The James Bond Newsletter November 2012

Newsletter                                               November 2012

Premiere Royale What a night! The Royal Premiere of ‘Skyfall’, the 23 rd James Bond movie, saw one of London’s most glamorous film premieres in recent times. There was extensive national and international media coverage of the glittering evening and an evident sense of relief from the director Sam Mendes who, together with his James Bond star Daniel Craig and other key members of the cast and crew, expressed their sheer pleasure that James Bond was at last back on the screen after four years. Moreover, Craig, who was one of the first of the main stars to arrive, was clearly amazed at the atmosphere of the premiere. He said at one point: ‘I’ve never been to a premiere like this in my life. I feel like a kid in a candy shop tonight. It’s a pleasure and an honour. I’m immensely proud – it couldn’t be a better setting’. He continued: ‘This is my third premiere now and I’ve never been excited like this before’. The special premiere evening was a truly fitting tribute to 50 years of 007 on screen, and was perhaps exemplified in the Aston Martin DB5 that was parked prominently on display outside the Royal Albert Hall, as guests followed the long red carpet into the premiere. And just above Bond’s famous car, the waiting crowds could see a large reproduction of the iconic ‘007 gun’ emblem that has arguably become a universal symbol, recognised everywhere around the world. Bond Fever As various members of the cast were interviewed live on stage just outside the premiere entrance at the back of the famous Albert Hall, the patient and eager onlookers were entertained to all the memorable songs from the previous James Bond movies, and for a few hours the Kensington area of Britain’s capital was dominated by Bond fever, with all the roads and pavements leading to the Albert Hall packed with spectators, autograph hunters, dedicated Bond fans, and curious people who were just simply passing by. All the main ‘crowd control’ metal barriers that lined the streets were adorned with large ‘Skyfall’ posters, while a special ‘media’ area had been created for TV news crews and official newspaper photographers to get the best shots of the main stars as they arrived. Nearby buildings also saw faces at every window, straining to catch a glimpse of the stars and guests, and some balconies overlooking the premiere site had groups of people chanting ‘Daniel! Daniel!’ in unison. This rose to a crecendo when the 007 star himself arrived. When Craig looked up and waved at the balcony crowds, there was a massive cheer from them. Later that evening, at the lavish ‘Skyfall’ post-premiere party held at the Tate Modern on London’s south bank, overlooking the River Thames, Daniel Craig summed up the euphoria. Sipping a Martini (what else?!), he told the London Evening Standard newspaper: ‘How could I not enjoy this? The whole night has been incredible. We had an amazing team working on the film and we’ve created something we are all proud of’. Craig added: ‘We’ve been at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of royalty and then on to Tate Modern – this is probably the most memorable night of my career. I just feel honoured, and it shows you what Bond means to everyone’. Windfall: 007 at the Box Office The next day, the London Evening Standard devoted part of its editorial comment page to the high-profile impact of the 007 premiere in Britain, confirming that the new Bond film was ‘a vintage production’, and telling its readers: ‘At 50, Bond is no mere action hero: he is an institution’. Within days, the public’s love of this ‘institution’ soon became very apparent again. When ‘Skyfall’ went on general release in Britain on Friday October 26, it was clear that Daniel Craig had also been spot-on in his comments on premiere night, as the subsequent fantastic box office success of the new Bond movie strongly demonstrated that there remains a tremendous thirst for all the thrills and sheer escapism of each new 007 adventure. In Britain, and in many other countries and key markets around the globe, enthusiastic cinemagoers have rewarded ‘Skyfall’ with massive attendance figures, and there can be no doubt that 007 has returned to the screen in triumph. In Britain, the movie easily became the biggest film at the British box office in 2012, and by the weekend of November 10-11 had made over £57m. In response, EON producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson stated to the press: ‘We are thrilled and proud to reach this box office landmark in record time, and are delighted that UK audiences continue to enjoy Skyfall’. Bond is a Universal Export It is no exaggeration to say that James Bond 007 has become a cultural phenomenon in many parts of the world, and is certainly a major export for everything ‘British’. The movie has generated record-breaking attendance figures throughout Europe and, when it went on general release in Canada and the USA on November 9, ‘Skyfall’ broke opening weekend records, quickly taking in £55m ($87.8m) in its first weekend alone. By November 23, the Hollywood Reporter had reported that ‘Skyfall’ had made a massive $669m globally. As we write, the movie has only just been toppled from its no.1 position in the USA and other key markets by the latest and final entry in the ‘Twilight’ movie series. But Bond’s staying power is legendary. The new Bond movie has just opened very strongly in Australia and New Zealand, and moves to Japan in December. All the indications are that ‘Skyfall’ could become the most successful Bond movie in the history of the franchise. Purvis and Wade Explain the ‘Skyfall’ Title The veteran 007 screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, two of the writers behind the story for ‘Skyfall’, were interviewed in the UK’s Sunday Express newspaper on October 14, and gave some interesting background on the origins of the new James Bond movie. In an interview with showbiz columnist York Membery, the talented pair spoke about the plot for the new Bond movie and about their film writing careers generally. The interview opened with a discussion of how, at one stage, Purvis and wade faced their own 007-style race against the clock to deliver the screenplay of the new 007 movie to the producers in Los Angeles. It was 2.00am in the morning UK time, and they had to deliver the screenplay by first light. Neal Purvis said there is nothing like a deadline ‘for concentrating the mind’. However, not only did the duo deliver the untitled script on time, but inadvertently created the eventual title. Wade explained: ‘We needed a haunting place name. I just plucked it out of the air, and it turned out to be something that struck a chord with the filmmakers’. The Shaping of ‘Skyfall’ The Sunday Express interview also revealed that work on the film that would become ‘Skyfall’ actually began in early 2010, when the two writers travelled to New York to discuss the movie with the director Sam Mendes and Bond star Daniel Craig. Purvis said: ‘Everyone agreed that we wanted to pitch Bond against a villain who was a similar age and possessed the same strength of character, making it a battle of equals’. The screenwriting pair also said that Craig and Mendes had strong views on the direction the new Bond film should take. According to Purvis: ‘Daniel wanted a bit more humour in this film. While Sam made it clear that he didn’t want it to be too introspective. He wanted a traditional big Bond film, but with a cracking story. Above all, he wanted it to be entertaining’. A decision was also taken to include some of the more traditional Bond elements and characters, such as gadgets man ‘Q’. Robert Wade said: ‘the result is that there has been a deliberate swinging back to the classic Bond we all know and love’. The two writers also revealed to the Express that their next screenwriting project is Corsica ’72, a gangster crime drama. Logan Licensed to Thrill Again No sooner had Bond 23 been released in the UK than some (unofficial) news emerged about Bond movie no.24! According to press reports on Friday October 26 in both Britain and America, ‘Skyfall’ co-writer John Logan has already been hired as the solo screenwriter for the next James Bond movie (‘Bond 24’), which will be ready to hit the cinema screen in the autumn of 2014 (or possibly in 2015). The showbiz writer Baz Bamigboye, whose track record on Bond news has been fairly accurate in the past (and who was a guest at the ‘Skyfall’ premiere in London), writing in his regular column in the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper, claimed that plans are well under way for Daniel Craig’s next 007 thriller. Bamigboye asserted that Bond 24 ‘is already in pre-pre-production’ (as he put it), the plan being to start shooting the movie at Pinewood Studios ‘around this time next year’, so that it would be ready for cinema release in the autumn of 2014. Moreover, Bamigboye added that screenwriter Logan, who was brought in to re-write and polish the existing ‘Skyfall’ screenplay created by Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, will pen the Bond 24 script on his own. Bamigboye revealed that Purvis and Wade, who have worked on every Bond film since the ‘The World Is Not Enough’ in 1999, had decided it was time to move on. An unnamed executive associated with the two writers apparently told Bamigboye: ‘They’ve had a tremendous run’. Bond 24 ‘Secret’ In a statement of the blindingly obvious, Bamigboye also told his Mail readers that the outline for Bond 24 is ‘a closely held secret’ and, so far, only the Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, together with Bond star Daniel Craig and some ‘trusted aides’, know the new storyline. Bamigboye also claimed that Naomie Harris (Miss Moneypenny), Ben Whishaw (the new ‘Q’), and Ralph Fiennes (the new ‘M’) will begin negotiations over the next few months for their return in Bond 24. The same day (Friday October 26), the American movie trade paper Variety also ran a report, written by Dave McNary, which provided a bit more background context to the plans for Bond 24. McNary also confirmed that screenwriter John Logan will take on the full writing duties for the next 007 film, and that Logan has developed a story arc that will stretch into Bond 25. Logan, the report claimed, had pitched the story for Bond 24 to the Bond producers during the summer of 2012. It is worth noting, however, that while publicising ‘Skyfall’, James Bond star Daniel Craig expressed surprise at the idea of a story arc, saying he did not know where this had come from. Craig said that they only worked on stand-alone ideas for the next movie, not two at the same time. Perhaps inevitably, the news about Logan being given solo writing duties on the next Bond movie quickly started some rather frenzied internet speculation over what Logan might be planning. In the past, he has raised the possibility of reviving Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE (and has even teased an audience about this on one occasion when he was a speaker), while the Bond producers in recent statements (although very cautious) have also not ruled out the possibility of re-using the SPECTRE or Quantum organisations. Write Another Way: Purvis and Wade Step Down In a press release issued from Dohar, Qatar, on November 19, 2012, where Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were taking part in a master-class on screenwriting at the Fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival, the writing duo officially confirmed the news that they were relinquishing their Bond writing duties. Wade said: ‘We’re very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think we’ve gotten it to a good place. I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off because these films take up a lot of time’. His co-writer Purvis added: ‘We were going to stop with Quantum of Solace, but it’s good to go out on a high with Skyfall’. It is difficult to measure the enormous amount of work both Purvis and Wade have contributed to British film-writing generally, and to the Bond film franchise since 1998-99. After meeting when they were both aged just 22, they spent a great deal of time trying to break in to the highly competitive world of script-writing. Having been together for 28 years now, Purvis and Wade estimate that, since 1984, they have written a total of 41 complete scripts, with just 10 made into full films. Such is the tough world of film-making. The Man with the Golden Touch A good insight into how the talented screenwriting duo work both together and also individually came in an article in a leading British weekend newspaper on November 18. In an interesting profile in the ‘property’ section of the UK’s Sunday Times, Robert Wade was interviewed at length in his West Sussex home. Wade, now aged 50, purchased his home three years ago and he and his wife have since renovated the house and converted it into their dream family home. It includes a spacious study-cum-library, and it was here where, shortly before submitting the Bond 23 script, Wade thought of a title: ‘It was 2am, and I was looking out of the window. It was raining outside and pretty grim... the name just fell out of the sky’. He also revealed that moving his own family from London to the Sussex countryside had exerted an influence on the Bond film’s storyline: ‘Ultimately, it’s about getting back to nature, and to basics’ (as we know, Bond returns to his childhood home in Scotland). The newspaper profile also noted that Wade’s study is filled from floor to ceiling with books which are a ‘who’s who’ of British writers, including Sebastian Faulks, John Le Carre, John Gardner, and, of course, a comprehensive number of Ian Fleming books. There was also a range of travel books. One volume on display was The World’s Most Dangerous Places, by the war reporter Robert Young Pelton. Wade said: ‘Travel books were more useful before the internet. For instance, we found Hashima, the abandoned Japanese island in Skyfall, online’. Interestingly, he said Hashima was also a nod to Blofeld’s cliff-top castle in the Fleming novel You Only Live Twice. Live and Let Laugh Former 007 Sir Roger Moore was the guest host on the BBC’s popular comedy news-quiz show ‘Have I Got News For You’, which was screened on Friday, November 23 in the UK. A longer, uncut version was also transmitted on Monday, November 26. Sir Roger, as always, was in fine humorous form and, very early on in the programme, even managed to get a direct plug in for his new hardback book ‘Bond on Bond’! At one point, Roger also told a rather racy story about the late Herve Villechaize (Nick-Nack), who died in 1993, and who in 1974 had something of a ‘reputation’ for his numerous visits to the clubs and massage parlours in Bangkok during the making of ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. At another point in the programme, Sir Roger ‘accidently’ shot a member of the audience with a bullet-firing biro pen. What would ‘Q’ say? The losing panel on the quiz show were also threatened with a Stromberg-style shark pool! Did You Know? Roger Moore’s first-ever book was an entertaining paperback published in the UK in 1973 by Pan Books, called Roger Moore as James Bond. It was an inside diary account of Roger’s day-to-day experiences while making ‘Live and Let Die’, his debut film as 007. In his acknowledgments at the beginning of the book, Roger’s thanks included Harry Saltzman, Cubby Broccoli and other friends. He also added (tongue in cheek): ‘I would also like to thank Sean Connery – with whom it would not have been possible’! Bond Bits: Brief News Items You May Have Missed Toby Stephens, the evil villain Gustav Graves in ‘Die Another Day’, and now a three-times James Bond on UK BBC radio, returned to the British radio again on October 7. He took the role of Tom in a new BBC Radio-3 version of ‘A Doll’s House’, the famous 1879 story written by Henrik Ibsen... The JBIFC has picked up interesting indications that Toby Stephens will once again soon put on the Bond tuxedo for another radio adaptation of a Fleming 007 adventure. There is no word yet on which Fleming story will be used. Watch this space... To help celebrate both ‘Skyfall’ and the 50 th anniversary of Bond on screen, the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper (October 14) devoted a special article in its magazine to Ian Fleming (the paper, of course, once employed the Bond author, who ran its Foreign Desk). The article claimed to reveal some of the more ‘shadowy’ aspects of Fleming’s time at the newspaper... A keen observer of real-life news events, it was clear from the article that Fleming based many aspects of the world of Bond on the extensive knowledge he built up while managing a network of reporters across the world. In fact, he was something of an ‘M’ figure to his reporters... On the same day, the Sunday Times also ran an article about Ian Fleming’s own Moneypenny, Una Trueblood, his real-life secretary who typed many of his manuscripts and articles into a more readable form. Her name was also ‘borrowed’ by Fleming for the female character Mary Trueblood in ‘Dr. No’... The special ‘Sky 007’ channel, which ran for just over a month to help celebrate the 50 th anniversary of Bond, came to an end on Sunday, November 4. The last day of operation saw the channel concentrating on the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig 007 movies... It seemed Bond was everywhere just after the premiere in London. Many of the capital’s famous London red buses had prominent ‘Skyfall’ advertising posters on their sides, while 007 posters appeared across the underground rail network, taking full advantage of the exciting tube sequences in the new Bond movie... Some enterprising Bond fans visiting London also made sure they took photos of London buses adorned with the ‘Skyfall’ imagery right next to the real-life HQ of MI6, near Vauxhall Bridge (which, of course, was attacked by Silva in the new Bond movie)... The sky was full of Bond: the famous circle-shaped IMAX cinema, near London’s Waterloo train-station, also featured giant eye-catching ‘Skyfall’ images on all its sides, which were visible to numerous passers-by and to London’s busy commuter traffic... On October 25, London’s commuters were also given numerous copies of the free listings magazine Shortlist at every tube station, and featured prominently on the front cover was (yes, you guessed it) Daniel Craig as James Bond... The first day of general release for ‘Skyfall’ in the UK (Friday, October 26) saw various TV and radio events related to the new 007 film. To help celebrate the release, ‘Magic Radio’, for example, played the favourite James Bond theme songs as chosen by their listeners throughout the day... Also on the day ‘Skyfall’ went on general release in the UK, lucky British TV viewers were able to see Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Judi Dench all being interviewed together on the sofa on the late-night ‘The Graham Norton Show’ on BBC-1. At one point, Javier’s translation services were called upon when Norton was quizzing a Spanish member of the audience!... Gary Barber, one of the new bosses at MGM, seemed very pleased with the success of ‘Skyfall’ at a recent MGM investors meeting. He said: ‘Skyfall will be the biggest Bond of all time’, and said he was hopeful that Bond 24 would be ready for release in 2014. He added: ‘If not in 14, then certainly in 15’... The Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have voiced more caution. In one interview given in America while promoting ‘Skyfall’, they pointed to the enormous challenges involved in developing a suitable story for each new Bond film, and appeared to think the year 2015 is a more realistic date for Bond 24...

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