Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristian
I'm seriously blown away. I've been writing screenplays for years (hoping to establish an indie company when I retire in 4 years) and a huge Bond Fan since I was four. I never expected to bump into a guy like you on gfy of all places. The original movies are, by far, my favorites. To actually have been there, literally a part of movie history, must be a wonderful feeling. I dont think it matters what you did. It would just be cool to have been there, seen it, and then kind of watched the movies the way you might a documentary.
What I like most about the originals is the verisimilitude of the Bond universe. I watched Die Another Day again last night (enjoyed it, great movie) and it's a good example of the changing Bond universe. After watching the movie I realized I disliked only one scene : Bond surfing on a 40-foot tidal wave. It was a mixture of cg, live action and blue screens. It looked wonderful but the problem was that it was impossible in our universe (we need only see the making of the foreshadowing opening surf scene to see the life and death complexity). What used to work about Bond was that he operated in our universe and, yet, he had enough luck, skill and composure to carry off some amazing stunts that might actually be possible. The introduction of cg-intensive filmmaking and a more fantastical Bond universe serves, in my opinion, only to lessen the emotional impact.
Anyway, thats why I prefer the older movies. I should drink less coffee.  |
Hehe... small world!
Have you been writing for specific projects or speculative? Used to quite like collaborating on scripting - character development and motivational stuff (it's also the cheapest and coolest part of any project process - ya can change the whole scenario and it costs only time - it's like therapy!! When shooting starts it's kinda costly
)
Agree on the Bond movies - the original one's appear more dated, but if you analyise the storyline and see how they were made (for peanuts) - there was a "magic" that pulled them together. Hard to say what that magic was - at that time there were the usual old detective movies, but Bond hit a new angle on them. Hard to say how much Sean's image in the role contributed - he was not exactly an experienced actor and suspect it was just the clean-cut, sharp, possibly threatening, charming, suave image - when he got a suit on and cleaned up.
Whatever it was - it worked well. Tho they planned to shoot with Cary Grant in the role, I doubt that could be pulled off to be the same success and go on for decades. Sure as hell neither Harry Saltzman or Cubby Broccoli had a clue it would be so successful.
It may be the odd "icon moments" helped - stuff like images of Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in Dr No. The "signature scene" at the gaming tables which established the classic Bond introduction -
Bond: I admire your courage, Miss?
Sylvia: Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr ?
Bond (casually lighting his cigarette): Bond - James Bond
Shoot that with anyone else and it would be have just been an introduction - we remember Bond's line, who remembers Sylvia Trench? Doubt Terence Young actually contrived that scene to be as it turned out, but he sure milked it afterwards.
It is interesting watch the "cream" of a profession work - not that I'd rate Bond crew as cream, tho a number have a very strong track record. From a scripting angle, best I knew of was David Lean (now departed) - he worked for years on each script and would visually know exactly how his movie will appear on screen before it was even shot. If there was a small element missing on a scene - he'd do whatever to make sure it was introduced - (example... wanted a headscarf blowing in the wind as a girl in an open-top car drove thru a marketplace. That headscarf was *forced* to fucking blow correctly
)
Was lucky to have the privilege of being lectured by David and a fair number of other experienced professionals at that time. Another was Don Siegel, (prob best known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Dirty Harry movies tho started as a TV dir with Wagon Train etc), - Don's sole aim in life was to finish all projects on schedule. He claimed that was the only reason he ever got employed
The dir of the National Film School was another classic case - tho totally pissed by noon and a total conman when it came to raising finance for his movies (he was in the diplomatic corp, so prob got well-trained). He put together another "icon classic" - the Third Man with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton..
I'm not sure that caliber of people in the movie biz are around any longer - tho, there are some
But they are very interesting from a writer's angle to listen to - a wealth of information.