Caveat Emptor Part II: Daniel Craig’s 007 future

Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz at Dec. 4 media event for SPECTRE.

In early September, details of AN ESQUIRE INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL CRAIG came out where the actor said of doing another James Bond film, “At the moment I can’t even conceive it.”

The 007 fan base — not to mention various entertainment news outlets — questioned whether this meant that SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond film due out in the U.K. before the end of October, would be Craig’s 007 finale.

Toward the end of September, A DAILY MAIL STORY EMERGED where Craig said this about making James Bond films:

‘It’s getting harder. But such is life. I’ll keep going as long as I’m physically able.

‘I’m contracted for one more – but I’m not going to make predictions.’

The James Bond fan base — not to mention entertainment outlets quoting the Daily Mail (CLICK HERE for an example from The Guardian) — have proclaimed this to mean that Craig may be making Bond films for years to come.

When the Esquire interview came out, this blog RAN A POST that began with the words “caveat emptor” — let the buyer beware.

The only person who really knows is the actor himself. Even some of Craig’s most ardent fans say on 007 message boards they take delight in how he yanks the chain of the press.

But that also means if you can’t trust one statement, that pretty much means you can’t trust the other.

Being the star of a James Bond movie means enduring long, grueling productions. SPECTRE, for example, was a seven-month shoot. Marvel Studios plans a nine-month shooting schedule FOR **TWO** COMPLETE AVENGERS MOVIES to be released in 2018 and 2019.

What’s more, those Avengers movies won’t rely on one actor the way a Bond movie relies on its star.

The Esquire interview with Craig was done shortly after the completion of SPECTRE’s principal photography. It’s not hard to imagine the actor could have been exhausted. On the other hand, at least one Bond actor (Pierce Brosnan in 2002) thought he’d be back until he wasn’t.

So it bears repeating. When it comes to Daniel Craig’s future, caveat emptor.

At this point, fans would be better off enjoying the SPECTRE wave and worry later about Daniel Craig’s future.

‘Writing’s on the Wall’ is the new ‘Only Myself to Blame’

SPECTRE poster

By Nicolás Suszczyk, Guest Writer

Sam Smith’s awaited main title song for SPECTRE, titled “Writing’s On the Wall,” was finally released last Friday.

As expected, the Bond fandom was divided between those who called it “an instant classic” and the ones who opened a petition drive to banish it to the end credits.

Still, even when Smith’s voice may not be the most appropriate, the orchestration and lyrics excel in examining James Bond’s feelings and emotions, something only given before by a discarded end title song, Scott Walker’s “Only Myself to Blame,” put away from 1999’s The World Is Not Enough in favor of the triumphant James Bond Theme.

“I walked way past midnight, I’ve driven for days I tried to forget in so many ways,” the vocalist sang Don Black’s lyrics. “From city to city, I still see your face… it follows me ‘round, all over the place. I shouldn’t look back, but I do just the same. And I’ve only myself to blame,” the song continues.

The composition, still available on track 19 of David Arnold’s soundtrack, was the first song to narrate the misfortune of a heartbroken Bond, far away of the “Nobody does it Better” or “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” fanfares.

The World Is Not Enough poster

As a vocal version of Elektra’s Theme (Black told composer Arnold “there was a song” hidden in it), it laments the ill-fated romance between James Bond and the young oil tycoon played by Sophie Marceau: an innocent girl, corrupted after being kidnapped, turning into a criminal mastermind capable to use both Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and her former kidnapper/lover Renard (Robert Carlyle) as fools.

As we know, the story ended with the cold shot of a 007 who “never misses,” but also takes a minute to caress her dead body.

Much like “Only Myself to Blame,” Sam Smith’s song “Writing’s On the Wall” tears miles away of the triumphalist conception of James Bond and dives into his biggest weakness: his inability to enjoy a lasting relationship due to the hazards of his violent job.

Times had been tough for Daniel Craig’s version of 007: in Casino Royale, his love interest Vesper Lynd commits suicide. That leads him, in Quantum of Solace, to Mr. White and subsequently to ecologist Dominic Greene to unravel a secret criminal organization while seeking the help of the vengeful Camille, who barely kisses him before walking away after the mission is over.

In Skyfall, all this story arc seems put away but Bond still has to face another challenge to his emotions: Judi Dench’s M dies on his arms after being wounded during the attack led by former agent Silva.

“I’ve been there before, but I always hit the floor,” Smith sings, evoking these fateful events between 2006 and 2015: the deaths of a love interest and a mother figure, facts that are supposed to come back with a vengeance in SPECTRE.

“If I risk it all… would you break my fall?” Smith powerfully sings, referring to Bond’s relationship with Madeleine Swann, apparently the first character to aim to his emotions and “analyze” him for the first time since Vesper told him that “because he’s done something doesn’t mean he has to keep doing it.”

Back at the beginning of September, Smith described his song for the film as “a love song,” a category that could very well fit older pieces such as “From Russia with Love”, “You Only Live Twice” or “We Have all the Time in The World”. Yet, Jimmy Napes’ lyrics go one step further by revealing the inner feelings of 007 facing the possibility of putting his heart at stake once more.

More than a love song, “Writing’s On the Wall” proves to be a declaration of love. The song goes: “But I feel like a storm is coming if I’m gonna make it through the day. Then there’s no use in running, this is something I gotta face.” Is it insinuating that, even if a disaster occurs again, he can’t run away of his feelings?

The title sentence seems to confirm it: “For you, I have to risk it all… ‘cause the writing’s on the wall.”

The expression “writing’s on the wall” refers to an imminent disaster coming, but it looks like, even if this disaster occurs, he’s willing to go all in. Compared to “Only Myself to Blame,” Bond (or the performer getting inside his inner thoughts) isn’t offering a retrospective reflection, and despite the negative connotation of the song’s title the vibe of Smith’s song proves to be more positive than Walker’s: “When all hope begins to shatter, know that I won’t be afraid.”

There’s almost a month to wait until we see if, this time, Daniel Craig’s Bond will have a happy ending with Léa Seydoux’s character. So far, it’s interesting to see “Writing’s On the Wall” as the comeback of an idea put away from a 1999 Bond film, a nostalgic song that wouldn’t have fitted the victorious ending of that story and would have raised the eyebrows of the fans, in a historical context where Pierce Brosnan’s 007 was meant to win.

Now, as Daniel Craig’s 007 ran away of many emotional battles that didn’t seem to be healed, an introspective Bond song will get the main titles treatment. We don’t know if this will turn out to be good or bad, but interesting for sure.

Robert Sellers talks about Thunderball

Thunderball poster in 1965

The Spy Command interviewed Robert Sellers, the author of The Battle of Bond, about Thunderball ahead of the film’s 50th anniversary.

Because of its length, the FULL INTERVIEW is posted on our sister site, The Spy Command Feature Story Index. Here are some highlights:

Sellers on Kevin McClory’s bad side: “He was a shyster and thank God his Thunderball film never got off the ground, it would have sunk the franchise before it had a chance to get started.”

Sellers on McClory’s good side: “However, one must not underestimate the importance of McClory, after all he was the first person to fully realize the potential of Bond as a screen character when Fleming had already been turned down by most of Hollywood. He also contributed lots of ideas to the project.”

Sellers on Ian Fleming: “I think an element of arrogance seeped into his thinking…Maybe he thought his establishment credentials (Eton, Sandhurst, Naval Intelligence) lent him superiority over the brash, Irish and working class McClory.

Sellers on Jack Whittingham, the screenwriter hired by McClory, who turned in the first Thunderball-related script in 1960: “To a large extent Whittingham also changed the character of Bond himself from the one in the original novels to one that contemporary cinema audiences would find more palatable.”

Sellers on Thunderball itself: ” I love Thunderball, it’s my favourite Bond film. For me it retains the dark, edginess of Dr No and From Russia With Love, combined with the fun and campness of Goldfinger, while looking ahead to the all-out epicness of things like You Only Live Twice.”

To read the full interview, CLICK HERE.

Some notes about the Daily Mail’s SPECTRE story

SPECTRE poster

This weekend, the U.K. Daily Mail’s Event arts section had A STORY about SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond film.

Here were some things in the article that caught our eye:

200 million/300 million: Price in British pounds and U.S. dollars for SPECTRE’s overall budget.

The figure, which makes SPECTRE one of the most expensive movies of all time, was originally disclosed in the hacks at Sony Corp. But the Daily Mail was given a lot of access for this article. The fact the publication is using it amounts to a tacit confirmation of the hacked information.

24 million/36 million: The price in British pounds and U.S. dollars for the budget for expensive sports cars (Aston Martins and Jaguars) to be smashed up in chase sequences.

Possible cost of delays: During filming of a Rome car chase, “one of the crew tells me that every hour of rain could cost the production a cool million pounds,” according to the Daily Mail story.

It took a few months, but we finally got our Barbara Broccoli “the money’s up on the screen” quotes. In fact, we got two.

Long-serving producer Barbara Broccoli tells Event she is immensely proud of those stunning pre-title scenes: ‘My dad Cubby Broccoli always said, “Put all the money on the screen.”

‘There’s a lot of money on the screen in this one! Bond has such an extraordinary tradition of awe-inspiring openings, it is difficult to top them. But this sequence is up there as one of the greatest.’

To read the entire story, CLICK HERE. No real story spoilers, but those especially sensitive fans (i.e. the ones who consider trailers and commercials to be spoilers) may want to think twice.

The man who assembled the ‘QM Players’

John Conwell’s title card in a second-season episode of 12 O’Clock High.

One of an occasional series about unsung figures of television.

In the 1960s and ’70s, shows produced at QM Productions had the feel of a repertory theater as many of the same guest stars appeared on various Quinn Martin shows.

As noted in the book Quinn Martin, Producer, there was an even nick name for this: the “QM Players.” The informal group consisted of performers such as Leslie Nielsen (star of the first QM series, The New Breed), Peter Mark Richman, Louise Latham, Jessica Walter, J.D. Cannon, Lynda Day George, Bradford Dillman and many others.

The QM executive responsible for this was John Conwell, who headed the company’s casting operation. He was a former actor, appearing in such productions as The Twilight Zone pilot, Where Is Everybody? and as a guest star in a Ray Milland series, Markham.

Conwell moved from in front of the camera to behind it, including the fourth season of The Twilight Zone, when the show aired in a one-hour format. He became part of QM Productions with that company’s second series, The Fugitive.

For most of his time at QM, however, Conwell’s titles in QM show credits didn’t really give the audience an idea of what he did.

Conwell was initially credited as “assistant to producer,” then “assistant to the executive producer.” Finally, by 1977, he was credited as “in charge of talent.”

In any case, Conwell became one of producer Quinn Martin’s key lieutenants. Martin paid more for guest stars ($5,000 for a one-hour episode compared with a going rate of $2,500). So that helped raise the interest of performers to be on QM shows.

Still, it was Conwell who ran the QM casting operation, which also had casting directors for individual series. That may help to explain why actors kept coming back.

Conwell even stayed at the company after Martin’s departure following the sale of QM Productions to Taft Broadcasting. He died in 1994 at the age of 72.

What SPECTRE’s song tells us about the Craig era of 007

SPECTRE poster

Sam Smith’s title song for SPECTRE stirred strong reaction, from former 007 actor Sir Roger Moore giving it a big vote of approval while a number of fans on social media declared it to be “the worst Bond theme ever” with some even launching an instant petition drive to have the song moved to the end titles from the main titles.

All of that may be missing the forest for the trees. In some ways, the title song for the 24th James Bond film reflects the Daniel Craig era of 007 films.

Starting with 2006’s Casino Royale, this isn’t a Bond who always wins.

In Craig’s 007 debut, Bond won money from terrorism banker LeChiffre, only to see a mysterious organization steal it back. This never happened to the other fella. It was also a major deviation from Ian Fleming’s first novel.

In 2012’s Skyfall, Bond “failed” (Craig’s own words in a recent ESQUIRE INTERVIEW) when Judi Dench’s M dies at the end of the film. “That was a big decision,” Craig told Esquire.

And, of course, in all three Craig 007 films to date, the agent doesn’t get the girl at the end, formerly part of the Bond film formula.

Part of Smith’s “Writing’s On the Wall” evokes a similar mood. At one point, Smith (who’s singing from Bond’s point of view), tells us this:

A million shards of glass
That haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather
And the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
Know that I won’t be afraid

Later:

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you’re not here I’m suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?

In other words, Smith singing as Bond evokes the struggles of Craig playing Bond. The song also appears to contain hints of SPECTRE’s story.

Here’s a non-spoiler example.Early in the song, Smith sings, “I feel like a storm is coming.” In the trailers, Mr. White, Bond’s nemesis from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, tells Bond the agent is “a kite dancing in a hurricane.”

Coincidence? We’ll see when the movie comes out — especially when the song is matched with Daniel Kleinman’s title design.

SPECTRE song debuts; BBC describes reaction as mixed

Sam Smith’s “Writing’s On the Wall,” the title song for SPECTRE, is out today and, ACCORDING TO THE BBC, “split opinion.”

The song for the 24th James Bond film was made available early today at outlets such as ITUNES (where it was priced at $1.29) and SPOTIFY.

One of the song’s most prominent backers was Roger Moore, star of seven 007 films, who said IN A TWEET that “Writing’s On the Wall” is “very haunting and wonderfully orchestrated.”:

The BBC also quoted others, including its own entertainment reporter, on the subject. Here’s an excerpt:

BBC entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson said it was “good enough, but not a classic”.

The song, whose full version runs for 4 minutes and 38 seconds, begins with the words: “I’ve been here before / But always hit the floor.”

“I’ve spent a lifetime running, and I always get away,” it continues. “But with you I’m feeling something, that makes we want to stay.”

“I think it’s a song about a man deciding to quit it all for love,” Paterson said of the track on BBC Breakfast, comparing its melody to that of Michael Jackson’s 1995 single Earth Song.

SPECTRE title song debuts early Friday

Sam Smith took to Twitter to remind fans that his title song for SPECTRE comes out early Friday.

The song, “Writing’s On the Wall,” is due out at 7:45 a.m. U.K. time, 2:45 a.m. New York time. Not much else to say. He’s already provided a 15-second tease. Here’s the tweet from Smith:

Tomorrow from 7.45am BST my James Bond song ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ gets its first plays on radio & will be available to buy!! #SPECTRE

— SAM SMITH (@samsmithworld) September 24, 2015

SPECTRE stunt video released

The OFFICIAL 007 WEBSITE released a SPECTRE promotional video highlighting some of the stunt work on the 24th James Bond film.

Among the crew included in the video are director Sam Mendes, special effects man Chris Borbould and second unit director Alexander Witt. Highlights include a combination plane-car chase that has been part of theatrical trailers.

Here’s the video, it runs for 94 seconds.

Where will SPECTRE’s gunbarrel be? Who knows?

Gunbarrel used in first three 007 films.

We hesitate to bring this up but many fans are interested. SPECTRE director Sam Mendes told Empire magazine he was going to try to put the James Bond gun barrel logo at the start of the 24th James Bond film.

Mendes and star Daniel Craig were interviewed as SPECTRE was wrapping up production earlier this year. The quotes about the gunbarrel logo in the Empire interview went thusly:

MENDES: I definitely think I’ll try to put it in this time.

CRAIG: For Christ’s sake, Sam, don’t commit.

Some fans fretted this was a spoiler. It wasn’t. “I definitely think I’ll try” isn’t really a commitment.

Michael G. Wilson, co-boss of Eon Productions, spoke in stronger language in 2008 concerning Quantum of Solace. He said at that time, “‘We’ll probably go back to the traditional style” for that movie’s gunbarrel logo. That’s stronger language than Mendes used.

Still, it didn’t happen. The gunbarrel was tacked on to the end of Quanum. The same thing happened with Skyfall.

The thing is, the decision about SPECTRE’s gunbarrel has probably been made by now. The recording of Thomas Newman’s score for SPECTRE has been underway. You generally can’t make major editing changes once the music is being added. Nobody should put much importance on Mendes’ comments regarding the gunbarrel at this point.