everything he wants.  Film history is full of desasters that were fuelled by that folly.

[Dustin]

SPECTRE was already tailored after the SKYFALL template - sadly, without really going with the strengths of that story, the villain and his motivations. Instead the aim was for a 'remake' of a fan favourite that didn't need a remake. SPECTRE is at its weakest when it tries to channel the past - the attempt at 'backstory' for Bond/Blofeld, the underwhelming car chase, the 'mountain clinic' that should have rather been from Zauberberg, the greatest explosion in film history, the clumsy 'it was all me, James' and the stupid scars for Waltz - where it should have gone forward without baggage.

Which proves that even highly professional producers, writers and directors in the end are just as prone to hit-and-miss as everybody else.

[SecretAgentFan]

If BOND 25 becomes another SPECTRE-like SKYFALL-wannabe it will truly be time for EON to... um... reboot itself.

[Gobi-1]

SPECTRE was already tailored after the SKYFALL template - sadly, without really going with the strengths of that story, the villain and his motivations. Instead the aim was for a 'remake' of a fan favourite that didn't need a remake. SPECTRE is at its weakest when it tries to channel the past - the attempt at 'backstory' for Bond/Blofeld, the underwhelming car chase, the 'mountain clinic' that should have rather been from Zauberberg, the greatest explosion in film history, the clumsy 'it was all me, James' and the stupid scars for Waltz - where it should have gone forward without baggage.

Which proves that even highly professional producers, writers and directors in the end are just as prone to hit-and-miss as everybody else.

 

The majority of the things you listed are things I love about Spectre. I've enjoyed how the Craig era stripped the series down to it's nuts and bolts and has, film by film, been folding back in elements of classic Bond. Spectre does it in spades. I personally want them to double down on those elements for Bond 25 and if it's to be Caig's last they can wrap up his storyline and soft reboot for Bond #7. Keep the MI6 staff but reduce their roles to that of Lee, Maxwell, and Llewelyn. Blofeld can return but maybe after skipping a film or two and his relationship to the new Bond can revert back to what it was in the novels and early films or they can come up with a completely new take.

[Dustin]

The majority of the things you listed are things I love about Spectre. I've enjoyed how the Craig era stripped the series down to it's nuts and bolts and has, film by film, been folding back in elements of classic Bond. Spectre does it in spades. I personally want them to double down on those elements for Bond 25...

No doubt true: many fans have been hoping for some romp like SPECTRE - perhaps minus the Blofeld connection - for years, a comeback of the familiar elements and traditions of 007. And many fans love SPECTRE just for that.

But note how conspicuously absent or toned down these 'traditional' elements were - with the exception of the DB5 - in SKYFALL. And how different that film feels for it. I dare say SKYFALL didn't fare worse for it; nor did, in my personal view, SPECTRE gain from including them.

[Tiin007]

I think "classic Bond" works best in the modern era when it is new and inventive: something which would have felt at home in the 60's or 70's films yet was hitherto not seen in the series.  Perhaps the best example of this was Hinx's metal fingernails gouging out the eyeballs of his enemies-- very reminiscent of the Oddjob, Tee-Hee, and Jaws type of henchman, without actually regurgitating the past. Bond's own ejector seat with a parachute in the DB10 is another good example. I'd also include the Macau casino scene in SF as very old-school Bond in style, yet also the type of location we haven't really seen before. 

 

But where some of the recent films have failed is with those elements of past Bond films which have literally been re-presented to us. The DB5's appearances ad nauseam (making almost no logical sense in the 2010's), Fields' body covered in oil (as brief and unobtrusive as it was), and Blofeld's scar and cat were lifted directly from the Connery films and-- quite frankly-- feel out of place. EON seems to think that overt homages are the best way to channel "classic Bond," when perhaps that goal can be achieved by simply being creative. 

 

As many of us have pointed out numerous times, it would be much wiser to create new iconography than to rehash old iconography. And this has really been a struggle with some of the recent films. 

[sharpshooter]

The majority of the things you listed are things I love about Spectre. I've enjoyed how the Craig era stripped the series down to it's nuts and bolts and has, film by film, been folding back in elements of classic Bond. Spectre does it in spades. I personally want them to double down on those elements for Bond 25 and if it's to be Caig's last they can wrap up his storyline and soft reboot for Bond #7.

Completely agree.

[KHergesheimer]

I'm in on the SPECTRE comments, loved the re-introduction of Blofed, even the scar, and the building up to the Connery era. Great way to acknowledge the fan base. Where I think SPECTRE went wrong: the theme tune, too much rehashing of old Bond scenes particularly action sequences, and a general lack of real drama. Skyfall was much better at reintroducing classic Bond elements but not letting it get in the way of some dramatic moments and an original script. SPECTRE felt like they just bashed together Thunderball/OHMSS/YOLT and sprinkled in some bits from Moore films. I enjoyed it immensely but It didn't pack the punch of Skyfall.

[Tiin007]

I'm in on the SPECTRE comments, loved the re-introduction of Blofed, even the scar, and the building up to the Connery era. Great way to acknowledge the fan base. Where I think SPECTRE went wrong: the theme tune, too much rehashing of old Bond scenes particularly action sequences, and a general lack of real drama. Skyfall was much better at reintroducing classic Bond elements but not letting it get in the way of some dramatic moments and an original script.

 

I completely agree with this assessment. The action in CR and SF felt fresh, whereas all the action in SP felt like it was lifted from past Bond films. 

 

I'd also argue that part of what made CR and SF so compelling was their ability to incorporate real suspense and tension in non-action scenes. Take the "Bond's been poisoned" scene, the CR torture scene, the interrogation of Silva, or the lead-up to the courtroom battle (Tennyson and the preceding few minutes). These scenes really captivated the audience without relying on big explosions and wall-to-wall action. 

 

SP (and to an extent QoS) failed in this regard, barring perhaps the Spectre meeting and the final rendezvous between Bond and Mr. White. 

[RMc2]

 

I'm in on the SPECTRE comments, loved the re-introduction of Blofed, even the scar, and the building up to the Connery era. Great way to acknowledge the fan base. Where I think SPECTRE went wrong: the theme tune, too much rehashing of old Bond scenes particularly action sequences, and a general lack of real drama. Skyfall was much better at reintroducing classic Bond elements but not letting it get in the way of some dramatic moments and an original script.

 

I completely agree with this assessment. The action in CR and SF felt fresh, whereas all the action in SP felt like it was lifted from past Bond films. 

 

I'd also argue that part of what made CR and SF so compelling was their ability to incorporate real suspense and tension in non-action scenes. Take the "Bond's been poisoned" scene, the CR torture scene, the interrogation of Silva, or the lead-up to the courtroom battle (Tennyson and the preceding few minutes). These scenes really captivated the audience without relying on big explosions and wall-to-wall action. 

 

SP (and to an extent QoS) failed in this regard, barring perhaps the Spectre meeting and the final rendezvous between Bond and Mr. White. 

 

 

Well said, sirs. The structure of the action sequences in SP actually undermine the tension - almost to the point of making one wonder if this was the director's first time around, or if these could possibly be the same people behind SF's action sequences.

 

Why have an urban car chase where the villain actively avoids barging the hero's car, and virtually zero pedestrians are threatened?

 

Why (successfully) earn the audience's sympathy for your leading lady and (successfully) surprise them when she is kidnapped unexpectedly, then cut away to Q in a ski lift? 

 

Why have your hero physically and morally weakened in an effective torture sequence, then have him escape by simply walking through the enemy base, killing foes with single shots and getting nary a scratch?

 

Why imperil your leading lady (again) during the finale but never show the audience that she is in danger, until the hero rescues her?