The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[Veronica]

After watching trailer all I can say is:Napoleon Solo rocks! when is the movie coming out?

Aug. 14, or 14-August, if you prefer, in the United States.

And in Europe?

[bjmdds]

The new batch of official set photos find Craig, director Sam Mendes, and the rest of the Bond team down in Mexico, where 007 is leaping across rooftops:

[bjmdds]

Idris Elba says there’s one man to blame for all the rumors flying around that he might be the next James Bond.

And it’s the current James Bond!

Elba, 42, addressed the ongoing speculation Tuesday at an event at London’s British Film Institute, saying talks with Bond producers have “never happened” and tracing the rumors to a fellow English actor who knows a thing or two about the role.

“Daniel Craig actually set the rumor off. About four years ago he said, ‘Idris Elba would be a great Bond,’ and then it started to creep,” said The Wire actor, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

He added, jokingly, “I blame Daniel.”

Elba said last year that if the role were offered to him, he’d “absolutely” take it. Unfortunately, he’s starting to think the endless speculation has overhyped the idea.

“Honestly, it’s a rumor that’s really starting to eat itself,” he said. “If there was ever any chance of me getting Bond, it’s gone.”

[bjmdds]

Christoph Waltz: BOND MOVIES ARE LIKE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOWS---The Austrian star (Waltz) said that he only wanted to appear in a certain "kind" of Bond film - and compared the movies to Punch and Judy shows. "I did, yes (think twice). I always hesitate... You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about?"

[Veronica]

Christoph Waltz: BOND MOVIES ARE LIKE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOWS---The Austrian star (Waltz) said that he only wanted to appear in a certain "kind" of Bond film - and compared the movies to Punch and Judy shows. "I did, yes (think twice). I always hesitate... You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about?"

Yeah because now Bond is some kind of family drama and he obviously loves those...

[Veronica]

Oh,yeah because who would ever want to a star in a movie that actually doesn't leave you depressed??Right?Who wants to have fun while watching a movie?God forbid! God forbid that Bond is actually charismatic and sophisticated and can actually seduce a woman. God forbid that M is actually a boss instead of mum,God forbid that bond actually drinks vodka martini shaken and not stirred.

[Omega]

God forbid bond looks like he gives a dam.


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[Napoleon Solo]

This man would be more fun as a Bond villain than Waltz's Blowfeld......Tung Tze from Matt Helm circa 1966

Richard Maibaum recommended Victor Buono to Broccoli and Saltzman for Goldfinger. Source: Adrian Turner on Goldfinger, citing a Maibaum memo.

[Napoleon Solo]

After watching trailer all I can say is:Napoleon Solo rocks! when is the movie coming out?

Aug. 14, or 14-August, if you prefer, in the United States.

And in Europe?

Mostly Aug. 12-14, with some countries the following week. List of release dates:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1638355/rel ... f_=tt_ql_6

[Barry Niven]

Napoleon Solo wrote:

Richard Maibaum recommended Victor Buono to Broccoli and Saltzman for Goldfinger. Source: Adrian Turner on Goldfinger, citing a Maibaum memo.

Well, that just confirms another one of my long-held suspicions that even the much-revered Old Guard of the James Bond Film series weren't "all that" all of the time. And Richard Maibaum's own self-important, territorial attitude that was exposed in his many interviews+ definitely qualifies him as one such culprit despite his undeniable longevity and abilities that found no proper successor since his retirement and death after LTK (which was incomplete due to Maibaum having to drop out as a member of the Writer's Guild who went on Strike in 1988, leaving NON-member Michael G. Wilson to finish the script, which explains its hollowness).

IIRC, it was Maibaum's bright idea to make the villain of Diamonds Are Forever Goldfinger's twin-brother , which was just a terrible idea all around that necessitated the hiring of Tom Mankiewicz to rewrite the script, which got him the sole screenwriter gig for LALD (which Maibaum dismissed as a "lousy cooking-some-dope-somewhere-in-the-jungle movie") before HIS exit from TMWTGG led to an unimpressive rewrite by Maibaum that reputedly led to Mankiewicz returning to rewrite THAT rewrite. For all the flack that Mankiewicz gets for "cheapening" the Bond movies' scripts, I can't help but think that it was the toxic combination of newbie Mankiewicz, tired-Maibaum, too laid-back Guy Hamilton, and frustrated Cubby Broccoli taking his turn producing because Harry Saltzman was "out to lunch" that made DAF and TMWTGG the low points of the early 70's output. (Note, LALD's moderate improvement when Saltzman took his turn producing while Maibaum was wholly absent)

But curiously enough, Maibaum has NOTHING to say (good or bad) about the contributions of Roald Dahl on YOLT. I guess because Dahl was a world-famous novelist of no small acclaim that to openly criticize him would've gotten Maibaum into trouble for slandering a LEGEND. But badmouthing newbies like Mankiewicz and Christopher Wood (for MR's "space colony crap" in particular) was fair game since they had less prestige at the time they made their brief contributions to the Bond series.

And Maibaum also neglected to complain about Michael G. Wilson's "co-writing" in the 1980s, as Wilson was Cubby's Boy who was apparently meant to be a "buffer" to keep Old Maibaum up-to-date and on-track. And as MGW was Executive (and later, Co-) Producer, that effectively made MGW Maibaum's other BOSS as well. I suppose that's why Maibaum handwaves away HIS responsibility for the tired AVTAK as an "oh well, even Shakespeare wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona"-type excuse.

In any case, this sad situation of retaining the diminishing Maibaum long past his prime of the 1960s was yet another example of the rigid conservatism of the Old Eon under Cubby Broccoli's run that doomed the Current Eon's ability to attract and encourage new blood to fill the void left when the Old Guard must inevitably depart. And blaming Barbara alone for hiring Craggy and jumping on the Art-Film/Reboot bandwagon with pretentious dilettantes like Sam Mendes and Paul Haggis nowadays sounds more and more like a cheap shot, as I'm convinced that there's more than enough blame to go around for EVERYONE in the Eon Empire, past and present. But that's just what I think.

+ - Mostly from the interview from a 1983 issue of Starlog with a cover story on The Battle of The Bonds (OP vs. NSNA), plus a bit from Cinemafantastique's 1989 cover issue of LTK.

[Veronica]

God forbid bond looks like he gives a dam.


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Right! I hope that will never happen again!

[Kristatos]

Napoleon Solo wrote:

Richard Maibaum recommended Victor Buono to Broccoli and Saltzman for Goldfinger. Source: Adrian Turner on Goldfinger, citing a Maibaum memo.

Well, that just confirms another one of my long-held suspicions that even the much-revered Old Guard of the James Bond Film series weren't "all that" all of the time. And Richard Maibaum's own self-important, territorial attitude that was exposed in his many interviews+ definitely qualifies him as one such culprit despite his undeniable longevity and abilities that found no proper successor since his retirement and death after LTK (which was incomplete due to Maibaum having to drop out as a member of the Writer's Guild who went on Strike in 1988, leaving NON-member Michael G. Wilson to finish the script, which explains its hollowness).

IIRC, it was Maibaum's bright idea to make the villain of Diamonds Are Forever Goldfinger's twin-brother , which was just a terrible idea all around that necessitated the hiring of Tom Mankiewicz to rewrite the script, which got him the sole screenwriter gig for LALD (which Maibaum dismissed as a "lousy cooking-some-dope-somewhere-in-the-jungle movie") before HIS exit from TMWTGG led to an unimpressive rewrite by Maibaum that reputedly led to Mankiewicz returning to rewrite THAT rewrite. For all the flack that Mankiewicz gets for "cheapening" the Bond movies' scripts, I can't help but think that it was the toxic combination of newbie Mankiewicz, tired-Maibaum, too laid-back Guy Hamilton, and frustrated Cubby Broccoli taking his turn producing because Harry Saltzman was "out to lunch" that made DAF and TMWTGG the low points of the early 70's output. (Note, LALD's moderate improvement when Saltzman took his turn producing while Maibaum was wholly absent)

But curiously enough, Maibaum has NOTHING to say (good or bad) about the contributions of Roald Dahl on YOLT. I guess because Dahl was a world-famous novelist of no small acclaim that to openly criticize him would've gotten Maibaum into trouble for slandering a LEGEND. But badmouthing newbies like Mankiewicz and Christopher Wood (for MR's "space colony crap" in particular) was fair game since they had less prestige at the time they made their brief contributions to the Bond series.

And Maibaum also neglected to complain about Michael G. Wilson's "co-writing" in the 1980s, as Wilson was Cubby's Boy who was apparently meant to be a "buffer" to keep Old Maibaum up-to-date and on-track. And as MGW was Executive (and later, Co-) Producer, that effectively made MGW Maibaum's other BOSS as well. I suppose that's why Maibaum handwaves away HIS responsibility for the tired AVTAK as an "oh well, even Shakespeare wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona"-type excuse.

In any case, this sad situation of retaining the diminishing Maibaum long past his prime of the 1960s was yet another example of the rigid conservatism of the Old Eon under Cubby Broccoli's run that doomed the Current Eon's ability to attract and encourage new blood to fill the void left when the Old Guard must inevitably depart. And blaming Barbara alone for hiring Craggy and jumping on the Art-Film/Reboot bandwagon with pretentious dilettantes like Sam Mendes and Paul Haggis nowadays sounds more and more like a cheap shot, as I'm convinced that there's more than enough blame to go around for EVERYONE in the Eon Empire, past and present. But that's just what I think.

+ - Mostly from the interview from a 1983 issue of Starlog with a cover story on The Battle of The Bonds (OP vs. NSNA), plus a bit from Cinemafantastique's 1989 cover issue of LTK.

I agree with a lot of this, though I'd still take Maibaum at his worst over Paul Haggis at his best. The pinning of all the blame on Barbara Broccoli seems like a combination of reductionism and misogyny. We have a lot of posters here who think that girls are icky (in a manly, non-gay way, of course). As I never stop reminding people, it was MGW who wanted the reboot crap for The Living Daylights and Cubby's "rigid conservatism" that stopped him.

[The Sweeney]

The one thing I will say for Maibaum, at least he managed to adapt the Fleming novels successfully in Dr. No, FRWL, GF, TB and OHMSS. He also managed to successfully weave scenes from Bond novels and short stories into FYEO, OP, TLD and LTK, something which hasn't been attempted since (leaving out CR, of course).

Whether these later Bond films that incorporated the Fleming scenes was purely down to Maibaum, or Wilson, or influenced by Cubby is another matter.

[Omega]

Dad had some remake of a bond book. Not going to argue the merits of dad, but it probably was the last adaption of a Fleming book that was not direct adaptation like cr was.

Not sure where they all pulling all this mommy and daddy issue , Blofeld long lost brother crap from.

Making as was suggested everything since cr about revenge on bond is too dumb for words


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[The Sweeney]

Dad had some remake of a bond book. Not going to argue the merits of dad, but it probably was the last adaption of a Fleming book that was not direct adaptation like cr was.

I'd say very, very, extremely loosely DAD adapted the MR novel, to the same extent that Moore's 70's films were adapted from their novels. It may have started off with that intention, but by the time the final script version was made into the film, the basis of the novel disappeared, lost under invisible cars, diamonds in faces and ZX Spectrum surfing.

I think the beginning of SF was again loosely adapted from TMWTGG, but what annoys me is since Cubby's death, EON don't have the balls anymore to stick to their convictions and remain true to the Fleming material it was adapted from, and just run with it, instead of adapting and warping it into something else completely different.

At least Maibaum's efforts in the 80's really tried to stick close to the scene it was taken from - the entire short stories FYEO, Risico, OP and TLD, the fish tank battle from LALD, the coral boat drag from LALD, Milton Krest and his boat, Felix being eaten by sharks from LALD, etc.

Had Maibaum still been alive, and Cubby still on top of his game, I think Brosnan's first outing in GE would have again included more unused material from the novels.

[The Saint 007]

I'd say very, very, extremely loosely DAD adapted the MR novel, to the same extent that Moore's 70's films were adapted from their novels. It may have started off with that intention, but by the time the final script version was made into the film, the basis of the novel disappeared, lost under invisible cars, diamonds in faces and ZX Spectrum surfing.

And a Nintendo Power Glove.

[bjmdds]

That villain was one of, if not THE, worst Bond baddies ever What was Eon thinking having a genetic metamorphosis of a Korean into an Englishman, whose voice and face looked nothing like each other? That script was pure trash, yet the film did great at the box office, basically because of Brosnan's popularity then in the role.............James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net said, "This is a train wreck of an action film – a stupefying attempt by the filmmakers to force-feed James Bond into the mindless xXx mold and throw 40 years of cinematic history down the toilet in favor of bright flashes and loud bangs." Of the action sequences, he said, "Die Another Day is an exercise in loud explosions and excruciatingly bad special effects. The CGI work in this movie is an order of magnitude worse than anything I have seen in a major motion picture. Coupled with lousy production design, Die Another Day looks like it was done on the cheap. Gary Brown of the Houston Community Newspapers also described the weak point of the film as "the seemingly non-stop action sequences and loud explosions that appear to take center stage while the Bond character is almost relegated to second string.".............it wasn't Brosnan's fault that the film' writers were off base, yet it cost him a 5th and maybe 6th film, unless Broccolli's lusting for the Cr-egg lout was inevitable................As early as the late 1990s, MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on Michelle Yeoh's character, Wai Lin, in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. However, despite much speculation of an imminent movie, on 26 October 2003, Variety reported that MGM had completely pulled the plug on this project, to the dismay of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Entertainment, who were reported to be "clearly furious" about the decision.

[Omega]

I though that was the jinx spin off that was canceled


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[Omega]

I'd say very, very, extremely loosely DAD adapted the MR novel, to the same extent that Moore's 70's films were adapted from their novels. It may have started off with that intention, but by the time the final script version was made into the film, the basis of the novel disappeared, lost under invisible cars, diamonds in faces and ZX Spectrum surfing.

And a Nintendo Power Glove.

The first hall most of us agree was good . The insomniac Korean with English orphan DNa was crap, the invisible car didn't make much sense but was real science unlike the weird DNa treatment that is more scifi.
The mi6 girl betraying and m and Brosnans bond interaction was good. Mp and the vr googles? Why,? Vr field test I get why but it never made much sense, they used the same idea in sf.

Didn't mean to talk about dad, What I intended to say was I don't think EON since Dalton has really gone full bond , the get close they veer off to imitate another popular at the time movie. Brosnan had some good bond moments but since Tnd they alway flinch away from going all the way bond either because it's not pc, or other movies they are imitating have dumbed down to a point they can follow through they way a bond movie used to.

Dad is full of examples . Cr is too, qos, sf. They could follow through like before and be like bond but don't for whatever reason.

The sex worker in sf in not going full bond that not something imo bond would be ok with. That bothers me because I think it was added to make up for the sins against feminism bond of the past supposedly committed.


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[bjmdds]

When Ian Fleming was looking for a name for his newly-created hero, he wanted something dull and ordinary to make him more realistic. He found it on his bookshelf: one of his favorite books was a guide to the birds of the West Indies by ornithologist James Bond. Pierce Brosnan is seen holding the book in Die Another Day............ Bond film titles make sense, but Tomorrow Never Dies could well be the most nonsensical. In fact screenwriter Bruce Feirstein claims that it was supposed to be called Tomorrow Never Lies (‘Tomorrow' being the name of villain Elliot Carver's newspaper), but an assistant made a typo when faxing MGM and the title stuck..............It wasn't until the fourth film, Thunderball, that Connery himself appeared in the gun barrel.................You'll need to be quick on the pause button for this one: in a shot of the Orient Express racing by, a figure stands at the side of the track. Legend has it that this is Fleming himself, who visited the From Russia With Love set. If true, it's Fleming's only appearance in the series: he died in 1964.