It’s STFU Day for No Time to Die

The No Time to Die publicity machine apparently decided Nov. 3 was a great day to lift media embargoes for No Time to Die stories. Given how nobody can see the movie for the foreseeable future, it’s more like STFU Day.

Yes, yes, this was probably decided back when the 25th James Bond film was scheduled to come out this month. Still, given how nobody is going to see the movie until April 2021 (if then), there’s an odd feel to all this.

Example: GQ comes out with a long story about Rami Malek, with lots of photos of him wearing expensive clothes. Meanwhile, the 39-year-old actor assures us we’ll be “shocked” when the movie comes out.

Whenever that is. OK, champ. Get back to us when we can actually check it out.

Example II: NTTD director-screenwriter Cary Fukunaga boasts to The Playlist that the Safin villain played by Malek is “bigger” than Blofeld.

Earth to Cary: That’s not much of a boast. Better than Donald Pleasance? Charles Gray? Telly Savalas? Christoph Waltz? Blofeld was best on-screen in the Eon Productions series with the body of Anthony Dawson and voice of Eric Pohlman.

Example III: Harper’s Bazaar came out with a new issue with Lashana Lynch on the cover. It also has a (nominal) No Time to Die spoiler. So if you really want to see it, CLICK HERE. Later on Tuesday, the entire Harper’s story goes online with the spoiler displayed prominently, including the headline.

Yes, No Time to Die has had its share of bad luck. But this week rings hollow. “You wait and see! It’ll be really good!” Whatever. Whenever.

Bond 25 questions: Killing time until November edition

New (well, tweaked) No Time to Die character poster

Fans of the James Bond films have some time to kill before November. The blog has some questions.

What’s up with Bond’s new gun in a revised character poster for No Time to Time?

Previously, a series of character posters for the 25th James Bond film were released. One, naturally, featured star Daniel Craig.

A revised version went out this week. It now says “November” at the bottom instead of “April 2020,” reflecting the delay in release date.

But something else changed. The gun Craig is holding looks different, perhaps now equipped with a silencer or maybe simply a different firearm.

I’m not sure what caused the change. The MI6 James Bond website noticed the alteration, with a side-by-side comparison in THIS TWEET.

What happens to all the publicity we were going to get?

Well, Bond fans are getting some of it now. Publications such as GQ and Total Film came out with No Time to Die articles. The schedule was based on an April release of the movie. But last week’s decision to shift the movie to November came too late for the publications to change their plans.

The GQ piece was similar to Craig profiles of yesteryear (including 26 references to the f-word), how he initially hesitated to play Bond, etc.. We’re also told how “Craig introduced time to the Bond movies… Bond ages.”

This isn’t a new angle. Sam Mendes, the director of Skyfall boasted in 2014 that in that film “for the first time characters were allowed to age.”

It wasn’t true then. Previous Bond films had reference to aging. Sean Connery told True magazine in 1971 that he was playing Bond older in Diamonds Are Forever than his earlier 007 films. Also, aging was part of Roger Moore’s 1980s Bond films.

Still, you could argue that the aging theme was much more pronounced in Skyfall (with its often-repeated “the old ways are the best” line). Well, whatever works for an article.

Is there a bright side to this delay?

For that, I’ll defer to the Haphazard Stuff channel on YouTube. He found 13 bright spots. One involves the infectious laugh of former No Time to Die director Danny Boyle. You can view Haphazard Stuff’s take below.

Finneas O’Connell discusses origins of NTTD song

Finneas O’Connell, older brother and collaborator of Billie Eilish

Finneas O’Connell, co-writer of the No Time to Die title song with his sister Billie Eilish, described the creative process in an interview with GQ.

“We wrote No Time to Die on a tour bus. Specifically, in the bunks of our tour bus,” told the magazine.

“We were given the first 20 pages of the script. I guess that’s up to the point when the song comes in during the movie, right? That’s how all the Bond films open up.

“So we were able to read the first 20 pages, which was obviously incredible. It gave us such a good steer and such insight into where the song would fall, and the tone. It makes it easier than having to write the whole song based on the entire movie; or in fact none of the movie.”

That sounds like the duo read the script’s pre-titles sequence. The general rule of thumb is that one page of script equals about one minute of screen time.

That suggests the pre-titles sequence may run about 20 minutes, although no one will know for sure until editing of the movie is complete.

O’Connell described what happened next.

“So Billie and I wrote the song, recorded the demo, sent it to them and then we finished it in London with Hans Zimmer doing the orchestral arrangements and also Johnny Marr from The Smiths,” he said. “I mean, James Bond? Hans Zimmer? Johnny Marr? Mind blowing.”

The interview covers other subjects. You can read the interview by CLICKING HERE.

Harris: NTTD has ‘massive, massive surprises’

Naomie Harris

Naomie Harris, in an article in the British edition of GQ, says No Time to Die has a lot of surprises.

“It’s a tie-up of Skyfall and Spectre,” she told the publication. “But with massive, massive surprises that even had me like, ‘Oh, wow!’ So I think we’re going to really shock people.”

Understandably, there are no specifics. The movie still is being filmed. Over the weekend, cast member Ana de Armas said on social media she had arrived in London to resume working on the 25th James Bond film.

Still, GQ presented a few details:

–Harris says Eon Productions boss hand-delivered the actress a copy of the script.

No details were cited about which version of the script Harris read. Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Scott Z. Burns did rewrites. Which ever version it was, Harris says she read it in one sitting and was enthused.

–Harris on the James Bond character: “We’re definitely seeing a Bond who’s more in touch with his feelings and more open to falling in love.”

–Harris on how the film treats women characters: “It’s just about moving with the times and recognising that women can no longer be seen as eye candy.”

Harris also commented on subjects other than Bond. You can view the article by CLICKING HERE.

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.

Daniel Craig, 2008 and 2011 versions

A little over three years ago, Quantum of Solace was coming out. Star Daniel Craig did a number of interviews. During filming of the 2008 James Bond film, Craig TOLD USA TODAY that the story *had* be a direct sequel to Casino Royale.

More changes to the traditional formula are in store for Quantum of Solace, among them the notion of a true sequel. Bond has always been ageless, and the previous 21 movies stand largely independently of each other, but Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale ended, with Bond working his way up the chain of command of the terrorists who blackmailed his lover, Vesper Lynd.

“We set something up in motion in the last one that we need to keep in touch with in this one,” Craig says. (emphasis added)

What’s more, Craig said using the title Quantum of Solace was HIS IDEA.

Asked if he agreed with fans who have laughed at the new name, Craig told GQ: “No, because I was involved in making the decision…”We had it written down on boards and we’d literally go and sit in rooms and stare at this title….As soon as it came out, people were saying, ‘Ooh, it sounds like Harry Potter.’ No, it’s Quantum of Solace. I was saying, ‘It’s a Bond title! The name of a Bond film is not about anything. Live And Let Die? Octopussy? What does it mean? It means very little. We’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Flash forward to 2011 and Craig has given an interview to Time Out. Among the disclosures IN THAT INTERVIEW? Let’s start with how Daniel Craig and Quantum Marc Forester were the real writers of the movie, not the credited Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

It seems that the script is sometimes an after-thought on huge productions.

‘Yes and you swear that you’ll never get involved with shit like that, and it happens. On “Quantum”, we were fucked. We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, “Never again”, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.’

You had to rewrite scenes yourself?

‘Me and the director [Marc Forster] were the ones allowed to do it. The rules were that you couldn’t employ anyone as a writer, but the actor and director could work on scenes together. We were stuffed. We got away with it, but only just. It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished.’ (emphasis added)

Now, Craig is not the only 007 actor to revise his version of history (HERE’S AN EXAMPLE of Pierce Brosnan making two very contradictory statements about Tomorrow Never Dies). But it is interesting that Craig continues to call Quantum a disappointment, something that began this summer.

If Craig and Forster really did write Quantum, that may explain continuity problems with the 2008 film. Craig, by his own admission wasn’t a writer and Forster didn’t work on Casino Royale, so neither had neither the incentive or circumstances to worry about those problems. (Of course, it still doesn’t explain how Quantum was edited to make it appear M was shot when she wasn’t, shortly after the main titles).

Quantum fans are still going to like the film no matter what. So if you’re a Quantum fan, good for you. Still, when it comes to statements made by actors promoting a movie, it’s caveat emptor. That’s regardless of who’s playing James Bond. For that matter, it’s likely true of many other films.