402 replies to this topic

[SecretAgent007]

Just blame Harry.  He's the reason for the major delays throughout Bonds history. 

 

Thanks for the link, Dove.

Edited by SecretAgent007, 24 February 2017 - 05:12 PM.

[Napoleon Solo]

Now, if this story is true (it's from the New York Post), MGM might be sold again.

http://bit.ly/2lj3ddj

[Napoleon Solo]

A few hours later, The Wall Street Journal reports that MGM were in talks with the Chinese but the negotiations broke off.

https://www.wsj.com/...wood-1487965450

[Dustin]

Thanks for digging these out, Napoleon Solo.

[The Dove]

https://twitter.com/...976961317412865

From Baz... P&W hired for Bond 25.. no word on if Daniel has agreed to do it or not. So the wheels are turning..

[univex]

P&W hired for Bond 25..

 

Damn.

[Tiin007]

Wow! Very glad that we finally have some reasonably reliable information.

 

And here I was thinking Baz's time giving us the scoop has ended....

 

Let's hope for 2018!

[Tiin007]

Can somebody with a Twitter account please tweet him back and ask if P & W are just beginning the script now, or they had started it a while ago? How far along is the script?

[sharpshooter]

Can somebody with a Twitter account please tweet him back and ask if P & W are just beginning the script now, or they had started it a while ago? How far along is the script?

That's the big question.

[Dustin]

Colleagues seem to surmise P&W were just hired to start from scratch. From the recent comments on writing a Bond script by Purvis it would follow they haven't been on the task at least until last January. Bamigboye himself mentions in an answer to the original tweet that there are 'other factors' than script; factors which evidently still wait for development.

[PPK_19]

Finally, a scrap of news!

I'm sure Craig is waiting for the script and to know who is directing before deciding to come back for a swansong.

[Toxteth_OGrady]

Some further analysis here.  2018 looking very unlikely IMHO 

 

https://hmssweblog.w...ter-pws-return/

[Orion]

I may be in the minority, but I'm glad to see P&W back, loved CR and Skyfall and their stuff in DAD is quite good (shame Tamahori had so much added in). Also I really liked SS GB.

[SecretAgentFan]

What does it all mean?

 

- EON finally wants to start BOND 25.

 

- Employing Purvis & Wade proves that it is their reliability that is at the heart of the movies, EON wants to begin with those guys who know Bond films by heart.

 

- The Craig era proved that P & W will mostly get things moving - and then a prestige writer attached to a prestige director will take over.

 

- Daniel Craig is still willing but hesitant, so everybody mentioned in the last year as a replacement has to wait or scrap his plans.

 

- P & W, as every writer commissioned to start work, will have extensive conversations with EON (and probably with Craig, too).  A basic storyline will already be agreed upon, and now they will have to flesh this out.

 

- It is possible that they can deliver a draft that will get a director attached before summer and with DC agreeing even move into preproduction for a principal photography start date at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018.  But that would be the best possible timeline for BOND 25, and it is highly improbable that this will happen.  Instead, expect script development to be troubled as always, and all other aspects (including casting of the other roles) to make it almost impossible for a start date in late 2017/early 2018.  

 

But if BOND 25 can only be in theatres in 2019 it will make Daniel Craig probably too old for the role.  Which again... will start the casting roulette.

 

 

So... good news that P & W actually have started.  But the only incentive that could get all the important elements together in time is this: one more DC film - now or never.

[SecretAgentFan]

Correction:  in this denofgeek article it is stated that John Logan again reportedly had been working on BOND 25 - and that the hiring of P & W indicates that they have been asked back the same way they were when Logan´s SPECTRE was rewritten by them: http://www.denofgeek...orted-to-return

 

If true, this could mean that script development is much more advanced.  If they are doing a rewrite it could actually mean that BOND 25 will go in front of cameras this year.  

 

And that "the helicopter" actually was part of the story being developed, by the way.

[Vauxhall]

Pretty telling that Baz says they are the first to be hired to write the script. If he's right, and he usually is, then all that's gone before is wide of the mark. Feels like we're looking at late 2019 for release.

[Odd Jobbies]

https://twitter.com/...976961317412865

From Baz... P&W hired for Bond 25.. no word on if Daniel has agreed to do it or not. So the wheels are turning..

Terrible news.

 

Shows how desperately out of ideas Eon are.

 

This desperate move backwards is probably motivated by the sub-Skyfall reaction to Spectre and they want the simplistic / juvenile formula P&W have so much experience in (doing badly). But the irony is that much of the disappointment in Spectre (imo) stems from the slapdash writing of the final act, which i believe P&W were responsible for. I thought the vast majority of the movie which proceeded that tacky London finale was pretty damn great.

 

And if Craig has watched any of their latest work - SS-GB - then this news will probably have Craig looking at other scripts to do instead of Bond. SS-GB is an expensive heap of rubbish. It superficially poses as complex adult tv, but is in fact a simplistic piece of melodrama that confuses 'complicated' with 'complex' - the former being a real no-no in screen writing. The plotting is opaque in all the worse ways and the dialogue is so extremely hackneyed that otherwise decent actors are mumbling the lines out of sheer embarrassment. I haven't heard such cheesy dialogue since, hmmm, a few of the Bond movies those critters wrote.

 

I guess Eon are also desperate to get something to Craig asap so he can decide, but i fear that getting P&W to do that will have a negative effect.

 

 

I wonder if James Mangold is available to write and direct - now that'd be far more interesting.

[Dustin]

Speculation about P&W has been going on for some time, a no-brainer given Eon's record of keeping their circle small and working with trusted names. Be that as it may, at least it's a sign Eon is moving its limbs.

[SecretAgentFan]

Again, OddJobbies - don´t bash P&W for the things that were changed due to demands that were made on them.  Their ideas for SPECTRE actually would have made much more sense and would have created a very satisfying act three.

[Odd Jobbies]

Again, OddJobbies - don´t bash P&W for the things that were changed due to demands that were made on them.  Their ideas for SPECTRE actually would have made much more sense and would have created a very satisfying act three.

That's a fair point, since i haven't seen earlier drafts. But many writers and editors are forced to bend to the will of Execs. The struggle is when doing that to raise the new/changed ideas to the high bar of what's already there. I feel that P&W simply do what's asked and haven't the gift of making changes work in context. They just slap them on, workman-like resulting in bizarre gear changes in the tone. I'm sure it's not due to laziness, just a lack of ability. Their value to Eon is obviously not in their writing skills, but their probably encyclopaedic knowledge of Bond-lore.

 

Their efforts result in a mismatch of tone; Spectre's final act is a different movie - different tone, pace, enfaces - to the haunting, nuanced story before it. Spectre is a grown up action movie about memory, but the finale is a sudden and awkward lurch back into panto.

 

I think 'Spy Commands' words nail it:

 

...Their hiring for Bond 25 begs the question whether Eon casts a very wide net. Are there really so few writers suitable for the job?

Good luck to P&W in making their money, but lets face it, apart from the fact that this news is water in a doubt, it's pretty disappointing considering the wealth of writing talent out there. But i guess in a droubt we'll drink just about anything and be grateful

 

This other point from spy command caught my eye:

 

 

Also, the hiring comes less than two months after Purvis told The Telegraph, “I’m just not sure how you would go about writing a James Bond film now.” Evidently, something came up.

The context was Trump, so it makes you wonder if they've come up with something in that vein! Possibly a mad rogue POTUS?

[SecretAgentFan]

I think you´re drawing the wrong conclusions.  

 

You blame P & W for delivering a draft that EON / Mendes / Craig and the studio execs signed off on.  Any writer knows that you can deliver the greatest script, raising the bar, transcending the genre - and still someone who makes the decisions says: nah, I want it the way I want it, and you either deliver this or you´re out.

 

Judging from the additional writing by Butterworth - a Mendes friend -, one must assume that the final result was not at all due to P & W´s "lack" of ambition but because in the end it was Mendes who said: I want it the way I want it.

 

And don´t forget: it was P & W who persuaded EON to adapt CASINO ROYALE for Craig´s first film, and it was their script that got that film running, with Haggis only window-dressing due to his Oscar pedigree.

[Napoleon Solo]

Baz Bamigboye later did a full article:

http://www.dailymail...s-play-007.html

 

Note: John Logan was originally hired to write Bond 24 and Bond 25. Then it was scaled back to one movie. He may have done some preliminary Bond 25 work. Whether it's still being used in some form is unknown. 

 

Anyway the story says, re: P&&W, "This time round though they're the first to be hired."

Also has some material about post-Craig Bond possibilities. He quotes "an executive at a studio close to the Bond franchise" that Barbara Broccoli is "keen" on Jack Huston but also "absolutely keen" on "having a black actor playing Bond."

[Tiin007]

- It is possible that they can deliver a draft that will get a director attached before summer and with DC agreeing even move into preproduction for a principal photography start date at the end of 2017/beginning of 2018.  But that would be the best possible timeline for BOND 25, and it is highly improbable that this will happen.  Instead, expect script development to be troubled as always, and all other aspects (including casting of the other roles) to make it almost impossible for a start date in late 2017/early 2018.  

 

Well, if they plan on retaining Blofeld, Madeline, and the whole MI6 team (certainly this latter group should not be changed), then perhaps some of the larger roles are already accounted for. Maybe a new henchman and new ally, but if the SP storyline is to continue (pure speculation on my part), then EON does not need to find a new villain or leading lady. So 2018 may not be that crazy. 

 

And if Craig winds up saying no to Bond 25? Then that would make 2018 impossible regardless, so the extra year or two to recast Bond would allow changing the script as necessary (removing Blofeld and Madeline, and casting a new villain and leading lady).

 

So I view this as a "no harm in trying for a 2018 release."

[sharpshooter]

Feels like we're looking at late 2019 for release.

That's my guess now too. Oh well, I have the comics to sustain my Bond interest until then.

[SecretAgentFan]

Baz Bamigboye later did a full article:

http://www.dailymail...s-play-007.html

 

Note: John Logan was originally hired to write Bond 24 and Bond 25. Then it was scaled back to one movie. He may have done some preliminary Bond 25 work. Whether it's still being used in some form is unknown. 

 

Anyway the story says, re: P&&W, "This time round though they're the first to be hired."

Also has some material about post-Craig Bond possibilities. He quotes "an executive at a studio close to the Bond franchise" that Barbara Broccoli is "keen" on Jack Huston but also "absolutely keen" on "having a black actor playing Bond."

 

Thanks for that link - very interesting that Baz affirms that BB would be keen on a black Bond.  One can assume that all the Idris Elba talk was not just a rumour after all - but now he is out because he is too old and too established.

 

 

Jack Huston - well, not a bad alternative for DC either.

[DavidJones]

There seems to be a contradiction as the article's source indicates that Broccoli would "absolutely" want a black Bond, but then adds that she doesn't care if he's black or not.

[Odd Jobbies]

I think you´re drawing the wrong conclusions.  

 

You blame P & W for delivering a draft that EON / Mendes / Craig and the studio execs signed off on.  Any writer knows that you can deliver the greatest script, raising the bar, transcending the genre - and still someone who makes the decisions says: nah, I want it the way I want it, and you either deliver this or you´re out.

 

Judging from the additional writing by Butterworth - a Mendes friend -, one must assume that the final result was not at all due to P & W´s "lack" of ambition but because in the end it was Mendes who said: I want it the way I want it.

 

And don´t forget: it was P & W who persuaded EON to adapt CASINO ROYALE for Craig´s first film, and it was their script that got that film running, with Haggis only window-dressing due to his Oscar pedigree.

Guess we'll never really know. But judging by SS-GB, which is all their's i have no doubt they are extremely hackneyed writers. Perhaps it's difficult to say what part each writer played in the Bond scripts, but there was a huge leap in quality once they started hiring outside of their usual net with CR.

 

On that other titbit, Jack Huston may be a good choice. He was great in Boardwalk Empire, turning his peripheral damaged war vet into a central character by the end of the series. I'll have to watch the recent Ben Hur remake that he starred in; i had avoided it because the reviews were as bad as the trailer, but perhaps one can still glean his star quality and leading man chops from the debacle.

[Dustin]

To me it's heartening to hear for once a different name than the usual suspects of Hiddleston and Elba.

Interesting that Bamigboye doesn't identify the studio 'close to Eon'. If that was MGM he wouldn't have needed to avoid the name. So this looks as if Eon was actually working closer with an unnamed studio than they are with MGM, no?

[FlemingBond]

i'm sorry Purvis and Wade will return. Their record has been spotty at best. When you consider the best film they did, Casino Royale had an actual Fleming novel, and it, QOS and Skyfall had other contributors, on the other end they've given us DAD and SPECTRE and TWINE (which could have been better than it turned out)

[SecretAgentFan]

To me it's heartening to hear for once a different name than the usual suspects of Hiddleston and Elba.

Interesting that Bamigboye doesn't identify the studio 'close to Eon'. If that was MGM he wouldn't have needed to avoid the name. So this looks as if Eon was actually working closer with an unnamed studio than they are with MGM, no?

 

That´s what I thought, too.