...I don't remember the novel that well, wasn't it Blofeld who brought them there? That was part of his insanity at that point, so that part doesn't have to be realistic.
'Bondo-san, it is not as easy as that. I had better begin at the beginning. In January of this year, there entered the country, quite legally, a gentleman by the name of Doctor Guntram Shatterhand. He was accompanied by Frau Emmy Shatterhand, born de Bedon. They had Swiss passports and the doctor described himself as a horticulturalist and botanist specializing in sub-tropical species. He carried high references from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, Kew Gardens, and other authorities, but these were couched in rather nebulous terms. He quickly got in touch with the equivalent authorities in Japan and with experts in the Ministry of Agriculture, and these gentlemen were astonished and delighted to learn that Doctor Shatterhand was prepared to spend no less than one million pounds on establishing an exotic garden or park in this country which he would stock with a priceless collection of rare plants and shrubs from all over the world. These he would import at his own expense in a sufficient state of maturity to allow his park to be planted with the minimum of delay - an extremely expensive procedure if you know anything about horticulture.'
PAN edition, pg 61
he should actually say "...one! ...million! ...pounds!"
of course, because it sounds cool.
in Dr No, Connery and Andress should have burst out laughing, and then when Connery caught his breath he could say "one million poundsh? for thish? shurly you jesht? you idiot, itsh jusht a goldfish bowl with a magnifying glash! you were shcammed!!"
Neil Callow confirms to CNN that he will return as an art director on B25. He worked as art director on SF and SPECTRE too. He was stand-by art director on QoS and CR.
Olivier Schneider will be supervising stunt coordinator. He worked on The Rythm Section, Child 44 and many other films, mostly French.
He was fight choreographer on SPECTRE.
I hope I'm not repeating old News ...
Yes, you are on Callow, but not Schneider. Was that also stated on the CNN report?
As for Mark Strong, I think he'd be great. As Blofeld or any other villain. Or maybe he's 008?
No, Schneider is on Bond25's imdb listing. MI6community mentioned another source too, but I can't remember it now.
Other than Hodges the crew members are people who's worked on Bond movies before, not Boyle's old crews.
So, Mark Strong as Blofeld as Bellatrix LeStrage actress as Irma Bunt? The Garden Of Death? Likely or unlikely?
You’re really keen on Garden of Death for 25 aren’t you Jarvio? There’s always the possibility but I think a lot of the elements of the Garden of Death are a little bit too far-fetched for one of Craig’s films, seeing as they all seem to stick to a fairly high level of realism...and man eating plants might be slightly out of place there.
(Kidding about the man-eating plants, but still think the garden and its inclusions wouldn’t work for a Craig movie, especially his last one.)
I'm very keen. I just think it would make for an excellent, different idea that stands out and is not the same old stuff.
I see your point about it being a bit out there for a DC film, but as Number 24 correctly said, it's not really unrealistic, and yes there is a Japanese forest that is basically a real-life garden of death.
Still, I'd love to see it in the DC era because of the whole Blofeld thing, and DC finishing off Blofeld.
Any version of the book scene would likely be updated for contemporary times -- there could be ordinary poisonous plants along with genetically engineered ones, and beyond the various fauna that might threaten Bond, Blofeld could have drones and other technology.
For my tastes, though, the elements should invoke what Fleming so often did -- the strange and deadly from the natural world. Too much reliance on technology leaves me cold, but so does hyper-realism. A balance might work.
Where the current folks goofed is in resurrecting Blofeld and not doing anything significant with him. In previous incarnations, he's a carefully defined but still broad character, but while Spectre chose to define him further (in a silly, silly way), it discounted the broadness. If any character could have brought an over-the-top quality to Craig's Bond films, it was Blofeld, but instead of running with that, Mendes and the writers created a fairly run-of-the-mill "supervillain" with the silly, silly fraternal twist.
The irony is they could have kept Craig's Bond rooted in the "realism" of his Bond films while confronting all manner of strange and deadly contrivances from Blofeld, who would be the source of the fantasy elements. Bond would have been off-balance throughout the film by the sheer audacity of his enemy, which would be a little different than Connery's Bond who seemed to more easily accept the audacity of the villains as being a natural part of the espionage world (perhaps because Q branch represented a counterbalance in terms of outlandish solutions to spy problems).
If despite denials they choose to bring Blofeld back, I would hope they move in this direction. We don't need throwaway elements like invisible cars or whatever but a structure to the story that lets the imagination have some fun, too. Bond at his best is still escapism, and nearly all of Craig's Bonds have worked hard to avoid escaping much. I'd like to see Craig go out in a big, loud, entertaining Bond. It doesn't have to be campy or sci fi, but it's okay to let Bond face a different sort of enemy than he has in the previous films.
Any version of the book scene would likely be updated for contemporary times -- there could be ordinary poisonous plants along with genetically engineered ones, and beyond the various fauna that might threaten Bond, Blofeld could have drones and other technology.
For my tastes, though, the elements should invoke what Fleming so often did -- the strange and deadly from the natural world. Too much reliance on technology leaves me cold, but so does hyper-realism. A balance might work.
good point about Fleming and the natural world. That garden was another manifestation of his interest in ecology, which usually we saw in the underwater sequences. But also with the bird sanctuary in Dr No (and Honeychile Rider's whole back-story). Then Scaramanga's long drawn out death scene in the mangrove swamp.
Fleming liked to show us the weirdest aspects of the natural world, and it was all true. (in real life he hung out with Jacques Cousteau). Weird nature was the starting point of many of his novels, the plots were built around those scenes.
We don't see enough of that stuff in the films. Not since, when, the aquarium shootout in Licence to Kill?
The closest we've seen in a Craig film is the komodo dragon in Skyfall, and that didn't seem too realistic (there was a scorpion in that film too).
If they're going to claim these new films are closer to the spirit of Fleming, weird nature is something that was actually really important to how Fleming told stories, that they could be using.
Absolutely. But ever since Star Wars showed that spectacle could outdo anything the real world had to offer, filmmakers have been trying to one-up each other with some special effects manifestation or another rather than offer insight into the real world we live in. No, that's not to say such fantasy elements weren't there before but to acknowledge that their importance in big budget films escalated. The real world, by comparison, became rather mundane.
Fleming basically wrote adult fairy tales, drifting from that premise occasionally to give Bond a harder edge. That's why they work so well as both escapism and spy novels. He tapped into something in the psyche that wanted both. He wasn't the only one, of course. Plenty of movies and TV shows of the era and before did the same thing. But Fleming managed to capture a world that could be both accessible and wondrous. As the Bond films left the 1960s, though, they lost most of that quality. They were either outright fantastic (Moonraker) or hard-edged (For Your Eyes Only).
By the Craig era, the move toward hard-edged was even greater, so much so, they're not quite sure how to steer things back.
No, Schneider is on Bond25's imdb listing. MI6community mentioned another source too, but I can't remember it now.
Other than Hodges the crew members are people who's worked on Bond movies before, not Boyle's old crews.
How is IMDB updated? It also has a Lee Morrison as stunt coordinator and he worked on Spectre, according to IMDB, and there is also a Leigh Gettens as a cost assistant, whatever that job is?
How is IMDB updated? It also has a Lee Morrison as stunt coordinator and he worked on Spectre, according to IMDB, and there is also a Leigh Gettens as a cost assistant, whatever that job is?
Basically, you have to be an IMDb member--it's pretty easy: just sign up--and then make an entry or correction. It then goes to a moderator or moderators who decide if the entry stays. Like all wikis, you take what you get. . .
I hope those are correct because they are experienced Bond crew members. But these are not the crew members I'm most interested in. I particularely want to know who the DoP and composer are.
I am not actually as concerned about who the DP is because there are so many good ones out there who could do justice to a Bond film. It's not like if Roger Deakins doesn't come back for Bond 25 all is lost. Bond films attract outstanding DP's, Bond 25 will not be the exception. The composer is a different story IMO. First I will admit I tend to have a bit of a narrow view on this subject. The score of a Bond film is important and it needs to be a "Bond score" not a generic action film score or a score only reflective of the personal style of a particular composer. The last two scores by Thomas Newman scores had a couple "Bond moments". Newman, while a gifted film composer was the wrong choice for Bond. The obvious choice for me would be David Arnold or Michael Giacchino. But I would be open to anyone who could capture the "Bond Style" ie the John Barry influence.
I am not actually as concerned about who the DP is because there are so many good ones out there who could do justice to a Bond film. It's not like if Roger Deakins doesn't come back for Bond 25 all is lost. Bond films attract outstanding DP's, Bond 25 will not be the exception. The composer is a different story IMO. First I will admit I tend to have a bit of a narrow view on this subject. The score of a Bond film is important and it needs to be a "Bond score" not a generic action film score or a score only reflective of the personal style of a particular composer. The last two scores by Thomas Newman scores had a couple "Bond moments". Newman, while a gifted film composer was the wrong choice for Bond. The obvious choice for me would be David Arnold or Michael Giacchino. But I would be open to anyone who could capture the "Bond Style" ie the John Barry influence.
Yes, I'm also more interested in the score, probably more than anything else. Newman's scores simply didn't get the job done. I'm not so much interested in a John Barry pastiche as I am in a composer who understand what Barry did and can write music that accomplishes the same things that Barry's scores did, even if it's in a different style. Newman's scores didn't do for the films what Barry's did. But I will say that a Barry pastiche would be better than what Newman and Serra did for Bond.
Newman replacing Arnold was really a shame because IMO Arnold had just produced his two best Bond scores with CR and QOS (in which Arnold was able to overcome a crappy theme song that was barely included in the overall score). Boyle does not appear to have a go to composer for his films, so I do hold out hope for Arnold's return.
Newman replacing Arnold was really a shame because IMO Arnold had just produced his two best Bond scores with CR and QOS (in which Arnold was able to overcome a crappy theme song that was barely included in the overall score). Boyle does not appear to have a go to composer for his films, so I do hold out hope for Arnold's return.
James Bond Radio have claimed that David Arnold and Danny Boyle have spoken, but didn't say how they know.
Newman replacing Arnold was really a shame because IMO Arnold had just produced his two best Bond scores with CR and QOS (in which Arnold was able to overcome a crappy theme song that was barely included in the overall score). Boyle does not appear to have a go to composer for his films, so I do hold out hope for Arnold's return.
James Bond Radio have claimed that David Arnold and Danny Boyle have spoken, but didn't say how they know.
If many of these rumours come true, with proposed
Actors and Arnold back in place. I'll be one happy
Bond Fan......... or Happier Bond Fan, than I usually am
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Newman replacing Arnold was really a shame because IMO Arnold had just produced his two best Bond scores with CR and QOS (in which Arnold was able to overcome a crappy theme song that was barely included in the overall score). Boyle does not appear to have a go to composer for his films, so I do hold out hope for Arnold's return.
James Bond Radio have claimed that David Arnold and Danny Boyle have spoken, but didn't say how they know.
Whoever the composer is I hope they integrate a bombastic rendition of the Bond theme during an action scene and dont relegate the full use of the theme until the end credits like all of Craig's other films. I know Newman's scores are mostly derided here within reason but I thought he incorporated the Bond theme brilliantly in Skyfall. Whereas Spectre there were moments begging for a full rendition of the theme.
...The composer is a different story IMO. First I will admit I tend to have a bit of a narrow view on this subject. The score of a Bond film is important and it needs to be a "Bond score" not a generic action film score or a score only reflective of the personal style of a particular composer. The last two scores by Thomas Newman scores had a couple "Bond moments". Newman, while a gifted film composer was the wrong choice for Bond. The obvious choice for me would be David Arnold or Michael Giacchino. But I would be open to anyone who could capture the "Bond Style" ie the John Barry influence.
having just geeked out in glee to Incredibles 2, I very much want Giacchino. He invoked the vibe we want much better than any official Bond score I've heard in decades. And he achieved the thing where the score could tell the story even if you watched the movie with your eyes closed.
Someone needs to take Boyle to watch Incredibles 2 before he gets too far into this film. And maybe once he appreciates how a Bond score should sound, he can reverse engineer the ideal Bond film that deserves to go with such toonage.
I also just saw Incredibles 2 (hilarious - the baby steals the movie) and yes, the score was just great, he would probably do a great job on a Bond score. I also have had a lot of problems with the other composers after Barry. I can play any of his scores over and over and not tire of them. In fact, they are so iconic and easy to remember note for note I can replay almost any track in my head from any of his Bond scores - and I believe that is because he was just that great a composer (not just because he would repeat a motif many times within a track and add an additional instrument one at a time to build tension). He was brilliant at creating a memorable theme for a scene and thats what I find lacking in the other composers. I will admit that Bill Conti came close to doing this with many of his FYEO tracks - but I wasn't really a fan of his overuse of 70's dated electric guitar riffs and much of his music sounded too much like his horn blarring scores from films like Rocky. It just didn't seem to fit into Bond's universe for me personally. I realise that composers want to bring their style to film projects - but Barry made his Bond sound so iconic to the series that I don't think anyone would find fault if a new composer did their best to emulate his style.
Perhaps with the Star Wars story film composers scoring in the style of John Williams, perhaps it's not unreasonable for Bond to go back to using scores that sound like John Barry.
I can play any of his scores over and over and not tire of them. In fact, they are so iconic and easy to remember note for note I can replay almost any track in my head from any of his Bond scores - and I believe that is because he was just that great a composer (not just because he would repeat a motif many times within a track and add an additional instrument one at a time to build tension). He was brilliant at creating a memorable theme for a scene
Perhaps with the Star Wars story film composers scoring in the style of John Williams, perhaps it's not unreasonable for Bond to go back to using scores that sound like John Barry.
That's a perfect example of what I think would work best for Bond. IMO, David Arnold did a good job of invoking classic Barry in his own compositions without being a poor imitator. I wouldn't have a problem with Arnold incorporating more classic Barry but not an overuse of the Bond theme; the Bond theme in its purist form should be saved for big moments. I also would love to hear the classic "007" action theme back in a Bond score also. I don't think we have heard any of "007" since YOLT.
Perhaps with the Star Wars story film composers scoring in the style of John Williams, perhaps it's not unreasonable for Bond to go back to using scores that sound like John Barry.
That's a perfect example of what I think would work best for Bond. IMO, David Arnold did a good job of invoking classic Barry in his own compositions without being a poor imitator. I wouldn't have a problem with Arnold incorporating more classic Barry but not an overuse of the Bond theme; the Bond theme in its purist form should be saved for big moments. I also would love to hear the classic "007" action theme back in a Bond score also. I don't think we have heard any of "007" since YOLT.
We heard "007" twice since then: DAF and MR. I would welcome its return.
I like that Arnold took many elements of Barry's scores, updated them and made them his own. That's what a good Bond composer should do. I would not want a Bond score that sounds like The Incredibles. I love those scores, but they sound more like Bond than Bond scores themselves ever did. It exaggerates the elements that Barry used to define the Bond sound in the 1960s. Even Barry moved away from that after Connery left the role and redefined the Bond sound when Moore came on board. Arnold did the same for Brosnan and Craig.
Comments
" One million dollars, Mr Bond "
in Dr No, Connery and Andress should have burst out laughing, and then when Connery caught his breath he could say "one million poundsh? for thish? shurly you jesht? you idiot, itsh jusht a goldfish bowl with a magnifying glash! you were shcammed!!"
Yes, you are on Callow, but not Schneider. Was that also stated on the CNN report?
As for Mark Strong, I think he'd be great. As Blofeld or any other villain. Or maybe he's 008?
Other than Hodges the crew members are people who's worked on Bond movies before, not Boyle's old crews.
For my tastes, though, the elements should invoke what Fleming so often did -- the strange and deadly from the natural world. Too much reliance on technology leaves me cold, but so does hyper-realism. A balance might work.
Where the current folks goofed is in resurrecting Blofeld and not doing anything significant with him. In previous incarnations, he's a carefully defined but still broad character, but while Spectre chose to define him further (in a silly, silly way), it discounted the broadness. If any character could have brought an over-the-top quality to Craig's Bond films, it was Blofeld, but instead of running with that, Mendes and the writers created a fairly run-of-the-mill "supervillain" with the silly, silly fraternal twist.
The irony is they could have kept Craig's Bond rooted in the "realism" of his Bond films while confronting all manner of strange and deadly contrivances from Blofeld, who would be the source of the fantasy elements. Bond would have been off-balance throughout the film by the sheer audacity of his enemy, which would be a little different than Connery's Bond who seemed to more easily accept the audacity of the villains as being a natural part of the espionage world (perhaps because Q branch represented a counterbalance in terms of outlandish solutions to spy problems).
If despite denials they choose to bring Blofeld back, I would hope they move in this direction. We don't need throwaway elements like invisible cars or whatever but a structure to the story that lets the imagination have some fun, too. Bond at his best is still escapism, and nearly all of Craig's Bonds have worked hard to avoid escaping much. I'd like to see Craig go out in a big, loud, entertaining Bond. It doesn't have to be campy or sci fi, but it's okay to let Bond face a different sort of enemy than he has in the previous films.
Fleming liked to show us the weirdest aspects of the natural world, and it was all true. (in real life he hung out with Jacques Cousteau). Weird nature was the starting point of many of his novels, the plots were built around those scenes.
We don't see enough of that stuff in the films. Not since, when, the aquarium shootout in Licence to Kill?
The closest we've seen in a Craig film is the komodo dragon in Skyfall, and that didn't seem too realistic (there was a scorpion in that film too).
If they're going to claim these new films are closer to the spirit of Fleming, weird nature is something that was actually really important to how Fleming told stories, that they could be using.
Fleming basically wrote adult fairy tales, drifting from that premise occasionally to give Bond a harder edge. That's why they work so well as both escapism and spy novels. He tapped into something in the psyche that wanted both. He wasn't the only one, of course. Plenty of movies and TV shows of the era and before did the same thing. But Fleming managed to capture a world that could be both accessible and wondrous. As the Bond films left the 1960s, though, they lost most of that quality. They were either outright fantastic (Moonraker) or hard-edged (For Your Eyes Only).
By the Craig era, the move toward hard-edged was even greater, so much so, they're not quite sure how to steer things back.
How is IMDB updated? It also has a Lee Morrison as stunt coordinator and he worked on Spectre, according to IMDB, and there is also a Leigh Gettens as a cost assistant, whatever that job is?
Basically, you have to be an IMDb member--it's pretty easy: just sign up--and then make an entry or correction. It then goes to a moderator or moderators who decide if the entry stays. Like all wikis, you take what you get. . .
Yes, I'm also more interested in the score, probably more than anything else. Newman's scores simply didn't get the job done. I'm not so much interested in a John Barry pastiche as I am in a composer who understand what Barry did and can write music that accomplishes the same things that Barry's scores did, even if it's in a different style. Newman's scores didn't do for the films what Barry's did. But I will say that a Barry pastiche would be better than what Newman and Serra did for Bond.
James Bond Radio have claimed that David Arnold and Danny Boyle have spoken, but didn't say how they know.
Remember Arnold worked with Danny Boyle on the Olympics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_-eVLjRJ8o
Actors and Arnold back in place. I'll be one happy
Bond Fan......... or Happier Bond Fan, than I usually am
Someone needs to take Boyle to watch Incredibles 2 before he gets too far into this film. And maybe once he appreciates how a Bond score should sound, he can reverse engineer the ideal Bond film that deserves to go with such toonage.
Couldn't agree more.
That's a perfect example of what I think would work best for Bond. IMO, David Arnold did a good job of invoking classic Barry in his own compositions without being a poor imitator. I wouldn't have a problem with Arnold incorporating more classic Barry but not an overuse of the Bond theme; the Bond theme in its purist form should be saved for big moments. I also would love to hear the classic "007" action theme back in a Bond score also. I don't think we have heard any of "007" since YOLT.
We heard "007" twice since then: DAF and MR. I would welcome its return.
I like that Arnold took many elements of Barry's scores, updated them and made them his own. That's what a good Bond composer should do. I would not want a Bond score that sounds like The Incredibles. I love those scores, but they sound more like Bond than Bond scores themselves ever did. It exaggerates the elements that Barry used to define the Bond sound in the 1960s. Even Barry moved away from that after Connery left the role and redefined the Bond sound when Moore came on board. Arnold did the same for Brosnan and Craig.