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Even the preparation for practical stunts are longer nowadays (one thing that's worth mentioning is a number of stunt men in the older films did, unfortunately, die while performing, and it's likely due to more lax safety procedures at the time which nowadays creates extra work, but is very necessary to ensure no one dies and injuries are kept as low and minor as possible).
But yes, extra things required like CGI and all that sort of stuff creates extra work. Hell, just to have CGI in a film it needs to be planned out beforehand and shot in certain ways dependent on what they're doing. So more time is needed.
Thank you for the answer 🙂
Never thought of that.
No worries. The truth is nowadays the filmmaking for big films like Bond requires a lot of people working on it in various capacities. Not only will, say, the villain's lair need to be constructed on a set in Pinewood (and honestly, they're about as big as the sets for the older Bond films, and there's also a lot more location shooting than in the older films), but there'll be a need for stuff to be altered or created digitally (again, most of this is stuff viewers don't even realise when they watch the film and is the norm for these types of films). Everyone working on these films in these various ways does a good job I'd say, no matter what I think of the final product.
They’re incredible craftspeople and artists. The best in the world. These are the unsung heroes of all the big, and small films. It’s their abilities that bring these different worlds before us and make us “believe” in what we are seeing.
That’s why the over reliance of CGI (although cost effective), somewhat robs the viewer of the “believability” of the universe the story takes place in…
By the way, @007HallY , nice replies.
Thanks. I've worked in post production houses so have seen a lot of Online Editors and Digital Effects Artists work. Not for anything as big as Bond though. CGI can get a lot of flack but as I said viewers often don't realise that a chunk of what they're seeing onscreen is actually digitally constructed/altered. And yet when these sorts of things go wrong this is the main thing to get criticised (an example being Cats from 2019 - much of it came down to very bad Directorial decisions in the sense that it wasn't shot properly for the effects that they wanted. The SFX team probably worked very hard and did very well considering what they had to work with).
Like the Matera landscape in NTTD was digitally altered. Seamlessly.
If the actors are on strike, then Eon can’t look for actors because they’re all prohibited from doing any auditioning.
MAYBE they could start having discussion with a director they want to hire. But they’ll still need writers to figure out the film they’re making.
Right now there’s literally nothing they can do.
And the huge ramp CGI'd into a stone slope. Must take a whole week on the computer
I saw an FX breakdown for NTTD and I was amazed how much was digital. The sinking boat scene is almost all CG (which makes sense but the sheer amount of it was amazing); Bond's fight with Ash on the boat uses digital doubles (which I cannot spot at all) - even Paloma's legs are CG when she's kicking all the baddies in Cuba.
That’s just wild!
There’s an old term, and it still applies when this is done properly: Movie Magic!
- hiring a director (Nolan)
- writing an outline of the script (by Nolan)
- casting the new Bond (Taylor-Johnson)
1. His films are a bit on the cerebral side when it comes to blockbuster entertainment, and I think if anything bond needs to focus on getting the basics of a good story right, a lot of his talent would be surplus to requirement in that regard, but more importantly
2. I've never liked the way his films look. The man is a ardent defender of film and capturing as much in camera as possibly which is extremely commendable from a mainstream director in this day and age when many have succumbed to convenience, (its nice to know there's still someone out there making movies "for real") the problem is his films almost always end up with the same drab, dull look to them, and I think the next Bond film really should be a visual feast.
Nolan as a lot of upsides, and I'm definitely intrigued by what he would come up with. Inspite of his recent filmography being somewhat hit and miss, he did make two of my favourite films in the dark knight and inception, so I wouldn't put it past him to produce a knockout bond film, he is definitely capable enough.
Because Babs and Michael clearly are not motivated to make them anymore. Hard truth. Thats how I see it
I don't think they lack motivation. I believe they have an astonishingly difficult time deciding which approach to take the character. They want to get it right.
That said, there's a part of me that feels they will sit on this too long and have no choice but to stream or go to television. Audiences don't attend the cinemas like they used to. When they do, the movies usually suck, so there's no point in shelling out the dough when you can watch crappy movies and TV at home via streaming.
That could be. I wouldn't want to create too much distance though. I know several people these days who have never seen a Bond movie before and don't really care to.
Never used to be like that in my lifetime.
Yeah I wouldn’t want that either. I don’t think Bond will ever fall completely by the wayside unless EON really drags their feet, and Bond 26 comes out 10-15 years after NTTD. In that case, I can see the franchise in serious jeopardy and it would be no one else’s fault but EON’s, but I don’t think it will come to that point.
I think the new Bond does need to win over younger audiences however, and I think nailing a perfect balance in tone between something like TLD and GE would be enough to win that audience over, and after the pandemic, I think the series should return to an emphasis on escapism, something that’s been missing from Bond for over a decade.
Absolutely. I certainly would like some escapism. As much as I love CR and QoS I think the darker trend of movies is at least a decade out of date. General audiences haven't truly embraced a new Bond movie since SF. That's 11 years ago now, nearly the length of Roger Moore's entire reign.
I think the general audience has always been touch and go when it comes to Bond films. It seems whenever a new Bond is off running with his debut in theaters, the general audience will view out of curiosity.
I think the real issue was wondering how to market the darker films of Craig’s era to younger audiences. I don’t know about anybody else, but I came to discover Bond around 7, and that was after the exposure I had to some of the video games like Goldeneye 64. With Craig’s era, I don’t think you had that gateway for younger audiences to get invested. Sure there were plenty of games produced with Craig, but none of them really compared to the sales of Goldeneye 64. I was 9 when Casino Royale came out, and the only reason I went to the theaters was off the strength of the other Bond films I had seen up to that point, so I was expecting something akin to those films, and of course it was nothing like that at all, and that’s a good thing. You can’t really deny that Craig’s tenure was marketed more towards adults/previously established fans of the series than it was to younger audiences, and we don’t know how that will affect the series going forward. Which brings me back to my point about having a lighter tone for the next era.
I simply don’t think EON can, nor will do “The Craig Era 2.0”, with even more twists, and an even darker tone, and more explorations of Bond’s psyche, not if the future of the series is in their best interest. I think if they don’t look to TLD/GE, then perhaps another good approach would be to combine a few of the actors eras into something palpable for today’s audiences. The exoticism of the Connery era, the escapism and humor of both Moore and Brosnan’s era, and the quality writing, direction, and hard hitting action found in both CR/SF all mixed together would truly be something special I feel.
I think we are due for larger than life Bond films again. In the TPWLM & MR vein.
In that sense we might get something a bit more low key, stripped back possibly. Still very much a Bond film, but not on the same scale as TSWLM, MR or even NTTD. We might get something more akin to LALD, DN, FRWL, even CR or SF. At most GE.
Actually the last two Craigs tried to be bombastic and over the top with world domination plots.
I can almost imagine the plots of SPECTRE and No Time To Die being fit in a Roger Moore Era Bond film, because I felt they're way too outlandish (one that's trying to manipulate and control the world intelligence, the nine eyes thing, and one that's about the nanobots).
I'd liked Bond to be a spy again, give me a new version of FRWL, it may not be cold war esque, but please make Bond a spy again, not an action hero.
I'm tired of seeing Bond as an action hero, I miss him being a spy, and this is one of the reasons why I'm still coming back to the 60's Bond, there are some spy scenes, safecracking devices, investigations, not just shoot here, shoot there kind of thing.
Give me infiltration scenes, quiet scenes that really makes Bond a spy.
The Craig Era, while trying to make Bond grounded, I felt doubled down on the concept of him being an action hero, keeping him up on line with John Wick, Jason Bourne and the likes.
What I want for the next era is to make Bond spy again, with mystery plots that would make me puzzled trying to figure out things.
FRWL hit this in spades, bring it back!
Have him meet a contact, more quiet scenes of him infiltrating and investigating, interrogation.
I miss the likes of Station S, Station H, please bring back those! Codenames, aliases and etc.
But of course, still not losing the sophistication and the coolness, just like the Connery Era, just in right balance.
I think TLD could be a good example: Storywise a bit more down-to-earth, some decent spying and tense situations, but also some good one-liners, several gadgets including a Bond car and good action throughout.
Then, they could look which aspects worked best and decide how to proceed with the tone of the next films.
Certainly I would love to see something like TSWLM again, but it's probably not a good idea to start a new era with a movie like that.
I agree broadly. It's worth saying that Bond functions less as a spy in a sense and more as a detective (the Fleming novels seemed to take some influence from American detective fiction and is arguably more in that vein - albeit with a healthy dose of grounded fantasy - than something along the lines of a John Le Carre novel).
But ultimately yes, I'd like there to be an attempt to bring Bond back to his 'roots' with that sort thing. Strip things back a bit as I said. We see something a bit more minor that kickstarts the plot (can be anything - a murder of a fellow agent, something getting stolen etc) and M sends Bond to figure out what's happened. Slowly, Bond investigates until he stumbles onto something bigger and more fantastical (the megalomaniac villain with a dangerous scheme, the otherworldly lairs, Bond girls etc.) Again, more akin to DN or LALD. They can do so much in that format.
Mickey Spillane was somewhat an influence on Fleming, that probably explains the detective nature of Bond to an extent. I’ve once heard somebody describe Dr. No as basically a “British Mike Hammer”, and I would agree to an extent. Connery’s initial portrayal of Bond seemed more like a detective than a super spy, and I always appreciated that.
They shouldn’t be geared towards children, but they should be accessible for all different ages and demographics. I’d argue that what’s kept the series going for so long wasn’t the gritty, more adult oriented adventures, but films like Goldfinger/YOLT/TSWLM which are so fantastical that you could bring your family to watch those films and they’d enjoy it too. Plus that’s how you gain a new generation of fans to support the series.