29 replies to this topic

[mdileo007]

Does anyone remember the "Vanity Fair" cover story on Skyfall?  In the article it mentions that there were two working titles for Bond 23 (I assume before they worked out the "Skyfall" angle of the script). The titles were "A Killing Moon" and "Once Upon a Spy."  I think the latter would be a good Bond title and wouldn't be shocked if this is what we get for Bond 24.  Certainly avoids the old "Kill, Die, Live, Gold," etc. title trap.  If they considered it for B23, it might come up again for B24.  Thoughts?  (NOTE:  "Once Upon a Spy" was the title of an American made-for-TV movie in 1980 starring a pre-"Cheers" Ted Danson.  Don't know if this caused them to shy away from this as a Bond title)

[SecretAgentFan]

I don´t know - the "once upon..."-part alludes to a fairy tale, and the Craig era wants to be tough and gritty.  

 

Frankly, I would not even have wanted the "Once upon..."-title for the Moore era.

[dirtymind]

It sounds like a spoof.

[Iceskater101]

Yeah I also hate this title.. it reminds me of Once Upon a Time which is one of my favorite TV shows on TV, but it's also about fairy tales.

[Vauxhall]

SILVER BULLET was the best of a bad bunch of rejected titles for BOND 23. Hopefully they come up with something more inspired.

[Guy Haines]

This title is mentioned in the Skyfall chapter of that weighty - in every sense! - tome "The James Bond Archives". On reflection I think they picked the right title, though when it was first revealed my thought was "another title centred around an MI6 assignment, rhymes with Thunderball". How wrong I was.

 

Once Upon A Spy reminds me of those titles the makers of The Man From UNCLE devised when they bolted together two TV episodes to make a movie - One Spy Too Many, One Of Our Spies Is Missing, and so on. I don't think it would have worked, for the reason Iceskater says.

 

(Incidentally, watching Skyfall last night - was Sam Mendes including less than subtle references to it every time we had a scene involving heavy rain?)

[willdj]

Be rude not to give Echo & The Bunnymen the title song if youre gonna call the movie Killing Moon...

[Walecs]

This title is mentioned in the Skyfall chapter of that weighty - in every sense! - tome "The James Bond Archives". On reflection I think they picked the right title, though when it was first revealed my thought was "another title centred around an MI6 assignment, rhymes with Thunderball". How wrong I was.

 

That was exactly my thought when I heard, back in december 2011, that Bond 23 would have been named "Skyfall", and when the first trailer said "Skyfall" "Done", I thought it referred to a Bond mission that MI6 thought he had left unfinished. This was proven wrong only when I saw Bond arriving at the Skyfall mansion, almost a year later.

[Harmsway]

SILVER BULLET was the best of a bad bunch of rejected titles for BOND 23. Hopefully they come up with something more inspired.

No kidding.

Look, good Bond-ish titles are hard to find (there are some Fleming-derived titles that might be just okay, but nothing special). Better to go with something that doesn't sound Bondian but is still respectable than to go with something that may sounds like a parody of a Bond title.

[Agent 76]

Man to come up with a good title must be really difficult. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

 

 

Although Silver Bullet doesn't sound so bad.

[Turn]

Silver Bullet is a terrible idea, IMO. There was a werewolf movie called Silver Bullet back in the '80s, Coors Beer used silver bullet in its marketing campaigns in recent years (Eon will hit a new marketing low if it ties itself in with that) and, of course, another pop culture hero uses silver bullets, The Lone Ranger. Not to mention a past Bond villain used golden bullets. Silver's kind of a comedown from that, no?

 

On the upside, they could turn to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band for the title song.

 

Once Upon a Spy sounds like the title of one of the many mid '60s Bond rip-offs, the title of a low-budget film that would show up on the Lifetime network or a network TV series that would be canceled after a month.

 

There's got to be something better out there. 

[tdalton]

Silver Bullet is a terrible idea, IMO. 

 

Agreed.  Silver Bullet would make for a terrible title for a Bond film, or any film for that matter.  It's really just far too generic a title to really catch anyone's attention.

[Major Tallon]

There are a couple of possible Fleming-derived titles that I've mentioned before.  "Death Leaves An Echo" was the original title of FYEO.  "Arrow of Vengeance" was a chapter title in Moonraker.  I know that the latter sound like yet another revenge tale, but, as written and filmed, it wouldn't have to be a story about personal angst. 

[Janus Assassin]

I like "Death Leaves an Echo."

[mdileo007]

Speaking of Fleming working titles, his working title for OHMSS was "The Belles of Hell."  I've alway though that if they ever wanted to remake or update OHMSS for the Craig reboot era -- this should be the title they should use for it.  Then follow it up with "Shatterhand."

[Colossus]

once upon sounds too close to once upon a time in the west, once upon a time in mexico, the bond series is not one to have odes to other things.

[Call Billy Bob]

To me, it sounds like one of those Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck parody shorts from the 40s and 50s.

 

(Also, my first post... I nervously await any hazing rituals that may be coming my way  )

[Walecs]

I like "Death Leaves an Echo."

 

Me too. Hadn't we had two titles with the "die" word in it (TND and DAD) in recent years, I'd love to have it for Bond 24.

[Vauxhall]

There are a couple of possible Fleming-derived titles that I've mentioned before.  "Death Leaves An Echo" was the original title of FYEO.  "Arrow of Vengeance" was a chapter title in Moonraker.  I know that the latter sound like yet another revenge tale, but, as written and filmed, it wouldn't have to be a story about personal angst. 

 

I like both, plus "Shatterhand", "My Enemy's Enemy" or simply "Hildebrand" (rather than "The Hildebrand Rarity").

[tdalton]

"Shatterhand" would be good, so long as we get some of the unused elements of You Only Live Twice as part of the film.  I'm also still partial to "A Whisper of Hate" as a future title, as well as "The Death Collector".  Aside from those two, however, I think EON should stick to original titles.  I don't see anything else in the novels that would make for a particularly good film title.

[Agent 76]

Shatterhand is cool I agree. very fleming and mysterious.

[rubixcub]

SHATTERHAND always gets my #1 vote!

 

Does anyone think THE PROPERTY OF A LADY would ever work?  With the Algerian love knot thread in CASINO ROYALE, I was almost sure they were going to use it for Bond 22.

 

Dave

Edited by rubixcub, 23 August 2014 - 02:42 PM.

[tdalton]

I'm not sure that The Property of a Lady would work.  I think that, if they were going to use it, having it as the follow-up to Casino Royale would have been the best opportunity to do so.

[007jamesbond]

Shatterhead would be great......but it should be the alias of Blofeld but we have no indication that he will appear so what else could they use it for? island? weapon? 

[tdalton]

It could just be the name of the villain.  Blofeld has had his time in the franchise and there isn't any reason to bring him back, which would free "Shatterhand" up to either be a cover name for another villain or simply to be the actual name of the villain. 

[Iceskater101]

Shatterhand.. I like that a lot. 

[Call Billy Bob]

I'm thinking Shatterhand would be a good name for an MI6-wide operation a la Thunderball.

[marktmurphy]

I'm not sure that The Property of a Lady would work.  I think that, if they were going to use it, having it as the follow-up to Casino Royale would have been the best opportunity to do so.

 

If they used Quantum I wouldn't be surprised if they used anything else! 

[Walecs]

Yeah I also hate this title.. it reminds me of Once Upon a Time which is one of my favorite TV shows on TV, but it's also about fairy tales.

 

Well, SPECTRE was not too different from Once Upon a Time. Contrived coincidences, villain motivated by family issues, villain and main character family related (kinda)

[FlemingBond]

i just like the part where Wade says he and Neal are 'steeped in Fleming'