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On His Majesty’s Secret Service, the latest James Bond continuation novel, officially debuted today.
The novel represents Charlie Higson’s take on the adult literary Bond character. Higson previously penned Young Bond novels. Those books were set in the 1930s. The new book is timeshifted to the present day and ties into this week’s coronation of King Charles III, 74, who ascended to the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
The MI6 HQ site today carried a review by Ajay Chowdhury, co-author of Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films.
“Rather like the movie ‘Skyfall’, ‘On His Majesty’s Secret Service’ is actually about the state of the nation,” he wrote. “Where the United Kingdom is in 2023. Bond ruminates on his own role of honour and of service.”
The Bond Experience channel on YouTube today posted an interview with Higson. In the interview, Higson said the project came together quickly, starting out as a short story and expanding into a novel. The initial goal, Higson told host David Zaritsky, was to write 10,000 words. The novel ended up being 40,000 words. On His Majesty’s Secret Service was written in March and edited in early April.
The interview is below. The portion about the origin of the project comes after the 18:00 mark.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal are considering pushing No Time to Die’s release date to a “Summer 2021 release window,” the MI6 James Bond website said.
A decision on such a move “will be due soon,” the website reported.
The 25th James Bond film currently is scheduled for November after a delay from April.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has jumbled movie release schedules. Films such as Tenet, a new Christopher Nolan movie, have had multiple release dates.
In March, when the decision was made to delay No Time to Die until November, COVID-19 had caused theaters in China to shut down and Italy was the site of a major outbreak in Europe. Marketing for No Time to Die was well underway when the delay to November was announced.
Since then, Asia and Europe have moved to contain the virus. But major states in the U.S. — including Florida, Texas and California — have had major outbreaks. Theaters in the U.S. have been deciding when and how to reopen.
No Time to Die is being released in the U.S. by United Artists Releasing, co-owned by MGM, and by Universal internationally. MGM also is Bond’s home studio.
The last James Bond film to have a summer release date was 1989’s Licence to Kill.
To be clear, there are no spoilers in this post. The post is noting that the spoilers exist. But if that’s too much, move on, nothing to see here.
It was bound to happen. The delay of No Time to Die from an April release to November (assuming that holds) provided more opportunity for spoilers to emerge.
During filming, the production kept a fairly tight lid on things until filming in Matera, Italy, in August 2019. There, tourists with smartphones posted many videos of the filming involving Aston Martin DB5 replicas.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio, leaned on some Bond-related websites to take down video floating around the internet. But major news services, such as Reuters, were also posting the videos and things cooled down.
After that, things remained quiet until recently.
Some No Time to Die call sheets were auctioned on eBay. The call sheets, in turn, provided clues about the movie’s plot.
The MI6 James Bond website posted a story on June 3, with a spoiler warning in red type at the start of the article. The headline was simply, “Spoiler Warning.”
This blog summarized the MI6 website post the same day. That post also had a spoiler warning: “Is this a spoiler? Only if it’s correct. Nevertheless, don’t read any further if that upsets you.”
However, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail, came out with a story based on the call sheets the evening of June 6, New York time.
The Mail didn’t have a spoiler warning. In fact, the big spoiler was in the headline. So don’t click on the link above if you don’t want to know.
Since then, there has been a lot of fan complaints and criticism on social media.
It’s possible more of this may lay ahead. It’s still five months until No Time to Die’s current scheduled release date.
Well, everybody knew going in that No Time to Die wasn’t going to be cheap. But a recent U.K. regulatory filing by B25 Ltd., a subsidiary of Eon Productions, gives an idea of how expensive it was.
A movie and a half?
The filing said for 2019 the “work in progress” (No Time to Die is the only work in progress B25 has) was 199.47 million pounds. The conversion rate between pounds and dollars varies, but that’s more than $240 million.
The filing also listed a figure for 2018: 17.44 million pounds. The MI6 James Bond website said that may be pre-production costs when Danny Boyle was attached to direct before departing in August 2018 for “creative differences.” He was replaced by Cary Fukunaga.
Regardless, production designer Mark Tildesley in a Masterclass video interview posted May 10, said a 350-foot rocket had been built and a Russian gulag set in Canada constructed during Boyle’s time on the project.
Tildesley also said the production continued to lease the pricey 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios after Boyle left. Part of the space was used as a construction workshop.
Expensive cast
Variety previously reported that Daniel Craig was due a $25 million payday for No Time to Die. The film then brought on Rami Malek as the villain. He was coming off winning a Best Actor Oscar. He’s probably getting considerably more than scale. That probably applies to the returning MI6 cast of characters played by Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw.
Expensive crew
Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in as a writer at a cost of $2 million, The Hollywood Reporter said last year. Scott Z. Burns, a pricey “script doctor” also did uncredited work on the script.
Rami Malek on a No Time to Die set designed by Mark Tildesley that certainly appears inspired by a Ken Adam set from Dr. No.
Mark Tildesley, production designer for No Time to Die, has gone public with some tidbits from the 25th James Bond film. Naturally, the blog has some questions.
Homages? Again?
So it would seem.
Tildesley, in a Masterclass video interview, said “we’ve heavily lent on previous films and the designers of previous films for some of the shapes and stuff…We went through all the films. Let’s take everything we love.”
It’s not like we haven’t been down this route before. Die Another Day (2002), Quantum of Solace (2008) and Skyfall (2012) all had their share of homages to previous 007 film adventures.
There were already signs it was happening again with No Time to Die.
One of Tildesley’s sets had a circular grille in the ceiling, similar to a Ken Adam-designed set for Dr. No. Stills emerged with Rami Malek’s villain Safin at the set.
And, of course, the Aston Martin DB5 is back, which gave the production designer a chance to tweak its design.
The car is actually a replica of the DB5 (with a carbon fiber body and BMW engine) and the designer moved the placement of the machine guns to the headlights. That’s been a prominent part of No Time to Die trailers and TV spots.
What was Danny Boyle up to?
Tildesley said a rocket and a Russian gulag were among the things being built for a Danny Boyle-directed No Time to Die.
He didn’t give away a whole lot more. But his comments suggesting various reports that Boyle wanted to cast a Russian villain were correct. Also, the MI6 James Bond website reported in February 2019 Bond was imprisoned by the villain for much of the Boyle version of No Time to Die.
So it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that a Russian villain would imprison Bond in a gulag.
Boyle’s hiring was announced in May 2018 and he left because of “creative differences in August 2018. Cary Fukunaga was hired to replace Boyle.
Fukunaga also is listed as one of the writers of No Time to Die. His version of the movie is a sequel to 2015’s SPECTRE, even bringing back Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann.
Anything else interesting?
In parts of the interview, Tildesley talks about how having a low budget forces the creative team to be more creative.
No Time to Die doesn’t have a low budget. The estimated production outlay is $250 million.
The designer said the challenge with a large budget film is to stay creative.
“The thing about doing a bigger film is to try and keep light on your feet,” he said. “I’m always trying to think of. like, arresting images that will burn onto your retina.”
The first trailer for No Time to Die may be released online as early as Dec. 4, the MI6 James Bond website said, without disclosing how it obtained the information.
The teaser trailer “has been scheduled for release online on December 4th or 5th (depending on your time zone),” the website said.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer said Nov. 21 on an investor call the bulk of the movie’s marketing effort would ramp up after Jan. 1. However, MGM didn’t specify dates for marketing elements such as trailers or advertising by companies with No Time to Die deals. For example, Advertising Age reported in 2018 that star Daniel Craig filmed a Bond-themed Heineken commercial related to the movie.
MI6’s James Bond & Friends podcast said in August that a preliminary version of the trailer, also known as a rough cut, had been prepared. However, that trailer has yet to be shown officially.
The teaser trailer “was very briefly leaked on Instagram a couple of months ago but was swiftly removed,” MI6 said.
“The studio and distributors are meeting this week to finalize the ‘No Time To Die’ marketing strategy,” MI6 said.
MGM is the home studio of the Bond series, which is produced by Eon Productions. No Time to Die is being released in the U.S. by United Artists Releasing, a joint venture between MGM and Annpurna Pictures. Universal is handling international distribution.
No Time to Die’s second unit has completed work on the 25th James Bond film.
A photo by stunt performer Dave Grant marking the occasion was tweeted by @springhousese. The crew is standing in front of a set; those who are particularly spoiler adverse probably shouldn’t click. The photo is starting to spread via social media.
In a separate tweet, the James Bond MI6 website said the second unit finished on the evening of Oct. 18.
The first unit still is working on the film, the website said.
Earlier this month, actress Ana de Armas said on social media she had returned to London to wrap up her work on the film.
2018 is about to end. So here are some questions that have gone unanswered — and likely will remain so — as the year concludes.
Whatever happened to the notion that the Broccoli-Wilson family might sell out its interest in the Bond franchise after Bond 25?
In July 2017, Phil Nobile Jr., then a writer for Movies. Birth. Death., had a story with this passage:
“I have read thoughts from someone I believe to be close wth the production that the Broccolis are looking to do one more Bond then sell the franchise off, a la George Lucas/Star Wars/Disney.”
“@bmoviesd would love to say there’s nothing to this but we can’t.”
Since then? Nada. Neither was a definitive “this is going to happen.” And neither has followed up that the blog is aware of. For that matter, neither have British tabloids (who’ll write stories at the drop of a hat when British bookies adjust their odds on future Bonds). Neither have major entertainment news outlets.
Was there never anything to it? Is there something to it, but we won’t know until 2020, when Bond 25 is scheduled to come out?
Who knows? But it’s one of the most intriguing questions during long hiatus between SPECTRE and Bond 25.
Whatever happened to the idea that Apple and Amazon were “racing” to lock up 007 film rights?
That’s was what The Hollywood Reporter reported in a story labeled “exclusive” in September 2017. The story was so exclusive that THR rivals Deadline: Hollywood and Variety never got around to matching it. Neither did The New York Times nor The Wall Street Journal, both of which follow Apple and Amazon closely. And THR itself never appeared to have done a follow-up.
Were Apple and Amazon really making a concerted effort but came up short? Or was the story so much hot air? Eventually, in 2018, it was announced that Bond 25 would be released in the U.S. by an MGM-Annapurna joint venture, with international distribution by Universal.
Does Eon-Danjaq still have its heart in doing Bond films?
The hiatus between 2015’s SPECTRE and Bond 25 will be the second-longest in the history of the Eon-produced series.
Moreover, it’s the first such hiatus that occurred simply because the principals (Eon boss Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig) simply didn’t feel like making one for a while. A long while. There have been no legal fights (the 1989-95 hiatus) or studio bankruptcies (1989-95 *and* 2008-2012) in the mix.
Some fans will shout, “Of course they do!” Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.
An apology in advance. This post goes very deep into the weeds.
Back on May 25, the official Eon Productions webite said that Bond 25 would be directed by Danny Boyle “from an original screenplay by Academy Award nominee John Hodge (Trainspotting).”
The phrase “original screenplay” usually means a script, not based on other media that originated with a specific screenwriter. Based on the phrasing of the May 25 release, that would seem to be John Hodge.
But this week, the James Bond MI6 website said the following about Bond 25: “The script by John Hodge, which was a re-working of a draft completed by long-term series stalwarts Neal Purvis and Robert Wade…”
The website fielded a question on Twitter and had this response:
‘Original’ in the sense it was not based on any Ian Fleming material, that’s what they were referencing. Hodge’s script WAS based on Purvis & Wade’s draft. Locations and sets already booked prior to Hodge. https://t.co/guXD58oPmc
That’s interesting. One thing to note: The May 25 press release didn’t mention Purvis and Wade.
What’s more, the “original screenplay” phrasing is different than other Eon press releases this decade.
October 2011, Skyfall: “The screenplay is written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan.”
July 2013, the then-untitled Bond 24: “…Sam Mendes will also return to direct the screenplay written by John Logan.” The Sony hacks showed later that there wasn’t a full-fledged script at the time of the release. Logan turned in his first draft in the spring of 2014.
During the summer of 2014, Purvis and Wade were summoned to rewrite Logan’s work. So this is what was said in the press release in December 2014, SPECTRE: “Written by John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade,”
Finally, in July 2017, Eon put out a release announcing a release date for Bond 25. It said the movie, “…will be written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, long time collaborators and writers on previous Bond films including CASINO ROYALE, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, SKYFALLand SPECTRE.”
But by May 2018, Purvis and Wade had disappeared and the official press release was only talking about John Hodge.
So: Was the May 2018 press release written in a sloppy manner? (“Hey guys, we forgot to mention Purvis and Wade!” “Forget it, nobody will every notice!”) Back in February, Deadline: Hollywood said Hodge was writing a script totally separate from what Purvis and Wade wrote in 2017. Did that outlet make a mistake?
Or did Eon and public relations crew simply change its press release phrasing after all these years?
Oh, one more thing: Press releases are typically vetted by the principals involved as well as lawyers. The writers of press releases don’t just wing it.
These are just little things, as Lt. Columbo used to say. Little things.
UPDATE (12:50 p.m. New York time): The James Bond dossier reminded me (see comments below) of some Danny Boyle comments where it certainly sounded like he and John Hodge were working on a new story, not revising an existing script. Here’s a video of Boyle from The Associated Press in March.
Bond 25 keeping its head above water, MI6 James Bond website says.
Work is continuing on Bond 25 with the intent of meeting its original schedule amid the search for a new director, the MI6 James Bond website said.
Sets are still under construction at Pinewood Studios in accordance with “the original timetable and plans,” the MI6 site said.
Danny Boyle and his writer, John Hodge, departed the project last month.
MI6 also said Hodge’s Bond 25 script “was a re-working of a draft completed by long-term series stalwarts Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.” The script “is being touched up again” to reflect concerns of star Daniel Craig and producers, according to MI6.
Deadline: Hollywood said in a Feb. 21 story that Boyle and Hodge had pitched an idea that Hodge was writing at that point. Deadline said that effort was separate from a Purvis and Wade script written last year.
A May 25 announcement that included that Boyle would direct said the project had “an original screenplay” by Hodge. There was no mention of Purvis and Wade.
MI6 did not mention who is revising the Bond 25 script currently.
Bond 25 has an announced release date of fall 2019. The May 25 announcement said filming would start on Dec. 3. Craig is scheduled to film a mystery movies, Knives Out, during November.
The MI6 website has a relationship with Eon Productions. Disclosure: The blog proprietor has done two articles for MI6 Confidential, a magazine published by the website.
UPDATE (7:05 p.m. New York time): On Twitter, the MI6 website said this about Hodge and the “original screenplay” of the May 25 announcement:
‘Original’ in the sense it was not based on any Ian Fleming material, that’s what they were referencing. Hodge’s script WAS based on Purvis & Wade’s draft. Locations and sets already booked prior to Hodge. https://t.co/guXD58oPmc
The Spy Command 