Bond 25 questions: The NTTD script edition

No Time to Die poster

United Artists Releasing, as part of its push to get No Time to Die as many awards as possible. had posted online a PDF of the movie’s final script.

Naturally, the blog has questions.

What was the name of Bond’s boat in Jamaica?

Happenstance. That would appear to evoke a passage from the Goldfinger novel.

Goldfinger said, ‘Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago. “Once is Happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.”‘

Admittedly, it slipped by me that Bond’s boat was named Happenstance. Did No Time to Die have boats named Coincidence and Enemy Action?

How does the script describe Bond’s life in Jamaica?

Here’s how:

EXT. DECK – BOND’S HOUSE -DAY

He visibly relaxed, walking at an island pace. A Bond we’ve never seen before.

How does the script introduce Paloma (Ana De Armas)?

Like this:

Bond sees a woman in an elegant BLUE DRESS leaning against the counter sipping a drink: PALOMA

Bond approaches, ready for flirtatious banter. She looks up —

BOND

Paloma?

PALOMA

You’re late. Vamos

How does the script describe Bond’s death?

EXT. ROOF OF OLD CONTROL ROOM

Bond arrives at the roof. He has a view to the water and Madeline’s island in the distance. INTERCUT with Madeline.

BOND

Madeline. You have made the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She’s perfect because she came from you.

MADELINE

Oh God! The vial. You’ve been poisoned?

(snip)

Long contrails of smoke streak from the distance to dozens of white points of light, moving faster and faster toward him.

The missiles break into clusters as they spread for maximum effect. Bond knows he has only milliseconds. He seems to find peace. Breathes in deeply, finding some quiet before —

A massive wave of explosions ripple towards Bond in a strobing and flashing cloud of light.

United Artists Releasing makes a NTTD script available

Robert Wade, left, and Neal Purvis. (Paul Baack illustration)

United Artists Releasing, which distributed No Time to Die in the U.S., has made a version of the movie’s script available as part of a push to get awards for the Bond film.

UAR has put a PDF of the script online. It’s described as a final script. That suggests it reflects the final version of the movie seen in theaters, pay-per-view, and home video.

As a result, there are likely no clues as to which writers (the credited Neal Purvis and Robert Wade team, director Cary Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as well as the uncredited Scott Z. Burns) contributed what.

Still, for those who collect Bond scripts, there are interesting tidbits in the stage directions.

For example, there is this passage when the movie switches from a young Madeline Swann to an adult one.

EXT. GROTTO ON THE SEA, ITALY – DAY

SOUNDS OF OCEAN WAVES CRASHING

Madeline breaks the surface of the water as if Safin was pulling her out –

She gasps but is frozen — opens her eyes, he is gone. It was just a vision.

BOND stands like Adonis on a lido overlooking the sea. She turns, feeling his eyes on her.

BOND

You okay?

Madeline smiles, burying the past trauma. She’s been dealing with this for years.

United Artists Releasing is a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio, and Annapurna Pictures.