James Bond series

[ChrisIII]

Kind of interesting it's pretty much the anti-Writing's on the Wall. As Blofeld says: "You gave up everything for her" (Which is what WTTW brought up), whereas this one is about the betrayal.


Another theory some have is that perhaps Madeline had a role in Vesper's blackmail somehow. Maybe he should've taken a closer look at Le American....

[Jack Parker]

I really hope that that rumor isn't true. One thing I really hated about Spectre is that they tried to to make Blofeld responsible for all the bad stuff that had occurred in Bond's life up to that point. Trying to tying Madeline into one of the most traumatic events in Bond's life again would just come off as cheap to me and probably sour the movie a bit for me.

[Kaled]

Has anyone read the new book Nobody Does It Better: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross yet?

[Jack Parker]

I haven't read it. Is it worth checking out?

[Kaled]

So far I have just flipped through it but based on what I have skimmed yes.

[ChrisIII]

There's also another theory that perhaps Madeline "dies" in the opener (possibly the scene with the car filmed in Croatia I think?), and Bond is actually living in Jamacia alone-I'm not sure if Lea Sedoux filmed anything in Jamaica apart from the press conference/reveal, although I could be wrong. But when Bond returns to London, he discovers that she's actually alive and something fishy is going on.


Craig also said the film is sort of about "family". Presumabely not Bond's as they're either dead or evil, but perhaps the band at MI6 being that for him.

[ChrisIII]

The film has been delayed until November due to the current crisis.

[Jack Parker]

I could be mis-remembering the trailer, but wasn't there a scene of Bond and Madeline in bed together that was taking place in Jamaica? I have a feeling that at least the first 20 minutes or so of the movie takes place in Jamaica. And I am curious what Craig meant by that family comment. I think it could be related to MI6 being Bond's family or maybe it indicates Bond and Madeline will be together by the end of the film and Bond remains in retirement.

And I'm starting to feel like this film is never going to get released after all the delays it has experienced. I completely understand why they are delaying it until November, but it is disappointing to hear none the less.

[ChrisIII]

I think the film is mostly "in the can" but of course they've been heavily marketing it already before the release-the song, magazine covers, interviews and of course Daniel Craig is hosting SNL over the weekend. Zimmer's soundtrack was also scheduled to be released later this month.

At least Bond doesn't have an action figure line like other big franchises do. Then there'd be a ton of recalls probably. (Disney of course now staggers their Star Wars novel and comic adaptations, but I think that's more of a way of avoiding spoilers and getting an accurate adaptation of the movie rather than any other reason).

Kind of makes me wonder if they're going to have to do the whole press tour again next fall.

[Enigma]

I think there will certainly be another press tour, perhaps just lower key? I actually don't mind that much because I have so much stuff to catch up on, I haven't got time for it to come out right now

[Jack Parker]

I can't imagine they won't do another press tour the same size of the one they have been doing. While I don't know how much it would impact the movie if they didn't, I imagine they don't want to risk decreasing the marketing for this regardless of when it comes out. Are there any major movies coming out besides No Time to Die that it would be competing with?

Also, SNL has released a clip of Craig's opening bit on SNL. I hope Craig continues to go in the direction of comedy after Bond as he seems to have a lot of fun with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wEP_NehJKM

[ChrisIII]

There's certainly a lot of magazine covers with Ana De Armas on them.


So I'm finding out that "The Living Daylights" at one point was going to be a sort of prequel/reboot, which would definitely explain why Bond and also Moneypenny looked much younger. However the finished film still has a lot of connections to the Moore era-Same M, Frederick Gray, Gogol etc. so they pretty much ditched that (apparently because Cubby didn't like that).


Also started reading the LALD comic adaptation. Seems a lot more polished art-wise than the Casino Royale one. Curious if they'll do Moonraker next. Like Live and Let Die the movie version is radically different but bits of the original MR novel kind of show up in later films-Goldeneye and Die Another Day. (In LALD's case parts of it's plot ended up in For Your Eyes Only and License to Kill).

[Jack Parker]

Considering the praise Knives Out has been getting (which it deserves, its a fantastic film) I'm not surprised they are placing her on a lot of covers.

I've never heard before that TLD was originally convinced as a reboot. Where did you read that at? I'm curious if they had followed through with that plan if they would have treated Dalton's Bond as having been a new 00 or if it would have been a more soft reboot.

I haven't read either of the CR or LALD adaptions. How closely do they follow the original novels? And are the worth getting?

[ChrisIII]

They're pretty close to the original novels as possible I think. Pretty much all the dialogue and narration is used from the novels, and they're set during the time the novels were written (50s-60s) as well, old cars, somewhat dated attitudes etc included. They're also considerably more "R-Rated" than the films.

[Pete26]

I personally don't think that The Living Daylights was a reboot, as it was the same M and Gogol. Originally Pearce Brosnan was supposed to take over from Roger Moore but contractual obligations with Remington Steele prevented it.

Brosnan's run definitely wasn't a reboot but a continuation of the series with all different characters, including replacing M with Dame Judy Dench, which throws continuity out of order as Bond meets her in goldeneye as a seasoned agent "a throwback to the Cold War" and the Craig era M who made him a 00.

I hope to God that they don't kill Craig's Bond off and replace him with the female 007. Danny Boyle was replaced as the original Director because of creative differences, one of which was the rumour he refused to kill James Bond off. I think the best format they have used is continuing the series with a new actor to play the character and maybe freshen things up with a plot twist now and again. I think the franchise may have run it's course, but a new franchise with new characters won't work. Bring back Modesty Blaise if that's the case.

I always thought the Bond series may end, but they have always refreshed the actors when they get too old to keep things fresh, much as they did with Tarzan.