Quantum’s 15th: Impact still felt on 007 franchise

International poster for Quantum of Solace

Adapted and updated from a 2018 post

This fall marks the 15th anniversary of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd 007 film made by Eon Productions. It’s a production that still reverberates with the franchise.

It was the last time the makers of James Bond films tried to come out with an entry just two years after the previous installment. It’s probably the last time this will happen.

As Casino Royale was ending production, Sony Pictures put out a July 20, 2006 release (the press release was once online but has been yanked by the studio) saying it intended to release Bond 22 (as it was then known) quickly — May 2, 2008.

“As we wrap production on CASINO ROYALE we couldn’t be more excited about the direction the franchise is heading with Daniel Craig. Daniel has taken the origins of Ian Fleming’s James Bond portraying, with emotional complexity, a darker and edgier 007,” Eon’s Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli were quoted in the press release.

Writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with three Bond films under their belt, were aboard to come up with a story for what Eon would later describe as the series’ first “direct sequel.”

There were soon signs the pace was causing some strains.

‘Very Nervous’
Director Roger Michell (1956-2021) opted not to helm the movie because he felt the story wasn’t developed enough. In 2007, Michell gave an interview to The Times. The original link to the interview is broken, but the Commander Bond website’s summary includes some of Michell’s comments.

“‘Well, I did give up directing the Bond film,” Michell told The Times, according to the Commander Bond summary. “It was because in the end I didn’t feel comfortable with the Bond process, and I was very nervous that there was a start date but really no script at all. And I like to be very well prepared as a director.”

Eventually, Quantum was pushed back to a fall 2008 release. But there were still time pressures. The Writers Guild of America was in labor talks and a strike deadline was looming. The union went on strike from November 2007 to February 2008, with the Bond movie starting production in early 2008.

There are conflicting versions of the movie’s story process.

Marc Forster

The director hired for the movie, Marc Forster, said in an April 2008 Rotten Tomatoes story, said there was a reset after he arrived.

‘From Scratch’
“Once I signed on to do it we pretty much developed the script from scratch because I felt that it wasn’t the movie I wanted to make and we started with Paul Haggis from scratch,” Forster said in the story. Haggis was the writer who did the final drafts of Casino Royale.

“And I said to him these are the topics I am interested in this is what I would like to say, what’s important to me,” the director said. “And we developed it from there together. Then Barbara and Michael said they liked where we were going and they liked the script.”

In this interview, Forster said everything worked out fine.

“The good thing is that Paul and I and Daniel all worked on the script before the strike happened and got it where we were pretty happy with,” the director said. “Then we started shooting and the only problems I had with the script we were shooting in April, May and June so as soon as the strike was over we did another polish.”

The writer doing that polish, Forster said, was Joshua Zetumer. The scribe’s involvement with the film was noted in other stories written during the production.

More Complicated
Forster, in a Nov. 3, 2008 story on the Vulture culture blog of New York magazine, indicated things were more complicated.

“Haggis had an idea they weren’t fond of, and I didn’t know if it would work or not,” Forster told Vulture. “The idea was that Vesper in the last movie, maybe she had a kid, and there would be an orphan out there.”

Eventually, with the clocking ticking to a WGA strike, the idea of Bond searching for Vesper’s child was rejected. Haggis, though, delivered a script ahead of the WGA walkout.

Daniel Craig in 2012 during filming of Skyfall.

In 2011, as Skyfall was preparing production, a new scenario was unveiled.

Daniel Craig in an interview with Time Out London, said he and Forster were forced to rewrite the script as Quantum was being filmed.

The actor described what they had as a “bare bones of a script.” Because of the WGA strike, “We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it.”

This tale has emerged as the now-accepted version, with Joshua Zetumer the movie’s forgotten man.

(This SUMMARY OF THE INTERVIEW ON INDIEWIRE has the Craig quotes involved.)

The movie did fine at the box office, with $586 million globally. But Quantum’s biggest effect may be that Eon doesn’t want to rush things if it can help it.

‘External Pressures’
“Sometimes there are external pressures from a studio who want you to make it in a certain time frame or for their own benefit, and sometimes we’ve given into that,” Eon’s Barbara Broccoli told the Los Angeles Times in 2012.

Barbara Broccoli

“But following what we hope will be a tremendous success with ‘Skyfall,’ we have to try to keep the deadlines within our own time limits and not cave in to external pressures,” the Eon boss told the newspaper.

She didn’t mention either Sony or Quantum of Solace. But it’s not much of a stretch to wonder if both were on her mind during that interview.

What’s more, a Sony executive told theater executives in 2012 that Bond 24 (eventually titled SPECTRE) would be out in 2014. Broccoli and Craig, in a May 1, 2012 interview with Collider, shut down such talk.

Broccoli: He was getting a little overexcited (laughs). We’re just actually focusing on this movie. One hopes that in the future we’ll be announcing other films, but no one’s officially announced it.

Craig: No one’s announced anything. He got a little ahead of himself (laughs). It’s very nice that he has the confidence to be able to do that, but we haven’t finished this movie yet.

SPECTRE, of course, came out in 2015, not 2014.

Today, Quantum occupies an odd space. Despite its financial success, it wasn’t discussed much in the 2012 documentary Everything Or Nothing. But many fans feel it’s more than a worthy entry in the Eon-made series.

Regardless of how you feel about the movie, though, it had an impact on the franchise. Trying to make a James Bond film within two years is now unthinkable. There would be a six-year gap between SPECTRE and No Time to Die. The COVID-19 pandemic was a major reason, but not the only one.

As for Bond 26? Who knows. It’s obviously not coming out in 2023 (two years after No Time to Die). There’s no script, no Bond actor, no director (as of this writing), etc., etc.

Octopussy’s 40th: Battle of the Bonds, round 1

Poster with a suggestive tagline.

Adapted from previous posts.

Forty years ago, there was the much-hyped “Battle of the Bonds.” Competing 007 movies, the 13th Eon Productions entry with Roger Moore and a non-Eon film with Sean Connery, originally were supposed to square off in the summer.

Things didn’t quite work out that way. In June 1983, Eon’s Octopussy debuted while Never Say Never Again got pushed back to the fall.

Producer Albert R. Broccoli was taking no chances. He re-signed Moore, 54 at the start of production in the summer of 1982, for the actor’s sixth turn as Bond. It had seemed Moore might have exited the series after 1981’s For Your Eyes Only. Broccoli had considered American James Brolin, and Brolin’s screen tests surfaced at a 1994 007 fan convention in Los Angeles. But with Never Say Never Again, a competing 007 adventure starring Connery, the original screen Bond, the producer opted to stay with Moore.

Also back was composer John Barry, who had been away from the world of 007 since 1979’s Moonraker. Octopussy would be the start of three consecutive 007 scoring assignments, with A View To a Kill and The Living Daylights to follow. The three films would prove to be his final 007 work.

Barry opted to use The James Bond Theme more than normal in Octopussy’s score, presumably to remind the audience this was part of the established film series.

Meanwhile, Broccoli kept in place many members of his team from For Your Eyes Only: production designer Peter Lamont, director John Glen, director of photography Alan Hume, and associate producer Tom Pevsner. Even in casting the female lead, Broccoli stayed with the familiar, hiring Maud Adams, who had previously been the second female lead in The Man With the Golden Gun.

Behind the cameras, perhaps the main new face was writer George MacDonald Fraser, who penned the early versions of the script. Fraser’s knowledge of India, where much of the story takes place, would prove important. Richard Maibaum and Broccoli stepson Michael G. Wilson took over to rewrite. The final credit had all three names, with Fraser getting top billing.

As we’ve WRITTEN BEFORE, scenes set in India have more humor than scenes set in East and West Germany. Sometimes, the humor is over the top (a Tarzan yell during a sequence where Bond is being hunted in India by villain Kamal Khan). At other times, the movie is serious (the death of the “sacrificial lamb” Vijay).

In any event, Octopussy’s ticket sales did better in the U.S. ($67.9 million) compared with For Your Eyes Only’s $54.8 million. Worldwide, Octopussy scored slightly less, $187.5 million compared with Eyes’s $195.3 million. For Broccoli & Co., that was enough to ensure the series stayed in production.

Hype about the Battle of the Bonds would gear back up when Never Say Never premiered a few months later. But the veteran producer, 74 years old at the time of Octopussy’s release, had stood his ground. Now, all he could do was sit back and watch what his former star, Sean Connery, who had heavy say over creative matters, would come up with a few months later.

Over the years, Octopussy has continued to generate mixed reactions

One example was an article posted in 2018 on the Den of Geek website. 

While the site said Octopussy deserves another chance with fans, it also levied some criticisms.

It’s a funny old film, Octopussy, one used as evidence by both Moore’s prosecution and his defense. Haters cite the befuddled plot, an older Moore, some truly silly moments (Tarzan yell, anyone?), a Racist’s Guide to India, and the painfully metaphorical sight of a 56 year-old clown trying to disarm a nuclear bomb (rivalled only by Jaws’ Moonraker plunge into a circus tent on the “Spot the Unintentional Subtext” scale.)

At the same time, Den of Geek also compliments aspects of the movie, including its leading man.

Moore also submits a very good performance, arguably his strongest. Easy to treat him as a joke but the man really can act. Sometimes through eyebrows alone.

Octopussy still has the power to enthrall some and to generate salvos from its critics.

Eon Productions posts 2021 financial results in U.K. filing

Eon Productions logo

Eon Productions, in a U.K, regulatory filing for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021, said it had a loss before taxes of 48.9 million British pounds ($59.1 million) before taxes.

After taxes, Eon reported a profit of 2.44 million British pounds (almost $2.97 million) after taxes.

To view for yourself and CLICK HERE and click on the entry for Dec. 29, 2022.

2021 was the year Eon’s most recent James Bond film, No Time to Die, was released. The bulk of Bond film finances come from its studio partner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now part of Amazon.

“The directors (of Eon) consider the results of the group to be in line with expectations,” the filing says. “The results for the year were considered more than satisfactory by the directors who anticipate an increase in the net profitability of the group during periods when a film is released.

“Looking forward, the directors the directors anticipate to display continued growth and profitability whilst concentrating on the next development of its next film toward its production.”

The filing is signed by “M Wilson CBE, Director.” Presumably, that means Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions.

The financial results were first reported in a Variety story.

The unheralded James Bond anniversary

Albert R. Broccoli (Illustration by Paul Baack)

Last month marked a notable anniversary of the James Bond film franchise, but it dealt with behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

In December 1992, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer settled a lawsuit filed by Danjaq LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions. The legal fight had paralyzed the production of Bond films.

The dispute was related to a takeover of MGM by financier Giancarlo Parretti. Here’s an excerpt from a UPI story about the settlement.

The companies said the agreement settles the suit Danjaq filed in February 1991 against MGM and its former parent company, Pathe Communications Corp. Danjaq claimed in the suit that then-MGM owner Parretti had breached contracts with it by selling the rights to the Bond films to help finance his $1.4 billion purchase of the studio in late 1990 from Kirk Kerkorian.

This is how Albert R. Broccoli, the co-founder of Danjaq and Eon, described the situation leading up to the lawsuit in his autobiography When the Snow Melts.

We learned that our sixteen James Bond pictures were being sold off as part of Parretti’s cash-raising in order to clinch the purchase of MGM/UA. Moreover, it was clear — to us least — that these pictures were to be sold off at bargain-basement prices in a number of foreign TV and video licensing deals. The longer we looked at the fine print, the more our attorneys, Michael (G. Wilson) and me were convinced that not only an alleged breach of contract was involved. This was becoming a question of the virtual survival of James Bond…Our action was a matter of simple prudence…During the protracted lawsuits that arose from this situation we were forced to put James Bond on hold and carry on with our lives.

The legal settlement changed that. Much work would remain to relaunch the film series, such as hiring a director and writers. Still, the conclusion of the legal fight more than 30 years ago was a significant milestone.

A history of Christopher Nolan as next Bond director

Christopher Nolan

There has long been fan interest in the idea of Christopher Nolan directing a James Bond film. This week, The Bond Geek channel on YouTube brought up the idea again.

Nolan is a self-confessed Bond fan. Some bits from his trilogy of Batman movies (2005, 2008, 2012) have homages to the Bond film series. So did his 2010 movie Inception, where one segment seemed based on On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

What’s more, Nolan’s name comes up every so often in connection with Bond movies.

It happened in 2013 when Nolan was mentioned as a possible director for Bond 24 (finally titled SPECTRE).

It happened again in December 2017, when a fan website said Nolan was “more than likely” to direct Bond 25, finally titled No Time to Die. I’d provide the link, except the fan site apparently took the article down.

As the blog has written before, the Bond series itself has been affected by Nolan. 2012’s Skyfall had Nolan inflences. Director Sam Mendes said so.

That influence continued with SPECTRE, which had Hoyte Van Hoytema as director of photography and Lee Smith as editor.

If you bring Nolan inside the Eon 007 tent, there are other issues. With Nolan, you typically also get the involvement of his production company, Syncopy. Nolan gets a producer’s credit. So does his wife, Emma Thomas.

As usual, we’ll see. Nolan’s next film, Oppenheimer, is scheduled for release in July 2023. Here’s the trailer:

Bond 26 questions: The Henry Cavill edition

Henry Cavill

It turns out that Henry Cavill isn’t playing Superman anymore. The actor has quit The Witcher streaming show on Netflix. So does Cavill re-enter the picture to play James Bond in Bond 26?

Naturally, the blog has questions.

Is Cavill back in the picture?

I wouldn’t go banco on that.

Much has been made how Cavill, now 39, was in contention to play Bond for Casino Royale back when he was in his early 20s.

However, we know that Eon boss Barbara Broccoli was always keen on Daniel Craig playing Bond. While there were screen tests of other actors (including Cavill), they were stalking horses to show Sony/Columbia (which would release Casino Royale) that it wasn’t a one-horse race. Except, it was a one-horse race from almost the beginning.

What about the Pierce Brosnan precedent? Eon *had* signed Brosnan in the 1980s to play Bond. But the actor’s ties to the Remington Steele TV show got in the way when NBC renewed the series at the last minute. Eon would bring Brosnan back to play Bond for GoldenEye (1995).

Eon *has never* shown that level of commitment to Cavill.

Are you skeptical that Cavill had a chance this time?

Yes.

A few years ago, the conventional wisdom was Eon wouldn’t go back to Cavill because he had played Superman and appeared in spy movies (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 2015 and Mission: Impossible Fallout in 2018).

Now, it could be updated by saying Cavill is damaged goods by Warner Bros. rejecting him participating in future Superman movies. And don’t forget The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie had modest box office.

Lately, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon have talked about how a future Bond actor should be younger. Then again, Daniel Craig was 37 when cast and his first Bond movie came out when he was 38.

As usual, we’ll see.

Licence to Kill treatment: Conclusion

Timothy Dalton

Continuing the blog’s examination of a March 1988 treatment by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson for Licence to Kill. The treatment was provided by Gary J. Firuta.

At the end of the blog’s last installment, Pam was flying Bond and Lupe and indicated some turbulence was ahead. She wasn’t kidding.

The plane does “a barrel roll.” Lupe is tossed off a bed in the plane onto to the floor. “Bond is amused but Lupe shouts ‘Beetch! at the top of her lungs.”

Meanwhile, in this treatment, Sanchez now is very suspicious of Bond, something that wouldn’t happen until later in the finished film. Sanchez orders his people to look out for Bond.

Bond & Co. have reached their destination, Oaxaca, near the site of the Bible Institute. Bond is in a taxi with Q, Pam and Lupe. Bond and Pam will get off at a hotel. Q is to take Lupe to Leiter in Miami “on the next available flight.” Lupe is hesitant to leave Bond. Bond tells her that Q will look after her until he can rejoin her.

Bond observes some “obviously working class Americans in their best duds” exiting a bus from the institute. Bond remembers that Sanchez had been watching institute programming. Bond tells Q to contact Leiter in Miami that the institute may be a Sanchez front.

Bond and Pam then get on a bus headed to the institute.

At the same time, Sanchez shows up and Dario is surprised to see him. “I had to come,” Sanchez tells Dario. “The Chinese are having second thoughts. They’ve heard rumors about Krest. That Kwang business upsets them. Then Bond taking Lupe and my plane. I have to show my face to prove everything’s alright.”

The treatment includes a description of an assembly line-like operation where checks and cash are separated from letters with donations. Addresses are entered into a computer database. The letters are deposited into a large shredder.

The Asian group also is being given a tour of the grounds. Eventually Bond and Pam separate, with Bond infiltrating the group of visitors by knocking out a technician and taking his place. Bond wears a filter mask and a white lab coat. Bond also has an ID with the name Jose Pico.

Sanchez, not as dense as he was in the finished movie, is aware of Bond’s presence and tells Dario to find him.

What follows is a demonstration similar to the completed film, showing how cocaine can be dissolved in gasoline. Sanchez tells his visitors he has a plan for shipments to Asia by chartering a tanker ship to Hong Kong.

Pam, meanwhile, gets away from Sanchez’ men who have been observing her. Back at the lab, Bond has been spotted. He is overcome by Sanchez henchmen.

“What is this vendetta, Senor Bond?” Sanchez asks.

“Felix Leiter,” Bond replies.

“The American drug agent? What is he? Nothing!”

“My friend,” Bond says. “A man you couldn’t buy.”

Sanchez is undeterred. “Too bad for him. So where is he now? Selling pencils in the streets?”

“No, Sanchez,” Bond says. “He’s after your head. You can’t stop men like him.”

Bond is taken to an area with a detonator. It is set for 10 minutes. The complex will go up to remove evidence.

Bond is tied up. “Dario owes you some pain,” Sanchez tells Bond. “I promised he could have you.” Sanchez steps up to Dario and pats his cheek. “Amuse yourself, Amigo.”

Sanchez and his entourage depart except for Darui and some thugs. One of Sanchez’ men ask the boss if they should let Dario know has seven minutes left.

“No!” Sanchez replies. “He has made too many mistakes lately.”

Yikes! Sanchez must have studied at the Blofeld School of Management.

While this is going on, Pam is at the facility’s auditorium watching Joe Butcher give a performance. At the same time, Leiter is watching the telecast of Butcher. Leiter tells a colleague he had received a message it was tied to Sanchez.

Back in Mexico, Dario puts Bond on the conveyor belt leading to the shredder used for all the letters sent to Joe Butcher. Dario turns it on.

Bond gets out of it thusly:

Several feet away Bond spots a stainless steel bucket besides the belt. He has enough play in his straps to swing his legs and jam both feet into the bucket. Then he swings his legs back onto the belt the instant before his foot reaches the knives of the shredder. The knives shatter as they hit the bucket. Bond falls through the shredder miraculously unscathed.

A fight breaks out as Pam catches up to Bond. She shoots Dario, who falls into the shredder. A foot chase ensues, with Bond and Pam ending up in the auditorium where Joe Butcher is doing his television broadcast. Leiter, still watching on TV, recognizes Bond. Security guards break into the auditorium and Leiter’s TV feed is interrupted. An explosion breaks out.

Bond now moves to delay a convoy of trucks containing cocaine in gasoline, with Pam flying a plane. A long description follows. The treatment includes how many of the Asian group are arrested at Acapulco, where the convoy was headed.

Bond and Sanchez have their final meeting. As in the final film, Sanchez prepares to decapitate Bond with a machete. Except, in the treatment, Bond uses a flare he took from a truck emergency box. “He thrusts burning flare into Sanchez’ face,” the treatment says. “Sanchez’ clothes, drenched in gasoline, ignite, turning him into a human torch.”

The next scene takes place at the “Mexican fiesta Acapulco.”

The scene plays out somewhat differently than the final film. We’re told, “It seems Lupe has found her true vocation taking care of Leiter.” (!) Then, Q (!) tells Bond that M wants him back “at once for re-assignment.”

During the scene, Pam is wearing her leather vest. Pam says Bond needs R&R before reporting back for duty. She asks Bond: “Why don’t you buy a yacht for a three month sail on the Caribbean with me”?

Bond asks what they will do for money

Pam opens one of the padded sections of her vest, containing “packets of hundred dollar bills.”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you put all that cash in the decompression chamber, did you? I’m a practical woman.”

At this point, after all the violence, Bond has one bad arm. He tells Pam he won’t be of much use with one arm.

“For what I have in mind, you won’t need your hands,” Pam says.

THE END

About that Daniel Craig LAT interview

Daniel Craig’s 007

Daniel Craig, after a five-film run as James Bond, reflected on his 007 run (Casino Royale through No Time to Die) in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Whatever your feelings about those five movies, the LAT interview showed the 54-year-old actor has mixed feelings. An excerpt:

“It’s my fault because I kind of didn’t shut up about the fact that I had all these injuries. I’m pissed off at myself that I ever even spoke about them,” Craig said. “I put way more work into the creative side of those movies than I did into the physical side of those movies. The physical side of the movies was just the job. I had to do it. I trained, learned the fights, that’s kind of my brain not working. The rest of it, the look, the feel, the kind of the temperature of the movies, getting Sam Mendes in to direct ‘Skyfall,’ that’s where the hard work was. Going to the gym is hard work, but it’s not really brain hard work.”

Craig endured numerous injuries. He also had unprecedented input (compared to previous actors employed by Eon Productions) into the plot and other aspects of the movies.

The actor, a year after No Time to Die came out, claims it was his idea for his version of Bond to be killed.

“Two things, one for myself and one for the franchise,” Craig said. “One, for the franchise, was that resets start again, which [the franchise] did with me. And I was like, ‘Well, you need to reset again.’ So let’s kill my character off and go find another Bond and go find another story. Start at [age] 23, start at 25, start at 30.

To be sure, there’s a lot of after-the-fact story telling before and after a movie comes out. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” which is a line from 1962’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance. That’s still the case in the 21st century.

Quotes from Craig’s interviews have split Bond movie fans. Craig fans say that shows why he’s a great actor. Craig critics cite this why he’s selfish.

Whatever. It remains to be seen whether Eon gets on with the business of a post-Craig era.

Licence to Kill treatment: A bumpy flight

Timothy Dalton’s gunbarrel

Continuing a serialization of a Licence to Kill treatment by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson in 1988. Treatment provided by Gary J. Firuta.

By page 41 of the treatment, Pam “has obviously fallen for Bond in a big way.”

At this point, Pam and Q are in the hotel suite in Isthmus City.

“Q gives her a stiff upper lip English pep talk,” according to the treatment. “No one has ever gotten the best of Bond and no one ever will. She tells him to shut up and let her think.”

Just then, Bond calls. “He is standing at the pay phone in the casino dressed in Dr. Mendez’ overcoat, dark glasses and hat. Lupe is at the bar as a look out.”

Bond tells Pam she “should get down to the airport and find out where Sanchez is taking the oriental group they saw at the casino the other night. She should also make sure their plane is ready for a quick get away.”

Over the next few pages, the demise of Milton Krest at the hands of Sanchez is described. It’s similar to what would be in the final film. The main difference is one of Sanchez’ lackeys realizes this was set up by Bond.

Later, there are other bits, including Q making a phony passport for Lupe.

The sequence is more complicated than the final product. There’s this bit about Q: The quartermaster “never knew how much fun in the field.” Pam puts the intercom to “listen.”

Bond wants to finish the job the dead Hong Kong agents took on to take out Sanchez. He, Pam and Lupe are on a plane t try to intercept Sanchez.

“Lupe now in a silk robe, joins Bond. ‘James, what will be do? Franz will follow us. Kill us.”

“Not if I get him first,” Bond replies.

Pam listens on the intercom as Bond and Lupe get closer. Pam switches the intercom to “talk.” “Please fasten your seat belts. We’re about to go through some turbulence.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Sam Mendes makes his Bond film case

Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes has made points about his two-film tenure in the James Bond film series. Some are new, some provide new twists.

The director, in a Nov. 8 story by The Hollywood Reporter, made new versions of previous comments about his time on Skyfall and SPECTRE, the only Bond films made during the 2010s.

The Skyfall delay was good! Bond 23, which would become Skyfall, originally was to be written by Peter Morgan and the writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

Bond’s home studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, entered bankruptcy in 2010, resulting in delays. An excerpt from the THR story:

Mendes and his collaborators used the downtime as an opportunity to creatively resuscitate the film’s storyline.

Morgan exited the project while Mendes brought in writer John Logan to rework the scripting by Purvis and Wade. Mendes has said that process helped the film and he repeats that in the new THR story.

Skyfall was the first time acknowledging that Bond aged: Skyfall “acknowledged the passage of time, arguably for the first time ever, in the series. It acknowledged that they are mortal, that they are going to age and probably die,” Mendes told THR.

Arguably, no it wasn’t. When Sean Connery did interviews for Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, he said he was playing Bond as older. In For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore’s Bond goes to the gravesite of his late wife Tracy. That movie came out in 1981 but Tracy’s headstone says she died in 1969 (the year On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was released). Lois Maxwell’s Moneypenny in 1983’s Octopussy acknowledged being older.

For more details, CLICK HERE.

SPECTRE was something else: The director didn’t get additional time for 2015’s SPECTRE.

With SPECTRE, “that time was not afforded to me,” Mendes told THR. “[With Spectre], I felt there was some pressure. Certainly Barbara (Broccoli) and Michael (G. Wilson) exerted some pressure on me and Daniel to make the next one, so that makes a big difference. People saying: ‘We want you to do it,’ and passionately wooing me to do it, was a big thing.”

Of course, Mendes could have said no. In 2015, Mendes told the BBC he almost turned SPECTRE down. “I said no to the last one and then ended up doing it, and was pilloried by all my friends,” Mendes told the BBC. “But I do think this is probably it.”

While not referenced by THR, SPECTRE also saw entire scripts made public because of hacks into Sony’s computer system. (Sony released four of the five Daniel Craig 007 films.) In addition to scripts, details about tax breaks from Mexico for SPECTRE became public. With SPECTRE, the writing team of Purvis and Wade was brought in to rewrite John Logan.