Bond 25 - "No Time to Die" (2021) (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

The Purvis/Wade writing has been an Achilles heel for Bond. No matter how much the films progress in casting, in stuntwork, design and performance, they're held back by the juvenile and often nonsensical writing that those two gentlemen frequently offer. And the producers appear to be addicted to them. The Bond films would be greatly improved if someone else was writing them.

The directors have a lot of influence and that at times has really overshadowed the writing work of Purvis and Wade. James Bond radio did a great segment on this a while back. The directors come on board and change things or bring in new writers to rework things. At times completely changing the tone of the scripts, etc.

It will be curious to see how this all unfolds.

 

[Osato]

Sad news, 3 time 007 director Lewis Gilbert has passed.

 

[Worth]

While it's pretty much impossible to judge the quality of screenwriting from the final product, none of the films Purvis and Wade have worked on have particularly impressed me, and two of them - The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day - rank among the series low points for me. Even Casino Royale, which everyone else seems to love, has massive structural problems, and that had the benefit of being a direct Fleming adaptation.

 

[Worth]

Sad news, 3 time 007 director Lewis Gilbert has passed.

Gilbert is probably still my favourite Bond director. His films had an epic scope and an almost surreal, dreamlike quality to them. He was also extremely versatile and made a lot of good films outside the Bond series.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Richard Maibaum wrote his fair share of clunkers too you know.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

While it's pretty much impossible to judge the quality of screenwriting from the final product, none of the films Purvis and Wade have worked on have particularly impressed me, and two of them - The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day - rank among the series low points for me. Even Casino Royale, which everyone else seems to love, has massive structural problems, and that had the benefit of being a direct Fleming adaptation.

I do love Casino Royale, but it's the only Purvis/Wade Bond that I really find to be a standout. The others range from awful to somehat enjoyable.

 

[Worth]

Looks as though Danny Boyle is probably out:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/danny-boyle-richard-curtis-team-universal-comedy-1089881

Unless there's some major developments soon, I don't see Bond 25 hitting that November 2019 release date.

 

[Osato]

Looks as though Danny Boyle is probably out:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/danny-boyle-richard-curtis-team-universal-comedy-1089881

Unless there's some major developments soon, I don't see Bond 25 hitting that November 2019 release date.

I’m disappointed if this is true in that I’ll have to wait for 2020 then for Bond UHd discs!!!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, one of the delays here seems to be that they do want a top name director to be at the helm for 25. Another guy they are very interested in seems to be Denis Villeneuve and if they want him they likely have to wait. He's supposedly trying to get Dune up and running and already has another project set up that he will do if Dune falls apart or to do right after it. However, Villeneuve supposedly expressed some interest in doing Bond 25 so who knows if he would push back the other films to do this. I don't know how far along on Dune he is, have not heard about any casting for it so probably still working out a lot of logistics.

Honestly, I don't know why Nolan is not at the top of this list. He supposedly has said it would be a dream to direct a Bond film. He finished Dunkirk in plenty of time to jump into this Bond picture to make the 2019 release. Did he remove himself from the list? Get cold feet? I thought based on the timing, this being the big 25, Nolan was going to be the man...but he seems nowhere to be found. Maybe he has some sort of contractual situation but you would think they could work around that. I don't know that Nolan has announced a project he is following up Dunkirk with...has he?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Honestly, I don't know why Nolan is not at the top of this list.

He has said publicly that while he is a big fan of James Bond, he is not interested in directing the next film.

I would not be surprised to see Sam Mendes return - he's directed two films previously, gets along well with the producers and Craig, and is currently available.

If possible, they should avoid a delay. Daniel Craig is already some kind of record hold for being James Bond over the longest period of chronological time while appearing in the smallest number of films. Roger Moore was Bond for 12 years and made 7 films. If Craig's next film comes out in 2019 as currently scheduled, he'll have been Bond for 13 years and made just 5 films. Or, put another way, Pierce Brosnan made 4 films over 7 years, while it took Craig 9 years to do the same.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

He has said publicly that while he is a big fan of James Bond, he is not interested in directing the next film.

Interesting. I wonder if that means he does not want to do a Bond with Craig...he'd rather wait that out and start fresh if he does one?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Interesting. I wonder if that means he does not want to do a Bond with Craig...he'd rather wait that out and start fresh if he does one?

I think he's just not interested in working in a tightly controlled studio environment where he does not have final cut, does not have producing power, and does not write the script. All of his films have been produced by Emma Thomas, his producing partner and wife - all of the Bond movies are produced by the Broccolis. So that's probably a problem for him; Nolan and Thomas are a package deal. Nolan has written or co-written all of his films except for Insomnia (and supposedly did an uncredited rewrite on that), but the Bond films are scripted by Purvis and Wade. The Bond films make extensive use of second unit photography; Nolan films without a second unit. The list of potential conflicts go on and on.

Ultimately, making a Bond film is a "for hire" job, and Nolan doesn't do work for hire. I think he is a fan of the franchise, and it was an inspiration for his career, but that the working environment and politics of working on a Bond film are not a match for where he is in his career right now. If they had offered him Bond before he had done Batman Begins, that's a different story, but after having near-total freedom to do a major franchise on his own terms, I can't imagine him being terribly interested in doing a major franchise film where he has significantly less say than he did on the Batman films.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

All good points, Josh. I was looking at it with the idea he had expressed interest in wanting to do one but that was some time ago. I also was thinking that if the Bond producers want to hire somebody of the caliber of Nolan to make one of their pictures then they would cede some (or a lot of) control to him with the idea that a "Nolan" would be doing something good for them and bringing a lot to the table.

Perhaps this is not true. And perhaps you are quite correct that there is not a lot of room for whomever it may be that comes in now to exorcise some level of creative control over the project. I read a while back that the Bond production team already was securing locations, props, and all the stuff they wanted to use to make the picture...that being the case it makes you wonder, with no director in place, how much that director is going to have "creative input" and how much has already been determined before he even steps onto a set.

 

[Osato]

No mgm distribution deal = no movie.
The old agreement with Sony is expired and there is no new deal for distribution. The movie cannot happen without this.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Here's a wrinkle: Boyle is to direct another movie for Working Title Films and Universal starring Lily James.

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/lily-james-danny-boyle-movie-1202722206/

If Boyle does this film first, it doesn't seem possible that he could also deliver Bond 25 for fall 2019. I'm not sure if this means they'd go with someone else to make the date or whether they would push it back to wait for him. It seems like they'll need to figure it out fairly soon.

 

[Osato]

I wonder who will pay for the budget and distribution as there is not a deal in place..

https://mobile.twitter.com/BazBam/status/971893267892666369

 

[Osato]

Here's a wrinkle: Boyle is to direct another movie for Working Title Films and Universal starring Lily James.

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/lily-james-danny-boyle-movie-1202722206/

If Boyle does this film first, it doesn't seem possible that he could also deliver Bond 25 for fall 2019. I'm not sure if this means they'd go with someone else to make the date or whether they would push it back to wait for him. It seems like they'll need to figure it out fairly soon.

I just posted an article that states Boyle may finish a film this summer and then go into bond 25.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I wonder who will pay for the budget and distribution as there is not a deal in place.

The MGM-Annapurna joint venture is distributing domestically. MGM views this as the same as if they were distributing it themselves. We've been over this before.

I just posted an article that states Boyle may finish a film this summer and then go into bond 25.

I just find it hard to believe he could do production and post-production on a whole film, and then start Bond, and still make Bond's expected release in October 2019 without being rushed. (Remember, Bond typically goes worldwide in advance of the U.S. so the November date is for us.)

 

[Tino]

Anyone else getting more and more dis interested in this whole mess?

 

[Jake Lipson]

Anyone else getting more and more dis interested in this whole mess?

Sort of. I'm sure I'll be excited for it when it rolls around, but I'm over the speculation. I'm ready for them to figure out what they're doing and who's directing and when and just announce it. Until they're ready to make an announcement, I'm good without more rumors coming out.