Origin stories, rights issues and robot sharks: 007 offers much more than it seems
Since its debut in 1962 with ‘007 against Doctor No’ (if we do not take into account the adaptation of ‘Casino Royale’ in the series ‘Climax!’), James Bond has starred in a total of 25 films and one parody (which, precisely, readapted ‘Casino Royale’), and has been played by seven different actors, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. It is a myth in the history of cinema, a fixed point to return to again and again, a non-stop of phrases as famous as they are celebrated: It’s Bond. James Bond.
However, not even the most perfect MI6 agent has always been right, and There are many times that their projects have fallen on deaf ears. Today we bring you a list of all those times that James Bond lost the battle against the cinema, all those movies that could have been made but, for one reason or another, they were left in limbo. Stirred, but not mixed.
‘Thunderbolt’, by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was not exactly a director who was unfamiliar with telling stories of espionage and tension. In fact, Ian Fleming, the author of the novels, was not only his fan, but he was convinced that he was the only one who could do justice to his character. Thus, in 1959, three years before ‘Doctor No’, He sent him a telegram asking him to direct his original Bond script.which was called ‘Operation Thunder’ (and which later, as you will see, became a controversial novel).
There are those who say that the project was almost done, and Who believes that the director didn’t even read the script? because he didn’t want to direct another spy thriller after ‘Death on His Heels’. In fact, for his next work he haggled over everything that was expected of him by creating ‘Psychosis’. Perhaps everything would have been very different for both Bond and Hitchcock. ‘Operation Thunder’ would end up being made in 1965ironically a year after Fleming’s untimely death.
‘Diamonds Are Forever’, with George Lazenby
Poor George Lazenby is the actor who lasted the least in the role of the secret agent: replaced Sean Connery in a film (‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’), but when he was offered a contract for seven films, he rejected it, believing, advised by his representative, that In the 70s the character would already be archaic for such a liberated society. Oh, if he only knew. The truth is that the next film that he should have starred in was ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, which was supposed to follow the plot of the previous one, in the second ending of which the agent’s new wife was murdered.
However, this revenge story that was going to show us a completely different Bond The one we knew was never made and the script was rewritten to fit the shallower, more action-focused version of the character by Sean Connery, who returned to the saga one last time (until 12 years later, when he made ‘Never Ever.’ say never again’). What would have happened if Lazenby had continued in the saga and it had become more serialized? We will never know.
‘The property of the lady’
Timothy Dalton replaced Roger Moore in the role, and reviews were surprisingly enthusiastic. And originally the producers wanted Pierce Brosnan, but He was obligated under contract to do one more season of ‘Remington Steele’. Dalton signed for three films, but, after ‘007’ and ‘License to Kill’, they began a series of problems with rights between United Artists, MGM and Eon Productions.
Four years later, when they were resolved, Dalton was no longer obligated under contract to make ‘The Property of the Lady’, of which We only know for sure that it would deal with the investigation of fraudulent businessmen after the terrorist attack on a chemical weapons laboratory in Scotland, and in which they would travel through Hong Kong, Tokyo and London. In 1994, five years after the release of his last film as the agent, the actor announced that he was retiring from the role and opened the door, now, to Pierce Brosnan. You already know the rest.
‘Bond 15’
There was yet another James Bond movie that Timothy Dalton was supposed to play, and It would have changed the saga forever. Richard Maibaum, classic screenwriter of the saga, sought to bring order between the different faces of Bond with an origin story in which the original 007 would mentor the new agent. In fact, the movie would end with his first mission to stop a certain Doctor No. If only Dalton had listened a little less to his representative…
‘Casino Royale’ by Quentin Tarantino
Was the character’s first novel written by Ian Fleming at the age of 44, and the most adapted, with a total of two films (one of them a parody), a television episode, a newspaper strip and a graphic novel. Furthermore, it was the book that Quentin Tarantino wanted to adapt at the time, entering the world of franchising for the first time. Of course, he wanted to make it without having the studios on top of him, buying the rights himself in the mid-90s, after the success of ‘Pulp Fiction’. It was not successful.
In 2004, he tried again to run his own ‘Casino Royale’, which, According to what is said, he intended to shoot in black and white, with Uma Thurman as a love interest and set, yes or yes, in the past. And of course, much more based on dialogue and character development than on action, reasons why They never gave him permission to run free and it became another of his frustrated projects. Shortly after, and as a way of excusing himself, Tarantino said he didn’t understand his ‘Casino Royale’ without Pierce Brosnan, so I didn’t suffer from its cancellation. Whoever does not console himself is because he does not want to.
Halle Berry spin-off
We have been enduring for years the cries of a few who accept the rumors that the next James Bond will be a woman, despite the fact that it has been actively and passively said that nothing like this will ever happen. However, after ‘Die Another Day’, the last film with Brosnan as 007, the producers did They seriously considered capitalizing on the success with a female spin-off of JinxHalle Berry’s character.
The idea, as explained by the producers themselves, was offer fans a kind of “Winter Olympics” with which to calm the craving between Bond movies. It wasn’t even a new concept, by the way: at the end of the 90s, a spin-off of Michelle Yeoh’s character in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ was already being explored. In the end, Not even the confirmation of Stephen Frears as director could save the projectwhich was going to have Michael Madsen as the villain and Javier Bardem as the love interest.
Cancellation was imminent after the failure of several action films starring women, and was completely buried when announcing the reboot of the saga with ‘Casino Royale’. The $80 million budget evaporated as if nothing had happened. Berry herself explained it a few years later from her point of view: “No one was prepared for spend so much money on a black female action star“.
‘Warhead’
When talking about James Bond movies there is a name that is often overlooked, but was vital for everything to end as we know it now: Kevin McClory. Do you remember that ‘Thunderbolt’ script that Hitchcock was going to shoot? Well, it turns out that Ian Fleming prepared it together with McClory, but when the film was canceled, the author took the opportunity to adapt the script into a novel in 1961. The problem? That a large part of the ideas (such as the creation of Specter) were McClory’s, that He denounced him and ended up winning audiovisual rights for the story. That’s where the mess begins.
And, indeed, in 1965 McClory signed with Eon Productions to make ‘Thunderbolt’. In the contract, in fact, He was prevented from making another rival James Bond film for ten years. No sooner said than done. In 1976, after fulfilling the contract, he wrote with Sean Connery a new film in which Bond would fight Specter and robot sharks loaded with explosives: ‘Warhead’. The legal problems were so many that in the end he let it go. Don’t worry about him, because he would be able to make his own Bond: his is ‘Never say never again’. It’s something. But be careful, because the story continues.
‘Operation Thunder’, the remake
Kevin McClory was not satisfied with the film he made with Sean Connery and after ‘License to Kill’ was released announced that it was back with ‘Warhead 8’, a film that sought to be more faithful to the lifelong Bond formula. In fact, the idea was to use parts of the scripts that he, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming himself made in the late 50’sas well as the novel ‘Operation Thunder’.
It was the right time to try it, because, in the mid-90s, the Bond waters were very murky: Sony was considering making a franchise that would rival that of Eon at the same time, since they still had the rights to ‘Casino Royale’ and could use the character piecemeal as long as he did not adapt the novels to which they did not have the rights. Using his power over the audiovisual adaptations of ‘Operation Thunder’, McClory announced the remake in 1997, although his version of the agent was rejected by both Liam Neeson and – again – Timothy Dalton. In the end, in 1999, Sony exchanged its rights to James Bond for those of Spider-man, forever boycotting the last 007 film we will ever see.
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