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FYI, Bamigboye has stated that there are factors other than the script that are holding Craig back:
I wonder what he's referring to. Budget? Distributor and future commitment requirements? It makes sense, when one thinks about it.
Perhaps he is waiting for which distributor?
Brosnan. (Wishful thinking) :D
This is great news! So long as they're not working from someone else's script (Spectre) or having their work hijacked by someone else (Die Another Day, Skyfall) they should turn in a fantastic story. The World Is Not Enough and Casino Royale were pure P&W (with polishing by others). Quantum of Solace was a film that was somehow successfully pulled together by committee, but from what I've read, P&W's work only added to the film's greatness. They know Fleming and always go to Fleming, while incorporating huge and memorable action setpieces when not bound by silly restraints (like being told we have to climax on the Westminster Bridge). Is there another writer or writers out there who could do better by both film Bond and Fleming? Maybe? But left to themselves, P&W have been delivering as far as I'm concerned (TWINE, CR). I'd rather them than an unknown quantity like Logan who they might have to cut loose at the eleventh hour only to beg P&W back again for an emergency patch-up.
Spectre could be his finale.
1. Bond went from rookie to retirement in CR. Of course, he quickly rescinded his letter of resignation, but this doesn't change the fact that he still quit.
2. Those clamoring for Campbell maybe haven't seen CR in a while. In a few places, the film has NOT aged well at all, and in comparison to SF and SP, the art direction looks amateurish and made-for-TV. It has tumbled a little down my all-time rankings. I am not sure Campbell has the vision to follow Mendes. The latter is a superior director in every way.
3. Likewise David Arnold, who did some really good things for CR and QoS, but the next composer would need to be an A-lister, which Arnold is not. Hans Zimmer? Alexander Desplat? That's the direction we'd have to go, music-wise, to be on par with Thomas Newman. Campbell and Arnold would be an enormous step backwards, imho.
Is that it? It is.
Hopefully this will be the case. YOLT, the opening of TMWTGG, a red-headed boorish MR-inspired villain, even Liz Krest. There are options...
I don't hate Purvis & Wade as much as most of the people around here. Iquite like them actually.
What I'm wondering is, did they get the job now or have they been working on B25 already and it's just the public announcement that happened now? In other words, are they just starting or do they already have a little something?
A step backwards from Newman? Definitely not. New man's scores were the weakest we've had in quite some time. Certainly a lot weaker than any of Arnold's. And IMHO people like Desplat or Zimmer are completely wrong for Bond.
I've read posts today from members who still seem to think Bond has or is getting recast soon, who think EON are actually sabotaging their own production schedule to make Daniel quit the role, and a shocking number of others who think Michael and Barbara are the Hitler and Stalin of cinema whose only jobs as producers are to burn down the house that 1962 built. In short, a load of garbage spouted by petulant children.
I really, really, really try to be the nice guy in moments like this. I try to point out where people's thinking is erroneous, shortsighted, and completely off the wall in a manner approaching understanding. I'm done playing friendly now, and I'm well done treating people with respect who post things like the above and treat it as fact, as they clearly have forfeit any right to be taken seriously.
It's become abundantly clear from this thread and so many who post in it that people know very little about how this series is and has been run, and how films work in general. Some seem to think movies fall from the sky, and that no planning whatsoever needs to be done to make them. No producers need to be on hand to create contacts with representatives in every location the film wants to shoot, no permits need to be gotten, no specific equipment in the tons needs to be sought, bought and moved on and off set, nobody needs to be hired to write a script, nobody needs to be cast to act, nobody has to be paid to distribute it to theaters and onto home media after it's completed and certainly nobody is needed to direct, score, film, edit or sound design any of the movie at any point in the production. None of this happens, the movie just comes and then we cheer and it's all grand.
Well folks, that's actually not how it goes. Filmmaking is negotiation, it's heavy and never-ending brainstorming and re-imagining. Things change daily, and every day is a new challenge where nothing, even when you have a set schedule, is confirmed. People leave mid-production, seats reshuffle, leadership changes, some actors are helpful, some aren't. Some departments meet deadlines, some don't. Sometimes it's easy to be money from the studio, sometimes it's not. In short, it's a massive team effort of gigantic proportions where a bunch of disparate creative entities and money managers go all in together risking their reputations and a lot of other peoples' money (and some of their own in some cases) to pull a set of ideas on measly pieces of paper together to bring one feature film into life, compromising where they can and refusing to budge where they can't. That's hard.
It's very clear that very little understand any of this, which is sad as it's not exactly applied physics. This thread is full of people who think they know anything about how filmmaking works because they read leaked private e-mails that weren't for their eyes to see, and because they read a few articles from the glorified gossip hound Baz and other industry cronies who tell them all the secrets of the universe that they're too foolish not to immediately swallow up without applying any logical thought of their own.
To these people, it would be very nice if, since you're not willing to think before you post, you just don't say anything at all. Nobody, especially me, wants to hear you rattle on about things you don't understand, as your ignorance was funny the first two times and now your mewling on is making me contemplate alcoholism (an antifreeze on the rocks for me, sir).
SP has barely been out for a year and everyone's up in arms. What do I have to hear on the daily?
"Where's MY movie?!"
"When am I-ME-going to be getting a new Bond film?!?!"
"What are EON doing? I, ME, WEEEE need a movie!!!"
Children, every single one of you. You remember that difficult process of filmmaking and negotiation I mentioned above? EON are wrapped up in a lot of pre-production hurdles right now, so they can only do so much. Do you get that? Barbara and Michael, contrary to popular opinion, love making these films and want you to be able to go out to the theater and see a good one as soon as possible. But guess what? There's a certain issue of finances and distribution that is kind of important that they need sorted before big moves can be made. You see, movies can be cast, shot, edited and finished, but you also need people to get the film out there to the masses. It's kind of an important thing, that, and it takes heavy negotiation and a lot of strategy to get a deal of this sort to go through. And unfortunately for many here (clearly), it actually requires patience.
So to all the people here who have the attention deficit of a dog getting whiplash every time he hears a twig snap or a car horn honk, settle down and get some perspective. I know you walked out of seeing SP a little over a year ago and when you went to the parking lot the next one hadn't yet come out for you to see (!), but clearly, that's not how things work. Maybe take some time to watch other films than the Bond movies-there's a lot of great stuff from every decade out there to enjoy, even those old timey black and white pictures your grandpop talked about all the time. Or better yet, rewatch the 24 films we already have, as at least 14 of them are masterpieces and all the rest have amazing elements to intrigue and dazzle you, representing some of the most amazing production work in the history of celluloid. Perhaps do reviews of them and maybe look into how they were taken from script to screen so that you can actually know how movies are made for once and I don't have to come on here and explain everything to you again for the 500th time (@RC7 can't do it all by himself).
And please, above all, show our wonderful producers some respect. Barbara and Michael have done and will continue to do more for the Bond brand than any of your privileged whining on the internet ever will, and it's them and them alone that've kept the character and the entire property out of grubbing hands and in the family that it started in around 1962 since King Cubby passed away. They aren't perfect, but guess what? Cubby and Harry never were either. And yet, without these amazing people from both America and the UK, we wouldn't even have the right to be here right now.
I also don't want to hear anyone take Barbara and Michael to task for producing other films or plays outside of the Bond series. They're producers, that's what they do, and when a Bond film is in limbo you have no right to tell them they can't pursue other projects that engage them and fuel their own interests at that point in time. They aren't your slaves and they aren't bound to Bond such that they can only make those films and those films alone. If you were an artist you'd understand how sapping and exhausting it is to do the same thing over and over and over again without a break. Michael and Barbara need these other projects to get refreshed, to give them unique challenges 007 can't engage and to actually give them something else to think about for once in their careers other than a guy in a tuxedo. The fact that some people here aren't willing to accept this and want them to only produce Bond films proves just how dire sections of this forum are when it comes to common sense and respect, for lack of a better term for the fundamental elements of logic and understanding that their minds are so barren of.
I'd love to see some here be a real movie producer on a real set like Michael and Barbara, where you are pulled every direction so hard and so fast for 12 to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week until you don't know which way is up. I don't think they'd treat Michael and Barbara like they were brain dead after they found out just how demanding and difficult a job it is for themselves.
Maybe I ask too much of people. When it comes to these people, I probably do.
To the extent that I'm concerned about Craig phoning it in after telling the media he'd rather slash his wrists than play Bond again, yes. People drain of their creative juices and say things and Wade I believe said something to the effect of "How would you even do a Bond film in the current climate of the world?" which in fact may have been a remark as much if not more about the state of the world than about Bond. I trust that deep down P&W are as likeminded about Bond as Craig is: This is the best job in the world and for as long as they want me to do it, I'll do it. Now granted they have officially retired from Bond in the past, but people change their minds and return to earlier passions all the time.
I could not more strongly disagree with this assessment. On every level Casino Royale set the gold standard of the Craig era. And yes, I have seen it lately, as I watch it at least twice a year. ;)
Two writers, a coupla weeks ago saying, in essence: I dunno, mate, the way they ended SP and real life baddies, like, ya know, Dr- I mean Donny Trump... we have no fackin idea where to well you get the picture...
I have no faith in these writers.
Both I believe. When Mendes came onboard Skyfall, he took P&W's script, released them from further duties, and brought John Logan and John Logan alone onboard to take it from there. If I have that correctly. Which amounts to politely sacking them. At some later date, pre-Spectre, P&W announced they were officially retiring from writing future Bond scripts. Hence, they retired of their own accord. And as we all know, Mendes begged them back for Spectre. And now apparently they are no longer retired and will be writing the next one. Again, if I have that all correctly.