I've just come across this in the DM from Baz Bamigboye and thought I'd share it with you. Interestingly enough it states that John Logan has been asked to write further screenplays which must mean the demise of P&W (hooray)...
Sam Mendes wanted to spring a surprise on his high-calibre cast gathered at Pinewood studios for a script reading of the latest 007 adventure.
As the likes of Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes sat leafing through their scripts, each stamped ‘Highly Confidential’, with every page watermarked and coded, they must all have been wondering: who on earth could the Oscar-winning director be bringing in who might leave them shaken and (pleasantly) stirred?
Try Albert Finney, a legendary actor, revered by his peers and about to make his Bond debut at the age of 75.
n executive close to the production told me: ‘It was one of those fabulous “This can’t get any better!” moments because Mendes has upped the game by bringing in Bardem and Fiennes — and they’ve already got Dame Judi Dench.
‘So you think, well, who else can they get to make this any classier?’
Finney, who has been in remission from cancer of the prostate for several years, will play a Foreign Office mandarin with powers over the Secret Intelligence Service, described to me as a reasonably big role and full of class.
The part probably makes him M’s boss, though she — as played by Judi — might not see it that way.
Interestingly, I thought Judi and Albert must surely have worked together before, because they were at the Old Vic in the late Fifties and early Sixties, but I could find no record of them ever having trodden the boards on the same stage or appearing in the same movie.
(If I’m wrong, I’m sure I’ll be set straight!) The thespians were joined at the studio by Naomie Harris who, as revealed here, will play Miss Moneypenny; Berenice Marlohe as the requisite femme fatale (are we past using the term ‘Bond girl’ in the 21st century?) and Rory Kinnear, who will play M’s chief of staff, Bill Tanner.
He will have more to do in this movie than when he played Tanner in Quantum Of Solace.
Ben Whishaw and Helen McCrory have as yet unspecified roles.
John LOGAN, who wrote Gladiator and who has been winning acclaim for his sublime script for the forthcoming film Coriolanus, has long toiled over the Bond 23 script.
And now Barbara Broccoli and John G. Wilson, keepers of the Bond movie flame, have asked him to be involved in writing other screenplays based on Ian Fleming’s famous espionage officer.
Rehearsals and camera tests continue this week, and next week shooting will begin on Bond 23, which will be released next autumn on the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr No.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2054492/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-For-eyes--Sam-Mendes-shakes-Bond-cast-secret.html#ixzz1c3EDYW8G
Comments
2) Paul Haggis was heralded as a new era in Bond writing when it was announced that he would write QOS. That ended well I look forward to hearing him pronounce "James" the way he did "Jason" in THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. It will probably sound something like "Jeymse".
while Bruce Feirstein had a hand in TWINE... DAD was pure P&W - they are the only 2 credited writers on that film... that ended well...
and Paul Haggis was brought on board to rewrite CR's script as well.... which is why we has brought back for QOS - but it's gone on record from the man himself, that what he handed back to the producers just minutes before the writers strike was unfinished.
who knows, John Logan could've rewritten a masterpiece from P&W's work on Bond 23... but on Bond 24, it could be complete crap...
and just because he might have been asked to work on future scripts - doesn't necessarily mean the dismissal of P&W.. it could just mean that he will be brought back to clean up their work.
As for DAD, if you look at it, there are some very intelligently-written scenes, scenes that are of the same standard as most of CR, and they feel very out-of-place compared to the rest of the film (like M being unapolagetic for burning Bond, Bond working out that the Chinese are spying on him in Hong Kong, the scene where he realises Graves is Moon and Graves' expaining how he chose to model himself on Bond). They're clearly hangovers from the original script, but the rest of it - like the single-entendres in the ice palace party - drags the rest down. No, Paul Haggis was brought on as a script doctor. His job was to take the final draft of the script ad touch it up - smooth out dialogue, remove unnecessary scenes, and so on. He only received a screenwriting credit because EON made it public before he was brought on, and because he came up with the sinking house.
Purvis and Wade get a bad rap simply because they're forced to have their names on a screenplay that isn't necessarily their work.
I wouldn't worry so much about the crossover between the Bourne franchise and Bond, if the casting of Finney is true. The harder pill to swallow is Jeremy Renner in both MI4 and the lead in Bourne!!
You're as much a fan of Haggis as I am of P&W. Though, didn't the writer's strike in Hollywood have something to do with the unpolished QOS script, which begs the question why weren't the mighty P&W brought in to finish it?
It's exciting that Logan may well have a hand in what could one day become Bond 24. Starting now may also mean the wheels are in motion for a 2014 release.
Roll on next week!
..some are just more 'in your face' about it than others..
Albert Finney = The Prime Minister?
Albert Finney = Q?! :)
The 'other' Finney has starred in similar Bond fare in recent years despite his advancing years, I don't know much about him apart from some quick research, but whether we get to see him in the next release remains to be seen
M her husband or lover been seen in CR (Villiers calling wit M) and in QOS.
I always expect a bigger part for M her husband in Bond 23 or Bond 24. Mabey he replacing Simon Russell Beale the actor who last week be canceld.
In my fanart i go one step further. In connection with unyused material from the short story of QOS. That part include a Goverment guy and what we have in CR/QOS Correct a goverment guy. As M her husband i choose for Jared Harris because i have another thing in mind for the chacter and then a younger age & his English accent be very inportent. This be before i saw him in Mad Men and after i think indeed be the person for the part.