lets hope this and other Fleming rarities get published one day so we all can read them
but I thought Moonraker started as a film proposal then Fleming rewrote it to be his third novel? this is a change to what I know of Fleming history
In 1956, a year after the Moonraker novel was published, Fleming wrote his own 150-page film treatment...
ah, I see Andrew Lycett says this in the final paragraph
“Fleming wrote to [Alexander Korda] about his third novel – still to be written – which would be Moonraker. He said it was ‘an expansion of a film story I’ve had in my mind since the war’. This was ‘a straight thriller with particularly English but also general appeal, allowing for some wonderful film settings’. He then went to Jamaica to write the book, which came out the following spring.”
so always envisioned for a film but the novel came first. and like Casino Royale, a plot he'd had in mind since the war.
and here's a previously unseen Fleming character:
A Cockney card sharp called Tosh – a special branch officer working undercover – is one of a new cast of characters who take on the villain Hugo Drax.
The Moonraker script has long been my holy grail of Fleming items, ever since I read about it in Lycett's biography 27 years ago. For decades its whereabouts were completely unknown, and it was feared forever lost, until it turned up as a listing in Ian Fleming and James Bond: Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection. Earlier this month 120 of the collection's Bond-related film scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, storyboards and film treatments were jointly offered for sale by the London-based rare book dealers Peter Harrington and Adrian Harrington Rare Books for £500,000. Apparently those dealers have acquired all the Bond items in the Schøyen Collection, which numbers close to 600 items. [Source: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/james-bond-screenplays-scripts-more-offer-ny-antiquarian-book-fair]
I'm guessing Fleming's Moonraker script is part of the larger collection that has been held back from sale. Jon Gilbert, who catalogued the collection and works for Adrian Harrington Books, will probably the man who decides what to do with the script. He has worked with the Fleming family at Queen Anne Press, which published Ian Fleming: The Notes and Ian Fleming: The Bibliography (by Gilbert), so it's possible the script might be published as a collector's edition there. Hopefully at an affordable price...
I recently learned that the October 2024 issue of MI6 Confidential magazine has an article on Fleming's 1956 Moonraker script. Today I purchased the issue online, and after it arrives I'll let everyone know if it's worthwhile.
One clue that Fleming devised Moonraker as a film first and foremost is that the villain Sir Hugo Drax is an international celebrity, along the lines of Elon Musk or Richard Branson, but this deviates from the usual Fleming villain, who - when we read the book - for all we know may actually exist in real life. But with a 'famous' villain, well, we know he can't exist and the whole thing is mega fiction. The films generally adhere to this, with imo poor exceptions - Elliot Carver, well we know he doesn't exist, and the one in DAD, again - like, who? Admittedly the adult might know of the likes of Stromberg in Spy and the Hugo Drax of the film MR, but I'm not sure any of the others would make the news pages, even if in just the business section.
Another factor is that Tosh in the screenplay has that jokey vibe that we also see in the Thunderball novel with the cabbie who cheerfully briefs Bond on the way to Shrublands, these are movie scenes albeit a bit naff and corny, a bit Talking Pictures TV era. In the 60s films it's clear the humour comes from Bond himself and not the side characters providing the focus of the comedy - except, perhaps tellingly, Rowan Atkinson in the Thunderball remake NSNA.
I've received the issue, read it, and recommend that everyone interested buy a copy. I could have done without the five paragraph summary of the novel, but the nine paragraph discussion of the screenplay's contents is definitely worth the price of the magazine. Fleming included some nice surprises, which I won't spoil for the folks here. The author of the article is Ajay Chowdhury, who co-wrote the excellent Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. I had the honor of meeting him in London several years ago.
Barbel
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It certainly is an interesting read - thanks 🍸
excellent new find @Barbel
lets hope this and other Fleming rarities get published one day so we all can read them
but I thought Moonraker started as a film proposal then Fleming rewrote it to be his third novel? this is a change to what I know of Fleming history
In 1956, a year after the Moonraker novel was published, Fleming wrote his own 150-page film treatment...
ah, I see Andrew Lycett says this in the final paragraph
“Fleming wrote to [Alexander Korda] about his third novel – still to be written – which would be Moonraker. He said it was ‘an expansion of a film story I’ve had in my mind since the war’. This was ‘a straight thriller with particularly English but also general appeal, allowing for some wonderful film settings’. He then went to Jamaica to write the book, which came out the following spring.”
so always envisioned for a film but the novel came first. and like Casino Royale, a plot he'd had in mind since the war.
and here's a previously unseen Fleming character:
A Cockney card sharp called Tosh – a special branch officer working undercover – is one of a new cast of characters who take on the villain Hugo Drax.
The Moonraker script has long been my holy grail of Fleming items, ever since I read about it in Lycett's biography 27 years ago. For decades its whereabouts were completely unknown, and it was feared forever lost, until it turned up as a listing in Ian Fleming and James Bond: Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection. Earlier this month 120 of the collection's Bond-related film scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, storyboards and film treatments were jointly offered for sale by the London-based rare book dealers Peter Harrington and Adrian Harrington Rare Books for £500,000. Apparently those dealers have acquired all the Bond items in the Schøyen Collection, which numbers close to 600 items. [Source: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/james-bond-screenplays-scripts-more-offer-ny-antiquarian-book-fair]
I'm guessing Fleming's Moonraker script is part of the larger collection that has been held back from sale. Jon Gilbert, who catalogued the collection and works for Adrian Harrington Books, will probably the man who decides what to do with the script. He has worked with the Fleming family at Queen Anne Press, which published Ian Fleming: The Notes and Ian Fleming: The Bibliography (by Gilbert), so it's possible the script might be published as a collector's edition there. Hopefully at an affordable price...
Very interesting. Thanks for this.
It would be a shame if it wasn't published. I'm sure it'll be fascinating reading.
I recently learned that the October 2024 issue of MI6 Confidential magazine has an article on Fleming's 1956 Moonraker script. Today I purchased the issue online, and after it arrives I'll let everyone know if it's worthwhile.
Sounds interesting, looking forward to hearing more about this.
One clue that Fleming devised Moonraker as a film first and foremost is that the villain Sir Hugo Drax is an international celebrity, along the lines of Elon Musk or Richard Branson, but this deviates from the usual Fleming villain, who - when we read the book - for all we know may actually exist in real life. But with a 'famous' villain, well, we know he can't exist and the whole thing is mega fiction. The films generally adhere to this, with imo poor exceptions - Elliot Carver, well we know he doesn't exist, and the one in DAD, again - like, who? Admittedly the adult might know of the likes of Stromberg in Spy and the Hugo Drax of the film MR, but I'm not sure any of the others would make the news pages, even if in just the business section.
Another factor is that Tosh in the screenplay has that jokey vibe that we also see in the Thunderball novel with the cabbie who cheerfully briefs Bond on the way to Shrublands, these are movie scenes albeit a bit naff and corny, a bit Talking Pictures TV era. In the 60s films it's clear the humour comes from Bond himself and not the side characters providing the focus of the comedy - except, perhaps tellingly, Rowan Atkinson in the Thunderball remake NSNA.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I've received the issue, read it, and recommend that everyone interested buy a copy. I could have done without the five paragraph summary of the novel, but the nine paragraph discussion of the screenplay's contents is definitely worth the price of the magazine. Fleming included some nice surprises, which I won't spoil for the folks here. The author of the article is Ajay Chowdhury, who co-wrote the excellent Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. I had the honor of meeting him in London several years ago.