interesting, I didnt know about this writer. he contributed some of the best remembered lines in Goldeneye and the entirety of its followup. (I'm not surprised to learn the two producers are looking over his shoulder the whole time telling him to change this and that)
I feel like some of the important ideas he's suggested didnt come through in the final film, especially the Paris stuff. whereas that motorcycle chase (my favourite action sequence of the four Brosnans) and others like out seem to have squeezed out most of the character stuff that could have been unique to this movie.
But this interview gives us clues as to where Bond met Paris before! they once ended up floating on a raft off the Seychelles! wow thats a major clue to imagining an Unseen Mission. But you know what else? the Seychelles was the location for Fleming's Hildebrant Rarity story. so is Paris Carver the cinematic version of Liz Krest? in which case, she has very bad luck with the men she marries
Interview with Judi Dench from TND Technical Journal (1997)
It’s hardly surprising that when the producers of the James Bond series were looking for an actor of stature to assume the role of M in GoldenEye, they decided to cast Dame Judi Dench, one of the most celebrated talents in the British theater. Dench turned out to be the perfect choice to play Bond’s no-nonsense boss at MI6.
Seeing the new M take charge, there’s no doubt that Dench is a fitting replacement for the late Bernard Lee and Robert Brown, who previously played Bond’s boss. “Contrary to popular belief,” the actress insists, “just because Stella Rimington suddenly became the head of MI6 [in reality in Britain], everybody didn’t immediately think, ‘Oh yes, what a good idea to get a woman to be M!’ In actual fact, Bruce Feirstein, who also cowrote GoldenEye, thought of it before. He thought M should be a woman, so they went to my agent and asked, ‘Would she be interested?’ and I absolutely jumped at it.”
Without question, the defining moment for Dench’s M is the scene when she first reads Bond the riot act, informing him, “’I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War’... was very happy with it,” agrees Dench, of that now-classic 007 moment. “That was the first thing I read for the character, and it was wonderful stuff. Bruce is a wonderful writer. He has a wonderful ear and a great sense of humor, and that’s always important.”
Becoming a fixture in the Bond series may be one of the biggest departures for Dench, who has earned more than two dozen awards in a career that has spanned four decades. It would be almost impossible to note all her theater credits, which include Mother Courage, Waste, Antony and Cleopatra, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Absolute Hell and many others. Her latest film is Mrs. Brown, in which she gives an acclaimed portrayal of Queen Victoria.
When the role of M was first offered, Dench admits to slight trepidation. “I was nervous at first, but [GoldenEye director] Martin Campbell is a very friendly, accessible person—nobody to be frightened of in any way. So after the first day, I felt completely at ease. Martin knows the theater very well, and that made a huge difference.”
Another major consideration was Pierce Brosnan, who was also joining the series and had a great deal more pressure on him as the new Bond. “That's true, but he was such perfect casting choice. He’s such a calm, capable man, and has a great sense of humor, which is why he makes such a wonderful Bond. He has that wonderful tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, that kind of irony. Pierce is a gentle, lovely person. He’s wonderful to work with.”
Dench had no hesitation about reprising M in Tomorrow Never Dies. One of the highlights was a reunion of sorts with Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Admiral Roebuck. They had worked together on several occasions, notably on the long-running British comedy series As Time Goes By.
Although Dench hasn't had a great deal of screen time as M, she has a pretty good idea about what motivates this character. “Everybody does that, you work out your own scenario and exactly what you think that person is like. It’s exactly the same process as the theater: You have to work out what makes that person tick, why they behave the way they do, what kind of home life they have; you do that with every part you do. It’s all the same process, but it’s much rarer for me to do films, so I’m afraid I’m not so skilled at it as I feel I can be in the theater.”
And how does Dench see the character of M? The answer takes a moment to put into words. “It’s difficult to explain,” she says, “because I’ve just opened with a different character at the National Theater, so I’m playing somebody else now. I know that M has a home life and children who are grown up. I know she lives between London and the country and that she goes to that office every day. I know the kind of set-up she has at home and I think I know what kind of person she is. She’s actually quite vulnerable, but she’s also a person who has a very good mind; otherwise, she’s not going to hang on to that job in such a competitive, man’s world.”
By a strange coincidence, Dench has managed to keep her Bond connection going after Tomorrow Never Dies—so to speak. After finishing the film, she went on to appear in the David Hare play, Amy's View with Samantha (Moneypenney) Bond. “I’ve directed her before, too,” says Dench. “It is strange, because you don’t look at that person in any way like the last character, because they’re so totally different.”
After Amy's View, the actress will reteam with Palmer once again for another season of As Time Goes By, followed by a TV film and some work with theater giant Sir Peter Hall. As for the next Bond film, Judi Dench is more than willing for M to take command again. “I hope it happens, because it has been thrilling to do, but we'll wait and see. I think if one is very keen on making films, they would be excited, but it’s something I don’t really know about. I’m still in a learning process, so Ill always have a go at something.”
END OF INTERVIEW
I know it’s probably irrational but I find Judi Dench a one-trick pony. She is exactly the same in every role she plays. How she has amassed so many awards is beyond comprehension. It’s maybe the reason why I’m so dismissive of the Brosnan/Craig era in that she ruins the whole set-up. The script writers are to blame, of course, as Dench’s version of M clearly has no love for Bond - Bernard Lee and Robert Brown both displayed an ultimate warmth for Bond even if at times they were exasperated with his antics, but Dench’s version openly dislikes him in many of the films, even endangering his life. It’s the opposite of the M/Bond relationship that Fleming wrote about in the novels, and for me, this ruins the films.
As for the interview, it’s good. Judi Dench explains how she approached the role and the work she put in to find the character as written in the screenplay. It’s the script that is wrong, trying to emulate Margaret Thatcher’s “Iron Lady” persona, whereas a warmer character was required, oh how we missed you, Richard Maibaum.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I definitely agree about missing Mr Maibaum (I'm looking at you, P&W) but M does warm to Bond over the course of Dench's tenure. He has to keep proving himself to her in the Craig films which is rather repetitive (hello again, P&W) and I for one don't believe the handwave that she's playing two different characters despite the small indications that she is.
It's a good interview. I am pleased she praised Brosnan - although given she is promoting TND you wouldn't expect otherwise - the comment is quite perceptive. I always felt Brosnan is a halfway house between Connery's ironic turn and Moore's impish wit.
Harking back again to my very fortunate late mother. She saw Dench as Juliet at the RSC in the 1950s [was that Dame Judi's RSC debut?] and years later when I questioned why she watched stuff like As Time GoesBy, she told me how brilliant Dench was, her affectation, delivery and responses. She was and I quote "theatrically charismatic". Thanks, Mum.
I enjoy Dench in the first two Brosnan films and again in Craig's debut, after that she spends too long in the field and for me frequently distracts from OO7 being the focus of the story.
DenchM gives BrosnanBond a hard time in their first film, which is the first meeting of the two characters. I think they work together well after that first scene, but their first meeting establishes her character as one who is able to control the dialog from the start, and keep her subordinate on the defensive. and of course Bond was mocking her behind her back, never a good way to begin a relationship with a new boss.
By the start of the second film she is supporting him in the face of challenge from British and American military types, asserting what he is doing is "his job", and her attitude is the same in the third.
Whats interesting in TND is that she specifically assigns Bond to seduce the villains wife, despite critiquing him as a misogynist one film earlier: she now sees his overactive sex life as being strategic to national security, that too is part of his job. She is effectively pimping her agent at this point, exploiting his sexuality to get a larger mission done. and interesting that we see this from Bonds point of view as a more human question: to seduce Paris will be to endanger the life of a real person he knows. He is not approaching their inevitable night together as a bonus thrill for the sake of King and Country, as ConneryBond and MooreBond both did. we see this in Brosnans eyes as M gives him his orders
in Die Another Day she is negative towards Bond because she has to assume he has talked while under torture and is no further use as an agent. That is a special case, after appreciating and exploiting his talents in the previous two films. And does reinforce once again just how cold and calculating her version of M is.
I do think in the Craig films she plays the character differently. This version of M is more tentative and error-prone. and she puts entirely too much trust in CraigBond since he screws up everything he is assigned. Not surprising he gets her killed in the end.
Interview with Samantha Bond from TND Technical Journal (1997)
If there’s one thing you can depend on in any James Bond film, it’s Moneypenny, M’s ever-able assistant, being around to trade barbs and double entendres with Agent 007. Once again, the role is played by the aptly-named Samantha Bond, who joined the James Bond cast with GoldenEye, taking over for Caroline Bliss who played Moneypenny in the previous two films, and Lois Maxwell in the first 14 007 adventures.
For Bond, a veteran stage actress, taking on Moneypenny meant becoming a part of British pop culture. “That’s a very good way of putting it, actually,” she says. “There you are, with no disrespect to anyone, in the smallest part you've ever played in your life, and that’s what people want to talk to you about and that’s what impresses people and stops conversations at dinner parties. It’s a very strange feeling, and you do take on this mantle of responsibility.”
With countless theater productions to her credit, including A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, The Ends of the Earth and Three Tall Women to name only a few, being cast as the resourceful Moneypenny in GoldenEye meant a total departure for Samantha Bond. “Most of my work is in classical theater, so this was a bit different for me. It just happened like any job happened: I was called for an interview, I had a recall, and they offered me the role.
“Having said that, I felt very ambivalent about the first one, because you look at the part and a little bit of you can’t help wondering if you’re not tying an albatross around your neck, because from then on, that’s who you are. Miss Moneypenny. It’s what Lois Maxwell is still most famous for; I’ve met Lois and can’t honestly say I know what else she has ever done.
“Now, because everything didn’t grind to a halt after GoldenEye— the rest of my career has gone on and I’ve done very well—I now feel relaxed about that side of it. It’s just that initial thought of, ‘What am I doing here? Do you think it’s going to open any doors in America?’ and you keep saying, ‘Well, it hasn’t done that for any of the others, and I don’t think it will for me.’ It’s a double-edged sword, because you’re thrown into the forefront of consciousness, and at the same time, you’re being thrown there because you are being someone else.”
After the success of GoldenEye, it seemed almost inevitable that Bond would be asked to reprise her role in Tomorrow Never Dies, but the actress says it didn’t happen overnight. “They’re very funny, because you know it’s happening, but because you're a regular, you don’t get the call until about two weeks before you start work. I suppose they just take that risk, and because it’s only a small part, they would be able to work around whatever you were doing.
“This one was nicer for me, because with GoldenEye, I literally went in and worked for about two hours and then went home. It wasn’t until the film opened in London and it was such a good film, that I suddenly felt like part of this Bond family that they all talk about. I was so thrilled with it, and I was thrilled for Pierce Brosnan and [producer] Barbara Broccoli that it had gone that well.
“This time, I was around much more; I got to be in the studio and on location and then Moneypenny was suddenly put into a scene at the film’s end, so I was around with them much more, and that’s a nicer feeling even if you don’t say any more. You feel more a part of it.” After finishing her work on Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond continued her relationship with the series in a somewhat indirect fashion: She and Judi (M) Dench were reunited for a critically acclaimed National Theater production of the David Hare drama Amy's View. The play was sold out from the very beginning, but the actress admits that more than one of those seats has been booked by an avid James Bond aficionado. “Judi directed me [in a West End production of Much Ado About Nothing]; that’s going back nearly 10 years, and we’ve done radio plays together. The first stage work we’ve done together is now; this is the first time we’ve ever done proper acting together, as opposed to on radio or screen. It went very well indeed,” Samantha Bond says. “Everyone seems very moved by it, which is good, and yet so many people who've come to see Judi and me in the play have seen GoldenEye. The American support for British theater is phenomenal, so there are a whole lot of people who will know her, but even then they’ll be saying, ‘Oh, and she’s M!’
It's very weird.”
END OF INTERVIEW
I can’t remember if @Barbel has done a Samantha Bond “pacing-up-and-down-waiting-for-the-phone-to-ring” sketch, but it seems like it really does happen 😂
She’s not very complimentary towards the lovely Lois Maxwell and I remember reading in another article where she was rather nasty in saying that she wouldn’t outstay her welcome as Moneypenny, in a barbed comment about the length of Lois’s reign in the role. She’s also quite full of herself and I’m not particularly enamoured with her perceived self importance as an actress.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
An interesting interview. Samantha Bond is my least favourite Moneypenny of all. There is something too starchy about her. It is like watching M and Mini-Me M. And as for that dreadful scene at the end of DAD - I know it is hardly her fault, she didn't write it, but still - unforgiveable. She is very uncomplimentary about Lois Maxwell so to straighten the books, as it were, I would like to say on record that I know Lois featured in numerous sixties & seventies TV series, such as The Saint, UFO and The Persuaders. If my memory serves me correct, she has a small role in Kubrick's Lolita. I can think of nothing Ms Bond has done other than four OO7 films.
I'm reading Kim Sherwood's Double or Nothing Bond book or non-Bond book, and it seems Moneypenny has been promoted into an almost M-type role, one could only really see Bond's Moneypenny doing that for better or worse. I agree she's a mini M at times.
I struggled a bit with Ferstein, I do kind of see these characters as somehow getting to sit at the top table not entirely due to merit. Some of his quotes that never made the cut, I don't rate them at all, another one was a reference by M to 'hollowed out volcanos' it's too knowing, too self-referential for my tastes. Plus, the reason his Hong Kong media baron story went through so many rewrites is that someone clocked late in the day that it was too topical, the issue of the imminent handover or Hong Kong would date it quickly and secondly - plus what is something did go off during it, you are a hostage to fortune, or misfortune. This does seem to be an issue with the films since Cubby departed, they don't seem to think ahead and rewrites have to be one very late in the day.
In a latter to Starburst I had printed about GoldenEye I asked, who ever cares about satellites unless it's Rupert Murdoch? In my egocentric way I wondered if that was the inspiration for TND - though if so I'm today sat writing on a Bond forum while I take it Mister Ferstein is not.
also Lois Maxwell is in Operation Kid Brother/OK Connery playing Moneypenny in all but name, she gets more to do in that film than any official BondFilm
also in a season 1 episode of Danger Man where she plays a field agent, and a Cathy Gale era Avengers where she machine guns a classroom full of gangsters
she used to write a column in the Toronto Sun (entitled "Miss Moneypenny") when I was a we lad. I dont remember what she wrote about, but the Toronto Sun has always been a right wing populist tabloid, so we might not have been in agreement on the issues of the day
Samantha Bond's Moneypenny is like a scolding big sister "for your information, you have to do what M tells you to because she's the boss and I'm her favourite, so nyahh". Her final appearance is not only in poor taste, but completely out of character for that version of Moneypenny
You can add TheHaunting (one of the best British horror movies ever) to that as well, and on tv, TheAvengers, Randall&Hopkirk (Deceased) and DepartmentS, as well as some Gerry Anderson voice work too.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Interview with Harry Saltzman in Films & Filming - September 1969
Edited to remove a lot of detail about obscure foreign movies and his view on the (then) modern world.
Although Harry Saltzman is best known as the co-producer (with Albert Broccoli) of the James Bond series, and as the producer of The Ipcress File, Billion Dollar Brain, Play Dirty and Battle of Britain, he has also helped to finance less commercial films. Among these have been Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, Vittorio de Sica's A Young World and A Man Called John. He was one of the founders of Woodfall, the company which revitalised the British film industry in the late 1950s with films such as Look Back in Anger, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Entertainer.
Over the past ten years, what have been the main changes in production, particularly in the way that films are now set up?
We were operating on a relatively hand-to-mouth basis until Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, then everything became easier for myself and Tony Richardson, for everybody. But in the years that have passed, the entire nature of the business has changed. The independent producer is not the curiosity he was when we started. The independent is now the rule rather than the exception. All the major companies live on the products of independent producers, so you don't have to be a trail-blazer any more. If you've got a property, a director and an actor and you have what they call a track record, there's no problem putting the picture together financially. I think the problem is what you make and the audience acceptance of it. This has changed drastically. There are no rules as to what the public will go to see. You have on one end of the scale a Disney picture called The Love Bug, which is doing incredibly big business, and it's a medium-budget film; and on the other end of the scale you have I Am Curious (Yellow), which is pure pornography.
How does this work in relation to what you're doing now?
Well, I don't make pornography. We're story-tellers, we're troubadours, and I think you have to tell a story well. I don't think people care whether it's Paul Newman, Marlon Brando or an unknown John Jones...I don't think stars mean that much to the box office. They don't guarantee a success anymore. The proof of that is a picture like The Comedians, which had Burton, Alec Guinness and half-a-dozen other names.
On Her Majesty's Secret Serviceis the first Bond film where you're not using Sean Connery. And you've got a director making his first feature.
I'm very excited about it. The picture looks tremendous, the biggest of all the Bonds in its physical size. It's also got the best story. Peter Hunt edited all the Bond films and directed the second unit on You Only Live Twice. He's done an incredible job and George Lazenby looks sensational.
How did you first decide to do a James Bond film? Did the success of the first one surprise you?
It surprised me terribly. It surprised Cubby Broccoli as much. I felt it was a period -- 1960 -- when realism and the kitchen sink was getting out of hand, and I felt we had to go back to entertainment. I wanted to do excitement pictures, adventure pictures. If you're doing contemporary work you have to reflect your times...and we live in an age of violence -- more so today than in 1960. 1960 was a pretty violent time and James Bond reflects the hero; he's the Tarzan of today. When Edgar Rice Burroughs brought out Tarzan the world was calm and peaceful. He was indeed the superman. But today he's very naive. Bond is today's Tarzan: he lives around violence, he begets violence. Voltaire said, 250 years ago, that humanity is not yet complete. It is more apt today. We're a very crude mutant life-form; we're more intelligent than a lot of other animals, but we haven't yet reached any sense of understanding of our own selves. We are born violently and we live violently and die violently, and we're products of our own violence -- we make our own violence. We've learned to do so many things, we can't control ourselves. As picture-makers, we mirror: we reflect our modes, our society. Look at the prose in literature in the last five years -- dreadful. How many writers do you know who write the kind of thing you'd like to take away and have a happy afternoon, lying quietly reading? Nabakov is one of the few you can read through and enjoy. He sets up a train of thought and you think. There's very little escapism.
What about your future projects?
I'm making a film called Tomorrow at the moment. Then I'm doing The Dancer, the story of Nijinsky, with Nureyev. And Tussy Is Me, which is the story of Eleanor Marks, who started the Labour Movement in this country. There's also His Brother's Keeper, which I hope to do with Peter O'Toole and Michael Caine. All the scripts are in preparation. Edward Bond is writing The Dancer, David Cregan is doing Tussy Is Me, and Clive Exton is writing His Brother's Keeper. I also have a book called The Becker Case by Andy Loganwhich I hope to have Lee Marvin and Michael Caine in. This is 1970-71. Then I'm preparing a big Western in Canada which Andre de Toth is going to direct, with George Lazenby starring. These are relatively high budget pictures. The French operation is next year's big picture, The Circus Starts At Ten, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Delphine Seyrig. The director is Michel Deville, who did Benjamin.
Which of your films has given you the most satisfaction?
Look Back in Anger, but From Russia With Love is the picture I liked the best. I think Battle of Britain gives me a lot of satisfaction, especially if it gets the public acceptance which I am sure it will get. The films I'm looking forward to more than anything are Tussy Is Me and The Dancer. I feel that these are two very important subjects and stories. There's a kind of feeling among a lot of people in the film industry that the public are not intelligent. I think the public are more intelligent today. They're so close to the dramatic things that they see on television, hour after hour, day in and day out, that when they come and put down their hard cash to see a picture you know it's good -- whether it's a Bullitt or a Bond or a Romeo and Juliet. Newspapers and critics don't influence them -- they shop for a picture today, they have a sense of value. It's uncanny the way they'll smoke out a good film no matter how it's received by the press or how it's presented. You can open them in toilets in back streets and they'll ferret them out. I respect the people who come to see motion pictures: the public to me are not eleven-year-old morons. I think Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-made films of recent times.
END OF INTERVIEW
The thing that interests me most is the proposed western with George Lazenby, I have never heard of this before. Did any of his other projects see the light of day? It’s plain to see that he had fingers in too many pies and his financial woes were due to overstretching himself much to far. Those projects must have been costing him a fortune in preparation, what with retaining scriptwriters, directors etc.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
this is interesting because we usually get the story from a Broccoli-centric point of view. I wish he'd gone into more detail why he chose to buy the rights to Flemings books. My understanding is Broccoli wanted to buy the rights but found this other producer already had them and didnt know what to do with them, and Broccoli did have concrete ideas thus the two formed their partnership. So why'd Saltzman buy these rights in the first place if he didnt have a plan?
EDIT: @Barbel youre going to have to revise all your Imaginary Conversations where Saltzmans the embarrassing loudmouth Broccoli keeps trying to shush
@caractacus potts too much like hard work! I'm not sure yet whether or not this will affect any future Imaginary Conversations in which Saltzman may appear but my characterisation of him has been informed by recollections from such as John Barry and George Martin, who were of course committed musicians attempting to deal with a totally non- musical producer and did not have fond memories of their interactions with him.
Comments
I've always loved TND and that was a valuable (to me, anyway) and involving talk with Feirstein. Lots of details.
interesting, I didnt know about this writer. he contributed some of the best remembered lines in Goldeneye and the entirety of its followup. (I'm not surprised to learn the two producers are looking over his shoulder the whole time telling him to change this and that)
I feel like some of the important ideas he's suggested didnt come through in the final film, especially the Paris stuff. whereas that motorcycle chase (my favourite action sequence of the four Brosnans) and others like out seem to have squeezed out most of the character stuff that could have been unique to this movie.
But this interview gives us clues as to where Bond met Paris before! they once ended up floating on a raft off the Seychelles! wow thats a major clue to imagining an Unseen Mission. But you know what else? the Seychelles was the location for Fleming's Hildebrant Rarity story. so is Paris Carver the cinematic version of Liz Krest? in which case, she has very bad luck with the men she marries
Great interview - thanks!
Interview with Judi Dench from TND Technical Journal (1997)
It’s hardly surprising that when the producers of the James Bond series were looking for an actor of stature to assume the role of M in GoldenEye, they decided to cast Dame Judi Dench, one of the most celebrated talents in the British theater. Dench turned out to be the perfect choice to play Bond’s no-nonsense boss at MI6.
Seeing the new M take charge, there’s no doubt that Dench is a fitting replacement for the late Bernard Lee and Robert Brown, who previously played Bond’s boss. “Contrary to popular belief,” the actress insists, “just because Stella Rimington suddenly became the head of MI6 [in reality in Britain], everybody didn’t immediately think, ‘Oh yes, what a good idea to get a woman to be M!’ In actual fact, Bruce Feirstein, who also cowrote GoldenEye, thought of it before. He thought M should be a woman, so they went to my agent and asked, ‘Would she be interested?’ and I absolutely jumped at it.”
Without question, the defining moment for Dench’s M is the scene when she first reads Bond the riot act, informing him, “’I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War’... was very happy with it,” agrees Dench, of that now-classic 007 moment. “That was the first thing I read for the character, and it was wonderful stuff. Bruce is a wonderful writer. He has a wonderful ear and a great sense of humor, and that’s always important.”
Becoming a fixture in the Bond series may be one of the biggest departures for Dench, who has earned more than two dozen awards in a career that has spanned four decades. It would be almost impossible to note all her theater credits, which include Mother Courage, Waste, Antony and Cleopatra, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Absolute Hell and many others. Her latest film is Mrs. Brown, in which she gives an acclaimed portrayal of Queen Victoria.
When the role of M was first offered, Dench admits to slight trepidation. “I was nervous at first, but [GoldenEye director] Martin Campbell is a very friendly, accessible person—nobody to be frightened of in any way. So after the first day, I felt completely at ease. Martin knows the theater very well, and that made a huge difference.”
Another major consideration was Pierce Brosnan, who was also joining the series and had a great deal more pressure on him as the new Bond. “That's true, but he was such perfect casting choice. He’s such a calm, capable man, and has a great sense of humor, which is why he makes such a wonderful Bond. He has that wonderful tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, that kind of irony. Pierce is a gentle, lovely person. He’s wonderful to work with.”
Dench had no hesitation about reprising M in Tomorrow Never Dies. One of the highlights was a reunion of sorts with Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Admiral Roebuck. They had worked together on several occasions, notably on the long-running British comedy series As Time Goes By.
Although Dench hasn't had a great deal of screen time as M, she has a pretty good idea about what motivates this character. “Everybody does that, you work out your own scenario and exactly what you think that person is like. It’s exactly the same process as the theater: You have to work out what makes that person tick, why they behave the way they do, what kind of home life they have; you do that with every part you do. It’s all the same process, but it’s much rarer for me to do films, so I’m afraid I’m not so skilled at it as I feel I can be in the theater.”
And how does Dench see the character of M? The answer takes a moment to put into words. “It’s difficult to explain,” she says, “because I’ve just opened with a different character at the National Theater, so I’m playing somebody else now. I know that M has a home life and children who are grown up. I know she lives between London and the country and that she goes to that office every day. I know the kind of set-up she has at home and I think I know what kind of person she is. She’s actually quite vulnerable, but she’s also a person who has a very good mind; otherwise, she’s not going to hang on to that job in such a competitive, man’s world.”
By a strange coincidence, Dench has managed to keep her Bond connection going after Tomorrow Never Dies—so to speak. After finishing the film, she went on to appear in the David Hare play, Amy's View with Samantha (Moneypenney) Bond. “I’ve directed her before, too,” says Dench. “It is strange, because you don’t look at that person in any way like the last character, because they’re so totally different.”
After Amy's View, the actress will reteam with Palmer once again for another season of As Time Goes By, followed by a TV film and some work with theater giant Sir Peter Hall. As for the next Bond film, Judi Dench is more than willing for M to take command again. “I hope it happens, because it has been thrilling to do, but we'll wait and see. I think if one is very keen on making films, they would be excited, but it’s something I don’t really know about. I’m still in a learning process, so Ill always have a go at something.”
END OF INTERVIEW
I know it’s probably irrational but I find Judi Dench a one-trick pony. She is exactly the same in every role she plays. How she has amassed so many awards is beyond comprehension. It’s maybe the reason why I’m so dismissive of the Brosnan/Craig era in that she ruins the whole set-up. The script writers are to blame, of course, as Dench’s version of M clearly has no love for Bond - Bernard Lee and Robert Brown both displayed an ultimate warmth for Bond even if at times they were exasperated with his antics, but Dench’s version openly dislikes him in many of the films, even endangering his life. It’s the opposite of the M/Bond relationship that Fleming wrote about in the novels, and for me, this ruins the films.
As for the interview, it’s good. Judi Dench explains how she approached the role and the work she put in to find the character as written in the screenplay. It’s the script that is wrong, trying to emulate Margaret Thatcher’s “Iron Lady” persona, whereas a warmer character was required, oh how we missed you, Richard Maibaum.
I definitely agree about missing Mr Maibaum (I'm looking at you, P&W) but M does warm to Bond over the course of Dench's tenure. He has to keep proving himself to her in the Craig films which is rather repetitive (hello again, P&W) and I for one don't believe the handwave that she's playing two different characters despite the small indications that she is.
It's a good interview. I am pleased she praised Brosnan - although given she is promoting TND you wouldn't expect otherwise - the comment is quite perceptive. I always felt Brosnan is a halfway house between Connery's ironic turn and Moore's impish wit.
Harking back again to my very fortunate late mother. She saw Dench as Juliet at the RSC in the 1950s [was that Dame Judi's RSC debut?] and years later when I questioned why she watched stuff like As Time Goes By, she told me how brilliant Dench was, her affectation, delivery and responses. She was and I quote "theatrically charismatic". Thanks, Mum.
I enjoy Dench in the first two Brosnan films and again in Craig's debut, after that she spends too long in the field and for me frequently distracts from OO7 being the focus of the story.
DenchM gives BrosnanBond a hard time in their first film, which is the first meeting of the two characters. I think they work together well after that first scene, but their first meeting establishes her character as one who is able to control the dialog from the start, and keep her subordinate on the defensive. and of course Bond was mocking her behind her back, never a good way to begin a relationship with a new boss.
By the start of the second film she is supporting him in the face of challenge from British and American military types, asserting what he is doing is "his job", and her attitude is the same in the third.
Whats interesting in TND is that she specifically assigns Bond to seduce the villains wife, despite critiquing him as a misogynist one film earlier: she now sees his overactive sex life as being strategic to national security, that too is part of his job. She is effectively pimping her agent at this point, exploiting his sexuality to get a larger mission done. and interesting that we see this from Bonds point of view as a more human question: to seduce Paris will be to endanger the life of a real person he knows. He is not approaching their inevitable night together as a bonus thrill for the sake of King and Country, as ConneryBond and MooreBond both did. we see this in Brosnans eyes as M gives him his orders
in Die Another Day she is negative towards Bond because she has to assume he has talked while under torture and is no further use as an agent. That is a special case, after appreciating and exploiting his talents in the previous two films. And does reinforce once again just how cold and calculating her version of M is.
I do think in the Craig films she plays the character differently. This version of M is more tentative and error-prone. and she puts entirely too much trust in CraigBond since he screws up everything he is assigned. Not surprising he gets her killed in the end.
Interview with Samantha Bond from TND Technical Journal (1997)
If there’s one thing you can depend on in any James Bond film, it’s Moneypenny, M’s ever-able assistant, being around to trade barbs and double entendres with Agent 007. Once again, the role is played by the aptly-named Samantha Bond, who joined the James Bond cast with GoldenEye, taking over for Caroline Bliss who played Moneypenny in the previous two films, and Lois Maxwell in the first 14 007 adventures.
For Bond, a veteran stage actress, taking on Moneypenny meant becoming a part of British pop culture. “That’s a very good way of putting it, actually,” she says. “There you are, with no disrespect to anyone, in the smallest part you've ever played in your life, and that’s what people want to talk to you about and that’s what impresses people and stops conversations at dinner parties. It’s a very strange feeling, and you do take on this mantle of responsibility.”
With countless theater productions to her credit, including A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, The Ends of the Earth and Three Tall Women to name only a few, being cast as the resourceful Moneypenny in GoldenEye meant a total departure for Samantha Bond. “Most of my work is in classical theater, so this was a bit different for me. It just happened like any job happened: I was called for an interview, I had a recall, and they offered me the role.
“Having said that, I felt very ambivalent about the first one, because you look at the part and a little bit of you can’t help wondering if you’re not tying an albatross around your neck, because from then on, that’s who you are. Miss Moneypenny. It’s what Lois Maxwell is still most famous for; I’ve met Lois and can’t honestly say I know what else she has ever done.
“Now, because everything didn’t grind to a halt after GoldenEye— the rest of my career has gone on and I’ve done very well—I now feel relaxed about that side of it. It’s just that initial thought of, ‘What am I doing here? Do you think it’s going to open any doors in America?’ and you keep saying, ‘Well, it hasn’t done that for any of the others, and I don’t think it will for me.’ It’s a double-edged sword, because you’re thrown into the forefront of consciousness, and at the same time, you’re being thrown there because you are being someone else.”
After the success of GoldenEye, it seemed almost inevitable that Bond would be asked to reprise her role in Tomorrow Never Dies, but the actress says it didn’t happen overnight. “They’re very funny, because you know it’s happening, but because you're a regular, you don’t get the call until about two weeks before you start work. I suppose they just take that risk, and because it’s only a small part, they would be able to work around whatever you were doing.
“This one was nicer for me, because with GoldenEye, I literally went in and worked for about two hours and then went home. It wasn’t until the film opened in London and it was such a good film, that I suddenly felt like part of this Bond family that they all talk about. I was so thrilled with it, and I was thrilled for Pierce Brosnan and [producer] Barbara Broccoli that it had gone that well.
“This time, I was around much more; I got to be in the studio and on location and then Moneypenny was suddenly put into a scene at the film’s end, so I was around with them much more, and that’s a nicer feeling even if you don’t say any more. You feel more a part of it.” After finishing her work on Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond continued her relationship with the series in a somewhat indirect fashion: She and Judi (M) Dench were reunited for a critically acclaimed National Theater production of the David Hare drama Amy's View. The play was sold out from the very beginning, but the actress admits that more than one of those seats has been booked by an avid James Bond aficionado. “Judi directed me [in a West End production of Much Ado About Nothing]; that’s going back nearly 10 years, and we’ve done radio plays together. The first stage work we’ve done together is now; this is the first time we’ve ever done proper acting together, as opposed to on radio or screen. It went very well indeed,” Samantha Bond says. “Everyone seems very moved by it, which is good, and yet so many people who've come to see Judi and me in the play have seen GoldenEye. The American support for British theater is phenomenal, so there are a whole lot of people who will know her, but even then they’ll be saying, ‘Oh, and she’s M!’
It's very weird.”
END OF INTERVIEW
I can’t remember if @Barbel has done a Samantha Bond “pacing-up-and-down-waiting-for-the-phone-to-ring” sketch, but it seems like it really does happen 😂
She’s not very complimentary towards the lovely Lois Maxwell and I remember reading in another article where she was rather nasty in saying that she wouldn’t outstay her welcome as Moneypenny, in a barbed comment about the length of Lois’s reign in the role. She’s also quite full of herself and I’m not particularly enamoured with her perceived self importance as an actress.
Thanks for that, @CoolHandBond, and yes, I have done exactly that sketch. 😁
An interesting interview. Samantha Bond is my least favourite Moneypenny of all. There is something too starchy about her. It is like watching M and Mini-Me M. And as for that dreadful scene at the end of DAD - I know it is hardly her fault, she didn't write it, but still - unforgiveable. She is very uncomplimentary about Lois Maxwell so to straighten the books, as it were, I would like to say on record that I know Lois featured in numerous sixties & seventies TV series, such as The Saint, UFO and The Persuaders. If my memory serves me correct, she has a small role in Kubrick's Lolita. I can think of nothing Ms Bond has done other than four OO7 films.
I'm reading Kim Sherwood's Double or Nothing Bond book or non-Bond book, and it seems Moneypenny has been promoted into an almost M-type role, one could only really see Bond's Moneypenny doing that for better or worse. I agree she's a mini M at times.
I struggled a bit with Ferstein, I do kind of see these characters as somehow getting to sit at the top table not entirely due to merit. Some of his quotes that never made the cut, I don't rate them at all, another one was a reference by M to 'hollowed out volcanos' it's too knowing, too self-referential for my tastes. Plus, the reason his Hong Kong media baron story went through so many rewrites is that someone clocked late in the day that it was too topical, the issue of the imminent handover or Hong Kong would date it quickly and secondly - plus what is something did go off during it, you are a hostage to fortune, or misfortune. This does seem to be an issue with the films since Cubby departed, they don't seem to think ahead and rewrites have to be one very late in the day.
In a latter to Starburst I had printed about GoldenEye I asked, who ever cares about satellites unless it's Rupert Murdoch? In my egocentric way I wondered if that was the inspiration for TND - though if so I'm today sat writing on a Bond forum while I take it Mister Ferstein is not.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
also Lois Maxwell is in Operation Kid Brother/OK Connery playing Moneypenny in all but name, she gets more to do in that film than any official BondFilm
also in a season 1 episode of Danger Man where she plays a field agent, and a Cathy Gale era Avengers where she machine guns a classroom full of gangsters
she used to write a column in the Toronto Sun (entitled "Miss Moneypenny") when I was a we lad. I dont remember what she wrote about, but the Toronto Sun has always been a right wing populist tabloid, so we might not have been in agreement on the issues of the day
Samantha Bond's Moneypenny is like a scolding big sister "for your information, you have to do what M tells you to because she's the boss and I'm her favourite, so nyahh". Her final appearance is not only in poor taste, but completely out of character for that version of Moneypenny
You can add The Haunting (one of the best British horror movies ever) to that as well, and on tv, The Avengers, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and Department S, as well as some Gerry Anderson voice work too.
Anyone know what Ms Bond has been doing for a career then.... ?
Interview with Harry Saltzman in Films & Filming - September 1969
Edited to remove a lot of detail about obscure foreign movies and his view on the (then) modern world.
Although Harry Saltzman is best known as the co-producer (with Albert Broccoli) of the James Bond series, and as the producer of The Ipcress File, Billion Dollar Brain, Play Dirty and Battle of Britain, he has also helped to finance less commercial films. Among these have been Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, Vittorio de Sica's A Young World and A Man Called John. He was one of the founders of Woodfall, the company which revitalised the British film industry in the late 1950s with films such as Look Back in Anger, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Entertainer.
Over the past ten years, what have been the main changes in production, particularly in the way that films are now set up?
We were operating on a relatively hand-to-mouth basis until Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, then everything became easier for myself and Tony Richardson, for everybody. But in the years that have passed, the entire nature of the business has changed. The independent producer is not the curiosity he was when we started. The independent is now the rule rather than the exception. All the major companies live on the products of independent producers, so you don't have to be a trail-blazer any more. If you've got a property, a director and an actor and you have what they call a track record, there's no problem putting the picture together financially. I think the problem is what you make and the audience acceptance of it. This has changed drastically. There are no rules as to what the public will go to see. You have on one end of the scale a Disney picture called The Love Bug, which is doing incredibly big business, and it's a medium-budget film; and on the other end of the scale you have I Am Curious (Yellow), which is pure pornography.
How does this work in relation to what you're doing now?
Well, I don't make pornography. We're story-tellers, we're troubadours, and I think you have to tell a story well. I don't think people care whether it's Paul Newman, Marlon Brando or an unknown John Jones...I don't think stars mean that much to the box office. They don't guarantee a success anymore. The proof of that is a picture like The Comedians, which had Burton, Alec Guinness and half-a-dozen other names.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the first Bond film where you're not using Sean Connery. And you've got a director making his first feature.
I'm very excited about it. The picture looks tremendous, the biggest of all the Bonds in its physical size. It's also got the best story. Peter Hunt edited all the Bond films and directed the second unit on You Only Live Twice. He's done an incredible job and George Lazenby looks sensational.
How did you first decide to do a James Bond film? Did the success of the first one surprise you?
It surprised me terribly. It surprised Cubby Broccoli as much. I felt it was a period -- 1960 -- when realism and the kitchen sink was getting out of hand, and I felt we had to go back to entertainment. I wanted to do excitement pictures, adventure pictures. If you're doing contemporary work you have to reflect your times...and we live in an age of violence -- more so today than in 1960. 1960 was a pretty violent time and James Bond reflects the hero; he's the Tarzan of today. When Edgar Rice Burroughs brought out Tarzan the world was calm and peaceful. He was indeed the superman. But today he's very naive. Bond is today's Tarzan: he lives around violence, he begets violence. Voltaire said, 250 years ago, that humanity is not yet complete. It is more apt today. We're a very crude mutant life-form; we're more intelligent than a lot of other animals, but we haven't yet reached any sense of understanding of our own selves. We are born violently and we live violently and die violently, and we're products of our own violence -- we make our own violence. We've learned to do so many things, we can't control ourselves. As picture-makers, we mirror: we reflect our modes, our society. Look at the prose in literature in the last five years -- dreadful. How many writers do you know who write the kind of thing you'd like to take away and have a happy afternoon, lying quietly reading? Nabakov is one of the few you can read through and enjoy. He sets up a train of thought and you think. There's very little escapism.
What about your future projects?
I'm making a film called Tomorrow at the moment. Then I'm doing The Dancer, the story of Nijinsky, with Nureyev. And Tussy Is Me, which is the story of Eleanor Marks, who started the Labour Movement in this country. There's also His Brother's Keeper, which I hope to do with Peter O'Toole and Michael Caine. All the scripts are in preparation. Edward Bond is writing The Dancer, David Cregan is doing Tussy Is Me, and Clive Exton is writing His Brother's Keeper. I also have a book called The Becker Case by Andy Loganwhich I hope to have Lee Marvin and Michael Caine in. This is 1970-71. Then I'm preparing a big Western in Canada which Andre de Toth is going to direct, with George Lazenby starring. These are relatively high budget pictures. The French operation is next year's big picture, The Circus Starts At Ten, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Delphine Seyrig. The director is Michel Deville, who did Benjamin.
Which of your films has given you the most satisfaction?
Look Back in Anger, but From Russia With Love is the picture I liked the best. I think Battle of Britain gives me a lot of satisfaction, especially if it gets the public acceptance which I am sure it will get. The films I'm looking forward to more than anything are Tussy Is Me and The Dancer. I feel that these are two very important subjects and stories. There's a kind of feeling among a lot of people in the film industry that the public are not intelligent. I think the public are more intelligent today. They're so close to the dramatic things that they see on television, hour after hour, day in and day out, that when they come and put down their hard cash to see a picture you know it's good -- whether it's a Bullitt or a Bond or a Romeo and Juliet. Newspapers and critics don't influence them -- they shop for a picture today, they have a sense of value. It's uncanny the way they'll smoke out a good film no matter how it's received by the press or how it's presented. You can open them in toilets in back streets and they'll ferret them out. I respect the people who come to see motion pictures: the public to me are not eleven-year-old morons. I think Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-made films of recent times.
END OF INTERVIEW
The thing that interests me most is the proposed western with George Lazenby, I have never heard of this before. Did any of his other projects see the light of day? It’s plain to see that he had fingers in too many pies and his financial woes were due to overstretching himself much to far. Those projects must have been costing him a fortune in preparation, what with retaining scriptwriters, directors etc.
Well, I'm surprised to hear him quoting Voltaire and reading Nabokov! It's revised my impression of him.
he's quite the philosopher!
this is interesting because we usually get the story from a Broccoli-centric point of view. I wish he'd gone into more detail why he chose to buy the rights to Flemings books. My understanding is Broccoli wanted to buy the rights but found this other producer already had them and didnt know what to do with them, and Broccoli did have concrete ideas thus the two formed their partnership. So why'd Saltzman buy these rights in the first place if he didnt have a plan?
EDIT: @Barbel youre going to have to revise all your Imaginary Conversations where Saltzmans the embarrassing loudmouth Broccoli keeps trying to shush
@caractacus potts too much like hard work! I'm not sure yet whether or not this will affect any future Imaginary Conversations in which Saltzman may appear but my characterisation of him has been informed by recollections from such as John Barry and George Martin, who were of course committed musicians attempting to deal with a totally non- musical producer and did not have fond memories of their interactions with him.
Most of those films didn't get made, at least not in the form H.S. is suggesting, right? A very interesting interview.
Some did. "The Dancer" as "Nijinsky", and "Toomorrow" (sic). I believe both flopped.