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[[dark]]

Eon Productions Pass On 'Devil May Care' Film Rights

Bond producers cite '60s setting as a key obstacle

Broccoli And Faulks Talk 'Devil' Film Rights Snub

"It really wouldn't fit as one of the films that Eon has been making recently."

[Captain Tightpants]

Thank the stars. The plot of Devil May Care was pretty generic.

[Righty007]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

[K1Bond007]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

Well they said in the near future. Bond 23 is probably planned out some or even in the writing stage so earliest anyway would be 2012 (assuming they stick to the 2 year schedule). I don't think it's ever gonna happen though because they don't need it and I'm thinking this is just a nice way of saying "no thanks".

Also, I'd rather see a faithful Young Bond series instead of any continuation novel. My feelings aside on Devil May Care.

[Trident]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

Just my thoughts. DMC's plot could quite easily be brought up-to-date. It's not as if EON would insist on shooting the Tehran part or the Moscow scenes on location in Iran and Russia, which might pose a problem. But then, money could open doors even there.

[Righty007]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

Also, I'd rather see a faithful Young Bond series instead of any continuation novel. My feelings aside on Devil May Care.

Perhaps EON's decision to do other projects for Columbia Pictures is a hint that a Young Bond series is on their mind? I certainly hope so.

[DamnCoffee]

That would be rather cool, Righty. I hope it's true. Though I do hope that they continue making Adult Bond at the same time.

[Skudor]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

I choose to read that comments as code for "the book stunk so badly we don't even want to consider having to fork out for the rights, especially when no one else can actually film the blasted thing".

[marktmurphy]

Yeah, there'd be no point in paying for the rights of this when they could write a similar story themselves (and often have done).
The title would be nice to use, though.

As with those above, I'd prefer to see a Young Bond series. Would the 30's setting of those be confusing when running alongside a present day Bond or could you just ignore that? I'm not certain.

[Simon]

I choose to read that comments as code for "the book stunk so badly we don't even want to consider having to fork out for the rights, especially when no one else can actually film the blasted thing".

Yes; a more polite response would have been to suggest 'history has shown we don't film continuation novels'.

Their '60's' response is hysterical, and not a little pointing.

[David Schofield]

I choose to read that comments as code for "the book stunk so badly we don't even want to consider having to fork out for the rights, especially when no one else can actually film the blasted thing".

Yes; a more polite response would have been to suggest 'history has shown we don't film continuation novels'.

Their '60's' response is hysterical, and not a little pointing.

I wonder now if IFP will get the message that employing a condescending freeloader like Faulks only goes so far.

Sure, it might get you decent sales. But it brings condemnation from hardcore fans. And, crucially, the cold shoulder from EON.

Here's hoping IFP take heed when the next book is being conceived...

[DamnCoffee]

Just found this....

Sebastian Faulks' James Bond apes Ian Fleming's creation


He has battled a man with a golden gun and gone head to head with villains whose deadly weapons include metal jaws and lethal top hats.

But James Bond’s latest enemy has perhaps the strangest trademark yet - he is half human, half ape.

In Devil May Care, the new Bond book by Sebastian Faulks, 007 is briefed about his new nemesis, Dr Julius Gorner, who M describes as suffering from "An extremely rare congenital deformity...known as main de singe, or monkey’s hand".

The new book, which is published on May 28 to mark the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, has been shrouded in secrecy, but is said to place 007 at the centre of the heroin trade during the Cold War.

The theory appears to be borne out by the cover of the novel, which features a blood-spattered opium poppy with the outline of a naked woman forming the stem. A female character called Poppy is also said to feature prominently.

Dr Julius Gorner is described as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur from the Baltic region, who is believed to be undermining the West by illegally smuggling vast quantities of opium into Britain and America, whom M believes to be "potentially the most dangerous man the Service has yet encountered".

Briefing Bond on how to recognise the enemy, M describes his affliction: "The whole hand is completely that of an ape. With hair up to the wrist and beyond."

Bond baddies are renowned for their bizarre physical traits. In the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, the villain, Le Chiffre, suffers from Haemolacria, a medical condition which causes him to weep blood.

In an extract published today, Bond has returned from a sabbatical in Rome in 1967, to find London in full hippy swing. The capital is awash with "the bonfire whiff of marijuana" and the laid-back Sixties vibe has even permeated the Secret Service.

Much to Bond’s alarm, M has taken up yoga and 00 agents have been engaged in a programme of "deep breathing and relaxation techniques".

Despatched to Paris to confront the enemy, Bond, who drives a Bentley Continental in Devil May Care and not the Aston Martin he is usually associated with, is chased en route to the airport by two sinister men on motorbikes, who he soon sees off with effortless 007 ease.

Faulks’s book is the 22nd authorised Bond novel since Fleming’s death in 1964. The first was penned under a pseudonym by Kingsley Amis. The last was written by Raymond Benson six years ago but only sold 5,000 copies in the Britain.

Filming is already under way on Quantum of Solace, the second Bond film to feature Craig as 007, which is due to be released in November. Devil May Care may well follow Quantum of Solace as the next 007 film instalment as a 23rd Bond film is scheduled for 2010.

Faulks, who wrote the book in just six weeks, has said that he wrote it 80 per cent in Fleming’s style. "My Bond is Fleming’s Bond - not Connery, or Moore or Craig, for all their charms," he said. "And yes, my Bond drinks and smokes as much as ever. My female lead - the "Bond" girl - has a little more depth than Fleming’s women, but not at the expense of glamour."

Faulks has described his Bond, who has been widowed, as "more vulnerable" than his previous incarnations, but "both gallant and highly sexed".

"Bond is damaged and ageing and, in a sense, it is the return of the gunfighter for one last, heroic mission".

http://www.telegraph...s-creation.html

[Conlazmoodalbrocra]

They may not wish to use the plot, but they could still nick a few ideas from it like theyve done with Colonel Sun in the past.

As for a Young Bond film series...no thank you.

[terminus]

EON can't have thought it that bad. Didn't Babs describe it as like reading a missing Fleming manuscript?

[Skudor]

EON can't have thought it that bad. Didn't Babs describe it as like reading a missing Fleming manuscript?

I'd like to think she was being nice. But you never know, maybe she really did like it (or perhaps she just doesn't think much of Fleming).

[Harmsway]

EON's comments have all been very complimentary of DEVIL MAY CARE. Perhaps out of politeness, or perhaps they really dug it.

Either way, they don't need it to make movies. EON can come up with a story like that no problem. And it's not like the book has that interesting ideas... I daresay EON would get more mileage out of adapting one of the Benson novels.

[marktmurphy]

I daresay EON would get more mileage out of adapting one of the Benson novels.

Probably true- at least those had concepts: the one where James Bond went up a mountain, the one where James Bond has a double etc. DMC is just an average James Bond story.

[Harmsway]

I daresay EON would get more mileage out of adapting one of the Benson novels.

Probably true- at least those had concepts: the one where James Bond went up a mountain, the one where James Bond has a double etc. DMC is just an average James Bond story.

Quite so. I daresay the Benson era is marked by much more creativity than DEVIL MAY CARE. There's scenario after scenario which Benson has come up with that has a really great concept behind it. Sure, his execution was lacking, but who doesn't appreciate things like Bond being stuck in a bullfight, or Bond having a doppelganger, or Bond being trapped on a train with death-carrying mosquitos, etc. and so on. I daresay EON could make some crackling Bond films out of some of Benson's material.

[spynovelfan]

I don't think it will happen, though. Books usually get changed so much when translated to screen - just look at some of Fleming's! So even if they were to adapt one of the continuation novels, they would probably change loads of stuff. Why bother, when they can just cherry-pick any ideas they like from them and work up as free adaptations as they like? They alone can film Bond films, and because of the format most Bond continuations have to follow something of a formula anyway. So if they were to make a film in which an enemy organisation created a double of Bond, Raymond Benson wouldn't be able to do much about it. It would be a different organisation, the double would have a different name, the locations would be different, the plot would significantly different, and so on. They'd just take the cool concept. But there's no copyright on that concept, and it's easy to see the influence the films had on Benson for it: the pre-titles of FRWL, for instance, and the entrapment plot of that story. Ditto High Time To Kill. There's no copyright on having Bond go up on a mountain. Okay, so there's an old friend as the enemy - well, they did that in Goldeneye. Okay, so someone on the expedition is after something - who is it? Well, that was done in The Eiger Sanction.

And so on. I don't think they'll ever adapt a continuation - there's so little point in them paying for the rights and then paying another group of writers to rewrite it, when that group could just come up with their own story anyway. Why pay Amis's estate to adapt Colonel Sun, for instance? The best idea in it is M being kidnapped, which they used in TWINE. If they used Greece as a location, or a variation of Sun's (quite thin) ploy in a future film, they won't have to pay anyone for that, either. If there's a villain called Dr Julius Negroni in Bond 23, who has deformed hands, what can Faulks do? Dr Julius No had steel hands.

[marktmurphy]

I don't think it will happen, though.

Well, no; no-one's really saying that they will. Just that there's more chance and point of them adapting a Benson than there is DMC. Sort of the same as saying that pigs will fly before Christopher Biggins will (not really sure where that came from- don't think about it).

The title's nice though; wouldn't mind them using the title.

[David Schofield]

The title's nice though; wouldn't mind them using the title.

And perhaps if EON did they could actually make the title have some relevance to the story!

[marktmurphy]

Yeah maybe; Ian Fleming can't exactly hold the high ground: Live and Let Die anyone?

Bit of a rubbish title that one, when you think about it.

[danslittlefinger]

"The book is not up to scratch and the half baked ideas won't work with the great stuff we have going on now, so we'll pass. But to be nice, I'll say it was a great read.
Thanks,
Babs.
Eon"

I think this is the alternative meaning.

Edited by danslittlefinger, 20 August 2008 - 02:30 PM.

[Mister E]

This is no big loss.

EON's comments have all been very complimentary of DEVIL MAY CARE. Perhaps out of politeness, or perhaps they really dug it.

Either way, they don't need it to make movies. EON can come up with a story like that no problem. And it's not like the book has that interesting ideas... I daresay EON would get more mileage out of adapting one of the Benson novels.

I think more like taking some ideas. I hated Bensons novels. I would only agree unless EON hires a hell of a good writer.

Edited by Mister E, 20 August 2008 - 02:57 PM.

[David Schofield]

Yeah maybe; Ian Fleming can't exactly hold the high ground: Live and Let Die anyone?

Bit of a rubbish title that one, when you think about it.

Dunno. At least in Fleming's book, Bond says he lives by the principle to "live and let die".

Don't notice him being very "devil may care" in Faulks book, though.

Doped, yes. Light-hearted, living on the edge. Care free? Er, no.

[Qwerty]

EON can't have thought it that bad. Didn't Babs describe it as like reading a missing Fleming manuscript?

Doubt they would have said anything particularly nasty about the book to the press, regardless of their true feelings.

[00Twelve]

Not surprised here.

Don't really get the point of adapting DMC, anyway. DMC itself adapted a hundred things that had been done before in the Fleming novels, and we have movies of those.

My point is, there's not enough original concepts in DMC to warrant an adaptation by EON.

[zencat]

As with those above, I'd prefer to see a Young Bond series. Would the 30's setting of those be confusing when running alongside a present day Bond or could you just ignore that? I'm not certain.

I think it would work if they did Young Bond on TV. My vision for a YB series would be a very faithful high quality BBC mini series. One book each season for five seasons. It'd be awesome, and I think it would easily exist beside the contemp film Bond without a problem. For many kids, "Young Bond" is a stand alone character anyway. (And for "kids" like me, because Young Bond is so rooted in Fleming, it actually feels more like James Bond to me than Craig's Bond.)

As to Eon not doing DMC...no surprise. Yes, the 60s setting is an obvious excuse. But Eon just won't do the continuation novels for whatever reasons. Their loss really. There are some great plots, villains, and titles, and that's what they need. CR aside, I really don't think they're doing a great job coming up with stories on their own. They don't need to do faithful adaptations. But many of the books would provide a very good base. Oh well.

[MkB]

The 1960s setting is an obstacle? That didn't stop them from making Casino Royale or any other Bond film made after 1969.

I choose to read that comments as code for "the book stunk so badly we don't even want to consider having to fork out for the rights, especially when no one else can actually film the blasted thing".

Is it really so, by the way? Doesn't the James Bond character belong to IFP, and if they decided to sell the rights of DMC to another production company, couldn't they film their own version, à la NSNA? I'm really curious. In this case, talking about BBC mini series, I'd really dig a period adult Bond one!

[[dark]]

If any continuation novel was ripe for adaptation, it was Devil May Care. It was a commercial hit, it's fresh in the public's mind, and most enticingly of all, it's Fleming (or, at least, it purports to be).

Still, I'm not at all surprised Eon has passed on it. With James Bond 2.0 (aka the Daniel Craig era), they have a series of surefire hits on their hands (or so I'm assuming). They don't need the gimmick of adapting such a novel - maybe Wilson and Broccoli don't consider it filmable, maybe they thought it was rubbish, or maybe they're just holding steadfast to their commitment to only work with Fleming's material (and their own, obviously).

What does surprise me is that IFP would be so eager to see the book adapted. In the post-Benson literary overhaul, it seemed as though IFP were going to great lengths to establish the book Bond as its own entity - and rather successfully, too... unless all concerned were enticed by the big bucks that would no doubt be attached to the sale of film rights (and subsequent boost in sales of Devil May Care).

I think it would work if they did Young Bond on TV. My vision for a YB series would be a very faithful high quality BBC mini series. One book each season for five seasons. It'd be awesome, and I think it would easily exist beside the contemp film Bond without a problem.

I've always wanted to see a faithful period BBC mini-series adaptation of Fleming's novels. However, your suggestion of adaptations of Higson's novels would work for the sole reason that the Young Bond novels can stand apart from Eon's series - unlike a series of Fleming adaptations.

I don't think it's too far-fetched to expect such adaptations.