32 replies to this topic

[Xenobia]

In the past couple of weeks we have been hearing a lot of talk about the future of the Bond series. This talk includes rumors, seemingly confirmed of a spinoff movie for Jinx, and the fact that Eon wants Bond 21 out quickly.

With the attention of Eon divided between Jinx and James, what will the writers do (and do quickly) for Bond 21????

Casino Royale anyone????

Pierce has said he wants to do a version of Casino Royale. Eon, now that it owns the rights to it, would not be opposed to it. CR is gritty, cold blooded, with sumptous settings and a real tight story line?

So how about it folks? What do you think? Are we looking at Casino Royale being Bond 21?

-- Xenobia

[Double-0 Six]

That could be good. I think the movie would need a slightly bigger plot and more action for today's audience, but the story is essentially a good one. They could easily do that they did with Flemings other novels (take the best bits and add new ideas).

I'd be interested anyway.

[Xenobia]

OK 006:

Where would you spice things up? Would you suggest adding more to Vesper being kidnapped? Or perhaps you would do more with the casino scene.

Please tell me....where would you add storylines?

-- Xenobia

[killkenny kid]

I think it could be a great idea. And PB is always talking about a Bond story with "bite" to it. This would be the best of both worlds. Something for the fan, and something for PB.

[WC]

There's actually been a relatively lengthy discussion of this in this thread where I've said quite a bit on what I think about ideas for Casino Royale as Bond 21.

[Bryce (003)]

Indeed my dear Xen -

Bond 21 = CR would, could and (given the launching of the next 20 years of Bond) should be back to the Fleming...down to the bitter end. Not since OHMSS has a Bond film ended on a down note.

Also, the characters would be grand given the talent pool these days. Throw in a cool yet unrelated pre-credits teaser, and it would be great.

Mr. Purvis....Mr. Wade....Take note...

[nealbob]

yeah i have thought about this as well i thinks its a great idea.
personally i would like it to be done as a period piece set in the time of the book as it would make the story more belivelable and relavant.

I dont think for a minute that they would make a film true to the book ,set in the time of the book with out adding the needless action ect. but it would be nice if they could, concentrate on the story , suspense and all the other fleming elements from what is a great book.

Esp. would be good if they kept the end ".....the bitch is dead!"

[JimmyBond]

Right now I have no idea how they could do it while appeasing both camps: "The die hard Bond fans who want it to be true to the book" "The average movie-goer who expects a Bond pic to have a lot of action"

As I've mentioned before, this is how I'd do it. I would put everything from the book onto the screen. The book would be the first hour of the film, Bond's mission would be to bankrupt Le Chiffre to find out who he's working for. Once Le Chiffre is killed, Bond uncovers the real villians behind the picture, and he does battle with them for the next hour, heck, lets make it hour and a half so we have plenty of time to build up a plotline.

Casino Royale, 2 hours and 30 minutes. I like that. The teaser could be Bond's first mission, only for sake of continuity the idea would be changed and it would just be Bond on an assassination assignment.

[Icephoenix]

I think a faithful adaption of CR would be to much to ask. These days MGM are mostly only concerned with the general public and not the die-hard fans. So this means action, action, action, plot. Which isnt bad (take DAD for example) but a faithful adaption...not likely.
Plus 'Casino Royale' isnt exactly a Hollywood action title. But if done right, it might work.

[Double-0 Six]

Originally posted by Xenobia
Please tell me....where would you add storylines?

Its been a while since I read the book, but I don't think the casino plot that dominates the book would be enough to hold an audience today.

I'd probably make the plot to bankrupt Le Chiffre the first half hour of the film. The game itself could be made quite tense I think. After that I would (as JimmyBond suggested) send Bond into a bigger plot to find and get rid of the people Le Chiffre was working for.

I would keep Vesper Lynd as a double agent, her kidnapping being a trap set for Bond by her and Le Chiffre's bosses. Bond finds out that she's a double agent when he is captured or during his torture (which I would change ... the method in the book is far too painful for any man to watch on the big screen).

As an afterthought, they could tie the movie in with The Living Daylights (the re-emergence of the smiert spionam plot) ... Koscov is still alive isn't he? Maybe he's out for revenge?

Hmm ...

[1q2w3e4r]

Its a great novel. But you'd never get two hours out of it. Much of it is the anticipation Fleming builds up surronding the game between the two. And this takes up a large chunk of the book. You couldn't possibly stretch a scene like that past 5 minutes on the screen or you'd alienate and bore the audience.

There's really only about 40-50 minutes of screen time there in the novel. You couldn't throw action in the rest, it'd be a retro TND.

They'd need to pull more ideas out of the novels. Something I always thought a MR and CR joint adaptation always lent itself well to. Pulling scenes out of MR for CR.

Im not sure what scenes are left in Fleming's novels. A large portion of DAF is untouched, as is the FYEO series. Im sure they could do it and do it well. As long as that second hour wasn't all action.

[RITZ]

A great topic you've raised Xenobia, I would like to see a faithful but modern adaptation of CR with Brosnan and perhaps Sophie Ellis Bextor as Vesper Lynd!


I've read Fleming's CR novel many times and its dark and violent at times. The bit where Vesper commits suicide and Bond finds her note is very touching and could work great on screen.

[Jim]

Yes, but on current form there's a risk of it being worse than the 1967 version

[SeanValen00V]

I think were missing the Michael Madsen thing, recurring characters, what DAD's set up, I think a fusion of Casino Royale and some other elements might be good, but it shouldn't aim to just remake with style, but offer more in story and excitement in interesting ways.

[Mister Asterix]

At this point I'd say hold Casino Royale off and use it to introduce a new Bond or at least for 2007. Or both.

[Harmsway]

Casino Royale, as it is, won't work well as a movie for Bond. For the movie Bond there needs to be action and a world-threatening plot, or at least one that threatens millions of lives. But it's possible Purvis and Wade could work wonders with it, though.

My one major problem with Casino Royale is the title. Sure, it's the first title, but it's the odd title out of the bunch when compared to such classics as "You Only Live Twice" and "Live and Let Die" etc. I really don't think EON would use the title anyway because of its connection to the David Niven film.

[DLibrasnow]

Now that Eon (and more specifically MGM) own the rights to "Casino Royale" I think it would provide a great BASIS for Bond 21. I personally would like to see a serious version of "Casino Royale." I saw the Barry Nelson TV movie version and I wasn't that impressed, but done with better production values, better acting and more money I think it has the potential to be a good story.

[IrishCrown]

Speaking of Barry Nelson, where was he at the DAD premiere?

[DLibrasnow]

His movie was an "unofficial" Bond movie, so I expect he wasn't invited.

[1q2w3e4r]

I expect he's also dead. It was made in '54.

[Mousey]

This would be absolutely brilliant especially after Die Another Bluddy Day

[DLibrasnow]

No. I thought I saw a picture of him at a James Bond convention quite recently...He looked as if age had not been too kind to him.

[nealbob]

I think it could work.

i mean it would never work for the audinces they are after but i think that they could do it true to the book and make a full movie out of it.

I have in mind the taylor of panama in mind in terms of style. I know bosnan was far from james bond but i could see him playing a charecter set in the period of the book with great casino scences ect.

plus there is pletny of action in the book, ( i recall anbomb going off at one stage and some car chases) gadgets ( a man trys to shoot bond with a walking stick gun), thers a great toture scene, plenty of cloak and dagger stuf with the bugs/listening devices in his room ect. and a great twist.

I could see it happening in a more cleaner style like i a cross b/w dr No. and the bourne identity (if that makes any sense)

[mattbowyer]

JimmyBond it would be easy to please the die-hard Bond fans. I think we're as die-hard as it gets and we're quite a happy bunch and besides we've had countless others loose adaptions of the Fleming books. I like your idea of how to adapt it though - it would really be quite DAD-esque with the more serious story as the first half and the more outlandish bond stuff in the last half. Also you'd be surprised how many people know about Casino Royale, much of the older audience would be very impressed that it was being adapted.

[JimmyBond]

When I said die hard Bond fans, I was trying to imply the super hard anal retentive ones You know, those "Connery is the ONLY BOND, and everyone else sucks" fan, the kind you rarely see

I dont think the second half would necessarily have to be outlandish, the only problem there would be with making the CR novel the first half of the film, is making the second half of the film be a logical progression of the events in the first half. Otherwise it would seem like the second half was just added as padding so the novel could be feature length.

[mattbowyer]

well it would really become a celebration of the early books, with Vesper dying halfway and Bond going after SMERSH (or whoever in the film) in the second half. Could really be filmic Bond's apology (thats not the right word cause i love the films as much as the books but you get me) for changing Fleming's novels so much.

[Bondpurist]

Casino Royale would have to be changed virtually out of recognition for the big screen. Smersh folded 40 years ago, the torture scene would be impossible and it's far too short for an entire Bond film. If Casino Royale is Bond 21, then all it'll keep shall be the names like Vesper, Mathis and Le Chiffre, the casino scenes the kidnap part and at a stretch a few rudimentary plot elements, like Bond having to win at the Baccarrat tables. I don't think it'll happen - MGM will be afraid of it getting confused with the Woody Allen spoof version in the 60s. It's a great title though, and would be a shame to waste.

[Red Grant]

Yes - I can see it now. Bond surfs on a giant wave and touches down on the beach at Royale-Les-Eaux. Vesper Lynd emerges from the sea played by Britney Spears and the classic card battle between Bond and Le Chiffre (Vin Deisel) is replaced by a cool video game with cards that shoot laser beams. After Vesper dies Bond and his Deuxieme Bureau colleague Mathis (Jean Claude Van Damme) take revenge on Smersh and end the film with a glorious speedboat chase across a frozen English Channel - only to find that Le Chiffre has a secret rocket base hidden in the White Cliffs of Dover. The rocket is launched against London, but Bond jumps aboard and manages to disable it in flight thereby saving the world once again. With no Bond girl left at the end of the movie he shacks up with Moneypenny.....oh wait, it's been done already.......

[JimmyBond]

Not a fan of DAD eh Red Grant?

[JimmyBond]

Came up with a new idea, to add onto the existing stuff we've been talking about.

Le Chiffre could end up working for SPECTRE. Bond would find this out about halfway through the film, then Bond would meet Blofield again for the first time in 20 years. Blofelf could escape at the end of the movie to pave way for the next film. The ultimate Bond vs. SPECTRE Bond film, and Brosnan's smashing finale to his 6 film run as Bond.

I think it would be great, and fans would eat it up. To get away from the Dr. Evil cliche though, I say rework Blofelds appearance, keep the cat, but give him hair, maybe slightly balding, but still more hair than Pleasance had.