3 replies to this topic

[mrmoon]

Would anyone here been interested in adapting fleming's Moonraker into a screenplay? Bringing it upto date but still keeping it as 'real' as it is in the book. I'm really interested in making a film out of it. However this won't be atleast for 10 months - so if anyone is interested you can leave your thoughts and opinions in here ie. what scenes you believe may work well, what may need editing down, what could be updated etc.

[Roebuck]

What I remember from the book is the part where Bond plans a commando raid on the Moonraker. He imagines a team scaling the cliff, entering through the exhaust port and blasting a mortar up into the missile silo. I always wished Fleming had managed to incorporate that scene as part of the books finale. The newsprint truck is also a must in my eyes.

[Harmsway]

Well, Moonraker definitely needs some updating. First off, for a film, 200 people dying in the end just doesn't work. It's way too downbeat, especially when followed by the girl leaves Bond. I like the "one that got away" part of it, but let's not make this Bond depressing.

Hugo Drax's name has to be changed to something else, unless you want to disregard the escapade that was Moore's Moonraker. The missile should be updated also - but I'm sure that won't be too hard to do. In the world of state-of-the-art technology, perhaps a missile that can't be taken down (like by lasers and anti-missile devices) is suitable?

The one thing I feel would be different would be the missile silo set-up itself. Picture Ken Adam meets a nuclear missile silo. That'd be excellent. It could be like Elektra's pipline monitoring station from TWINE, but connected to the silo.

Perhaps an action sequence could be pumped up a bit more, such as Bond's pursuit of Drax in the cars?

I was wondering, does the Nazi thing still work - the Drax we're talking about would have to be considerably older than the one in Fleming's Moonraker. In fact, he'd have to be bloody old. Maybe you'd have to revamp the motivation slightly if you don't want an older villain?

I love the idea of an assault on the silo, but I don't think that kind of escapade would work in the context of the storyline. Let's leave it as is, but perhaps a little revamped. After all, some solid action in the final could be great.

Perhaps a one-on-one confrontation between Bond and Drax at the end? It might be nessecary to provide closure between the conflict between the characters, at least for the audience anyway? I don't know how this would work exactly, but I'm just throwing out random thoughts.

[00Twelve]

I actually thought DAD updated the BASIC plotline of Mooonraker:

(Die Another Day SPOILER WARNING!)

-Villain once working against West, fakes death and up pops a new British entrepreneur (hmmm...)
-Villain creates a device (not so obviously a weapon in the film) to help the world, but secretly plans to use it as a huge weapon
-The fencing scene takes place at Blades Club
-MI6 agent "infiltrating" villain's organization (a traitor in the film)
-Villain attempts to kill Bond personally w/ weapon (in novel, by exhaust flames; in film, by firing on Bond)

I know that these are somewhat vague, but the basic story outline is still there. It is also in GoldenEye:

-Villain hates Britain (but for betrayal of his cossack family) but fakes loyalty ("For England, James...")
-Plans to take revenge on Britain and send the economy back to the dark ages with weapon

The plot of Moonraker's villain, his plans, and his motivations at least have been portrayed on film. I'm not sure which movie best adapted the plot, but I'm leaning toward DAD, plus it is just a better movie than GE.

To make yet another film now about a very similar stry would be redundant and look unoriginal. Personally I'm for an update and rewrite of Casino Royale, but so is practically everyone else, and I don't want to get off the subject.