The Death Collectors: Bond Films that Never Were

And Michael Gough as Q with the movie being directed by Tim Burton
Surely by the time Burton's active Sir Christopher is getting on a bit to play Bond? In 1988 when Beetlejuice was Burton's first hit, Lee would have been 65. Christopher Lee would have been an amazing Bond for the '60s, maybe even early '70s, but even he can't do it as a pensioner. Put another way, he's five years older than Roger Moore.
 
All the other Alt Bonds we've had were considered IOTL, other than Fleming suggesting Lee, his step cousin (Fleming's mother's brother became Lee's stepfather), in 1962, I'm not sure Lee was ever fully considered.
 
TOMORROW NEVER LIES (1996)
James Purefoy IS James Bond


lKASR9L.png


Whatever you say, Mr. Bond. Just remember: ‘Tomorrow’ never lies.
(Sir Elliot Harmsway, 1996)​

As 1994 dawned to a close, the Broccoli family and EON Productions were facing a number of contradictory dilemmas. On one hand, the future of the Bond franchise – once seemingly so grim – offered clear signs of hope after a much needed comeback. On the other, that very same future appeared to be lacking – perhaps excessively so – a clear direction to follow. Back in 1990, the antics of Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti and his takeover of MGM/UA had placed the franchise on hold shortly after the release of the unsuccessful Licence Revoked (1989), forcing EON into an unexpected hiatus as the company sued Parretti to protect its creative assets. Thus, from a production standpoint, Michael G. Wilson and the Broccolis – Barbara and Albert, the latter of which was preparing his retirement – had faced the equivalent of a torturous purgatory, with little end in sight.

However, the collapse of Parretti’s financial empire, the seizure of MGM by Crédit Lyonnais, and the successful outcome of the EON lawsuits across 1992 had all conspired to get things back on track again. The biggest immediate obstacle for the return of 007 had been the complexity of bringing Timothy Dalton back for a third outing, based on Broccoli’s insistence on a return for two to three additional films and Dalton’s steadfast resolve to return for a single film. Having eventually reached a compromise deal, Dalton had made his eventual return on John Woo’s GoldenEye (1994), a mostly well received return after a five-year hiatus which, despite not meeting EON’s high expectations, had at the same time proved James Bond still had a future, and had been easily the most profitable and successful film of the Dalton era. But with neither Dalton – who had faced a tough, grueling production – nor Broccoli – keen to secure a much desired cinematic triumph – fully satisfied with the results, both men amicably chose to end the partnership.

James Bond lived to fight another day, but a new actor and a new approach was needed, both of which were intimidating challenges to overcome. Casting proved especially difficult as early favorites failed to convince EON and the more desirable, high profile options turned down the role, forcing an exhaustive search that extended itself well into 1995. At only 30 years old, English actor James Purefoy was only marginally older than George Lazenby had been after his surprise casting on OHMSS, and was thus initially seen as too young for the role despite an admittedly strong audition. Furthermore, Purefoy was essentially unknown, having only done stage and minor television work up to then. However, as his competition gradually dropped out or was eliminated, Purefoy reportedly secured the role after impressing an ailing Cubby Broccoli in a second screen test. Shortly after his 31st birthday, Purefoy was announced as the next Bond in June 1995, resulting in a flurry of much needed publicity for EON.

On the storyline front, Dalton’s departure led to the leading outline for Bond 18 – a revenge story set in Japan - being discarded. Instead, screenwriter Bruce Feirstein decided on a plot based around the rapidly approaching British handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China. This, it was felt, was both relevant enough and more directly associated with the concept of Britain as a world power than recent plots, even if it opened up the uncomfortable prospect of being, perhaps, a bit too contemporary. Coincidentally, an apocryphal story suggests the producers were concerned enough to approach a number of foreign policy experts to discuss the implications surrounding a handover-based plot, a rumor so outlandish that it suggests Henry Kissinger himself was almost asked for advice at one point. This, while difficult to believe, does hint at EON’s long term desire to avoid political plots that might result in backlash against the finished film.

After being EON’s second option to direct GoldenEye, New Zealander director Martin Campbell was brought in to direct the new project, under the working title “Tomorrow Never Lies”. Additionally, and following an unsuccessful attempt to bring back John Barry, composer David Arnold was brought in to compose the soundtrack. In spite of corporate pressure to choose from a selection of musicians who had submitted a number of alternatives, Arnold prevailed upon MGM to have k.d. lang sing the main theme “Tomorrow Never Lies”, a Shirley Bassey-styled song. Choosing to renew the MI6 cast that had, for the most part, been introduced in GoldenEye, the producers scored a coup by signing up Sir Anthony Hopkins as the film’s main villain, having been unsuccessful to convince him to take on the Augustus Trevelyan role last time around. Despite several changes regarding the eventual Bond girls, Natasha Henstridge and Monica Bellucci were eventually hired to take on the major female roles.

Filming took place across the first half of 1996 in England, Italy and Hong Kong, featuring a rough start for production and a number of challenges – including Hopkins’s mounting dissatisfaction with the script, attempts by MGM to force changes in the storyline, and Purefoy getting acquainted with the role – which were only solved after much work by Campbell and Barbara Broccoli. Sadly, the end of the filming process coincided with Cubby Broccoli’s death of heart failure at age 87, marking the end of an era for the franchise.

Tomorrow Never Lies’s pre-title sequence is set in a terrorist arms bazaar in the Khyber Pass, which is successfully infiltrated by James Bond (James Purefoy) after climbing a dangerous, unstable icefall. Transmitting to MI6 and the Royal Navy, Bond identifies a number of infamous terrorists, including mercenary Stamper (Götz Otto) and nuclear specialist Kim Dae Yung (Calvin Jung). Against M’s (Judi Dench) advice, Admiral Roebuck orders the Royal Navy to fire a cruise missile at the bazaar. Realizing Stamper and Yung are buying uranium, and with the missile unable to be self-destroyed, 007 causes a commotion and, after being unable to prevent both men from fleeing with the material, makes a daring escape in a MIG fighter, narrowly avoiding death. Meanwhile, on the South China Sea, HMS Indomitable leaves Hong Kong carrying several tons of gold as part of the planned evacuation of the island. Taken off course by a satellite, the ship is sunk by an experimental drill called “the worm”, the entire crew massacred in what is made to look like an attack by the Chinese Air Force.

Back in London, Bond learns of the mounting threat of war between China and the UK, with powerful media mogul Sir Elliot Harmsway (Anthony Hopkins) fanning the flames of war via his media empire and his successful newspaper “Tomorrow”. With Stamper having been identified as a potential associate of Harmsway, M orders Bond to investigate the magnate, who is holding a high class party during the Carnival of Venice. Warned that former lover Paris (Monica Bellucci) is now Harmsway’s wife and a potential target for information, Bond attends said party, meeting and briefly flirting with the mysterious Sidney Winch (Natasha Henstridge) before finding and approaching Mrs. Harmsway, who remains resentful over how Bond ended their relationship. Captured and beaten by Stamper due to Elliot Harmsway’s suspicions, Bond escapes and successful disrupts his party, humiliating Harmsway and, after some effort, regaining Paris’s trust. Paris, desperate to leave a loveless marriage, tells Bond that her husband is behind the theft of uranium. After an unsuccessful police raid of Harmsway’s yacht – which is empty -, a frustrated Bond returns to his hotel to find Paris dead in a staged suicide, and narrowly avoids an attempt to be killed as well.

As the tension grows, an angry M orders Bond to suspend the investigation on Harmsway – who has returned to Hong Kong – and focus instead on helping find the Indomitable. Bond flies to the South China Sea and tracks the wreck of the ship, devoid of its cargo and showing signs of entry by the worm drill. While submerged, he once again finds the ambitious Sidney Winch, who, as it turns out, is a protégé of Harmsway and the owner of a marine salvage company. Sidney – who seizes the evidence Bond took from the wreck – fights Bond over her claims of salvage rights, all while the agent tries to persuade her that Harmsway is behind the sinking. Summoned by Harmsway to his Hong Kong HQ, Sidney unwisely reveals what she knows. In a dramatic speech, Harmsway explains how his family built Hong Kong, and states his intention to break into a nuclear power plant, and use the stolen uranium to cause a nuclear meltdown that will turn the city into a barren wasteland. The stolen gold, he adds, will be payment for Britain’s ingratitude towards his family’s work.

Creating a distraction, Bond and Sidney escape the building, resulting a dramatic car chase. Caught again by Stamper, Harmsway takes Sidney to his yacht – from where he will cover the dramatic explosion for his media empire – and orders Yung to place Bond at the exact site of the planned meltdown and plant evidence, which will be used by “Tomorrow” to blame MI6 and bring down the British government. Once Harmsway’s men break into the plant, Bond escapes, overpowers and kills Yung at the last possible moment, averting the nuclear meltdown. Taking Yung’s helicopter, Bond flies to Harmsway’s yacht and crashes into it, creating chaos. Determined to avenge Paris, Bond confronts Harmsway and kills him with his own “worm” drill. Forced to fight Stamper in order to save Sidney – who is being left to drown - Bond only prevails after a brutal fight. As the Royal Navy cycles in, Bond and Sidney share a romantic moment.

Dedicated to the late Cubby Broccoli, Tomorrow Never Lies premiered on December 1996, with only a few months to go until the actual handover. Despite some mild controversy in China and the colony itself, an effective media campaign championing both the film and the start of a new Bond helped TNL to quickly surpass GoldenEye, eventually becoming the most successful Bond film since Moonraker with a staggering box office of over $340 million. Critics were, for the most part, unusually complimentary of the film’s tone, performances – with Purefoy, Bellucci and Hopkins singled out – and action as they considered it a superior follow up to the previous film, while criticizing aspects of the plot and, in spite of a fun performance by Henstridge, finding main heroine Sidney Winch superfluous compared to Bellucci’s Paris Harmsway. That aside, an additional minority did criticize the film as not being fresh or novel enough.

Against such a strong response by audiences – and finding Purefoy to be very charismatic on the role -, EON was ecstatic, securing the box office triumph that had been so elusive and, it was felt, cementing the transition of the franchise from the Cold War to the rapidly approaching 21st Century. Continued changes in management at MGM – with former owner Kirk Kerkorian regaining control – meant pressure to continue to franchise was renewed, allowing Purefoy to gear up for the inevitable sequel, 1998’s Fire and Ice. It was to be a long and initially successful tenure for James Purefoy as the secret agent, which was nonetheless increasingly soured by the onset of fatigue in the early 2000’s and the difficulty in replicating the success of TNL.

Highlights of the film include the arms bazaar sequence, Harmsway’s speech about his plans and his relationship to Hong Kong, Paris’s scenes with Bond, and the seductive banter between Sidney and 007. Perceived as a much needed boost to the franchise, Tomorrow Never Lies is now regarded as one of the best Bond films – perhaps the best since The Spy Who Loved Me -, with Elliot Harmsway heralded as one of the most effective and charismatic Bond villains. The film is also noteworthy for attempting to give some dramatic depth to the complex relationship between Bond, Paris and Harmsway, an attempt which is nonetheless undermined by Paris’s early death in the storyline and her replacement with the more action-oriented Sidney Winch.

Author’s Notes: The plot is based on Feirstein’s original script for TND, somewhat adapted to include a few concepts that were introduced later on the production stage. An earlier GoldenEye – which I think is plausible if Dalton had been signed up early – gives EON more breathing room before Kerkorian starts adding pressure for a quick sequel, ensuring TNL is able both to use a handover-based plot and avoid the absurd process of last minute rewrites of its plot (which in turn makes it possible to enlist Hopkins). K.d. lang’s “Tomorrow Never Lies” is OTL’s “Surrender” (such an epic tune!).​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“PER FINE OUNCE”
As a huge Bond, Hopkins, and Purefoy fan i absolutely love this. TND is made in large part by Pryce’s giddy scenery chewing but Hopkins would have been terrific in the role too. Im imagining your mentioned speech as something alone these lines, one of my favorite things Hopkins has done:

 
Surely by the time Burton's active Sir Christopher is getting on a bit to play Bond? In 1988 when Beetlejuice was Burton's first hit, Lee would have been 65. Christopher Lee would have been an amazing Bond for the '60s, maybe even early '70s, but even he can't do it as a pensioner. Put another way, he's five years older than Roger Moore.
It was just a joke
 
As a huge Bond, Hopkins, and Purefoy fan i absolutely love this. TND is made in large part by Pryce’s giddy scenery chewing but Hopkins would have been terrific in the role too. Im imagining your mentioned speech as something alone these lines, one of my favorite things Hopkins has done:

Could not agree more.
 
@LumineVonReuental - out of curiosity, are there places you’ve found some of these alternate plots? I’ve found a very skeletal treatment for Dalton ‘91 (what you here named Goldeneye, more commonly assumed to be Property of a Lady) on MI6.com and I’ve stumbled across the very early Dalton Goldeneye script with the high speed rail/evil sommelier PTS but some of these other abandoned treatments are really quite something
 
@LumineVonReuental - out of curiosity, are there places you’ve found some of these alternate plots? I’ve found a very skeletal treatment for Dalton ‘91 (what you here named Goldeneye, more commonly assumed to be Property of a Lady) on MI6.com and I’ve stumbled across the very early Dalton Goldeneye script with the high speed rail/evil sommelier PTS but some of these other abandoned treatments are really quite something
Ohh interesting, can you share it?
 
Roy Jenkins as the Prime Minister of Great Britain? Man I wish that would have happened!!

Lumine, after reading your excellent(& so creative!)ideas for James Bond films, I am really, honestly
starting to think that Barbara Broccoli should hire YOU to write the script of the next James Bond
movie(would you reboot him completely & just pretend NTTD had never happened?)

Thanks for that, you're very kind! (though, naturally, I certainly wouldn't be a good fit for the job)

If it were up to me, I'd just go for the usual soft reboot and treat CR-NTTD as its own self-contained storyline. Probably go with a Bond on his early thirties, no origin story, already on his prime, going on a standard Bond adventure, ideally moving away from a couple of tropes that need some rest (like Bond resigning from MI6 but returning to duty). Certainly wouldn't mind retaining Fiennes, Whishaw and Harris if they want to stay, they've been great.

Would also love to see a 60's-style Bond movie at some point as a single spinoff, not connected to the main series (like, say, The Batman in terms of the DC Universe).

Branigan doing a Bond song? I love it.. she woulda been perfect for All Time High. It woulda made it so much more memorable song. I sub to a guy on YT who makes edits of what if movies and he did a Lazenby Bond move circa 1984 and he used Self Control as the theme song for it, it worked perfect. So her doing it isn't out of the ordinary at all.

Love this series.. so many what if's! Really digged the Gibson/Neeson entries as well as Lazenby's. Will we get to see any more of his movies? I always wondered how he would done LALD.

Another good option would be what if Sam Neil took it. Granted you've done did TLD but that would be a fun what if even if you do a sequel.

Revisiting previous entries is sort of hard because it means coming up with more and more original stuff, which is hard enough on entries in which there is already substantial background. So probably we won't be seeing Lazenby again, unless I wanted to write something like his retirement film on the DAD universe we went to recently (in which, presumably, he has done as many movies as Moore).

As a huge Bond, Hopkins, and Purefoy fan i absolutely love this. TND is made in large part by Pryce’s giddy scenery chewing but Hopkins would have been terrific in the role too. Im imagining your mentioned speech as something alone these lines, one of my favorite things Hopkins has done:


For what it's worth, I rather like Pryce's Carver, one of my favorite Bond villains. Since most of the flaws in the character come from the script and how the character was substantially altered - and crucial backstory removed -, he certainly could have been better with a stronger script like the one featured in the TND entry, but I could not resist the idea of casting Hopkins. Talk about a what if in the franchise!

@LumineVonReuental - out of curiosity, are there places you’ve found some of these alternate plots? I’ve found a very skeletal treatment for Dalton ‘91 (what you here named Goldeneye, more commonly assumed to be Property of a Lady) on MI6.com and I’ve stumbled across the very early Dalton Goldeneye script with the high speed rail/evil sommelier PTS but some of these other abandoned treatments are really quite something

Well, they come from various places, but the vast majority are assembled by combining small details that appear here and there (books, articles, Bond fan pages, etc.) so I can flesh out a story from there. It's certainly the hardest part of writing this TL - other than casting - because I have to come up with a lot of stuff and/or judge whether some of the OTL ideas require changes to work or not. So it really varies.

Here's the basic info on what I've done so far:

LONGITUDE 78 WEST: There's only loose details, including some character names and brief notions of how the plot went from the Mafia to SPECTRE. I mostly combined the Thunderball novel and film with those details.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS: Found a detailed outline of the Bond prequel treatment, so here it was more adapting it to fit into the TL format and trimming what was not needed (like a whole subplot regarding a relative of Bond).

WARHEAD: There's detailed info on the infamous Warhead treatement, which includes character names and the basic structure. It is, however, an unfilmable mess of a treatment, so I had to work on it extensively to make it somewhat coherent and not seem like Austin Powers twenty years before its time (for example: the proposed sharks with laser beams).

TOMORROW NEVER LIES: An outline of the original script can be found. Again, I adapted it by adding parts from OTL TND whenever I felt the treatment wasn't working.

PER FINE OUNCE: Entirely made up. All we know about PFO is a single surviving manuscript page and some loose details lacking context. As I said at the time:
"a pastiche based on what we know of the original PFO, Bondian elements of the era, and certain names from a subsequent Jenkins novel (A Cleft of Stars) which may have also been based on the unpublished PFO."

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE:
Again, made up. Allegedly, the original script for YOLT before Roald Dahl was supposedly faithful to the novel, haven't read any details on it. So I just tried to imagine how a novel YOLT would look in the 80's.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE: Again, quoting from the entry: "I don’t have access to the original Maibaum script – which was said to be faithful to the novel -, so I’ve combined novel and book, and then made some minor alterations for the plot." Now I got Helfenstein's OHMSS book, which does go into further detail, but I didn't feel the need to alter the previous entry.

A VIEW TO A KILL: There's no alternate treatment (even the Halley's Comet nonsense is just an idea, no details), so I simply tried to alter the OTL film whenever I felt it was worth it. The motorcycle chase, as wwbgdiaslt correctly noted, was part of one of the Octopussy scripts.

GOLDENEYE: A book about Dalton as Bond came out recently, going into detail about two Bond 17 outlines (already titled Goldeneye, not Property of a Lady as it's commonly believed). I mostly used the first and altered a few details, as I feel the second was inferior.

CASINO ROYALE: Some details about Ben Hecht's scripts have surfaced on the internet. Nothing much, but I was able to work with it by adding some stuff from novel Casino Royale, the 1967 film, and by inventing some plot points.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: All we know from alt-FYEO is a few loose details, some of which contradict each other (it is said the "Archer" was either the villain or a Bond girl). So I combined those details with the Moonraker script - which included several unfilmed sequences reused on other films -, Fleming short stories, and so on.

SPECTRE: This one was particularly difficult, as all there is are rumors which may well be just noise. I collected what few info I could find, and tried to think how Thunderball might look in the 90's this time, but almost all of it is an educated guess.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: How I wish we had the script for this one! Supposedly it is on a university archive to which Maibaum donated his personal papers, but since I live as far away from the US as possible, no way for me to access it. We do have some details in certain books - including a number of alternate pre-title sequences which involved Irma Bunt before the actress suddenly passed away -, but not much, so I combined film and novel, and then came up with additional stuff to make it coherent.

OCTOPUSSY: There are substantial details in Bond bibliography, though they can only provide a general idea of how it might have looked like. So I just filled in the blanks by using those details as a framework.

And that's it for now. Almost finished with Skyfall! I will say it is released on 2011, and it's not Craig or Cavill as Bond.
 
Thanks for that, you're very kind! (though, naturally, I certainly wouldn't be a good fit for the job)

If it were up to me, I'd just go for the usual soft reboot and treat CR-NTTD as its own self-contained storyline. Probably go with a Bond on his early thirties, no origin story, already on his prime, going on a standard Bond adventure, ideally moving away from a couple of tropes that need some rest (like Bond resigning from MI6 but returning to duty). Certainly wouldn't mind retaining Fiennes, Whishaw and Harris if they want to stay, they've been great.

Would also love to see a 60's-style Bond movie at some point as a single spinoff, not connected to the main series (like, say, The Batman in terms of the DC Universe).



Revisiting previous entries is sort of hard because it means coming up with more and more original stuff, which is hard enough on entries in which there is already substantial background. So probably we won't be seeing Lazenby again, unless I wanted to write something like his retirement film on the DAD universe we went to recently (in which, presumably, he has done as many movies as Moore).



For what it's worth, I rather like Pryce's Carver, one of my favorite Bond villains. Since most of the flaws in the character come from the script and how the character was substantially altered - and crucial backstory removed -, he certainly could have been better with a stronger script like the one featured in the TND entry, but I could not resist the idea of casting Hopkins. Talk about a what if in the franchise!



Well, they come from various places, but the vast majority are assembled by combining small details that appear here and there (books, articles, Bond fan pages, etc.) so I can flesh out a story from there. It's certainly the hardest part of writing this TL - other than casting - because I have to come up with a lot of stuff and/or judge whether some of the OTL ideas require changes to work or not. So it really varies.

Here's the basic info on what I've done so far:

LONGITUDE 78 WEST: There's only loose details, including some character names and brief notions of how the plot went from the Mafia to SPECTRE. I mostly combined the Thunderball novel and film with those details.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS: Found a detailed outline of the Bond prequel treatment, so here it was more adapting it to fit into the TL format and trimming what was not needed (like a whole subplot regarding a relative of Bond).

WARHEAD: There's detailed info on the infamous Warhead treatement, which includes character names and the basic structure. It is, however, an unfilmable mess of a treatment, so I had to work on it extensively to make it somewhat coherent and not seem like Austin Powers twenty years before its time (for example: the proposed sharks with laser beams).

TOMORROW NEVER LIES: An outline of the original script can be found. Again, I adapted it by adding parts from OTL TND whenever I felt the treatment wasn't working.

PER FINE OUNCE: Entirely made up. All we know about PFO is a single surviving manuscript page and some loose details lacking context. As I said at the time:
"a pastiche based on what we know of the original PFO, Bondian elements of the era, and certain names from a subsequent Jenkins novel (A Cleft of Stars) which may have also been based on the unpublished PFO."

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE: Again, made up. Allegedly, the original script for YOLT before Roald Dahl was supposedly faithful to the novel, haven't read any details on it. So I just tried to imagine how a novel YOLT would look in the 80's.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE: Again, quoting from the entry: "I don’t have access to the original Maibaum script – which was said to be faithful to the novel -, so I’ve combined novel and book, and then made some minor alterations for the plot." Now I got Helfenstein's OHMSS book, which does go into further detail, but I didn't feel the need to alter the previous entry.

A VIEW TO A KILL: There's no alternate treatment (even the Halley's Comet nonsense is just an idea, no details), so I simply tried to alter the OTL film whenever I felt it was worth it. The motorcycle chase, as wwbgdiaslt correctly noted, was part of one of the Octopussy scripts.

GOLDENEYE: A book about Dalton as Bond came out recently, going into detail about two Bond 17 outlines (already titled Goldeneye, not Property of a Lady as it's commonly believed). I mostly used the first and altered a few details, as I feel the second was inferior.

CASINO ROYALE: Some details about Ben Hecht's scripts have surfaced on the internet. Nothing much, but I was able to work with it by adding some stuff from novel Casino Royale, the 1967 film, and by inventing some plot points.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: All we know from alt-FYEO is a few loose details, some of which contradict each other (it is said the "Archer" was either the villain or a Bond girl). So I combined those details with the Moonraker script - which included several unfilmed sequences reused on other films -, Fleming short stories, and so on.

SPECTRE: This one was particularly difficult, as all there is are rumors which may well be just noise. I collected what few info I could find, and tried to think how Thunderball might look in the 90's this time, but almost all of it is an educated guess.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: How I wish we had the script for this one! Supposedly it is on a university archive to which Maibaum donated his personal papers, but since I live as far away from the US as possible, no way for me to access it. We do have some details in certain books - including a number of alternate pre-title sequences which involved Irma Bunt before the actress suddenly passed away -, but not much, so I combined film and novel, and then came up with additional stuff to make it coherent.

OCTOPUSSY: There are substantial details in Bond bibliography, though they can only provide a general idea of how it might have looked like. So I just filled in the blanks by using those details as a framework.

And that's it for now. Almost finished with Skyfall! I will say it is released on 2011, and it's not Craig or Cavill as Bond.
Pryce's Carver is one of my top five villains, personally, and I entirely agree.

Well I have to say the work you've done to produce this is creditable and very impressive. I've been enjoying all this very much.
 
15. Skyfall (2011)
SKYFALL (2011)
Sam Worthington IS James Bond

OHUj2lp.png


DOUBLE OH SHAME
BOND PUNCHES PAPARAZZI

(The Sun headline, 2012)​

Following the unceremonious dismissal of Pierce Brosnan in 2004 after a decade playing 007, EON took its time to find the next James Bond, fully aware that their next choice would have to embody a different version of the character. Rather than having another Bond on his prime, the time had come to reboot and revitalize the seemingly tired franchise by portraying a younger, less experienced 007, just starting his career as a 00 agent. With this creative decision suddenly ruling out several would-be contenders on their forties – including some of Brosnan’s own rivals in 94’ – the production team spared no effort in approaching, meeting and/or auditioning dozens of younger actors in search of the right man. In the end, after discarding options or being rejected by several actors unwilling to commit to a franchise, including Barbara Broccoli’s personal favorite for the role, they were left with three alternatives who had delivered strong auditions: 22-year-old Henry Cavill (British), 32-year-old Goran Visnjic (Croatian-American), and 28-year-old Sam Worthington (Australian). With all of them having advantages of their own, a process of elimination ensued. Visnjic was ruled out first, his apparent inability to master a British accent sealing his fate. Cavill, in spite of being supported by director Martin Campbell, could not overcome his youth, which many saw as excessive.

Although Worthington soon convinced EON regarding his ability to carry the action sequences and provide the sort of contrast to previous Bonds they were looking for, others were unconvinced – or so they would later claim - regarding Worthington’s perceived difficulty with more humorous or dramatic scenes. And for what it was worth, the actor himself agreed, later revealing he had postponed doing his auditions due to struggling with how to portray the iconic character. Still, Worthington had soldiered on, given it his all, and had impressed enough with his ferocity as 007 to be the one man left standing. After being announced to the world as the next James Bond in October 2005, and despite being a virtual unknown, the media had taken an immediate liking to Worthington, who suddenly found himself on demand as an action star. Casino Royale (2006) was a major box office success which had relatively pleased critics and showed the franchise as being able to reinvent itself. Still, even though Worthington’s intense, ruthless Bond received praise, many critics saw his romance with Audrey Tautou’s Vesper as “not believable enough”, and/or criticized his delivery in terms of the humor-related dialogue.

Seeking to build on what had been previously accomplished while improving on Worthington’s weak spots – which the actor agonized about -, the sequel Quantum of Solace (2008) had started as a revenge story to close off the Vesper storyline in a meaningful way, only for the film to be hit by a disastrous screenwriters strike that forced Worthington and director Marc Foster to write parts of the unfinished script themselves. The result, while somewhat financially successful – if much less so than Casino Royale – drew polarizing or mixed responses, with criticism focused on the film being perceived as a “stepdown”. Worthington in particular was criticized for a dour performance, leading some British tabloids to start pronouncing him “Bland, James Bland”. The actor took it personally, and, much like EON, resolved to make up for the flaws of QOS by ensuring the third entry in the reboot – much like Connery and Moore’s – was an unqualified success, right before the film series celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012.

There were, however, a number of corporate challenges to be met before production could get off the ground. Although the development process had started right away in early 2009 with the return of Marc Foster for a second time, and the hiring of playwright Peter Morgan as main scriptwriter, EON was held back by the tenuous situation within MGM. Crippled by debts approaching $5 billion in the middle of a global recession, MGM faced bankruptcy and an imminent sale, the relative disappointment of QOS – among other setbacks – having accelerated the collapse. Put for sale in August 2009, and after a bidding war that lasted until early 2010, the company was finally sold and fully consolidated behind Sony, allowing the next Bond film to continue development for a late 2011 release. EON, Worthington and Foster all breathed a sigh of relief, each of them having contemplated the grim consequences of being forced to delay the movie. Worthington in particular despaired of the possibility of ending up like Timothy Dalton, with an extended hiatus possibly leading EON to have him replaced after only two films.

However, even as the project received its greenlight, there was substantial disagreement within EON regarding the next storyline to film. Morgan, a long time enthusiast of John le Carré, wanted to expand on the more realistic take on the Bond character started in Casino Royale and move further into the realm of intrigue, giving M (Judi Dench) a particularly large and rather dramatic role. Although the latter concept was well received, Morgan’s concept of M being haunted by indiscretions on her past and Bond being eventually forced to terminate her was highly controversial. Thus, veteran Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were brought in with their own pitch, concerning Bond squaring off against a Scaramanga-like villain. Rewrites and rewrites followed until it became imperative to finish the script, before a true narrative consensus could be established. In the end, Morgan mostly prevailed as the clock ran out, although Purvis and Wade’s contributions still influenced the final product. A variety of titles were proposed as none of the existing Fleming ones proved satisfactory enough, with “Skyfall” being a last minute suggestion which ended up being used as a repeating theme in the finished film.

Aside from returning characters M, Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter, Purvis and Wade prevailed in regards to expanding the MI6 team, bringing Q and Moneypenny back for the first time since 2002. Confident both roles required recasting, Simon Russell Beale and Karen Gillan were brought in with a three-picture contract. Perhaps the most difficult task for director Foster was to find the right duo for the script’s villains: Nikitin, a ruthless Russian oligarch; and Sousa, the Scaramanga-like assassin. In the end, and after extended but unfruitful talks with Kevin Spacey, an exhaustive search ended with the lesser known Michael Shannon and Daniel Brühl being brought on board. Rounding up the cast in other supporting roles were Mark Strong, Albert Finney and Margarita Levieva. With composer David Arnold returning for his fifth consecutive entry, and after yet another aborted attempt to get Amy Winehouse to sing the film’s title song – once again derailed by worsening personal issues -, British singer Leona Lewis was chosen to perform “Skyfall”. Filming took place in late 2010 and early 2011 in England, South Africa, Peru, Germany and Spain. It was to be an accident prone production despite the relative harmony within the cast, with Worthington and Brühl in particular sustaining wounds in the process.

Skyfall’s pre-title sequence takes place in Cape Town, South Africa, with MI6 agents James Bond (Sam Worthington) and Eve Moneypenny (Karen Gillan) trying to prevent the sale of a hard drive containing key info about MI6 operations. A chase atop a train ensues between the agents and deadly assassin Sousa (Daniel Brühl), who stole the drive, and who successfully knocks Bond into a river as they cross a bridge. Moneypenny is unable to stop Sousa, and 007 is presumed dead.

In London, a few months later, MI6 chief M (Judi Dench) is dealing with the fallout of a litany of recent failures, which have fellow government bureaucrat Mallender (Mark Strong) pressuring her to retire. As she tries to find the missing hard drive, M is left stunned by the sudden reappearance of a figure from his past, former KGB agent Nikolai (Albert Finney), who dies in Chief of Staff Tanner’s (Rory Kinnear) arms after muttering “Skyfall”. M subsequently receives multiple taunting messages with the word that culminate on a terrorist bombing at MI6 HQ. She is later approached by the mysterious Alexei (Michael Shannon), who starts blackmailing M to do his bidding. Meanwhile, in South Africa, an amnesiac Bond is revealed to have survived the fall in Cape Town, having been cared for by Lily (Margarita Levieva), a doctor. TV images from the attack on MI6 bring back his memory, leaving 007 to abandon Lily – who appears to be hiding something - so he can fly back to England and resume his duties.

Arriving in England and contacting MI6, M has him go through a series of examinations to test his ability to return to the field, which Bond fails. Still, M approves his return over Mallender and Tanner’s objections, and sends him to hunt Sousa and the hard drive in the Andes. After being equipped by the new quartermaster Q (Simon Russell Beale) at a greasy London café, Bond flies to Peru and finds Sousa after a trek to the jungle. Following an intense fight, both men are targeted and almost killed by assassins which Sousa identifies as coming from his employer, a Russian oligarch named Nikitin, who bought the hard drive on the first place. Bond and Sousa begrudgingly agree to work with each other to go after Nikitin. In the meantime, Lily arrives in London in search of Bond, being pregnant with his child. M intercepts her and turns her away. With both Mallender and Tanner becoming suspicious of M’s erratic behavior, she tries to turn the tables on Alexei by trying to get info on him from the CIA via Bond’s old colleague Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). Leiter coldly rebuffs her, pointing out neither M nor MI6 are seen as trustworthy any longer.

Bond, informed M could be compromised, struggles with his own sense of loyalty, and agrees to take her to Barcelona, Spain, for what is supposed to be a payoff to end Alexei’s blackmail. A confrontation ensues, in which Alexei reveals his motives: In a flashback set in 1980’s Berlin, we see a young M - then agent Olivia Mansfield - and Nikolai having a romantic affair, which culminates on an unexpected pregnancy. Forced to break up the affair out of fear, M gives up the child for adoption, who grows up to be Alexei Nikitin. Skyfall, we learn, was a codename known only to M and Nikolai, and learnt by Alexei through the latter. After a chase across the Barcelona subway, Nikitin detonates a hidden bomb, killing Sousa, injuring Bond and forcing M to flee alone. She arrives to an MI6 safe house – a whisky distillery – and shares a dramatic moment with her son after he sets the place on fire. Bond arrives to see Nikitin holding M at gunpoint, planning to blackmail him as well. After some hesitation, Bond shoots M - to Nikitin’s shock - and after a brief struggle, Niktin falls and perishes in the blaze of fire. M bleeds to death, and dies in Bond’s arms.

Back in London, and after M’s funeral, a fully recovered Bond has a brief talk with Q and with Moneypenny, the latter of which has been made secretary for the new MI6 Chief. Mallender is revealed to be the new M, and he asks Bond whether he feels up to resume his work. “With pleasure”, Bond says.

Skyfall premiered on November 2011, amidst great expectations within EON after slowly coming on board with Morgan’s bolder take on the storyline and character front. It soon became clear that Skyfall – by then the longest Bond movie to date – was only following QOS’s road of underperforming its predecessor, but that it was going to be a major financial disappointment. It didn’t take long for news outlets to pick up on what many described as a “critical dissonance phenomenon”, with a majority of critics lauding the film for breaking the Bond formula and re-exploring some of its vital characters (despite criticism of Levieva and Worthington’s performances); and a negative response from audiences, many of which anecdotally describing the film as “not feeling” like a Bond film. A minority of critics put this view into more specific terms, criticizing the film as melodramatic and, ultimately, as being “more Le Carré than Fleming”. The outcome of the film was disastrous for EON and Sony both, having now gone with two straight movies left unable to capitalize on Casino Royale and placing the ability of the franchise to evolve in question. Indeed, this made for a somewhat somber 50th Anniversary, rather than the triumphant occasion they had planned for.

Although a frustrated Worthington – who felt the character had escaped him yet again - privately vowed to try again and give Bond a fourth (perhaps final) shot, it was not to be. Long frustrated with the harassment of the paparazzi since he became 007, Worthington and his girlfriend – a model, equally frustrated with them - were involved in an infamous physical altercation with a paparazzo in 2012, resulting in the actor being arrested and immediately released. Despite an outpouring of support from many corners – including several fellow Bond actors – due to the circumstances of the incident, the combination of the scandal and Worthington’s three-picture contract being over gave EON the needed push to move on, releasing him from the role after a mostly unsuccessful seven-year tenure. No longer wanting a younger Bond, Broccoli and her team would soon start auditions for a more seasoned and charismatic replacement, hoping to find a way to deliver a standard, modernized Bond adventure. For his part, and though hurt by the entire ordeal, Worthington successfully reclaimed his privacy as he married and settled into family life, going on to deliver better received performances in secondary roles during the rest of the decade.

With only a decade having passed since Skyfall, the film remains extremely polarizing, dividing critics, audiences and fans between those who felt it was a worthy attempt to “elevate” Bond into something different, and those who see the movie as either betraying the essence of the character and franchise, or who see it as overtly melodramatic and manipulative. The question of Worthington’s tenure also ties into the whole debate, as the movie is used either to justify (the majority view) that the actor was unsuitable for the role despite his ability in terms of the action, or to showcase (the minority view) that the Australian actor was badly served by questionable scripts, like some of his predecessors. It is clear, however, that it is one of the most financially disappointing Bond films. Highlights of the film include the pre-title sequence in South Africa, Dench and Shannon’s performances, Bond’s hunt for Sousa, and, though perhaps not for all, the 1980’s Berlin sequence.

Author’s Notes: Yes, Peter Morgan’s Once Upon a Spy, deemed too controversial and not Bond-like enough. Sadly, we don’t really know much of the treatment beyond some key plot elements, so a lot of the plot actually comes from unused Purvis and Wade ideas for OTL Skyfall. Otherwise I would have had to invent too much. The film could have been made in 2011 had MGM’s situation changed – as it did in this entry -, and some have argued the film would have been far weaker if it had been done earlier. Craig not being Bond means a lot of things change, including Sam Mendes being the director (and Mendes also brought a lot of the cast in), so the butterflies increase. I leave it up to speculation whether Worthington would or not have been a good Bond – he was almost cast -, but this scenario was arranged to showcase an unsuccessful tenure, it’s not meant to be an objective judgement.​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“LICENCE REVOKED”
 
Worthington’s American accent wasn’t very good, IMO, though I wonder if he would have made more success with a British accent.
All the same, loved this update. Seeing Worthington as Bond piqued my interest as soon as I saw it.
 
Top