19 replies to this topic

[dinovelvet]

Since Purvis and Wade used material and characters from the Moonraker novel for the DAD script, do you think there will be some more Fleming plots and characters used for Bond 22? There are a few of the original novels that weren't faithfully adapted for the screen :

DAF - The Spang brothers subplot, and the Wild West themed town, which could come across as just campy, but if handled right could also be sinister and surreal, sort of like the TMWTGG funhouse.

YOLT - The Shatterhand/Garden of Death story, everyone wants to see this on film!

TMWTGG - Although the Scaramanga character was used, the plot of criminals using land and sugar crops in Jamaica could still be utilized, it isn't a very exciting story on its own, but like FYEO and TLD it could be used as a starting point for a larger plot.
There are also some good individual scenes in the book, like the beginning where a brainwashed Bond tries to assassinate M, and the part where Scaramanga ties Goodnight to the train tracks and tries to run her over (this could actually fit in with the DAF Wild West town).

Of course there are also the unused short stories like The Hildebrand Rarity and From a View to a Kill, and Octopussy wasn't really done properly.

[MrDraco]

Haha shatterhands would be bad ...
^^^

[Roebuck]

The scenario Bond comes up with in Moonraker, where a team of commandos scale the cliffside and fire a mortar into the missile silo. Always thought that could be worked into a decent pre-titles.

[Mr Malcolm]

Count me in with that, dinovelvet! I know Campbell's said they're not going to adapt any more of the books, but there's a lot of good stuff that could be used anyway. Although didn't they use aspects of The Hildebrand Rarity in LTK?

Would love to see Shatterhand and his garden, and the DAF Wild West town could work well. I don't know about the remaining short stories though; they could be used as the basis for future films (like FYEO and TLD), although they'd need good scripts to expand upon them. That said, there's still plenty smaller bits from the books that would be good in the films. What about the giant squid attack in Dr No? Maybe a bit 20000 Leagues, but it could still be a really good scene. As would having a future villain killed by being buried under bird [mess].

[dinovelvet]

Count me in with that, dinovelvet!  I know Campbell's said they're not going to adapt any more of the books, but there's a lot of good stuff that could be used anyway.  Although didn't they use aspects of The Hildebrand Rarity in LTK?

Would love to see Shatterhand and his garden, and the DAF Wild West town could work well.  I don't know about the remaining short stories though; they could be used as the basis for future films (like FYEO and TLD), although they'd need good scripts to expand upon them.  That said, there's still plenty smaller bits from the books that would be good in the films.  What about the giant squid attack in Dr No?  Maybe a bit 20000 Leagues, but it could still be a really good scene.  As would having a future villain killed by being buried under bird [mess].

Yes they did use some of The Hildebrand Rarity - the character of Milton Krest and Sanchez whipping Lupe with a stingray tail. The rare fish plot could still be used though, and there's still Quantum of Solace which could find its way into a Bond film.
I dunno if the squid attack would work, people would say it was too fantastic and it wouldn't fit in with the supposed realistic Bond, you'd get "What next, Bond fights werewolves?" type comments. I presume they left it out of the novel in 62 because they didn't have the budget for it, or they couldn't make it look good (picture Connery thrashing around in the water with a rubber squid, Ed Wood style!).
The Moonraker card cheating could also be used, and could in fact easily be worked into Casino Royale. Not for the main poker/baccarat showdown, maybe earlier in the film, say that Le Chiffre has a poker partner and Bond spots him cheating, and cheats him right back to take him out of the game, leaving Le Chiffre on his own to face Bond.

[Qwerty]

Although didn't they use aspects of The Hildebrand Rarity in LTK?

Moreso in character's names rather than plot elements.

[shady ginzo]

the only novel i am really familiar with is Casino Royale, so when it comes to litterary bond i am far from an expert, but i have a rough idea of the character's arc through the series and how toward the tail end of the Flemming novels he was a broken / directionless man, and while i don't think cinematic bond could go (or should go) to this extent, i would like to see a more faithful adaptation of the tortured soul of bond in the up-coming films. for some reason I see Craig lasting for 3 films, don't know why, but 3 seems right somehow, and if they did take this new, humanizing approach to their portrayal of the character i think that, Craig would infact be the perfect actor to do this.
While there is talk of "restarting" the franchise and this being bond #1, i don't think it will be done to the same degree as Batman Begins (a frequent comparison) which was not a prequel, but a first installment of a brand new franchise which had NO ties in plot to the previous films (characters were completely re-invented and the timeline was entirly original for the new film) i would really like to see this done for bond, not out of dis-respect for the last 20 films, but so Bond could be something new and original, because sticking to the continuity of a 20 film back-catalogue does nothing more than chain a writer / director or producer.
alas i don't think this will happen, "Bond Begins" does not appear to be on the agenda. if it were, we could quite simply have seen entire re-makes of the films / novels, Imagine 2006 - Casino Royale, 2009 - Live and Let Die, 2012, Moonraker... and so on, all faithfully adapted, free from the 40 year history where films like Die Another Day are produced to "out gun" the previous film. Bond re-incarnated, bond at it's purest. this would be contraversial, but i would imagine many would like to see the bond of the books, complete with scarred hand, on the silver screen.

[pgram]

You are right, dinovelvet, there are things that could be used. Yet, I am afraid that this could be a trap. Untalented people using Fleming material would think they are going back to the originals whereas they would just be desecrating it, (that is what happened in DAD). In fact I think there are other, non-Bond, books that could be transformed into Bond films. One such choice could be Judge Dee books that could provide excellent stories for Bond films, although the originals take place in ancient China.

[Byron]

Although hackneyed, I would like to see the pirate treasure / gold coin smuggling plot from LALD used one day. Maybe the giant octopus can be worked in when Bond is diving somewhere in the tropics.

Shatterhands Garden of Death would also be awesome.

[Lounge Lizard]

I'm still pondering how you could bring 'Quantom of Solace' in. Lovely story, but I don't think there's anything to be had from it.

[Byron]

I'm still pondering how you could bring 'Quantom of Solace' in. Lovely story, but I don't think there's anything to be had from it.

Agreed.

[Qwerty]

I'm still pondering how you could bring 'Quantom of Solace' in. Lovely story, but I don't think there's anything to be had from it.

Quite. Much too short too and out of step with the other books. Unless there is some minute way to fit in created characters with those in the story the governor tells to Bond.

[belvedere]

Forgive the heresy, but...

I would make Bond 22 Colonel Sun.

This is an excellent novel and the Athens locale as well as the Greek Islands (I believe Vrakonisi was the island in the book) would make for a stunning backdrop. The characters are all excellent characters, although the story line will have to be updated. But that is where I hope the series goes... in 2007.

[MattofSteel]

The Colonel Sun is what SHOULD have been a larger part of Die Another Day....if they did it now then they would be writing a film about a character they already vaguely referenced......it would be weird

[Harmsway]

There's PLENTY of worthwhile, unused material to borrow:

LIVE AND LET DIE - The smuggling of treasure in fish tanks (a great idea)

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - Pretty much the whole book

DOCTOR NO - The idea of Bond being put through an endurance test by the villain

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - Pretty much the whole story, but notably the Garden of Death concept

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - There's plenty of unused material here for inspiration, especially since the movie of the same name bears little resemblance to it

[tdalton]

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - There's plenty of unused material here for inspiration, especially since the movie of the same name bears little resemblance to it

A more faithful adaptation of this novel would be very interesting. Perhaps they could film the ending of the YOLT novel for the end of Craig's last film and use the beginning of a more faithful adaptation (with a different title and name for villain, of course) to introduce a new Bond.

[Gabe Vieira]

I would really like to see un-used material from Fleming books in the next few Bond movies, but only if they got it right. I would rather see crappy original material that Fleming's works get crapped on by Purvis and Wade - again.

[dinovelvet]

I'm still pondering how you could bring 'Quantom of Solace' in. Lovely story, but I don't think there's anything to be had from it.

Quite. Much too short too and out of step with the other books. Unless there is some minute way to fit in created characters with those in the story the governor tells to Bond.

I dunno, I think it could be used as a good starting point for a larger plot, much like the FYEO and TLD shorts were the first 10 minutes of those respective movies.
Just off the top of my head, a QoS movie could start with the assassination of Canadian diplomat Harvey Miller. The diplomat's wife, Rhoda, instantly suspects her ex-husband Philip Masters, a British general stationed in Libya (its Nigeria in the story, but let's make it somewhere more political). Bond questions her, and she tells him the Quantum of Solace story which could be shown in flashbacks. Bond then investigates Masters and finds he went nuts after the QoS incident, and is now planning something huge and megalomaniacal...cue a lot of action in Africa, and Bond falling in love with Rhoda so we get a love/hate triangle, etc.

[Lounge Lizard]

Interesting suggestion, dinovelvet, but I guess the telling of the 'Quantom of Solace' story in flashback mode will still be a show-stopper.

[dinovelvet]

Thinking some more about this, the DAF wild west town could work if it was done in a surreal/hallucinogenic way. Say Bond is captured by the villain and pumped full of drugs for interrogation purposes. He then wakes up and finds himself in this bizarre cowboy town, and he/we don't know if this is all one big hallucination or if its all real. It'd be even more weird if the film was taking place in say, Poland! It would be a little different and experimental for a Bond film...