126 replies to this topic

[Vauxhall]

Hopefully, nobody takes exception to me creating a new thread branching away from the Filming and Image threads, as they'll be massively overloaded by November 2012 if all discussion takes place in there!

Captain Tightpants and others have come up with some decent theories about what's in the box passed between Bond and Eve on the Westminster rooftop, so I thought it might be good to spin off here to discuss everything before it gets lost in the ether of the larger threads.

So, what's in the box... ashes, vital documents, a gerbil or "Skyfall" itself?

Also keen to hear if the consensus is Bond's passing the box to Eve, or vice versa.

[Captain Tightpants]

Theory #1 - the Insurance Policy
The box contains something that, if released to the public, would have the potential to be very damaging to a powerful enemy of Bond's, possibly someone (Albert Finney? Helen McCrory? Both?) in the upper echelons of MI6 and/or the government. Bond uses the threat of releasing it to guarantee safe passage out of England.

Theory #2 - the Leverage
Up until this point in the film, Bond has been using leverage against someone to make something happen. There's just one problem: he doesn't actually have it - he has been bluffing the entire time, but is confident that it exists - and that someone is starting to get suspicious. When Eve finally discovers it, she delivers the box containing the leverage to Bond in the nick of time.

Theory #3 - the MacGuffin
It doesn't matter what is in the box. The fact that it exists is enough for Bond to use it as a bargaining chip. The audience is never shown what is inside, because Bond never has to make good on his threat of opening it. This can possibly be tied into Theory #1 quite neatly.

Theory #4 - the Doomsday Device
In a spin on the usual set-up, Bond has infiltrated the villain's organisation (just as he did in LICENCE TO KILL). The villain needs one final item on his shopping list of evil, and Bond offers to get it - but the only people who can provide it are at MI6, hence the clandestine meeting.

[d21089]

Eve has recovered Bond's balls following an emotional outpouring regarding whether he can trust M, his oedipal feelings towards her and how he still cries over vesper every full moon

[MkB]

Hi Vauxhaull, thanks for creating this spinoff thread, I'm sure there are many people like me eager to follow the latest news but without enough time to plough their way through gigantic Filming and Image threads.

As for the content, if there have already been discussions with potential leads, I've missed them, so just a wild shot in the dark: I have boxes just like this ones, and they are made to file CDs or DVDs. Also notice the label on the front of the box: looks like something designed for filing items, rather than a casket-like box. But well, you can also put a gerbil in a CD box

And to me it seems crystal clear that Eve is passing the box to Bond, or at this distance he would not have his hand outstretched.

[Jaws0178]

Eve has recovered Bond's balls following an emotional outpouring regarding whether he can trust M, his oedipal feelings towards her and how he still cries over vesper every full moon

Or Eve has recovered your head, d21089 because you dared to speak ill of Daniel Craig, and a few of his mates decided to step in and separate your head from your shoulders. Such great chaps, dontcha think Just FYI, this is only a joke. I too agree with the Captain. When I read the headline though, I immediately thought of Metal Gear Solid, though.

[ggl]

Just one curious point.

The box is too big for contain documents (pendrive?) and too small to contain papers... so is there an object inside?, what object?, something personnal?, of whom?

Think about

[TCK]

M's ashes and a few belongings.

[Harmsway]

This one's easy. It's Gwyneth Paltrow's head.

[Vauxhall]

This one's easy. It's Gwyneth Paltrow's head.

I pronounce you the winner, sir. I've been waiting for that particular guess from somebody all day. Your prize will naturally be contained in a mysterious yet nondescript black filing box.

[Captain Tightpants]

M's ashes and a few belongings.

I;m sorry, but I find this idea to be rather silly. There is no proof that M will die, except for fans reading entirely too much into things.

[TCK]

M's ashes and a few belongings.

I;m sorry, but I find this idea to be rather silly. There is no proof that M will die, except for fans reading entirely too much into things.

I've never said it will be this. It is, though, what I want this to be. And if this idea is silly, I'm sorry, but so are your theories. Who can be perfectly right after only one month filming ?

[Mr. Blofeld]

The core of the Time Destructor?

(Sorry; I spent most of last night watching The Daleks' Master Plan... )

[Tybre]

The box is a 100% genuine no-prize.

[d21089]

Eve has recovered Bond's balls following an emotional outpouring regarding whether he can trust M, his oedipal feelings towards her and how he still cries over vesper every full moon

Or Eve has recovered your head, d21089 because you dared to speak ill of Daniel Craig, and a few of his mates decided to step in and separate your head from your shoulders. Such great chaps, dontcha think Just FYI, this is only a joke. I too agree with the Captain. When I read the headline though, I immediately thought of Metal Gear Solid, though.

hahaha - they are all blonde and short too i take it... ill have to keep an eye out - nah I am a big Craig fan and the movies too but I couldn't resist

[Jaws0178]

Eve has recovered Bond's balls following an emotional outpouring regarding whether he can trust M, his oedipal feelings towards her and how he still cries over vesper every full moon

Or Eve has recovered your head, d21089 because you dared to speak ill of Daniel Craig, and a few of his mates decided to step in and separate your head from your shoulders. Such great chaps, dontcha think Just FYI, this is only a joke. I too agree with the Captain. When I read the headline though, I immediately thought of Metal Gear Solid, though.

hahaha - they are all blonde and short too i take it... ill have to keep an eye out - nah I am a big Craig fan and the movies too but I couldn't resist

Neither could I. I am kind of warming up to him, but Brozza will always be my Bond.

[thecasinoroyale]

I'm going for M's ashes after the attack - and maybe if/when Eve becomes the new MI6 secretary, this has been one of the bonding moments between Bond and her, letting their former 'M' go - looks very sombre with the facial expressions and clothing...but you never know!

[stromberg]

Judging from the size of the box, I'd say CDs or DVDs, 20, maybe 25 in jewel cases. Recordings from surveillance cameras, like in CR?

Very likely that it contains "information", not a device or item(s). Box looks better on film than a USB stick or SD card. Maybe it's been stored (or hidden or held under wraps) for quite a while, so it's on CDs/DVDs, not on a smaller storage device. Could be some kind of bait...

What's in the box actually is "SKYFALL", whatever it may be.




Or it's just Walt Disney's cryogenic frozen head.

You can buy similar boxes at IKEA, got myself two of them, both containing ephemera, one is Bond only, the other one is concerts and football matches.

[doublenoughtspy]

Judging from the size of the box, I'd say CDs or DVDs, 20, maybe 25 in jewel cases. Recordings from surveillance cameras, like in CR?

Bond soundtracks. Dr No through SF plus Casino Royale (67) and NSNA = 25 cds.

[stromberg]

Judging from the size of the box, I'd say CDs or DVDs, 20, maybe 25 in jewel cases. Recordings from surveillance cameras, like in CR?

Bond soundtracks. Dr No through SF plus Casino Royale (67) and NSNA = 25 cds.

Remastered or original releases?

[Luigi Ferrari]

The placement of this scene, the number 173, into the film has been already debated in the thread " Skyfall filming discussion".Given its relevance to the subject matter, I believe it is convenient to discuss it in this thread.
I've previously stated that in my opinion this could probably be the last scene of Skyfall but I didn't give reasons for it. I'm going to do it now.
The average duration of a 007's film is about 120-130 mins ( i.e. DAD=132 mins, TWINE=128 mins, GE=130 mins, FYEO=127 mins, TND=123 mins, GF=111mins, OP=130 mins, TLD=130 mins), with CR being the longest film in the series (144 mins) and QOS the shortest (106 mins).

I've found at this link the original script of Casino Royale written by Purvis and Wade ( a gem for real Bond's fans!) and some other interesting scripts , i.e. the script of Goldeneye and an early draft of The Living Daylights:

http://scripts-onscr...-movie-scripts/

Based on these scripts it appears that there were 205 scenes in CR, 179 scenes in GE and 830 (!) in TLD, but if you look carefully you will notice that in that draft the scenes are not numbered consecutively from 1 to 830. Specifically there are 98 scenes in it.
Considering that it is not the final script ,it is reasonable to assume that generally a 007's script may consist of 100-200 scenes.

Now we know that Skyfall will consist of at least 173 scenes. I agree with Vauxhall saying that screenwriters have some level of consistency as to what constitutes a single scene in one of their scripts. Add the fact that CR , being the longest film in the series (144 mins), is the exception rather than the rule in terms of duration, this leads me to the conclusion that probably we will see the scene 173 after 120 minutes of projection( more or less) which is the 007's film average duration.
Finally this scene is possibly a classical ending because Bond and a Bond girl are involved here, so, if we trust Daniel Craig, this film will end in the same way all Bond's films usually end...

[Captain Tightpants]

You never know - if this scene is indeed the final scene, Eve could be passing the box to Bond with information on his next assignment. Kind of like the end of BATMAN BEGINS when Jim Gordon gave Batman the Joker's calling card from the evidence lock-up.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I think it might be a fake beard LOL

Or, talking seriously, the earplug he's wearing in these pics http://www.mi6-hq.co...bond23&id=03058

[MattofSteel]

Another, smaller box.

The placement of this scene, the number 173, into the film has been already debated in the thread " Skyfall filming discussion".Given its relevance to the subject matter, I believe it is convenient to discuss it in this thread.
I've previously stated that in my opinion this could probably be the last scene of Skyfall but I didn't give reasons for it. I'm going to do it now.
The average duration of a 007's film is about 120-130 mins ( i.e. DAD=132 mins, TWINE=128 mins, GE=130 mins, FYEO=127 mins, TND=123 mins, GF=111mins, OP=130 mins, TLD=130 mins), with CR being the longest film in the series (144 mins) and QOS the shortest (106 mins).

I've found at this link the original script of Casino Royale written by Purvis and Wade ( a gem for real Bond's fans!) and some other interesting scripts , i.e. the script of Goldeneye and an early draft of The Living Daylights:

http://scripts-onscr...-movie-scripts/

Based on these scripts it appears that there were 205 scenes in CR, 179 scenes in GE and 830 (!) in TLD, but if you look carefully you will notice that in that draft the scenes are not numbered consecutively from 1 to 830. Specifically there are 98 scenes in it.
Considering that it is not the final script ,it is reasonable to assume that generally a 007's script may consist of 100-200 scenes.

Now we know that Skyfall will consist of at least 173 scenes. I agree with Vauxhall saying that screenwriters have some level of consistency as to what constitutes a single scene in one of their scripts. Add the fact that CR , being the longest film in the series (144 mins), is the exception rather than the rule in terms of duration, this leads me to the conclusion that probably we will see the scene 173 after 120 minutes of projection( more or less) which is the 007's film average duration.
Finally this scene is possibly a classical ending because Bond and a Bond girl are involved here, so, if we trust Daniel Craig, this film will end in the same way all Bond's films usually end...

The CR script in that list is not the original (I would have loved to read that). It's clearly marked as the shooting draft issued to production on Dec. 20, 2005 including all the revisions from Paul Haggis. I don't believe P&W's original draft has ever leaked.

If I'm wrong, please tell me.

[Luigi Ferrari]

You're right MattofSteel, this is the script revised by Paul Haggis,which is also a version closer to the definitive (if not exactly the definitive) and so it is more appropriate to explain the content of my previous post .
Must have generated a bit of confusion because of my poor knowledge of English: I used the term "original" to indicate that that was the draft screenplay supplied by EON to the cast, differently from the others scripts that you can find at the link I posted which are dialogue transcriptions . The correct term that I should have used is " authentic", I made a mistake because of the different use of the word in Italian.

Edited by Luigi Ferrari, 20 January 2012 - 12:42 PM.

[ggl]

I think that the clapper 173 is the most important and interesting until now, because it´s the only one not supplied officially.

Once saying that, I think the majority of us agree that 173 is the end of the movie or very close to the end of the movie. Then, and a little off-topic... if Harris is still alive there, did Berenice die in Turkey? did she get the end of Skyfall? is she a villain then?

[Captain Tightpants]

if Harris is still alive there, did Berenice die in Turkey? did she get the end of Skyfall? is she a villain then?

How do you expect us to be able to answer any of those?

[BourneAgainBond]

This one's easy. It's Gwyneth Paltrow's head.

haha i was wondering if anyone would make the connection, WHATS IN THE BOX, WHATS IN THE BOX, WHATS IN TO THE BOX lol

You never know - if this scene is indeed the final scene, Eve could be passing the box to Bond with information on his next assignment. Kind of like the end of BATMAN BEGINS when Jim Gordon gave Batman the Joker's calling card from the evidence lock-up.

that sounds like it could be it, to me anyway

[Captain Tightpants]

that sounds like it could be it, to me anyway

I don't think it is. I don't think this is the final scene. I still like my "insurance policy" idea the best.

[univex]

that sounds like it could be it, to me anyway

I don't think it is. I don't think this is the final scene. I still like my "insurance policy" idea the best.

Yes, I prefer the insurance policy theory as well. Will be fun to see what translates from fan elaboration to truth in the end.

[BourneAgainBond]

that sounds like it could be it, to me anyway

I don't think it is. I don't think this is the final scene. I still like my "insurance policy" idea the best.

i just liked it because i love when they reference other bond films like connerys films had some good continuity, in OHMSS when he emptys his desk or in DAD when he sees Q and they tried it with the quantum organization recently

but if i had to pick one of those choices i like theory 2 the leverage
because its like goldfinger kinda in the sense that if i remember correctly bond tries to change pussy glory's mind about murdering all those people for goldfingers master plan. and i like the idea of what if bond was acting on something that only eve could make right and he depends on her to make the right choice in order to safe his life or something like that