IndieWire claims Bond 25 will be Craig’s FRWL

Daniel Craig in 2012 during filming of Skyfall.

IndieWire, without saying how it obtained the information, claims that Bond 25 will be Daniel Craig’s version of From Russia With Love. Here’s the opening of the article:

What Daniel Craig wants, Daniel Craig gets. And what he wants is to make his own version of “From Russia with Love” (1963), arguably the best of the James Bond movies and Sean Connery’s favorite. And now, with the signing of Cary Fukunaga as director, it looks like Craig’s going to pull it off for his fifth and final outing as 007.

All of this is presented with the certainty that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Journalists like Bob Woodward get away with this sort of thing because of a long track record.

Also, in Woodward’s case, it’s known he has recordings of all his interviews and lots of documents. People will speak to Woodward (even if it’s not with their name attached) to make sure they come across as good as possible.

IndieWire is a long-standing entertainment news website and clearly aspires to be more than British tabloids. But its latest story on Bond 25 calls on the reader to take a lot on faith without providing any information how the information was obtained.

The article says Craig has been seeking a From Russia With Love-like vehicle for almost a decade, going back to when Peter Morgan was hired to work with Nearl Purvis and Robert Wade on what eventually would be Skyfall.

IndieWire says Craig approached Morgan “to write a ‘From Russia with Love’-inspired treatment. Morgan delivered ‘Once Upon a Spy,’ in which Judi Dench’s M is blackmailed by a ghost from her Cold War past, exposing a secret love affair with a Soviet spy, which threatens to topple MI6, forcing Bond to kill his boss and maternal figure.”

Morgan’s misadventure in 007 screenwriting (he left the project) has been covered in the book Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of The James Bond Films by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury.

Is IndieWire summarizing the book? Or does IndieWire claim original reporting about this? There’s no way for the reader to know. IndieWire wrote about the Field-Chowdhury book and Morgan in a 2015 story. In turn, that article was a summary of a Digital Spy article about the book.

There’s not much more to tell. If IndieWire is correct, it’s interesting for a number of reasons. The most important is Craig’s power — unprecedented among Bond actors working for Eon Productions —  to determine the course of the 007 film franchise. We’ll see how it goes.

Scribes analyze Fukunaga’s prospects for directing Bond 25

Cary Joji Fukunaga, Bond 25’s new director

The naming of Cary Joji Fukunaga as the new director for Bond 25 quickly spurred entertainment writers and other scribes to analyze how he’ll perform.

Essentially, several were excited by what Fukunaga will bring to the production. Others were more cautious, Fukunaga, who has a reputation as an auteur director, is replacing Danny Boyle, another auteur who departed over unspecified “creative differences.”

ERIC KOHN, INDIEWIRE: “Fukunaga has never made an obvious blockbuster, but he’s been steadily flexing the muscles required for a brainy action-adventure over the course of a trailblazing decade-long career…With those two features (Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre) alone, the filmmaker had already shown his capacity to juggle the unique formula that has sustained the Bond franchise across 65 years: tough, visceral action against diverse backdrops, balanced off with sleek romanticism.”

MORGAN JEFFERY, DIGITAL SPY: “If Fukunaga is anything, he’s a director who always has a very specific vision. So given that Boyle is confirmed to have quit Bond over ‘creative differences’, is it a risk to hire another auteur type?…For better or for worse, the Bond films already have their own style, their own formula, and don’t really suit idiosyncratic filmmakers…Cary Fukunaga is a great director, but helming a Bond film and working within that rigid framework is a very singular task. For all Fukunaga’s impressive qualities as a filmmaker, it’s no sure thing that he’ll be able to pull it off.”

OWEN GLEIBERMAN, VARIETY: “(T)he reason Cary Fukunaga has the potential to be an ideal filmmaker for the Bond series is all over his direction of ‘True Detective.’ Simply put, he has a depth-charge understanding of men…and women. And that, as much as anything, is what the James Bond series now needs to be about.”

ALISSA WILKINSON, VOX: “Fukunaga has spent much of his life moving between cultures and absorbing them. His father, a third-generation Japanese American, was born in an internment camp in the US during World War II; his mother is Swedish-American. His parents split when he was a child, after which his father married an Argentinian woman and his mother married a Mexican-American man. Fukunaga is fluent in French as well as Spanish, the latter of which he learned during summers in Mexico with his mother and stepfather.”

GEOFFREY MACNAB, THE INDEPENDENT: “Fukunaga seems a very clever pick on two different levels. He has a strong creative reputation – he is an auteur whose latest series Maniac is said to be genre-breaking and mind-bending – but he also knows how to play the game. He can work with big paymasters like HBO and Netflix….The next Bond will be the first one since the rise of the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Fukunaga’s films, whether Sin Nombre or Jane Eyre, have often had very strong women characters. He’ll strain out any of the sexism that might have crept into the Bond series in the past.”

Favorite of 007 scribes: Roger Moore safari suits

Roger Moore in Moonraker

Being a movie critic or writer about movies involves making observations and expressing opinions in the most witty way you can.

When it comes to James Bond films starring Roger Moore, the term safari suit it too tempting for some scribes to pass up.

Here are a few examples that have come up over the years.

STUART HERITAGE, THE GUARDIAN, JULY 5, 2010: “James Bond actually died long ago, when Roger Moore strapped himself into his first male girdle and started wheezing around in a safari suit.”

ANTHONY LANE, THE NEW YORKER, NOV. 16, 2015: “By custom, (James Bond films) have been stacked with beautiful people, and tricked out with beautiful objects, but the outcome was often unlovely to behold, with a gaucheness that ran far deeper than Roger Moore’s safari suit.”

MICHAEL HANN, THE GUARDIAN, OCT. 3, 2012: “Instead, (The Man With the Golden Gun’s) setting is just a background, as if the film were just a Duran Duran video with extra guns and safari suits.”

SIMON REYNOLDS, DIGITAL SPY, MAY 28, 2017: “When Roger Moore found out he was not only older than his Bond Girl co-star Tanya Roberts but older than her mother too, he knew it was time to hang up the safari suit.”

HELEN O’HARA, THE TELEGRAPH, AUG. 19, 2015: “Talk tailoring in the movies, and most will think immediately of James Bond, the super-spy with impeccable taste in practically everything. From Roger Moore’s safari-wear to Daniel Craig’s shawl-collar cardigan and chukka boots (a look modelled on Steve McQueen), he’s rarely to be found underdressed.”

JONATHAN SOTHCOTT, GQ.COM, MAY 20, 2014: “More recently, the hardcore Bond fans who were so vocal in their condemnation of Roger Moore’s playboy Bond have softened in their views, perhaps because Moore has become a bona fide national treasure, or perhaps because some of his Bond films are actually amongst the best in the series once the blinkers come off. Even his safari suits are beginning to become style touchpoints.”

For more information, check out The Suits of James Bond website’s 2015 infographic about about the actor’s “Infamous Safari Jackets and Shirts.”

SPECTRE reviews continue to arrive

SPECTRE teaser image

Reviews for SPECTRE continue to roll in following Wednesday’s U.K. press showing.

As of Thursday night, 24th James Bond film has a “fresh” rating of 86 percent at the ROTTEN TOMATOES WEBSITE. That’s pretty high, but not quite as high as the 93 percent rating for 2012’s Skyfall.

Of course, there are a lot of SPECTRE reviews yet to come in as the movie gets released early next month outside the U.K.

Regardless, here are excerpts from some additional reviews from some noteable media outlets. We’ve tried to keep this as spoiler free as possible (specifically trying to keep out plot details), but the super spoiler adverse probably shouldn’t read reviews anyway. Enough with the disclaimers. Here we go.

SIMON REYNOLDS, DIGITAL SPY: “Spectre winds up as a direct sequel to Skyfall in both story and theme, delving into Bond’s personal history in a bid to bring new layers to a character who’s barely changed over the course of 50 years. However, the latest film’s big needle-shift for the Bond canon (no spoilers here!) just doesn’t pack the emotional punch of Vesper Lynd or M’s death. Consequently, this feels like a misfire when measured next to the superior Skyfall and Casino Royale.”

NICHOLAS BARBER, BBC: “After years of struggling with its identity, the series had finally stopped trying to compete with the stripped-down toughness of the Bourne franchise, and had embraced the flamboyance and humour that its fans had loved all along….But the long-awaited follow-up (to Skyfall) is a case of ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ As hungry as some of us were to see a new Bond movie stuffed with old Bond movie ingredients, the trouble with Spectre is that it has too many of them.”

HELEN O’HARA, GQ; “There were hints, in Skyfall, that the grand Daniel Craig era of the stripped-back, gritty Bond was over. That film reintroduced classic Bond elements like the Aston Martin DB5, a male M and Moneypenny, gradually shaking off many of the lifts from Bourne and its ilk. Now in Spectre, we’ve moved right past that Connery tribute and into an even broader tone that harks back louder to the Seventies films, making this an awkward marriage of Craig and (Roger) Moore.”

BEN TRAVIS, EVENING STANDARD: “Digging into Bond history, returning director Sam Mendes has, against all the odds, delivered a film that at least matches, and perhaps even betters, Skyfall….Spectre feels even more like a classic Bond film than previous Craig outings….Hoyte Van Hoytema’s stunning glacial cinematography reflects a Bond film totally at ease with itself.

DANNY LEIGH, FINANCIAL TIMES: “And therein lies the problem: after the sombre excellence of Skyfall, Spectre tries to tweak the formula while clearly being thrown into panic at the thought. Everything feels so reliant on its business-class sheen, the grooming, tailoring and tie-pins, that anything other than gunmetal and a scowl unbalances the tone.”

If you want to read more reviews, CLICK HERE to see Rotten Tomatoes’ list of SPECTRE reviews. There are links if you want to read entire reviews.

Why Mendes couldn’t direct a FRWL type film

Sam Mendes

There’s a new issue of Empire magazine that’s guest edited by Sam Mendes, the director of SPECTRE. The DIGITAL SPY WEBSITE has a post quoting from that issue.

Specifically, the Digital Spy post includes quotes from Mendes whether, in SPECTRE, Christoph Waltz plays SPECTRE mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

The filmmaker also took issue with fans demanding to know if Waltz is Blofeld before seeing the film.

Responding to the criticism over Star Trek Into Darkness’s John Harrison/Khan reveal, Mendes said: “Why was there a backlash? There’s a narrative as well. The naming of a character is part of a story.

“The audience cannot and should not be given – and I’m not confirming or denying anything – information that the characters do not have. And preserving tension in the narrative of a story that is a riff or an acknowledgement of the iconography of Bond over the years has been crucial.” (emphasis added)

That’s interesting. Still, while it might not be the best comparison, From Russia With Love, the second James Bond film, may be the exception to what Mendes describes.

In the 1963 movie, the audience is shown most of the conspiracy that James Bond (Sean Connery) will confront. Bond himself doesn’t appear until 18 minutes into the film, although there’s a phony Bond in the pre-titles sequence to hold the interest of the audience.

In Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel, things were even more dramatic. The first 10 chapters show the conspiracy (a Soviet one, while the movie was SPECTRE-driven), and Bond doesn’t show up until Chapter 11. Fleming would attempt something similar in The Spy Who Loved Me novel (where 007 doesn’t put in an appearance until the final third of the story). That novel wasn’t as well received as From Russia With Love.

The point being in the second Bond film, the audience knows a lot that Bond doesn’t know by the time the British agent becomes involved in the case. Still, there was plenty of tension and a number of twists.

Perhaps From Russia With Love is a special case, the exception that proves Mendes’ rule. Still, From Russia With Love was a journeyman director (Terence Young), not the auteurs favored by Eon Productions in the 21st century. Sometimes, there aren’t hard and fast story telling rules.

Good-bye, old friend (Skyfall spoiler)

RIP classic 007 gunbarrel, used in the classic way (1962-2002)

This is a spoiler, just like the headline says. So if you don’t want spoilers, leave now. If you stick around, see the Oct. 28 update at the end of the post.

So, the reviews are in and Skyfall, at least among reviewers who attended an Oct. 12 media preview, is a one of the best Bond films ever. (Examples: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, DIGITAL SPY, and VARIETY.)

But the reviews pass over one thing: the film’s gunbarrel logo once again isn’t at the start of the movie. A few who’ve seen the preview showing HAVE MADE NOTE OF IT ON THE INTERNET. As a result, there is already a debate on the message boards of IMDB.com (Examples: HERE, HERE and HERE.)

All of this began with 2006’s reboot of Bond in Casino Royale. He wasn’t *really* James Bond yet, so the traditional gunbarrel wasn’t used at the start. A much different logo was used just before the main titles. Then, in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, the rationale evidently was Bond wasn’t *really* Bond yet but he was at the end of the movie so it was dropped off at the end, just before the end titles.

There has been no official explanation (or even acknowledgment) that Skyfall repeats the strategy of Quantum. Perhaps Bond was really Bond, but stopped being *really* Bond but he eventually gets it back, so the gunbarrel again appears at the end.

Or maybe the explanation is even simpler.

In 2005, Michael G. Wilson said he and his half-sister Barbara Broccoli needed “to generate something new, for ourselves” (emphasis added).

The classic 007 gunbarrel of 1962-2002, created by Maurice Binder, ran at the start of the movie because the intention was to get the audience’s attention immediately. It got an updated look in GoldenEye (courtesy of Daniel Kleinman) and a CGI bullet was added with Die Another Day. On the extras of the Die Another Day DVD, composer David Arnold says something to the effect that the 10 seconds or so of the logo can make a member of the audience think they’re going to see the best James Bond movie ever.

That was a different day, a different era. The gunbarrel will get tossed in, but somewhere along the line, Eon Productions has decided the classic gunbarrel (used in the original way) is obsolete. It may be included simply to protect the trademark (lest someone claim it from disuse) at the end of a movie, in a poster or a video game.

Skyfall may be, at the reviews say, a great Bond movie, even (as some say) the best Bond movie. But an era has passed, nevertheless.

There are some fans who take the position there are no “classic” Bond movies, only old Bond movies. For them, this is no big deal, something swept out with the trash. Yesterday’s news, as it were, and part of yesterday’s newspapers put in a recycling bin.

For other fans, though, it’s the end of something. The classic gunbarrel used to be a little distinctive touch about the 007 films. At least it used to be.

UPDATE (Oct. 28): Barbara Broccoli in THIS INTERVIEW says Eon will put the gunbarrel logo where it feels like it works. The Key excerpt:

The gun barrel is at the end of the movie again. Is that the way it’s going to be from now on?
BARBARA: It will vary from film to film. In this film there wasn’t really a place to put it at the beginning. I know that sounds kind of funny, but we looked at putting it at the beginning and we discussed it with Sam, and we just felt it was better suited for this particular film at the end. We also thought it would be a nice way to mark the fiftieth anniversary, by having our 50th anniversary logo up there, just to mark this extraordinary event of fifty years.

UPDATE (Nov. 6): Mendes said he really did want to put the gunbarrel but that it “looked ridiculous” when paired with the first shot. You can CLICK HERE to read more and see a video.

Hawaii Five-0 appears to be ready for `sweeps’

The new Hawaii Five-0 series seems to be ready for the February and May “sweeps,” where ratings are used to set television advertising rates.

CBS said this week that James Caan, father of series regular Scott Caan, will appear on the show next month. The original Five-O series did the same thing, where that program’s Danno, James MacArthur, got to work with adoptive mother, Helen Hayes, in an eighth-season episode.

Meanwhile, for May, CBS is planning a two-night Five-0/NCIS: Los Angeles crossover, according to a Jan. 11 post on the TVline Web site.

And, at some point, CBS is bringing back Edward Asner to reprise a role he played in the original Five-O series for multiple episodes. That, of course, creates all sorts of continuity issues because new Five-0 is a “reboot” (i.e. starting all over again), rather than a continuation of the original. But nobody is worrying too much about that.

UPDATE: We missed this one. Dennis Miller is also going to appear in a February episode, according to a post on the Digital Spy Web site.

U.N.C.L.E. movie still a go, Soderbergh says

The film version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is still proceeding even after potential star George Clooney exited the project, director Steven Soderbergh said in an interview with the Moviefone Web site.

An excerpt of a Soderbergh answer (the interview was presented in a Q&A format:

Scott Burns wrote a great script and everybody wants to continue. I’m sure that’s a classic example of, “Well, if Clooney’s not doing it, then it must mean blah, blah, blah. I mean, he and Steven are friends, so the script must be really bad! Has Steven done one of these things where he’s gone off on a tangent and it’s too crazy?” All that sh*t. As often the case in these situations, the truth is a little more prosaic. It’s just a movie and it wasn’t a risk worth taking.

Regarding Clooney’s possible participation, Soderbergh also said the following:

To be honest, this was all predicated on him looking at the script and determining whether, physically, it was going to be a problem for him. He was very seriously injured on ‘Syriana.’ The guy had fluid leaking out of his spinal column. And from the beginning when we started talking about it, that was part of the discussion. Having been one of the producers on that movie and him being a friend, in addition to a colleague, I don’t want to be the guy responsible for him reinjuring himself.

And we got the script to him and he said, “Look, I’ve got real concerns about this.” From scene one, it’s the kind of stuff that he really needs to be careful about. And, believe me, it’s not… We want to make another movie together and that was frustrating – for both of us. But it just became clear that it’s just too risky.

To read, the entire interview, much of wish deals with his new movie, Contagion, CLICK HERE. Meanwhile, the Digital Spy Web site has a post where U.N.C.L.E. screenwriter Burns says Clooney apologized for having to pull out of the movie.

Finally, one other note. We did a little snooping on our own. via the Register.com Web site. Warner Bros. registered themanfromuncle.com as a domain name back on Dec. 9, 2004 and it expires on Dec. 9, 2012. The record was last updated on July 26, 2011. Is that significant? Hard to tell.