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I'll update next week, I should have it finished by then.
A few words would be great, thank you.
It is also worth mentioning there is a section at the end of the book, which contains two pages of photos of the Bond family over the years. Some great shots such as Barbara Broccoli on the set of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, being only eight years old. The work on the two unofficial films is also stand out stuff, a good look at how so much went wrong!
The photos are first class but for the 50th anniversary and £100 was it too much to expect some original text? Most of the text is available from other sources with whole interviews being just copied and pasted.
Sadly yet another case of laziness for the 50th merchandise like 007 Legends, Corgi and the bluray box set - although this I'm a class above those and us beautiful thing to own. It's just that if you're a true fan (and who else would buy this?) you already probably read it elsewhere.
And I actually disagree completely here. Why? Because I was actually stunned to read some new insight. You cannot expect that after a frikkin' 50 years suddenly a whole new previously undetected Bond archive is opened.
Some examples/quotes from the book from someone who actually took the time to read it:
'OHMSS':
George Lazenby: "We're sitting around the dinner table ready to do this scene where Angela had to write her room number on the inside of my thigh with lipstick. We practiced this a couple of times, and the camera was going to pan under the table.
Just before the take, Mr. Weymouth, the prop master, said: "Do you mind if we have a bit of fun here?" They taped this big German sausage, which they had heated up in hot water, to the inside of my leg with camera tape. This was were Angela Scoular had to put her hand down to put her room number there.
They said: "Okay. Roll over." We all thought that Angela was going to jump up and run, but the scene went smooth as a glass. Everyone was looking at each other, scratching their heads, and Angela leant over to me and said: "You've got no pants on." So it backfired completely. Angela was such a sport."
'NSNA':
Michael Caine: "I remember once I was with them [Sean Connery and Diane Cilento] in Nassau. Diane was cooking lunch, and Sean and I went out. Of course, we go out and one thing led to another, you know, and we got back for lunch two hours later. Well, we opened the door and Sean said, 'Darling, we're home'-and all the food she'd cooked came flying through the air at us. I remember the two of us standin' there, covered in gravy and green beans."
Irvin Kershner: "I remember listening to the Carter-Reagan debate on television in 1979, and when Carter claimed that the next president of the United States would more than likely have to deal with a nuclear hijack, the skin of the back of my neck began to crawl. That's the situation in 'Never Say Never Again' and I don't believe that the idea is pure fantasy anymore."
'SF':
Paul Duncan: "After the box-office success of 'Quantum Of Solace' at the end of 2008, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, together with Peter Morgan, worked on a treatment titled 'Once Upon A Spy' that was delivered November 2, 2009. The story revolved around a past indiscretion of 'M' in Russia that could ruin the reputation of MI6. It was at this point that Sam Mendes, who won the Academy Award for his debut film, 'American Beauty', in 1999, agreed to direct "Bond 23"......"
"But at the end of 2009, MGM Studios found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, and was a financially precarious position throughout 2010, which prevented Bond 23 from going into production."
Sam Mendes: "I had more time with the script than I would otherwise have had. In the end it was a blessing."
Paul Duncan: "Purvis and Wade submitted the first full draft script on November 18, 2010, titled 'Nothing Is Forever'. Many of the elements and characters are in place. Bond meets a rather shabby and tubby Quartermaster at an East End Café. The villain, originally called "Javier Bardem" in anticipation of casting the actor, was now named Raoul Sousa. Sousa wants revenge on 'M' for betraying him. He plants a bomb to kill thousands of people on the Barcelona metro using an airborne neurotoxin, and uses this as a diversion to get 'M' to a safe house where he can kill her. After the death of 'M', a bureaucrat named Mallender takes over her position at MI6."
'DAD':
David Arnold: "John Barry's stuff worked in a film that was much more leisurely paced, and had much more room for music to breathe-it wasn't so frenetic. Contemporary action movies are in your face all the time."
'GF':
Screenplay conference February 3rd, 1963: CONNERY, BROCCOLI, MAIBAUM:
--> Connery feels tone of script all wrong. Wants serious approach with humor interjected subtly as in other films.
--> Connery feels that Bond's involvement with Goldfinger in Miami is too casual. He should be starting his investigation of Goldfinger there after finishing assignments in South America.
--> Connery is very much against Pussy bouncing him around. He said make something of their relationship or drop her out of the script.
--> Connery thinks squeezing the golf ball is ludicrous.
--> Connery thinks the gangsters at the Stud Farm are 'Guys and Dolls' characters. Instead they should be real menaces.
--> Connery feels Goldfinger and Bond, as characters, should be more as they are in book. Thinks script is in bits and pieces and not "full".
I didn't find it as insightful as Charles Helfenstein's OHMSS book and given he did that all on his own whereas this was 'open access to all of EON's archive' I find that a bit poor.
Don't get me wrong it's expensive but it is a gorgeous thing to own. Value for money? Guess that depends on how much you earn but £100 is just a decent meal out for two so I guess by that criteria it is.
I found Connery's criticism about Goldfinger's screenplay very insightful. He basically sums up the problems I have with 'Goldfinger'. GF was indeed a change in style after the first two Bond films DN and FRWL. Problems with the original novel were translated in a way more casual and sometimes even cheesy Bond film. Sean Connery didn't really like these 'funny' items.
David Arnold's comment on his music for DAD basically confirms what I have been fearing all the time: It was about time Arnold left and a new replacement came onboard. He was looking way too much to the overall film, forgetting that he can put his own musical stamp on the series.
I never knew about the sausage-joke on the set of OHMSS. It's always nice to read that it wasn't all bad experience for Lazenby on his first Bond outing. It reminded me a bit about the make-up-joke Terence and Sean made when they prepared for the make-up of Bob Simmons as Widow Bouvar. Very funny ;-).
I also never knew very well what Irvin Kershner's ideas were for NSNA: Not ust the 'non-EON-film', but always a Bond film that is and will always be a James Bond film featuring Sean Connery. Nice to see that all the actors on the set of NSNA were happy...especially when they were around Sean Connery. If all these fights and feuds between EON and Broccoli didn't take place.....man......Connery should have quit after TB in 1965, then come back three more times in 1983, 1985 and 1987. Connery looked way moore Bond in NSNA then Moore did in OP.
Also very insightful to read this wunderful title 'Once Upon A Spy'. Wunderful. And very good to build the screenplay around one actor instead of the other way around. It makes it easier to get big stars on board.
"In collaboration with EON Productions, this trade edition of The James Bond Archives includes all the same stunning imagery and behind-the-scenes knowledge as the original XL book, just with a smaller format and a softer price-tag. The result is an affordable, compact yet comprehensive record of every single Bond film ever made, beginning with Dr. No (1962) and ending with Spectre (2015)."
Release date: December 1, 2015
The big one is the charm of it :-). Sorry, not going to buy the re-edited new version with only SPECTRE included.
Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/3836551861/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1437007064&sr=8-2&keywords=the+james+bond+archives
Price is certainly not too big.
:))
I can give you a beautiful christmas present with my strong Dutch speedskating legs:
:D B-)