20 replies to this topic

[Tarl_Cabot]

I bought the CR book today and started reading it for the first time in about 20 years...I never finnished more than a few pages back then...So, I'm enjoying the hell outta of it so far(page 38) with visions of the movie in my mind but I was surprised to discover Mrs. Moneypenny is actually in the book so why is she being axed from the film? Granted I would prefer a new MP and a new M(Bernard Hill) but I still think she should get a scene...to remind us all this may be a radical Bond film but it's still a Bond film.

Anyway, your thoughts?

[Bizzare8]

So theres no Q, no gadgets and no moneypenny? Wow. I understand no gadgets and therefore no Q, but you'd think they'd at least include MP. Withought her it just wont "feel" like a bond film

[freemo]

It can only make one think that there will be no scene in M's office. Therefore, no her outside typing away. In that case, better not to see her than to shoehorn her in someplace she doesn't belong (like out in the field, uggh).

Had I not been told that she isn't going to be in it, I probably wouldn't have realised until long after I was home from the theatre.

[triviachamp]

It can only make one think that there will be no scene in M's office. Therefore, no her outside typing away. In that case, better not to see her than to shoehorn her in someplace she doesn't belong (like out in the field, uggh).

Or following M to Bond's Flat for no apparent reason!

[Double-Oh Agent]

Well, I think Moneypenny should be included. It's always nice to see her and interact with Bond.

As for Freemo's comment that no Moneypenny would tend to indicate there being no scene in M's office, I'd say that's probably highly likely. However, they could still have Moneypenny serving M much like she did in You Only Live Twice. That scenario makes sense to me and wouldn't be unrealistic.

[tdalton]

I don't think that it really matters if the character is included or not. To me, there really hasn't been a good Miss Moneypenny since Lois Maxwell left the role, and the character has lost a bit of importance to the series since her departure, IMO.

[Loomis]

I'm guessing that Moneypenny will be introduced in BOND 22 (or BOND 2), possibly with a bit of backstory (off the top of me head: someone who has a brief relationship with Bond*/is rescued by Bond/is recruited from the enemy camp [I know, I know, but, like I say, this is off the top of me head ] and ends up working as M's secretary), along with Q.

*Am I right in thinking that there's something in Fleming or Gardner or somewhere saying that Bond and Moneypenny had a very short fling when they first met, before settling down into the old flirting and banter routine, or am I totally wrong on this? I mean, I know that, in GOLDENEYE, Moneypenny says "As far as I can remember, James, you never had me", but is it different in the literary series?

BTW, I'm currently re-reading the Flemings in order, and aim to have gone through them all (along with a few of the continuation novels, perhaps) by the time CASINO ROYALE opens. I recently finished "Casino Royale" (terrific, one of the very best) and am onto "Live and Let Die", and noticed that Moneypenny is described in CR as someone who:

"....would have been desirable but for eyes which were cool and direct and quizzical."

Yet in the next novel, she's "the desirable Miss Moneypenny".

One presumes that she hasn't had an operation on her eyes or something like that, so I guess the lesson is: don't look for all that much continuity in Fleming, any more than you'd look for it in the films!

[Tarl_Cabot]

"I know that, in GOLDENEYE, Moneypenny says "As far as I can remember, James, you never had me", but is it different in the literary series?"

That was such a tacky exchange. I hated it.An ugly, bitchy Moneypenny and a bitchy ol broad M. Bond was surrounded by an estrogen nightmare!

I'm doing the fanboy thing too and reading the books again Loomis.I dunno if I'll read them all and or in order so please create a thread and give us your take.

[Leon]

Moneypenny appears briefly in a sort of flashback to his briefing for the job, yet the book actually begins whilst he is in Royale Les Eaux. So maybe they are doing that?

As for Q M. mentions him in a conversation telling 007 to get all the stuff he needs for the job from him. Again that's in the flashback to his briefing.

It's an unusual one.

[spynovelfan]

She doesn't really do anything in the novel but tell him to go in to see M. She's hardly a character. Neither is M. There's one line of physical description for him, and his role is effectively to read the exposition of the MI6 report, to make it more palatable. Q's not in it. I'd quite like to see a film without any of them. Just make it a standalone, and cut to the chase.

[Double-Oh Agent]

Loomis, I don't think the novels ever stipulate that Bond and Moneypenny had a relationship before the series started. In John Gardner's Nobody Lives Forever, when Moneypenny is rescued by Bond, she kisses him with all the pent-up passion she's had for him over the years. I don't know that that would entirely be the case if they had had a relationship.

Besides, I think the bit about them having an affair comes from Moneypenny herself, Lois Maxwell, where she's said in interview(s) that she always imagined that her character and Bond had a brief fling but then decided that it would be best for all involved to be friends. The flirting, however, continued.

[Scottlee]

I mean, I know that, in GOLDENEYE, Moneypenny says "As far as I can remember, James, you never had me", but is it different in the literary series?

I've assumed for a long time that by "Had me", she meant "Had me in a full blown relationship", and that the brief one-night thing may still have actually happened, hence all the innuendo we've seen down the years.

Can't understand why they would omit Moneypenny from CR. I know nothing about the story, but I've thought that when you're using an unfamiliar Bond actor you should try and retain some things that are familiar to audiences. Remember, for OHMSS they had M and Q in the very first scene.

[hcmv007]

Well, she had a brief part in the book, and if this is a faithful adaptation of the novel, then no, she should not be in it, but I will miss the interaction. Maybe she will be on vacation or leave and Bond can flirt w/ the temp. Just a thought.

[Gabriel]

I think the absence of Moneypenny is due to the team wanting to avoid an overdose of cute office banter in a supposedly-edgier film. Personally, I'd change Moneypenny into M's chief of staff and put in her backstory that she is an ex-00 agent who was too badly injured in the field to remain an active agent.

And yes, she could have had a relationship with Bond in the past. She might have even had the 007 designation before James!

[SecretAgentFan]

I think the absence of Moneypenny is due to the team wanting to avoid an overdose of cute office banter in a supposedly-edgier film. Personally, I'd change Moneypenny into M's chief of staff and put in her backstory that she is an ex-00 agent who was too badly injured in the field to remain an active agent.

And yes, she could have had a relationship with Bond in the past. She might have even had the 007 designation before James!

You

[Mister Asterix]

[mra]While maybe not true to the book. No Moneypenny is true to the books. Moneypenny was not always in them. Perhaps it

[Gabriel]

Well, she wouldn't be his equal if she was no longer able to do fieldwork! But it would give Moneypenny an empathy with Bond, as she would understand the sort of life he leads and the decisions he has to make.

It wouldn't actually be that huge a change for the character. But the tendency for Moneypenny to be lobotomised as the series goes on is frankly annoying. Look at the joke Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny had become by A View to a Kill, the charisma vacuum Caroline Bliss's Moneypenny was. Worst of all, Samantha Bond's Moneypenny went from being an intended smart, corporate type (overdone IMHO) to quivering moron using a Star Trek holodeck "sex-toy" version of Bond, because the writers couldn't be bothered to write a proper scene between the two characters.

Making Moneypenny an ex-agent is an easy way to update the character, without having to resort to the embarrassing token "feminism" of the scenes Brosnan and Samantha Bond had to put up with in the early days!!

[Agent007.5]

I think the only reason why Moneypenny isn't going to be in CR is because Samantha Bond has quit and Eon doesn't want to go through the process of hiring a new actress to play the role.

[luciusgore]

They should have Moneypenny in the film really. She's iconic and part of the Bond magic. It's one character that has been in every film. Q was missing from Live and Let Die and wasn't sorely missed. But no Moneypenny?

[Loomis]

Besides, I think the bit about them having an affair comes from Moneypenny herself, Lois Maxwell, where she's said in interview(s) that she always imagined that her character and Bond had a brief fling but then decided that it would be best for all involved to be friends. The flirting, however, continued.

Ah, yes, thought I'd heard or read it from somewhere. Thanks.

[Gabriel]

IIRC, that was the backstory she was given by the producers at the time she was cast!