772 replies to this topic

[tdalton]

I'm trying to figure out whether or not we've got all of the parts cast, because I'm not entirely sure that we do (or if we've settled on certain characters being in the film or not, for that matter).

Regarding Kananga, I know there was discussion about keeping him or not with opinions on both sides. If we're going to keep him, I do think that he should probably be a separate character from Mr. Big/Samedi as to not have that character have a third alter-ego. Perhaps we keep him as the puppet President of Nambutu? If we do keep him in the story, though, we need to cast him.

Looking at the character listings for both the novel and the film, we're missing Whisper and Quarrel (or in our case, some kind of equivalent since we killed off the character earlier on). I think I've currently got Tee Hee situated as one of Solitaire's associates, so perhaps we could put Whisper in as an associate of Mr. Big? I think those are the only two parts we have to cast, if we decide to keep them in at all.

James Bond: Daniel Craig
Solitaire: Dianna Agron
Mr. Big: Idris Elba
Tee Hee: Tony Todd
Felix Leiter: Jeffrey Wright
Rosie Carver: Nicki Minaj
President Kananga: Chiwitol Ejiofor
M: Judi Dench
Moneypenny: Anna Friel
Tanner: Rory Kinnear
Blofeld: Peter Serafinowicz


Storywise, regarding the ending, I think that having the dragging scene with the boat should be towards the end, but I'm not sure it should be the big climax of the film either, since it's something that we have seen before in a Bond film. Perhaps Blofeld and Mr. Big believe that they've killed Bond and Solitaire, and later during a voodoo ritual back at the site we saw in the PTS, Bond and Solitaire show up revealing that they had not been killed, with Bond making a quip about how Mr. Big's not the only one who can't die. Then they could battle it out at the ritual site and in the surrounding areas.

EDIT: I'm going to try putting together a proper outline here shortly now that I've got a better idea of where the story is headed, with the beginnings of the treatment coming sometime early in the week (Monday evening or Tuesday).

Edited by tdalton, 06 February 2011 - 05:38 PM.

[coco1997]

If we're going to include Kananga, we could cast Chiwitol Ejiofor, who I proposed for Mr. Big.

[tdalton]

If we're going to include Kananga, we could cast Chiwitol Ejiofor, who I proposed for Mr. Big.

Agreed.

I'm thinking the character might make an appearance in a similar fashion that the Isthmus president made in LTK, although I'm not sure yet exactly where that scene would go yet.

Any ideas for Whisper?

[tdalton]

Here's what I've go so far for an outline. There'll be more to come a bit later.


Nambutu (Pre-Titles)

• A man is chased through an open field in Nambutu by an angry mob. He eventually takes refuge in a drug crop.
• Thinking that he has lost the mob, he begins to head back the other way as he's grabbed by some unknown people out of the drug crop and dragged away.
• When the man awakens, he finds himself tied to a stake at a voodoo ritual site with hundreds of people dancing around him.
• We see Simone Latrelle (Dianna Agron) appear to levitate out of a pit in the stage of the ritual site and lower herself down to the ground right in front of where the man is tied. Next to him, also tied to a stake, is another man. These men, we will later find out, are operatives of the CIA and MI6 respectively.
• Simone stares into one of the men's eyes, putting him under a deep state of hypnosis. She unties him and then directs him to kill himself, which he does.
• The other man faints due to fear, and Simone orders that he be taken down to the water to be fed to the crocodiles.

Langley, VA & London

• We see shots of the two respective intelligence headquarters. Inside both we see agents opening up a package, in which are revealed to contain the severed heads of the two agents from the PTS along with a tarot card symbolizing "death".
• M, Bond, and Tanner hold a meeting, debating whether this is an attack by Quantum, as the organization has been laying low since the attempt on Fort Knox. They send Bond to Nambutu to investigate. The CIA decides to send Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) to the country as well.

Boston

• We enter a conference room at the Liberty Hotel full of television cameras, photographers, and reporters as we see Simone Latrelle enter the room and take her position at the podium. She delivers an address detailing the success of an initiative in Rio De Janeiro in which she has used her massive wealth to buy up the bulk of the illegal drugs off the street. She claims that the initiative has drastically cut the crime rate in the city, with estimates to that fact ranging anywhere from more than 50-75%. She also announces that she has already begun a similar initiative in the United States, which she hopes to complete in the coming months before taking it to Europe.

Nambutu

• Bond and Felix begin their preliminary investigation in Nambutu. Bond comes across an aid worker named Rosie Carver (Nicki Minaj), who gives him the details about a man named Mr. Big, who is the unofficial ruler of the island.
• Carver also tells Bond of the myths surrounding Mr. Big and a strange woman the islanders know only as "Solitaire". She says that Mr. Big is said to be the living zombie of a man named Baron Samedi, who once ruled over the island. Solitaire is a woman who is said to have various supernatural powers, including that of levitation, mind control, mind reading, and other psychic powers.
• Carver takes Bond out to the drug fields, which are monitored by scarecrows with cameras built into them.
• As night falls, Bond and Carver are still out touring the drug fields, when Mr. Big (Idris Elba) emerges from the darkness. His skin is grayish colored (in reality, this is due to a heart defect), and under the full moon he does appear to fit the zombie description the islanders have given him. He chases Bond and Carver, eventually catching up to Carver, who he dispatches in a particularly violent manner.
• Bond escapes the encounter, although rather shaken due to the encounter.

United Nations

• Blofeld (Peter Serafinowicz) is in a meeting with several other high-level diplomats as he is looking to bring these men into the Quantum fold.
• Simone storms into the meeting room, getting right up in Blofeld's face, reading him the riot act about tipping off the CIA and MI6 regarding the agents deaths.
• Blofeld questions how she could have known about that, to which she tells him that he already knows how she would know this (an allusion to her psychic abilities).
• Blofeld states that he's moving up the timetable for Quantum's plans to release the drugs back into the streets of Rio De Janeiro free of charge.
• Simone chastises Blofeld again, instructing him to wait at least until the initiative is complete in the United States before doing so.

Nambutu

• Felix uncovers a warehouse where he finds a massive stockpile of illegal drugs. He finds a packing slip that indicates that the drugs have been shipped there from Rio De Janeiro.
• Felix alerts Bond to what he has found, prompting Bond to travel to Rio De Janeiro.
• Felix stays behind to continue the investigation into Mr. Big

Rio De Janeiro

• Bond, aware of the drug initiative brought forward by Simone Latrelle, decides to start by speaking to her.
• Thanks to the behind the scenes work by Moneypenny, Bond manages an invite to a charity dinner being thrown in Simone's honor.
• Bond strikes up a conversation with her, finding himself shocked that the woman seems to know everything about him, including details of his upbringing.
• Bond asks her what happened to the drugs she had bought up off the street, to which she responds that she had had them destroyed.
• Bond leaves the party and heads back to his hotel.
• Simone orders her associate, Tee Hee Johnson (Tony Todd) to follow Bond, but not to engage him, yet.
• Bond continues his investigation the next morning, visiting one of the top scientists in the city to inquire about what it would take to destroy an amount of drugs similar to that which Simone had bought up. He explains to Bond the steps it would take, after which Bond asks if any such destruction had occurred. The scientist tells Bond that, if it had occurred, it had not occurred in Rio De Janeiro or any of the surrounding areas.
• As Bond makes his way out to his car, he is approached by Tee Hee, who tells him that Simone would like to meet with him at her private residence.

Solitaire's Residence, Outskirts of Rio De Janeiro

• Bond is taken into the back of Simone's residence, which contains a large pool that is made to look like a tropical forest, complete with a massive waterfall.
• Simone emerges from the pool and welcomes Bond. She escorts Bond into the house, where Bond notices several voodoo artifacts lining the walls.
• Bond inquires about the voodoo artifacts, to which Simone replies that she identifies more with that particular religious philosophy due to the certain "special" abilities that she possesses.
• As she speaks, Bond begins to suspect that she may be the "Solitaire" woman that the people of Nambutu fear.
• Simone tries to deflect Bond's investigation away from her, instructing him to look into President Kananga of Nambutu. She explains that she has heard that the drug trade in Nambutu is a particularly bad one, and that the rumor has been that Kananga is the one pushing the drug trade as a cornerstone of the Nambutu economy.
• Before Bond leaves, Simone offers to read Bond's future with the tarot cards. She tells him that there will be great pain in his future, as well as a marriage. Bond laughs at that fact, and before he leaves, asks if Simone herself is a part of his future. She says that she seriously doubts it, but Bond picks a card out of her deck, showing it to be the "lovers" card.

Nambutu

• Bond passes along the information regarding Kananga to Felix, although telling him that he believes it to be a lie.
• Felix sets up a meeting with President Kananga (Chiwitol Ejiofor), before which he sees Mr. Big leaving the president's offices.
• Felix meets with Kananga, and Felix finds him to be rather aloof to the whole drug situation, bringing Felix to the conclusion that, while he may know about the drug trade, he's certainly not competent enough to operate it himself.
• Felix reports back to Bond that he believes Kananga is simply a puppet for Mr. Big, who appears to actually run the island.

Solitaire's Residence, Outskirts of Rio De Janeiro

• Solitaire sits alone in her room, staring at a picture of a man and a woman who appear to be in their mid to late 30s. We see her tear up a bit before her phone rings.
• On the other end is Blofeld, who informs her that the plan for Rio De Janeiro will be commencing soon, which she vehemently disagrees with, wanting to launch the initiative, at the very least, simultaneously in Rio De Janeiro and in the United States, although the preferred option would be to wait until they had completed the Europe phase of the initiative as well.
• We hear church bells ringing in the background as Solitaire once again clutches the photograph and begins to cry again. She leaves the bed, looking at herself in the mirror, into which her gaze begins to intensify until the mirror cracks. She collapses to the floor.

Nambutu

• Felix stakes out the presidential palace in Nambutu waiting for Mr. Big.
• When Mr. Big finally does leave, he climbs into a Rolls Royce Apparition. Felix tails him.
• Mr. Big eventually discovers that he is being tailed, and things escalate into a high-speed car chase.
• Mr. Big forces Felix to wreck his car.

Rio De Janeiro

• Bond is having breakfast on an outdoor patio at his hotel when his mobile phone indicates that he has a video-conference call. Bond connects the call, expecting to see either M or Tanner. Instead, it is Mr. Big.
• Bond is then forced to witness the site of Felix being fed to the crocodiles.
• Mr. Big then warns him that, if he continues his investigation, he will meet a similar fate.
• Bond alerts M as to what has happened. She sends their "man in Nambutu" out to the site to try to rescue Felix, which he does.
• After Felix is given proper medical attention on the island that saves his life, he is airlifted to Rio De Janeiro where he can receive more extensive treatment.
• Bond tracks Simone to an office building in the heart of the city, where he approaches her with a still image of Mr. Big from the video on his phone, demanding he tell her if she knows the man. She claims not to, but Bond can read it in her body language that she is lying.
• Bond asks if she will accompany him to the hospital, as there is something that he wants to show her. When they arrive, Bond shows her what Mr. Big has done to Felix, who is unconscious thanks to a massive amount of painkilling medication.
• The sight of Felix visibly disturbs Simone, but she is unrelenting in the assertion that she does not know who he is.

to be continued...








-The rest of the film will include a scene where Bond believes he has killed Mr. Big (but actually hasn't), the confrontation between Simone and Bond, the boat scene where Bond and Solitaire are dragged across the reef in Nambutu, the scene at the Christ the Redeemer statue that was discussed last night, as well as a sequence in which Bond and Mr. Big will track each other down in the streets of Rio while the city descends into chaos due to the drugs that Mr. Big and Blofeld release back onto the streets.

Edited by tdalton, 06 February 2011 - 05:43 PM.

[terminus]

Excellent work, tdalton.

Looks like we might finish this sooner rather than later.

If we finish it before dino returns, then perhaps we could take a detour and do Warhead II until he returns?

[tdalton]

Excellent work, tdalton.

Looks like we might finish this sooner rather than later.

If we finish it before dino returns, then perhaps we could take a detour and do Warhead II until he returns?

I'm hopeful that, since this outline is like the one for GF in that it's basically the treatment in outline form, we'll have this finished within the next day or two. The only holdup I can really see being the dialogue, which I think there will be quite a bit of for the treatment since this is shaping up to be a story told more by the characters than by jumping from one action sequence to another. I already know that we'll have Solitaire's speech detailed out, along with her confrontation with Bond towards the end, as well as a few other segments of dialogue as well. Hopefully the dialogue won't take long, but seeing as how it might end up being a bit more important to the treatment than usual (as this one's not necessarily something that would automatically fall under the 'action film' genre), I'm going to take my time with trying to get it right.

I might be able to get a bit more posted tonight before the Super Bowl, but my hopes are to have a final outline completely finished sometime Monday afternoon with a treatment completed sometime during the day Tuesday.

Edited by tdalton, 06 February 2011 - 05:37 PM.

[coco1997]

How long did dino say he was going to be gone for? I already have some good ideas in mind for "OHMSS". In fact, I have an entire outline written out, which I'll share once "LALD" is finished.

[dinovelvet]

Hey all, I return on weds - please don't start ohmss till I am back!!

[tdalton]

How long did dino say he was going to be gone for? I already have some good ideas in mind for "OHMSS". In fact, I have an entire outline written out, which I'll share once "LALD" is finished.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you've got for OHMSS. Can't wait.


Had I known that the Super Bowl was going to be the complete and utter disaster that it turned out to be (seriously, did they even do any prep-work beforehand for this thing?), I would have just not even bothered and finished up the LALD outline and treatment. Anyway, hopefully the outline will be completed sometime tomorrow afternoon/early evening followed by the treatment on Tuesday.

[coco1997]

Had I known that the Super Bowl was going to be the complete and utter disaster that it turned out to be (seriously, did they even do any prep-work beforehand for this thing?), I would have just not even bothered and finished up the LALD outline and treatment. Anyway, hopefully the outline will be completed sometime tomorrow afternoon/early evening followed by the treatment on Tuesday.

I take it you weren't very pleased with the result of the Big Game? As a Bears fan myself, I'd say we're in the same boat.

Looking forward to seeing the treatment finished. This will no doubt wind up being one of the most compelling additions to this series so far, if for no other reason other than its radical departure from the original film.

Hey all, I return on weds - please don't start ohmss till I am back!!

I guess this means you have some good ideas in mind--I can't wait!

[tdalton]

I take it you weren't very pleased with the result of the Big Game? As a Bears fan myself, I'd say we're in the same boat.

I was actually quite pleased with the result. I'm a Jets fan, so seeing the Steelers lose put a silver lining on it. It was the rest of the experience that I wasn't pleased with. I was rooting for the Bears to make the Super Bowl, though, as I know a few Bears fan so it would have been fun to watch the game with them knowing that someone was going to be happy with the outcome.

They've had weeks (well, in reality, years, but they've definitely had weeks to get this thing ready since the Cowboys last had a game there) to get the stadium ready, but it wasn't. Considering that this was a football game, and Cowboys Stadium has successfully hosted many football games before, I find this mind boggling. They displaced 400 fans that they gave tickets to but didn't have seats for, the National Anthem was terrible, the playing surface looked beyond horrendous (for a new stadium, the turf shouldn't look that bad. The Jets/Giants stadium is brand new, and is an outdoor stadium, and has infinitely better looking turf than they had for this game. You could actually see where the new patches of turf were sewn onto the field). And then there was the halftime show, which was beyond horrible. Not to go off on a rant, but all of this just really put a damper on what wasn't even that great of a game. Had the Packers receivers actually done the job they were hired to do (i.e. catch the football), Green Bay would have won this game running away.

Looking forward to seeing the treatment finished. This will no doubt wind up being one of the most compelling additions to this series so far, if for no other reason other than its radical departure from the original film.

Thanks. That was exactly what I was going for. Hopefully it ends up being something of a genre-bending film, as I'm trying to incorporate elements of the horror, action, and political thriller genres into it. I also can't wait to see how it ends up finishing up, as I honestly have no idea how it's going to end yet. (Seriously, I don't, as I'm pretty much writing it on the fly )

[coco1997]

And then there was the halftime show, which was beyond horrible. Not to go off on a rant, but all of this just really put a damper on what wasn't even that great of a game.

Funny you should say that, since we have will.i.am doing the title song.

Which reminds me, have we decided on a director? I proposed the Hughes brothers, but I assume you had Eli Roth in mind since I know you've said in the past that you'd envisioned him directing a 'horror'-themed Bond film.

[tdalton]

And then there was the halftime show, which was beyond horrible. Not to go off on a rant, but all of this just really put a damper on what wasn't even that great of a game.

Funny you should say that, since we have will.i.am doing the title song.

Which reminds me, have we decided on a director? I proposed the Hughes brothers, but I assume you had Eli Roth in mind since I know you've said in the past that you'd envisioned him directing a 'horror'-themed Bond film.

I think the Black Eyed Peas are a decent group in terms of their studio work, but they've never been, IMO, a particularly good live act.

I'm good with whoever the group decides on as director. The Hughes Brothers would be a fine choice. This project isn't going as far towards being a horror film as I'd initially thought, so we don't necessarily need a horror director.


EDIT: Sorry for the delay. It's been a somewhat busy day but I hope to have some more of the outline posted shortly.

Edited by tdalton, 08 February 2011 - 02:31 AM.

[tdalton]

Here's more of the outline. But first, one note, which would be that I think a lot of this will work better in the treatment than it does in the outline, as a lot of what's here necessitates at least a line or two of dialogue to drive the point home that some of the scenes are trying to make. As always, suggestions are welcome.


NAMBUTU

• Blofeld arrives for a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Big. They begin the preparation to transfer the drug stockpile back to Rio De Janeiro.
• Blofeld instructs Mr. Big to accompany the drugs to Rio, make contact with Simone so they can begin Phase 2, and to personally eliminate Bond.

RIO DE JANEIRO

• Mr. Big, and Simone meet at the Teatro Municipal, where Simone has a private box.
• Mr. Big informs Simone that Phase 2 of the plan will begin in less than 24 hours. He passes off his orders to eliminate Bond himself onto Simone.
• Simone makes her way to Bond's hotel, using her celebrity to get the hotel staff to give her access to Bond's room. She sneaks in, only to be startled when the lights suddenly flip on and she sees Bond holding a gun on her, knowing that she was going to make her move at some point.
• Simone attempts to use her powers of hypnosis to finish off Bond, but finds herself having to work harder at it to bring Bond under than she's ever had to in the past. Eventually she gets Bond dazed and begins to set him up for a similar fate as the agent in the PTS. Bond manages to summon up enough strength to bring himself back around, collapsing to the ground in a heap, although now in a fully conscious state.
• Bond tells her that she won't be able to pull her tricks on him, and acknowledges that he knows that she is the mysterious "Solitaire" that the people of Nambutu spoke of while he was investigating Mr. Big on the island.
• Bond attempts to reason with Simone. (NOTE: This scene, I think, will work much better in the treatment where it can be presented as an exchange of dialogue.)
• Before Bond has finished speaking, Simone flees the room. Bond attempts to stop her, but although he's managed to avoid a similar fate as the man who's death he had been investigating, he is too weakened from the ordeal to prevent her from leaving.
• Simone, distraught with guilt and from her encounter with Bond, makes her way up to the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers above the city. She is the only person present there, and she breaks down in front of the statue, overtaken with guilt.
• As the confrontation with Bond had been going on, Mr. Big had released the drug stockpile onto the streets. Everything seems calm at first until small incidents of violence start to crop up, which, over the course of a few hours, slowly snowball into chaos.
• Bond contacts M to decide on their next course of action.
• Bond receives a text message that simply reads: Christ the Redeemer
• Bond shows up at the Christ the Redeemer statue to find Simone silently watching as fires begin to burn in various spots around the city below and the sounds of sirens fill the air. Bond approaches her and the two have a conversation about what is going down. (NOTE: This, like the earlier scene, will be more effective in the treatment with a dialogue exchange).
• Bond asks Simone where he can find Mr. Big. She tells him, and the two head off towards the location.
• Before they arrive at the location, Bond's car is blindsided by another vehicle. Bond gets out, instructing Simone to stay in the car, to find Mr. Big standing in the middle of the street, waiting for him. The city block where this is occurring is on fire, with people running in every which direction.
• Before Bond can pull his gun and fire on Mr. Big, Mr. Big is all over him, pummeling Bond with his fists. Bond fights back, and the fight causes the citizens on the streets to panic even further. They two continue to exchange blows in an increasingly violent fashion until Bond gets a hold of his pistol and fires a couple of rounds into Mr. Big's chest.
• Bond gets Simone out of the car and they head back to the safety of his hotel so they can plot the next course of action.

to be continued...

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to get Bond and Simone back to Nambutu for the finale of the film. Since it appears that Mr. Big has been killed (he's not dead, as he'll pop up later in Nambutu), there needs to be some way to get Bond back to the island. I'm thinking maybe Blofeld and some of his henchmen corner Bond and Simone in Rio, with Blofeld taunting Bond that Quantum has finally gotten the better of him, that he's failed and all of that, before capturing the two of them and taking them back to the island where he intends to kill them both.

EDIT: I'm also going to add an action sequence at some point during the Rio de Janeiro segment of the film involving Bond, as I think we might need one more. Maybe something where he breaks in to some kind of office or something where he's able to get some information on Simone that he can later use to turn her. He'd be confronted by some guards and would have to fight his way out. That's kind of where I'm at with that particular sequence, but if anyone has any ideas for an action sequence with Bond in Rio, then please let me know, as any suggestions other than the one I've just put up would probably be better.

Edited by tdalton, 08 February 2011 - 04:07 AM.

[coco1997]

Everything looks good to me, t. Is there some way you could work the "Robber" scene from the original novel into the treatment?

[tdalton]

Everything looks good to me, t. Is there some way you could work the "Robber" scene from the original novel into the treatment?

Is that the scene where Bond ends up causing the guy to fall into the shark tank? It's been a while so my working knowledge of the novel isn't all that good.

I would imagine that it would be able to be worked into the treatment. The outline is going to be beefed up quite a bit when it's turned into the treatment (there's some stuff that's going to be added so that Bond's got a bit more to do, and a scene or two added to give Solitaire a bit more of a menacing presence).

[coco1997]

Yep, that's the scene. I was thinking maybe it could be relocated to Nambutu.

[tdalton]

Yep, that's the scene. I was thinking maybe it could be relocated to Nambutu.

We could definitely do that.

We'd need to figure out which character this would happen to, or if it's going to happen to a new character called the "Robber", we'd need to figure out how to fit him into the story.

The only thing I think we should look at in terms of the scene would be whether or not to relocate Felix's maiming to another location so that we don't have two animal attacks happen in the same location.

[coco1997]

Hm, I think the maiming of Felix works well where it is now. Maybe the Robber could meet a different demise than he does in the book?

[tdalton]

Hm, I think the maiming of Felix works well where it is now. Maybe the Robber could meet a different demise than he does in the book?

How about we relocate the shark tank demise to Rio. After doing some research (and I'm working under the assumption that this film would take place after the year 2012 given that we've now done three films before it), there's an aquarium called AquaRio that is set to open in Rio De Janeiro in 2012. Maybe we could take the shark tank death scene into a public setting?

[coco1997]

How about we relocate the shark tank demise to Rio. After doing some research (and I'm working under the assumption that this film would take place after the year 2012 given that we've now done three films before it), there's an aquarium called AquaRio that is set to open in Rio De Janeiro in 2012. Maybe we could take the shark tank death scene into a public setting?

I think that would be a fantastic idea. It's always exciting to incorporate brand new and cutting edge elements into the films.

[tdalton]

How about we relocate the shark tank demise to Rio. After doing some research (and I'm working under the assumption that this film would take place after the year 2012 given that we've now done three films before it), there's an aquarium called AquaRio that is set to open in Rio De Janeiro in 2012. Maybe we could take the shark tank death scene into a public setting?

I think that would be a fantastic idea. It's always exciting to incorporate brand new and cutting edge elements into the films.

I think going this direction would give the film a chance to get a few more terrifying moments out of the story without having to keep relying on the supernatural elements of it, which I want to have as a prominent aspect of the film while also not pushing it too far to the point where it's just too ridiculous. I think I'm walking a bit of a thin line with that already, so I'm trying not to add any more of it where it's not necessarily needed.

EDIT: I'm going to begin to plot out the treatment. It's shaping up to be something that could take a bit longer than I had originally thought, as this film could be the one that ends up being closer to a CR-length 2 1/2 hour-plus film given all of the suggestions and ideas that need to be fit into it.

Edited by tdalton, 08 February 2011 - 04:42 PM.

[coco1997]

When do you think we'll get the treatment, t?

[tdalton]

When do you think we'll get the treatment, t?

Working on it now. The first bit will hopefully be up later tonight.

[tdalton]

Like the other two I've done, it'll come in several parts, especially as this one is going to be quite a bit longer than the others. There are some scenes that are going to be added in that weren't in the outline, which came about due to reading over the outline and deciding that some things were missing and through discussions regarding scenes to add to the story. Hopefully it won't take long to get this completed so we can move on.

I'll post the treatment in its entirety in one post once it's been completed.


Here's Part 1:



Logos / Gun barrel Sequence

The film opens on a shot of an open field, at night, under a full moon. We see a man emerge from the woods, sprinting across the field. Not far behind him we see the glow of torches as an angry mob is in pursuit of the man.

The man continues sprinting looking for some place to hide from the mob. He spots a section of the drug crop he had been sent to investigate up ahead, deciding to take refuge under the cover of the tall plants, hoping that the mob will go right by him.

He waits for a while in the brush until he sees the mob go by. He takes a sigh of relief as he begins to exit the brush before we see several arms reaching into the brush and pulling him out.

Fade to black

The film fades back in on a voodoo ritual, where we find the man we had been following earlier now tied to a stake in the middle of what could most closely be described as an amphitheatre.

The man looks beside him and sees another man tied to a stake.

MAN: Bill, is that you?
BILL: Robert? They got you too?

As this exchange is occurring, we cut to a shot of the stage, where we see Simone Latrelle (Dianna Agron) levitate out of a pit in the stage and descend down to where the men are tied up. She stands in front of them, fixing her gaze on Robert, staring intensely into his eyes. Bill looks on and sees Robert slowly slipping away into a state of hypnosis.

Once Simone has taken Robert into a deep state of hypnosis, she unties the restraints that are holding him to the stake. She hands him a knife, instructing him to take his own life, which he does as roughly a hundred people dance around them, some holding snakes, others playing primitive musical instruments.

Bill watches on until it becomes too much for him, and he faints. Simone turns her attention to his limp body and, deciding that she’s had enough for the night, instructs the mob to take him down to the water and feed him to the alligators.

As Bill is being carried by the mob down to the water, we fade into the title sequence.

Title Sequence featuring “Live and Let Die” by Will.i.am

CBn Presents

Daniel Craig

as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007

in

LIVE AND LET DIE

Starring:

Dianna Agron
Idris Elba

Tony Todd
Jeffrey Wright

Nicki Minaj
Chiwitol Ejiofor

Anna Friel
Rory Kinnear

and

Judi Dench as ‘M’


Directed by
The Hughes Brothers

End of Title Sequence


London

We return to the film, seeing a woman carrying a square package wrapped in dark green paper with a bow on it. She sets it down on a desk, leaving it behind. A moment later, Bill Tanner steps up to the desk, looking around as though inquiring where the package came from. He unwraps it, and immediately reaches for the trash can next to his desk as he vomits into it. Once he collects himself, he looks back into the box, at which point the camera gives the audience an overhead view of its contents, which are the severed head of the MI6 agent killed in Nambutu. Attached to his forehead is the tarot card symbolizing “death”.

Some time later, M and Bond are sitting in her office sharing a drink, waiting on Tanner. When Tanner arrives, they begin the meeting.

M: Tanner, are we sure that the ‘contents’ of the box were that of our man in Nambutu?

TANNER: As the first person to inspect the ‘contents’, I can assure you that it is.

M: Double-oh seven, you are to go Nambutu and find out who killed our agent. This has Quantum’s fingerprints all over it, even if they’ve been laying low for the better part of a year now. There have been whispers of their involvement in agent deaths around the globe, some of which have shared a similar modus operandi to this one.

BOND: Understood. Do we know what our man there was looking into? Might give me a place to start.

M: We’ve been hearing rumblings of an increase in the drug trade in the Gulf of Guinea for some time now. It would appear that President Kananga has done little to stem the drug trade, and there are rumors that he might actually be promoting it. He’s certainly, at the very least, turned a blind eye to it. [pauses] You leave on the next flight out. You’ll meet up with your friend Felix when you land in Africa. One of their men was killed along with ours, and he’s been sent to investigate.

Boston

The inside of the conference room at the Liberty Hotel is buzzing with members of the world press as they rush to get the final preparations done for the news conference. The doors burst open, through which Simone Latrelle purposefully walks into the crowd and up to the podium amidst the near deafening sound of camera clicks and whispers from the crowd. She takes her place at the podium and waits for the go-ahead from her public relations consultant to begin.

SIMONE: Thank you all for coming today, especially on such short notice. I would have liked to have delivered this address from the United Nations, but they were unwilling to grant me an audience, so I thank the people of Boston for welcoming me here with open arms today. I’ve asked you all to come here for a couple of reasons. First of all to address the rumors that have been circulating around the globe in the last few months about a secret initiative that I have been involved with in Rio de Janeiro, where I make my home, which is now complete, and I’m now able to share the details of it with you. Over roughly the last year and a half I have, along with some very generous corporate sponsors, been purchasing large amounts of illegal drugs from the criminal elements in Rio de Janeiro. Why, you ask. The answer is simple. These drugs are now off the streets and not in the hands of the people of our great city. We shipped the stockpile to an undisclosed location, where they were promptly destroyed.

SIMONE (continued): The reason for this initiative is also a simple one. My parents passed away as a result of the drug culture in the city. Thankfully they left me a large inheritance that has allowed me to live a privileged life, but not everyone in Rio has the same chances that I had. The drug culture has been out of control in the city for quite a while, and it was time to do something about it, and I did in largely in memory of my parents. The success that we have seen with the initiative has been staggering. Crime has plummeted in Rio, and the quality of life there has improved drastically. I come before you today, the good people of the United States, to announce that, once again thanks to some generous corporate sponsors, I have begun a similar initiative in your country, which I hope to have completed by the end of this year. The benefits that we have seen through this initiative in Rio are undeniable, and I wanted to bring these same benefits to other people around the globe. We hope to bring the initiative to Europe after its completion in America as well. Thank you all.

With that, Simone leaves the podium and swiftly exits the room while still managing to get a few quick smiles in to the cameras in an effort to foster her good-girl image.


Nambutu

Bond peers over the top of a newspaper as he sees Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) climb off of the ragged, worn down bus that took people back and forth to the airport, which was a good ways away from the nearest town. Felix walks by the table at which Bond is sitting, not noticing his friend, before Bond speaks up.

BOND: I see they pulled out all the stops for your arrival, Felix.
FELIX: Only the finest for people like us, right?

The two men exchange a few pleasantries and then begin to compare notes regarding their investigation. They agree that they should begin at the United Nations outpost in the capital of Nambutu.

When they arrive, they are met by a woman who identifies herself as Rosie Carver (Nicki Minaj). She is an aid worker for the UN, working in to help take care of the poor people of the country who do not see much benefit from the drug profits that fund the aristocracy of Nambutu.

Rosie answers their questions about President Kananga, basically confirming what Bond and Felix already knew in that he does turn a blind eye to the drug trade, especially as he benefits from it as a member of the aristocracy. She then tells them about a man named Mr. Big, who is really the unofficial leader of the island. She tells them that while it’s never been confirmed, as the drug trade isn’t something that is openly talked about on the streets, Mr. Big heads up the drug cartel that supplies most of West Africa and the eastern parts of South America with a vast amount of illegal drugs. Mr. Big is also thought to be the zombie of a dead voodoo priest known as Baron Samedi, who was once said to be a man who could not die. There is also a woman that the people of Nambutu are deathly afraid of as well, who calls herself “Solitaire”. The people rarely speak of her, but she has been able to learn that they fear her because she is said to have supernatural powers, such as levitation, mind control, and other psychic abilities.

Bond and Felix laugh off the suggestion of the supernatural abilities of Mr. Big and Solitaire, and ask Rosie to show them where they might get started on investigating the drug trade.

The United Nations

Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Peter Serafinowicz) is holding a meeting with several high-ranking diplomats from countries around the globe in hopes to bring them into the fold with Quantum. As he is speaking, Simone Latrelle angrily bursts into the room.

BLOFELD: What are you doing here? I thought they wouldn’t let you in.

SIMONE: You know that I can be a very persuasive woman.

BLOFELD: What do you want?

SIMONE: The American and Brit in Nambutu. Why? We had successfully taken away their lines of communication to their home countries. Their disappearances would have gone unnoticed for quite a while.

BLOFELD: We wanted to make sure the CIA and MI6 got the message?

At this point, Simone is right up in Blofeld’s face, almost touching him.

SIMONE: And what message would that be? That they should start snooping around? That something was up?

BLOFELD: How did you even know about my little delivery anyway?

SIMONE: Do you really have to ask that question at this point? Haven’t you learned by now that nothing gets past me?

BLOFELD: Remember who you’re talking to.

SIMONE: I know exactly who I’m talking to.

BLOFELD: By the way. We’re moving up the start of Phase 2 of your little initiative. We hope to begin in less than a week.

SIMONE: That would be a mistake, and you know it. If you move the timetable up, the damage will only be done to Rio. Wait until we’re finished in the U.S. and then we can wreak some real havoc on the global economy.

BLOFELD: You’d better work fast in America, then.

SIMONE: We need more time. And you’re going to give it to us.

BLOFELD: You’ve got a week.

Simone storms out of the room angrier than she was when she arrived.




to be continued...

Edited by tdalton, 09 February 2011 - 06:14 AM.

[coco1997]

Excellent job, t. I eagerly anticipate the rest.

[dinovelvet]

Ern...well it's nice to see creativity and all, but is any of this anything to do with Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die?

Boston? Rio? "Nambutu"? Not one location from the novel?

What about Bond and Felix in Harlem? (We have a black Felix and we're not going to use this?)

The dark and mysterious Solitaire played by a valley girl cheerleader type? And giving press conferences for some reason?

And I thought Blofeld had killed off QUANTUM for good, launching his own enterprise instead?

Blofeld and his henchmen cornering Bond? How is OHMSS supposed to work then, if Blofeld and Bond have already been face to face?

[coco1997]

Ern...well it's nice to see creativity and all, but is any of this anything to do with Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die?

Boston? Rio? "Nambutu"? Not one location from the novel?

What about Bond and Felix in Harlem? (We have a black Felix and we're not going to use this?)

The dark and mysterious Solitaire played by a valley girl cheerleader type? And giving press conferences for some reason?

And I thought Blofeld had killed off QUANTUM for good, launching his own enterprise instead?

Blofeld and his henchmen cornering Bond? How is OHMSS supposed to work then, if Blofeld and Bond have already been face to face?

In tdalton's defense, the changes were really a group effort and I'm sorry to see you apparently disapprove. There was some discussion a few pages back as to why Rio was chosen, Nambutu was introduced in "Casino Royale" and I was the one to suggest Boston since we had just used NYC in "Goldfinger". I assume you're not against replacing locations, as we added both South Africa and Bouvet Island to "Dr. No", but I can understand your shock at seeing essentially all the locations reimagined.

I think we'd only need to mention at some point that the new organization is called SPECTRE or something else for your concern about killing off QUANTUM to be remedied.

And yes, your last point about Bond meeting Blofeld for the first time here instead of "OHMSS" is problematic. I guess that will need to be figured out before the final treatment is complete.

[tdalton]

In tdalton's defense, the changes were really a group effort and I'm sorry to see you apparently disapprove. There was some discussion a few pages back as to why Rio was chosen, Nambutu was introduced in "Casino Royale" and I was the one to suggest Boston since we had just used NYC in "Goldfinger". I assume you're not against replacing locations, as we added both South Africa and Bouvet Island to "Dr. No", but I can understand your shock at seeing essentially all the locations reimagined.

Considering that we only used the location from Dr. No for the short PTS sequence with the rest of the film being relocated to a different continent entirely, I find this a rather odd and particularly unfair criticism to make of our remake of Live and Let Die.

If the treatment is that unsatisfactory, I'll hand back over the reigns to someone else to complete it and take this concept, which I'm actually very happy with, and re-adapt it into my own story. The story is largely based on my own ideas anyway, as the many requests I made for scene ideas from the rest of our contributors went largely unanswered over the course of shaping the outline (although many thanks are in order for coco1997 who did make a few suggestions as to how to bridge a couple of the holes that we had in the plot within the last couple of days).

The basic concepts of the novel and the film are there. We've shifted the diplomatic duties from Kannaga to Solitaire and shifted the split personality concept from Kananga/Big to Big/Samedi to keep it closer in line with the novel. The shark scene was to remain, as was the scene with Bond and Solitaire dragged across the reef. And the overall plot, while different from both the film and the novel, started out as a combination of the two plots but then taken into a more modern context.

Since this is not my game, and the results are obviously unsatisfactory, I'll hand this over to someone else to do the complete overhaul of it, as I'm not going to go back and undo the entire storyline that I've spent a long time working on.

Edited by tdalton, 09 February 2011 - 04:54 PM.

[coco1997]

Considering I've been your main cheerleader throughout the writing of this one, I for one would be very disappointed if I didn't get to see its completion, especially since you've gotten this far. I'm sure terminus, who seemed to support all of your ideas, too, feels the same. Please post the completed draft of the story once you've done it, t, so that, at the very least, I'd be able to enjoy it.

EDIT: If the plan now is to do a totally different story from tdalton's "LALD", could we perhaps put "LALD" on hold and move onto "OHMSS"? I'm sure no one would be too keen on starting from scratch again with "LALD" at this point.