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Edward Hume, who wrote the pilots to three Quinn Martin shows, died last month at the age of 87, according to the WGA website.
Hume penned the pilots for Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, and Barnaby Jones. All three series were among QM’s biggest hits in the 1970s.
Cannon and The Streets of San Francisco originally debuted as TV movies. The Streets of San Francisco was based on a novel by Carolyn Weston. With Barnaby Jones, featuring Buddy Ebsen as a private eye coming out of retirement after the murder of his son, Hume scripted from a story by QM lieutenant Adrian Samish.
The three shows helped Quinn Martin maintain momentum from his 1960s shows such as The Fugitive, The FBI, and The Invaders.
The blog went to see Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s film biography of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Many James Bond fans would like to see Nolan, a confessed 007 fan, direct Bond 26.
With Skyfall and SPECTRE, the Eon Bond series delivered Nolan-lite, courtesy of director Sam Mendes, who acknowledged Nolan’s movies were an influence.
Nolan is known for keeping tight control over his movies. What follows is speculation of what a “pure” Nolan Bond film might include.
Typical Nolan establishing shots: Nolan likes to include establishing shots for major scenes featuring a moving camera. There are a number of these in Oppenheimer. One of the earliest shots in Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (2012) also utilizes this technique.
Bare-bones titles: A typical Nolan movie begins with an interesting image before going directly into the story. See The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar for examples.
There are no credits until the end of the movie. You get plain white letters against a black background. No fancy Maurice Binder or Daniel Kleinman main titles.
This raises a question: How would Nolan handle the classic gunbarrel logo?
The movie would be LONG: Nolan films are typically long. Oppenheimer has a running time of three hours. Tenet was 2 hours and 30 minutes. Interstellar was 2 hours and 49 minutes. The Dark Knight Rises was 2 hours, 44 minutes. One exception was Dunkirk, clocking in at 1 hour and 46 minutes.
Eon has embraced long Bond films since 2008’s Quantum of Solace, with a running time of 1 hour, 46 minutes. The last three Eon 007 productions — Skyfall, SPECTRE, and No Time to Die — have had running times well over 2 hours.
Nolan might utilize non-linear storytelling: Both Dunkirk and Oppenheimer jump around in time and perspective.
To be sure, the notion of Christopher Nolan directing Bond 26 is far from a sure thing. Just because he’s a Bond fan doesn’t mean Nolan will give up his normal perks such as control, having his Syncopy production company involved, and having his wife Emma Thomas as a producer.
Eon is also known for being control freaks. Some Bond fans assume Nolan would give up his normal perks. I wouldn’t go banco on that. Still, with the absence of Bond film news, this is all food for thought.
The Spy Command 