12 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

Having come to the conclusion that the Raymond Benson Bond novels are just incredibly "filmic"*, I reckon we should all club together and buy the rights (from Eon, presumably) to make an alternative series of Bond films, faithful adaptations of the entire Benson canon. Six films, released at the rate of one every two years, starting with "Zero Minus Ten" (set in 1997) and ending with "The Man With the Red Tattoo". Benson will be hired to work on the screenplays, and as much filming as possible will take place on location.

Who's in?



*Much more so than most of the Flemings and Gardners, IMO. Not saying they're better novels, mind - but certainly more "cinematic".

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

I can contribute $330 from my bank account.

[Loomis]

Splendid. Keep those contributions coming, folks.

(Maybe we should offer cameos to those who make large donations. )

Perhaps zencat or someone else who works in the biz could guesstimate how much it would cost to get this project rolling. $300 million or so?

Hang on....

[Jim]

I have a Euro 2004 collector's coin from Sainsbury's, so that's another 0.00001p. And it's Gary Neville too! 0.000001p, then.

[Loomis]

Cough up then. Little acorns and mighty oaks.

But surely the CBn membership must boast a handful of Benson-loving billionaires itching to take on MGM and Eon in the courts?

[Qwerty]

LOL! Billionaires! Yes, well I'll put up the miniscule cash my job offers.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I'd rather give Tarantino my money so he can make the biggest budget fan film ever with Clive Owen!

[Blofeld's Cat]

But surely the CBn membership must boast a handful of Benson-loving billionaires itching to take on MGM and Eon in the courts?

Unfortunately, they're all at the Bond Collectors' Weekend (BCW) in Miami spending their riches.

[philbowski]

*Trips and falls, finding a shiny new dime lying on the ground.*

I'm in...

[Johnboy007]

I found a penny on the floor.

That'll be my contribution.

[Jim]

There's some dust under the sofa. Is that legal tender anywhere?

[rafterman]

Well I do make millions....it's just the wrong currency...hmmm maybe if we all get together enough credit cards we can just "borrow" the money and pay it all back when the film is a hit.....hmmmm...

[Loomis]

Well I do make millions....it's just the wrong currency...

LOL! I remember the days when I, too, pulled in millions each year. Millions of Japanese yen.

On a serious note, I reckon MGM/Eon could do a lot worse than start adapting the Bensons. While, say, "High Time to Kill" isn't, IMO, much of a novel (sorry, zencat and clinkeroo ), the story seems as sound as a pound, and the locations and action scenes are surely as cinematic as all get-out. It's a pity, though, that "Zero Minus Ten", possibly Benson's best, is unsuitable for adaptation for the "official" series by dint of its datedness - obviously, we couldn't have 007 stopping a plot against the handover of Hong Kong in BOND 21.

Oh, well.... I'm sure Purvis and Wade know what they're doing with their original screenplay for BOND 21. *Cough*