36 replies to this topic

[mccartney007]

[quote name='Loomis' date='11 March 2004 - 05:31'] [quote name='mccartney007' date='11 March 2004 - 10:35'] Like I said before, there isn't a market for the scripts.

[Jim]

If the scripts for (to give a couple of random examples) 28 DAYS LATER and WELCOME TO SARAJEVO were deemed sufficiently marketable to be published, why assume that there would be no demand for the script for, say, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH or DIE ANOTHER DAY?

And yet.... aren't the likes of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, GOLDFINGER and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE taken pretty seriously by film buffs these days? Rightly or wrongly, they now have a classic status that other Bond outings don't. Wouldn't their screenplays be viewed as "acceptable" by the Faber & Faber crowd?

There's a lot in what you say - generally, the script books - such as do sell - seem to be for the more (perceived as) high falutin' stuff - or at least, the sort of films where the screenplay could "be up for some sort of award" and/or as an example of the screenwriter's (ahem) art.

Given that, by admission of the producers, the screenplays for the Bond films are committee structures, and these are generic action films currently marketed to the illiterate (OK, maybe that's going a bit far), I wonder if the market is truly there. I have yet to find Faber and Faber's copy of the Armageddon script, but cannot but be bored at the sight of yet more copies of Crimes and Misdemeanours. Does DUD stand up to scrutiny as a well-written piece? Did people come to watch it for its dialogue?

However, the point about the early films - the James Bond films - is a good one. As adaptations of exceedingly famous books, and given that these are exceedingly famous films, it would be interesting to see annotated script books - ie why things were changed and how. Given that Goldfinger is frequently cited as the archetype for the most successful film series, and further, the archetype for popular cinema generally (however true that may be), it's surprising that there isn't such a book, frankly.

[Loomis]

Given that, by admission of the producers, the screenplays for the Bond films are committee structures, and these are generic action films currently marketed to the illiterate (OK, maybe that's going a bit far), I wonder if the market is truly there. I have yet to find Faber and Faber's copy of the Armageddon script, but cannot but be bored at the sight of yet more copies of Crimes and Misdemeanours. Does DUD stand up to scrutiny as a well-written piece? Did people come to watch it for its dialogue?

Well, what I would say is that Purvis and Wade (heaven knows how, though) have managed to pull off an astounding confidence trick as far as many critics and the public at large are concerned: they have presented themselves successfully as purveyors of adult, intelligent, character-driven, "back to basics", "back to Fleming", exploring-007's-dark-side, "the man within", emotionally-focused Bond scripts; and while they're not exactly viewed as all-time greats of screenwriting, it's safe to say that their profile and reputation are somewhat higher than was the case for, say, Tom Mankiewicz, Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum. They're even - heaven help us - holding court at writers' conferences.

Besides, there's a cult around Bond that there isn't around ARMAGEDDON. Put the DIE ANOTHER DAY script inside a nice-looking Faber & Faber cover (with a sexy pic of Halle Berry in her orange bikini, perhaps), and would it sell? Yes. Would it sell hugely? No. Would it suddenly become an awesome screenplay? Nope. But, still, it would sell.

Not worth bringing out all the Bond scripts, but there are some that would seem likely to "shift units": the Connerys, of course (and Roald Dahl's name might help flog YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE), ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.... the established classics, basically.

[Triton]

Frankly, I am not really interested in seeing a transcript of the movie in book form, which has been my experience with some of the published screenplays.

I think that it would be very interesting if they also published the treatment and the multiple drafts of the screenplay including the final "shooting" script. It would be interesting to view the evolution of the screenplay over time.

For example for Moonraker we could trace the creative inputs of Richard Maibaum, Christopher Wood, and Tom Mankiewicz.

I think in addition to the multiple drafts, it would be interesting if the publishers could take the time to interview the surviving screenplay writers about the projects they contributed. It would very much like to hear from Tom Mankiewicz, Christopher Wood, George MacDonald Fraser, Michael G. Wilson, Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade.

Perhaps someone could get the reprint rights to the interviews granted by Richard Maibaum, Joanna Harwood, and Roal Dahl over the years.

[mccartney007]

The interesting thing about DAD is that the script reads so much better than one would think (at least the version I have is better). There were several re-writes that I don't think should have been made. I remember when DAD came out, a *friend* of mine told me how much better the script was and how disappointed he was in the film.

[IndyB007]

The screenplay for GOLDENEYE was published in book form and was part of a special MGM Home Entertainment marketing campaign in the mid-1990s. I have it at home, signed by Pierce Brosnan no less

Is this that published GoldenEye script you guys mentioned?

http://cgi.ebay.com/.....MEBWN:IT&rd=1

[Donovan]

Unless several scripts could be combined into one book at a time, you're talking about a sizeable investment. I purchased all of the screenplays, and believe the total was over $200. They're nice to have, and offer a good deal of information about certain scenes as they were originally conceived. An example (that I have already posted in an appropriate thread) concerns the fact that the Tanner character was in "The Man With The Golden Gun" (not just ambiguously referred to as "chief of staff" in the film). "Thunderball" has Blofeld informing the SPECTRE members of the death of SPECTRE No 3. Col Rosa Klebb was killed in the Istanbul affair. The script suggested the other OO agents in the conference room were to have been portrayed by actors playing secret agents in the various Bond-like films of the time (like Harry Palmer, probably). I've mentioned in another thread about Roger Moore's intro as James Bond actually occuring in Rome. Something 'M' refers to in Bond's kitchen in the film.

But I've seen professionally bound scripts that in reality are just the finished film in script form, which is worthless. My "Star Wars" scripts are like that. So for published Bond scripts to work, they'd have to be the original final shooting scripts.

Does anyone own the published "GoldenEye" script? If so, is there additional dialogue between Bond and Wade concerning gardening? Does the pre-titles have Bond killing the dam guards (while they're playing chess) before running through the gate? In the script, he presses a little red button in the gear shift of the DB5 which opens a compartment keeping a bottle of Bolinger chilled.