SPECTRE Production Timeline

thelivingroyale

Getafix wrote:

thelivingroyale wrote:

PanchitoPistoles wrote:

I'm hoping Naomie will have a really small role. I thought she was the weakest part of Skyfall.

Same, if she does have a big part again then I hope she improves because I thought she was quite wooden in SF. It's funny, I was expecting her to be the stand out Bond girl and I was a bit worried about Berenice because she didn't seem to have been in much and I was wondering how good an actress she was.

But then Berenice really surprised me. She was brilliant, she stole every bit she was in and left me wishing that she was in the film more while I didn't think Naomie was anything special, and I thought her flirting with Craig was a bit awkward and cringey at times.

Totally agree, although DC and Mendes need to take responsiblity for some of that. She should have been a bit more prim/professional/detached, I think.

I didn't mind the lines, I didn't think she needed to be more professional. I didn't mean cringey in the sense that it was too dirty. I thought on paper, the flirting was fine. I meant cringey because it just seemed sort of forced and awkward imo.

RC7

thelivingroyale wrote:

Getafix wrote:

thelivingroyale wrote:

PanchitoPistoles wrote:

I'm hoping Naomie will have a really small role. I thought she was the weakest part of Skyfall.

Same, if she does have a big part again then I hope she improves because I thought she was quite wooden in SF. It's funny, I was expecting her to be the stand out Bond girl and I was a bit worried about Berenice because she didn't seem to have been in much and I was wondering how good an actress she was.

But then Berenice really surprised me. She was brilliant, she stole every bit she was in and left me wishing that she was in the film more while I didn't think Naomie was anything special, and I thought her flirting with Craig was a bit awkward and cringey at times.

Totally agree, although DC and Mendes need to take responsiblity for some of that. She should have been a bit more prim/professional/detached, I think.

I didn't mind the lines, I didn't think she needed to be more professional. I didn't mean cringey in the sense that it was too dirty. I thought on paper, the flirting was fine. I meant cringey because it just seemed sort of forced and awkward imo.

I agree. They don't have anywhere near the chemistry Brosnan and Bond had in GE. That isn't to say Craig didn't do his best, I just felt no spark. With Brosnan and Bond you could feel the electricity. Particularly in GE and TND.

Perilagu_Khan

Ludovico wrote:

Perilagu_Khan wrote:

4EverBonded wrote:

Oh it's a Moneypenny chat again. That's fine, as we've got months to go without real news, I think.
Well, I really liked Naomie as Moneypenny; not a wooden toothpick in sight. I thought she was great and really had chemistry with Craig's Bond. As had been mentioned before, I hope she is not "in action" in the field a lot, but I think we will see more of her than just what we have had with the character in the past, and I'm fine with that because I really enjoy her.

Harris exceeded my expectations. I thought her acting was quite competent and her character quite well written. That said, the door was definitely left open to the possibility that Moneypenny and Bond engaged in the horizontal bop, and to my mind, this relationship should stay flirty but platonic.

Are you referring to what may or may not have happened after the shaving scene? I don't think anything happened, that said that scene was beautiful and quietly erotic. Too much for Moneypenny in a way. I always pictured her far more platonic. That said, it beats the vulgar reality scene hands down.

Bond and Penny's later exchange where Bond says "It's amazing what you can do with both hands," and Penny replies "You've got that right" suggest to me that something more than shaving occurred. But it is ambiguous.

Ludovico

Funny, I thought I could hear a hint of frustration in Bond's voice and a bit of mockery in Moneypenny's, implying that nothing happened.

Samuel001

I'm sure in the past Mendes has said the scene/line which confirmed nothing happened was cut.

MrBond

In the directors commentary Mendes does indeed says that nothing happend between them and that he cut out some innuendos to avoid further confusion.

Newman did also say that he had to get back and re-write the music for the shaving scene because Mendes thought that the original track "Old Dogs, New Tricks" (which can be found on the iTunes edition of the soundtrack) were too playful and "sexy".
So no, nothing happened between them.

Samuel001

Thanks @MrBond. I knew I'd heard about it somewhere.

Ludovico

MrBond wrote:

In the directors commentary Mendes does indeed says that nothing happend between them and that he cut out some innuendos to avoid further confusion.

Newman did also say that he had to get back and re-write the music for the shaving scene because Mendes thought that the original track "Old Dogs, New Tricks" (which can be found on the iTunes edition of the soundtrack) were too playful and "sexy".
So no, nothing happened between them.

Like I said, this scene is so good, it is almost too good for Moneypenny.

And if something really did happen, well... Then the Lois Maxwell theory is true, so no big deal.

Pajan005

I think the worst Moneypenny moment was at the end of DAD. I don't think she should be lusting over Bond like that. I hope they don't consider doing anything like that in the future.

doubleoego

I thought it was pretty obvious that nothing happened between Bond and Eve. Their dialogue at the casino conveys this without spoon-feeding the audience.

LegateDamar

I never thought that the two had sex, which would be a terrible idea, IMO. If they want to heat-up their relationship and have it be racier than the usual banter, fine, but Bond should never actually sleep with Moneypenny.

RogerMoore007

thelivingroyale wrote:

That could be quite a good arc for the character though if they bring him back. Show his downfall from the menacing SPECTRE leader in TB to the gold toothed samurai obsessed nutcase we see in YOLT.

This is how I'd do it: for Bond 24 have a traditional big Bond adventure. The villains (Quantum or SPECTRE, led by Blofeld) want world domination, the tone is less serious and Bond gets the girl at the end.

Then for Bond 25 it's a more serious film that uses bits of YOLT. Blofeld has gone insane after the destruction of his organisation and now he's up to something in Japan where he lives in a castle with his garden of death. Bond kills Blofeld at the end and he loses his memory.

Bond 26, Craig's last, do the whole brainwashing/killing M plot.

Those are good ideas, but I couldn't see the whole brainwashing/killing M plot working in a modern Craig film.

LegateDamar

Since Logan is writing the script for Bond 24 and 25, he could have a long story-arc in mind. Even if Bond 24 is a complete story, he could write a cliff-hanger, i.e., Back to the Future.

doubleoego

No way. We kind if haas that with CR and that worked but ideally the movies should be contained and complete.

zebrafish

Business news today is that Sony is selling its PC business. I guess that means less product placement for VAIO laptops in Bond 24? Still, they are selling TVs, so at least more tie-in advertisement with DC.

(Sorry - should have posted this in News)

thelivingroyale

RogerMoore007 wrote:

thelivingroyale wrote:

That could be quite a good arc for the character though if they bring him back. Show his downfall from the menacing SPECTRE leader in TB to the gold toothed samurai obsessed nutcase we see in YOLT.

This is how I'd do it: for Bond 24 have a traditional big Bond adventure. The villains (Quantum or SPECTRE, led by Blofeld) want world domination, the tone is less serious and Bond gets the girl at the end.

Then for Bond 25 it's a more serious film that uses bits of YOLT. Blofeld has gone insane after the destruction of his organisation and now he's up to something in Japan where he lives in a castle with his garden of death. Bond kills Blofeld at the end and he loses his memory.

Bond 26, Craig's last, do the whole brainwashing/killing M plot.

Those are good ideas, but I couldn't see the whole brainwashing/killing M plot working in a modern Craig film.

Replace the Russians with North Koreans, that way it's modernised. I think it'd work.

LegateDamar

Given the War on Terror, I'm surprised that the Middle East and terrorism hasn't been used in a recent movie. Maybe Al Qaeda could kidnap Bond and brainwash him to kill M?

Getafix

The villains in the Cold War Bond movies were rarely, if ever, actually Communists. The plots often revolved around someone (an evil genius) trying to set the US against the USSR, and plucky little Brits stepping in to sort it all out. I think it would be a shame if Bond started working in too much reality into the plots. The Communists were never depicted as the bad guys - often they were slightly stern but fundementally not too bad, like General Gogol. The villains were traitors and criminals. It was all very reassuring and cosy. Fundamentally the Cold War was depicted as a big family dispute about two alternate visions of economics - the end goals for both systems were not all that radically different.

However, radical Islam is very different. It would be difficult to depict Al Qaeda as anything other than lunatics (although TLD did it's best to rehabilitate them!). There is nothing to redeem Al Qaeda - they are simply evil.

I really didn't like the use of the North Koreans in DAD either - it came across as too Team America.

Bond should be battling shadowy super villains who have only a tenuous link to the 'real' world. The use of the Afghan mujahadeen in TLD is lesson to all Bond movie makers - avoid contemporary political and current affairs references as they don't age well.

thelivingroyale

Getafix wrote:

I really didn't like the use of the North Koreans in DAD either - it came across as too Team America.

Team America wasn't out for another few years so not sure how you got that impression. It's like saying Blofeld in YOLT came across as too Austin Powers.

Getafix

I didn't mean that they'd copied Team America, just that it reminded me of that movie. There is something inherently absurd about the North Korean regime and it just seemed like a really lame choice to include them. You can literally picture Purvis and Wade scraping around for inspiration and the cogs grinding round as they latch onto one of the last crackpot Communist regimes in a desperate attempt to give the movie some Cold War gravitas. They failed.

thelivingroyale

Getafix wrote:

I didn't mean that they'd copied Team America, just that it reminded me of that movie.

But Team America wasn't out until 2004. Die Another Day came out in 2002. How can it have reminded you of Team America when it wasn't out yet? Team America reminding you of DAD would make more sense.

Like I said, if DAD is too team America then YOLT is too Austin Powers.

Soundofthesinners

thelivingroyale wrote:

Getafix wrote:

I didn't mean that they'd copied Team America, just that it reminded me of that movie.

But Team America wasn't out until 2004. Die Another Day came out in 2002. How can it have reminded you of Team America when it wasn't out yet? Team America reminding you of DAD would make more sense.

Like I said, if DAD is too team America then YOLT is too Austin Powers.

But a lot of people do say YOLT is too Austin Powers, or at least that it's in the same vein of nonsense and lends itself to parody too much. YOLT is fine by me, but it's a valid criticism.

Getafix

Oh, I love the silliness in YOLT.

The silliness in DAD was just painful.

thelivingroyale

Soundofthesinners wrote:

thelivingroyale wrote:

Getafix wrote:

I didn't mean that they'd copied Team America, just that it reminded me of that movie.

But Team America wasn't out until 2004. Die Another Day came out in 2002. How can it have reminded you of Team America when it wasn't out yet? Team America reminding you of DAD would make more sense.

Like I said, if DAD is too team America then YOLT is too Austin Powers.

But a lot of people do say YOLT is too Austin Powers, or at least that it's in the same vein of nonsense and lends itself to parody too much. YOLT is fine by me, but it's a valid criticism.

They can't help it if they get parodied though. I just don't think it's a fair criticism, saying "this film is too *insert other film here*" when the other film wasn't even out then.

"I don't like Scream, it's too Scary Movie" "I don't like Point Break, it's too Hot Fuzz". Doesn't work.

Getafix wrote:

Oh, I love the silliness in YOLT.

The silliness in DAD was just painful.

Agreed, I always love YOLT. It's OTT sure but it features ninjas abseiling into a volcano to stop Donald Pleasance. How can you not love that? I know this is controversial, but I actually prefer it to TB and DN (I prefer it to DAF too, but I don't think that's very controversial).

Pajan005

It's interesting that DAD is one of the easiest Bond films to find. Not only in stores, but on TV and merchandise.

Perilagu_Khan

Pajan005 wrote:

It's interesting that DAD is one of the easiest Bond films to find. Not only in stores, but on TV and merchandise.

Speaks volumes about popular tastes.

Murdock

GoldenEye is the hardest to find in my area. I see pretty much all of them except GoldenEye.

Pajan005

Murdock wrote:

GoldenEye is the hardest to find in my area. I see pretty much all of them except GoldenEye.

Same for me. I had to go through every store that sells movies to find it.

RC7

LTK is the one I see most, at the moment.

0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

Pajan005 wrote:

It's interesting that DAD is one of the easiest Bond films to find. Not only in stores, but on TV and merchandise.

I've mentioned this before. I've seen that film on TV more than all the other films of the Brosnan era and a majority of all the rest in the franchise. That's madness.