Saturday, March 9, 2013

John Logan looking to FLEMING for Bond 24 and 25

The James Bond Dossier and HMSS Weblog are reporting on comments Skyfall screenwriter John Logan made about the future of the cinematic James Bond, which is currently in his hands. Logan is reported to be writing the next two Bond films. His thoughts will be of great interest to fans of the literary 007.

Looking to "build on Skyfall in examining the complexities of Bond’s character", Logan says:

“Fleming’s courage in showing Bond’s fear and vulnerability and depression was really interesting and something that a modern audience can accept. I think Skyfall demonstrated that they want more layers to that character. And those are the layers that Fleming wrote.”

It's interesting to speculate how this might effect the ongoing continuation novels. The books have always offered up a more complex vision of 007, but might they now be inspired to delve even deeper?

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the mention. Gary Barber, the CEO of MGM, confirmed in November that Logan had been hired to script the next two Bond movies. He disclosed the information during a conference call with investors and analysts. Don't know if it's still there, but a recording was on the investor portion of MGM's Web site (that's where I heard it). It had been reported earlier on some entertainment news Web sites, but that was the first official comment on the subject.

    It was during that same call that Barber indicated that Bond 24 might not come out until 2015, rather than its preferred 2014.

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  2. Joy - another 2 movies of angst with the occasional great action sequence. Looking forward to seeing Craig crying and in therapy. Perhaps Bond and the next villain could talk through their trauma and hug? Can't wait.

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    1. Remember that scene in "Die Another Day" when Miranda Frost is levelling a Glock at Bond's head and he quickly turns in her direction and pulls the trigger of his P99, only to discover that the gun isn't loaded? Now, I've never held a pistol and I've never had a pistol pointed at me, but even I know that it would be pretty foolish to attempt to swivel and shoot somebody when they already have their gun pointed at my head. That was an example of Dumb-Moves Bond and I, for one, had enough of that kind of silliness from the Moore Era films. So, if the next few films show us an angst-ridden 007, then I say 'gimme dat!', because an angst-ridden Bond is closer to Fleming's original blueprint of the character. Not some invisible car driving pretty boy who straightens his tie after plowing a tank through a brick wall or while steering a jet-boat underwater.
      If I want a superhero, I'll look for a guy wearing a cape, but my ideal Bond is a fallible kind of guy and "Skyfall" gave me a Bond that reminded me of why I'm a fan of this guy to begin with, and, since "Casino Royale", I haven't had to explain to people why I'm a Bond fan.

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    2. I agree with Teeritz. Bronsan was never my favorite Bond. Craig and the new direction have brought the rawness back rand I'm fine with that.

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  3. Sorry couldn't resist that moment of immaturity.
    And I agree with teeritz to a point.
    The Bronsan era had it's moments, the invisible car not being one of them. I had issues with a villain starting a war for ratings and thought Electra coulda been psychotic, but they weren't abysmal and as someone said, Brosnan wasn't a bad Bond the scripts weren't 100%
    But it's the 21st century and people want more 'character' in their characters, not the 2 dimensional ones we had in the old days.
    Bring it Logan :-)
    ps haven't they been taking it back to Fleming already? Sounds like this is more of a reminder than a statement.

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    1. I was glad when Brosnan got the gig, but with each of his Bond films, I found myself liking the one before it more and more. Brosnan did okay with the role, but, as you say, the scripts let him down. "Goldeneye" was a great Bond film (bar the music score-dreadful, bloody dreadful. Didn't stop the completist in me from buying it, though) and showed much promise for the series, but things started heading South about half-way through "Tomorrow Never Dies".

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  4. that's welcome news. i prefer the deeper layers of the original novels, so i'm naturally pleased whenever the films attempt to focus on character and use action in that context.
    -jason (spy vibe)

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