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Ah, I see. Luckily I found a copy of Tropic Thunder on DVD for 50p on Saturday so I will be able to watch it now and get that reference!
I agree that the scene in Brokenclaw would have to be toned down a good bit if they ever came to film it, much like what they did when the Colonel Sun head skewers torture was transposed to the mechanical drill torture in Spectre.
Not really what I had in mind from what I wrote in the OP but knowing the history of Continuation Bond adaptations that may very well be as close as we get!
It's still a pipe dream of mine, however unlikely it may be.
That is sadly true about Colonel Sun not being used in a future Bond film as he's a Chinese villain, but surely the solution is a simple one for those wanting to adapt the novel and that would be changing the nationality of the main villain with the stroke of a pen.
You could thereby make Colonel Sun North Korean (as they did with the villains in Die Another Day as it was never going to be a market for a Bond cinema release) or Vietnamese or whatever undesirable state besides China you wished. Problem solved, surely?
However, perhaps a more pressing problem concerning Colonel Sun would be the fact that they have already used a good few parts from the novel in the Eon Bond films already. We've already had the villain name partly used (Die Another Day), M's kidnapping and imprisonment by the villain (TWINE) and the torture scene (Spectre). The novel has rather been filleted by the filmmakers to date.
@fanbond123 :
No.
But Alfred Hitchcock wanted to do it back in the 60s. He had designs on a chase scene/climax through the park, in the same fashion as the chase and finale on Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest.
As for any kind of production, an episode of TV's Modern Family took place in the park. Modern Family is produced by Disney-owned ABC. As a side note, when SF was released, Modern Family had an episode in which the Bond film is central to the plot.
After the debacle with The Interview and the Sony hack, I think North Korea is off the table. Vietnam is a decent-size market and Bond films are shown there, so the filmmakers wouldn't want to antagonize it. And the countries that could be antagonized are too small to be Sun's backer.
One of the side effects of globalization is that international mass cinema is becoming bland to avoid offending all the touchy countries out there (America included). Bond's natural opponents are the Russians and now is a great time to fight them but that won't be happening anytime soon.
Exactly. A lot of what made the novel unique at the time has now been used up by the films.
My gut feeling is Disney would be interested in Bond if they could develop a young Bond franchise along with the standard Bond franchise. I think there is potential in a Harry Potter type 'Bond as teenager spy' franchise. It could be the way to exploit the Bond brand.
Be interesting to see if Eon do sell up after Bond 25. Babs may see the end of the Craig era as the end of her era as Bond producer.
I don't know if Mr Gardner was having some fun or being serious: Operation Cream Cake?
=))
Just think of all the follow-up missions:
Operation Kit Kat
Operation Mars Bar
and of course the deadliest mission of all.....
Operation Puff Pastry
;))
Have to say I did raise a Roger Moore eye brow to this news. With the rate Disney is churning out movies of all genre's their is a very good chance it may not be filmed there? Is this the first step of Disney eyeing up the Bond franchise?
As for the Gardner book in question filming in a Disney theme park. I'd say no chance of that ever becoming reality.
Yes, if you look at the end of the film there's a credit thanking the Kingsley Amis Estate. They of course also had to pay his estate for the use of the torture scene complete with verbatim dialogue in places.
I'm guessing Eon also has the right to film any of the official Bond continuation novels in whole or in part so long as they pay the author or the author's estate if they are deceased. I assume they also have first refusal on the adaptation of the continuation novels and have a say in their being adapted in any other medium such as TV or radio. Just look at how Eon presumably haven't so far allowed the BBC Radio 4 Fleming novel adaptations starring Toby Stephens as Bond to be released commercially. They guard their Bond film intellectual property rather jealously and that extends into the field of the literary Bond too.
Up until the adaptation of the Colonel Sun torture scene that appeared in the most recent Bond film, Spectre, Eon had elected not to adapt any of the Bond continuation novels although elements from them had undoubtedly leached their way into the films uncredited. Perhaps they also have to pay something to IFP (formerly Glidrose) for adapting a Bond continuation novel although Eon of course already pays a percentage of each Bond film's profits to the Fleming Estate. I believe that was set at 10% in the original deal which was made for Eon to film Fleming's novels and I assume it remains at that percentage to this day.
As for Young Bonds, those look good as they are, and would be interesting if produced in period. As for that being inconsistent with simultaneous film productions with a youthful Bond, so what ? Two different flavors of delightful treats.
Me:
Can you create a James Bond film plot for the John Gardner continuation novel Never Send Flowers (1993)? The plot should centre on a serial killer ex-actor called David Dragonpol who lives in Schloss Drache, a castle on the Rhine. He assassinates high-profile victims around the globe while dressed in various disguises. He has children leave his calling card of a single white blood-tipped rose (grown by his sister Maeve Horton) at the graves of his victims. His main target in the novel will be a high-profile celebrity who he plans to blow up during one of the rides at Disneyland Resort Paris. James Bond must follows the leads and track down Dragonpol with the assistance of his Swiss Intelligence colleague Flicka von Grüsse before its too late.
ChatGPT
Title: "Dragon's Rose"
Plot Summary:
As the world reels from a string of high-profile assassinations, James Bond is called into action when a cryptic clue connects the murders to a retired actor-turned-serial killer, David Dragonpol. Bond learns that Dragonpol, once a revered figure in Hollywood, has retreated to the ominous Schloss Drache, a castle perched on the banks of the Rhine River, where he plots his deadly schemes.
The killings bear a signature mark: a single white blood-tipped rose, meticulously cultivated by Dragonpol's sister, Maeve Horton, who aids him in his twisted vendetta. These roses are left at the graves of each victim, a haunting reminder of Dragonpol's relentless pursuit of vengeance.
Bond, alongside his Swiss Intelligence counterpart, Flicka von Grüsse, delves into Dragonpol's past, uncovering a trail of betrayal, resentment, and tragedy. The ex-actor, disillusioned by his fall from grace, seeks retribution against those he perceives as responsible for his downfall, targeting high-profile figures with theatrical flair.
Their investigation leads them to Disneyland Resort Paris, where Dragonpol plans his most audacious strike yet: the assassination of a renowned celebrity during a high-speed roller coaster ride. Racing against time, Bond and Flicka must navigate the treacherous landscape of Dragonpol's mind and confront the demons that drive him.
As Bond closes in on Dragonpol's lair, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues within the shadowy confines of Schloss Drache. With Maeve's loyalty wavering and Dragonpol's twisted charisma casting a sinister spell, Bond faces his most formidable adversary yet.
In a heart-pounding climax atop the castle's towering battlements, Bond confronts Dragonpol in a battle of wits and wills. With the fate of innocents hanging in the balance, Bond must summon every ounce of his cunning and courage to thwart Dragonpol's final, devastating act.
"Dragon's Rose" is a pulse-pounding thriller that takes James Bond on a perilous journey into the darkest recesses of the human psyche, where vengeance and madness collide with deadly consequences.
In the fallout from the announcement that the conglomerate Amazon had bought up the Bond film rights from the Broccoli family run Eon Productions on 20th February 2025 there were some (including John Gardner's son, Simon) who posted online wondering if, shock though it was, Amazon's acquisition of the Bond film rights might open up possibilities around some of the many Bond continuation novels from Amis to Higson being adapted or partially adapted either as Bond films or even as part of a Bond TV series. Amazon will presumably be looking over everything that their cool billion pounds plus has bought them. They will be seeking to monetise Bond and create new "content". as we know, Eon and particularly Michael G. Wilson were against using the John Gardner Bond novels as a source in their Bond films. Wilson was even on record (around 1995) as saying that he wasn't impressed with the idea in Never Send Flowers that Bond said he'd visited Disneyland in the past and had enjoyed it (no doubt along with a sizeable section of the Bond fanbase!).
So, expanding on the idea behind this thread to include all of the existing Bond continuation novels from Amis's Colonel Sun (1968) to Higson's On His Majesty's Secret Service (2023) what do we think the likelihood is of Amazon adapting a Bond continuation novel either in whole or in part for a future Bond film or TV series? Is it something you would like to see? If so, which novels would you most like to see adapted in some way? Or does the idea fill you with dread as an implication of Amazon buying over Bond from Eon?
As always, I'd love to hear your views on this! :)
But the continuation novels themselves, I don't see them bothering. There's not much unique in there that's worth paying anyone for, and any ideas they quite like they can just sort of do something similar. Like your namesake Dragonpol: well Garder hardly owns the idea of a master assassin- if Amazon wanted to do that they'd just do a story about another assassin (much like Gardner didn't call his the Jackal). I can't think of any idea which is so strong they'd have to pay for it. M being kidnapped in Colonel Sun is maybe one of the stronger ones, but it wasn't so unique that you could say only Amis would have thought of it, and Eon did it anyway.
A Mind To Kill maybe, but that's so specific to the book continuity that it would be hard to adapt.
I wonder, if they wanted to keep one united continuity between TV and film, could you adapt the Young Bond books and set them in the (gulp) early 2000s? Doesn't feel as much fun as the 30s but maybe.