The diminished 007?

Not as big as he used to be?

Once upon a time, the makers of James Bond movies wanted to make 007 even bigger.

In the novel Goldfinger, it was Bond’s caddie who figured out how Goldfinger was cheating at golf. When it came time to make the movie version, Bond figured it out while the caddie became an approving Greek chorus.

Oh Her Majesty’s Secret Service, as originally scripted called for Tracy to propose to Bond.

“I didn’t like that idea,” director Peter Hunt said in an interview for the documentary Inside On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. “I always thought Bond should be the stronger character and should be the doer.”

In the 21st century, that doesn’t seem true any more.

This week, BAZ BAMIGBOYE OF THE DAILY MAIL had a story that said Naomie Harris’s Eve Moneypenney may emerge as a “sidekick” type character to 007 in Bond 24.

In 2012’s Skyfall, a Moneypenny backstory was invented where she was an MI6 field agent who decides she’s no longer up to the rigors of being such an agent. Bond (Daniel Craig), undergoing similar strain, opts to remain out in the field.

Since at least 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond has encountered women secret agents who were his equal. But those characters were one-offs. If Bamigboye is correct (and he had a number of scoops about SKYFALL and BOND 24 that were proven to be true), Harris’s Moneypenny will be a member of the continuing cast to take up more screen time.

This comes after Judi Dench’s M grabbed more screen time over her seven 007 movies. The Eon Productions team cited how she was an Oscar-winning actress. Dench’s M was killed off in Skyfall, replaced by a new M played by Oscar-nominated Ralph Fiennes. If Fiennes returns (which seemed assured with the ending of Skyfall), will he, also, get the Dench treatment by Eon?

James Bond used to be a lone wolf. Going forward, will Bond 24 be the first installment of Team Bond (TM)? Moneypenny comes out from behind her desk, guns blazing? Ditto for Fiennes’s new M?

The latest Bamigboye report obviously hasn’t been confirmed yet. But given the writer’s ability to sniff out Bond news before it’s announced, “Moneypenny as sidekick” angle can’t be dismissed just yet. Neither can the evolution of Bond that occurred before this latest report.

Moneypenny may be a `sidekick’ in Bond 24, Daily Mail says

“Yes! More screen time!”

Naomie Harris’s Eve Moneypenny may more closely resemble Halle Berry’s Jinx than Lois Maxwell’s Miss Moneypenny in Bond 24 if a REPORT BY BAZ BAMIGBOYE in the Daily Mail is correct.

An excerpt:

Director Sam Mendes, (Daniel) Craig, and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are all big fans of Naomie’s and don’t want her to be too desk-bound, as other Moneypennys have been.

‘The idea formulating in Bond-land is for Naomie to be much more of a sidekick to James, and for her to get out and harm the bad guys,’ an executive close to the production told me.

Bamigboye scored a number of scoops during the making of Skyfall, including that Harris’ character would be revealed as Moneypenny. He was the first to report that the writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were leaving the 007 series after five films. So we’ll see if this pans out.

Shout to the 007 Dossier, which pointed this out earlier. You can CLICK HERE to read his post on the subject.