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Thanks Minion! I enjoy throwing a new what if out from time to time and see what wonderful thoughts the group has. There has been so many decisions made in the life of the series that there are lots of ideas and thoughts on these different choices.
On to our current topic. I wonder if Hopkins would have played it as written or suggested some re-writes to the character. Which I believe was happening during the shooting anyway. I think the media may have been bigger with Hopkins in the role. I never really believed Paris and Elliot being an item of any chemistry. For some reason I am thinking that it gets more believable with Hopkins playing Carver. I know Hatcher was the choice of the studio and not someone they had in mind when the part was written.
I think he'd be less hammy then Pryce though I like the notes that Pryce hits with his OTT portrayal.
No need for regrets @Birdleson if you want PM a suggestion for a what if you'd like us to tackle for a second time. I am amazed that some get way more posts and some that I think would get lots of posts get very little. Nothing wrong with revisiting a scenario.
My question is what if DAF had Auric's twin as the main villain do you think it would work? It certainly would lessen the connection to OHMSS and I am not sure what they would have done to wrap up Bond getting revenge on Blofeld. Do you think DAF plays better without Blofeld? Would it fit the OTT nature of DAF?
What say you Mi6...what if Maibaum's script had been approved and the villain of DAF had been Auric Goldfinger's twin brother?
How the idea of Blofeld being Bond's stepbrother managed to squeeze past the script stage in SP is anybody's guess....
It "might" have been an inspired idea back in 1970 and audiences "might" have taken to it. Then again, it might also have split the fan base just like the modern Star Wars has done today. Who really knows? Having said that, I'm in no doubt that it wouldn't have aged well. Even less so than Blofeld dressing up in drag to escape Bond's clutches.
As an idea, it seems desperate at this point in the series with so many Fleming titles still available to go back to the well again for this concept when they were only six films in. Interesting to read about; glad it didn't happen.
To me a twin of GF would only make it less of a continuation from OHMSS. Like you'd be really saying just forget Bond got married. For that reason I am glad it didn't happen. As for the climax not taking place on the Oil Rig I think Maibaum was right. I never liked how we never learn Blofeld's real fate. There were other ways to end. Case's tough character now becomes a blubbering twit. The Lake Mead ending might have improved on that.
I sure that has each draft is submitted they build on some ideas and scrap others. I thought I heard Auric's twin was floated for another movie. But I am not sure that's the case.
There are details of it in Charles Helfenstein's book on The Making of OHMSS.
Very cool concept, maybe something they could explore in the Dynamite 007 graphic novel series?
Yes, and well spotted. It certainly must have played a part in the script development of DAF. That said, I never noticed the similarity in the two ideas until @Thunderfinger brought it up here.
Back to the subject at hand, I too am glad that Goldfinger's brother didn't return. As much as I love Goldfinger as a character and villain to see a twin who I suppose would fixate on diamonds seems pretty weak. I think it would have also really minimized OHMSS even further. Which is weird as Maibaum was the screenwriter of that film you'd think he'd prefer to continue the work. Or is this a case where the men paying the cheques call the shots.
At the end of the day it can't have made the film any worse than it already is, and more of Gert Frobe as Goldfinger (I'm imagining he'd play it essentially the same) would have at least been entertaining.
Probably isn't a great precedent to set, going that silly/contrived, but the film is pretty silly and contrived as it is. Plus he went to space a few years later and they managed to go back to grounded pretty easily afterwards. So I don't think it would have really hindered the series in any way, and it would have at least been more of a clean break from OHMSS. Having Blofeld in the film the way they did it is just rubbing it in really isn't it. His presence reminds us that we could have got a proper YOLT esque follow up but instead we got this.
Pretty much the latter from what I've read, especially during that time. Harry Saltzman once said the script of a Bond film was like a Christmas tree with everybody contributing something to it until it's ready to be presented. A lot of Bond films get written by committee. The Cubby dream about Howard Hughes is what was said to turn around the DAF script.
I thought in honour for New Years we would do something a bit different. If I could grant you the power to go back in time and influence the decisions made about one of the films in the series. What film would you revisit? How would you plead to Cubby and Saltzman? What decision would you have them change and why?
So mi6 what if you could go back in time and change the decisions made on 1film. Which film and why?
DAF is campy and enjoyable in its own right. But I still think several decisions in that film were the absolute wrong ones, particularly in the PTS. Connery could have shown more anger as he dispatched Blofeld.
I also think that Blofeld's demise in that film could have been more definitive just to make the revenge arc more rewarding, which would have fixed the problems of the FYEO PTS.
Hindsight is 2020--LOL--but I know Broccoli and Co. were hedging their bets and hoping to use SPECTRE again, as soon as TSWLM.
Does anyone know if they ever planned on using SPECTRE for LALD and TMWTGG? Or had McClory's lawsuit already complicated things so that they were steering clear?
What if after NTTD, EON went ahead and started pushing out a Bond film every 2 years. What would be the effects be of going back to an every two year cycle? What would hurt the series of going to one film every two years? Do you think this is possible given today's movie making standards and requirements?
What say you Mi6 community...What if EON started producing Bond films every two years?