First line of dialogue reported

lachesis wrote:

But Purvis and Wade were also on board for QOS, and the ludicrous psychobabble, intrusive stretches of inept dialogue, inconsistent and poorly timed humour and inexplicably half baked themes have been an escalating feature of Bond at the very least since TWINE

Nope. Purvis and Wade turned in a draft of the screenplay, but Marc Forster didn't like it, and promptly binned it. He then has Paul Haggis write a script from scratch, using the story created by MGW and fleshed out by P&W as a guide. Purvis and Wade didn't write a single line of QOS. That was all Haggis, with Zeetoomurr as script doctor.

The Writer's Guild still has say over the writing film credits. Producers have to submit documentation of the the various drafts. The WGA then rules on what the credit should be. There's some kind of appeal process involved.

With TWINE, the initial writing credit was "Written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade" even thought Dana Stevens and Bruce Feirstein did drafts. (For documentation: look at the TWINE novelization's title page).

It was changed to read, "Screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein, Story by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade" when the movie came out. That was a WGA thing.

If the final script had *no* input from Purvis and Wade, that would run counter to what the WGA process is intended to do.

Also, there was that Haggis draft about Bond looking for Vesper's kid. That also got thrown out when the decision was made to start from scratch.

Nevertheless, Purvis and Wade didn't write a word of QOS' script.

Quote :

Bond: "I've got bad news for you, Silva."
Silva: "Me too."

I see our guys P&W and John Logan brought their A-game. :roll:

Ironically, isn't there a rather famous story about the filming of another Logan-penned film, GLADIATOR? When filming one of the scenes, Russell Crowe said to Ridley "I'm the greatest actor in the world, and I can't even make these shitty lines sound good."

*Waits for Laz to bomb a 400 character + rant*

Sharky wrote:

*Waits for Laz to bomb a 400 character + rant*

First time I ever rode a sybian, I thought..."you are now flying remote control airways."

Fuck, this is a kiddie 007 board, sorry...

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Nevertheless, Purvis and Wade didn't write a word of QOS' script.

Any documentation?

dr. strangelove wrote:

Quote :

Bond: "I've got bad news for you, Silva."
Silva: "Me too."

I see our guys P&W and John Logan brought their A-game. :roll:

Ironically, isn't there a rather famous story about the filming of another Logan-penned film, GLADIATOR? When filming one of the scenes, Russell Crowe said to Ridley "I'm the greatest actor in the world, and I can't even make these shitty lines sound good."

When Logan was announced as screenwriter, all that came to my mind was the terrible mess he made of Star Trek when he penned Star Trek: Nemesis. He claimed to be a Star Trek fan too (just as he claims to be a Bond fan now), and he all but destroyed the franchise. Mind you, the movies hadn't been totally satisfying since Star Trek IV, but plenty of people admired Undiscovered Country and First Contact. The series wasn't doing great, but it was hardly on life support either (Insurrection wasn't horrible, it was more of a bland made-for TV-movie). They just needed a competent entry for the TNG crew to finish up with, before the franchise moved on to newer and greener pastures.

Instead, Nemesis was the biggest disaster in franchise history, and instead of Star Trek continuing along much the same lines that it always had, J. J. Abrams was given control of things and allowed to turn Star Trek from a thought provoking "going where no man has gone before" adventure to another by the numbers action crap-fest aimed at teenagers.

So heaven help us if he works his same magic here and no one's able to bring the Russell Crowe treatment to his lines . . .

Napoleon Solo wrote:

Any documentation?

Yeah, the opening credits. After all, you were the one who wrote this:

Napoleon Solo wrote:

The Writer's Guild still has say over the writing film credits. Producers have to submit documentation of the the various drafts. The WGA then rules on what the credit should be. There's some kind of appeal process involved.

The credits of QOS say "Story by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Screenplay by Paul Haggis".

Purvis and Wade wrote a story treatment based on MGW's idea about Greene causing a water shortage in Bolivia. They did write a draft of the screenplay, but if what you say about the Guild is true, then the Guild evidently didn't feel that their contributions were enough to justify credit for the screenplay.

Mr. Brown wrote:

"Ian Flemming"

Yeah, already written to the author to complain.

Δ

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Napoleon Solo wrote:

Any documentation?

Yeah, the opening credits. After all, you were the one who wrote this:

Napoleon Solo wrote:

The Writer's Guild still has say over the writing film credits. Producers have to submit documentation of the the various drafts. The WGA then rules on what the credit should be. There's some kind of appeal process involved.

The credits of QOS say "Story by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Screenplay by Paul Haggis".

Purvis and Wade wrote a story treatment based on MGW's idea about Greene causing a water shortage in Bolivia. They did write a draft of the screenplay, but if what you say about the Guild is true, then the Guild evidently didn't feel that their contributions were enough to justify credit for the screenplay.

In the U.S. the writing credits for Quantum read, "Written by Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade." Maybe they're different in the prints you saw. The credits can vary (in Diamonds Are Forever, the film editor, art director, stunt arranger and other credits vary; each has two people listed but they vary with who gets top billing). But here in the U.S., Haggis shared the writing credit with Purvis and Wade.

EDIT: Writing credit is at the 2:54 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4LpSzKnEtA

Bond: So you sky to another fall.

Silva: You only sky fall, Mr Bond.

Bond: What a sky...

Silva: To a fall.

Bond: Whoever she was, I must skyed the fall out of her.

Silva: Skyfall?

Bond: Family motto.

*bomb detonates*

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Bond: So you sky to another fall.

Silva: You only sky fall, Mr Bond.

Bond: What a sky...

Silva: To a fall.

Bond: Whoever she was, I must skyed the fall out of her.

Silva: Skyfall?

Bond: Family motto.

*bomb detonates*

Ahh . . . If only the Bond movies were written and performed by Monty Python . . .

right idea, wrong pussy wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Bond: So you sky to another fall.

Silva: You only sky fall, Mr Bond.

Bond: What a sky...

Silva: To a fall.

Bond: Whoever she was, I must skyed the fall out of her.

Silva: Skyfall?

Bond: Family motto.

*bomb detonates*

Ahh . . . If only the Bond movies were written and performed by Monty Python . . .

Come to think of it, I might enjoy Skyfall as a full length Monty Python movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkLsdQhZsw0

Napoleon Solo wrote:

In the U.S. the writing credits for Quantum read, "Written by Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade." Maybe they're different in the prints you saw. The credits can vary (in Diamonds Are Forever, the film editor, art director, stunt arranger and other credits vary; each has two people listed but they vary with who gets top billing). But here in the U.S., Haggis shared the writing credit with Purvis and Wade.

EDIT: Writing credit is at the 2:54 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4LpSzKnEtA

I'd say that was just the Guild recognising the way Purvis and Wade wrote a draft of the film, even if it was never used. This story describes what happened:

Quote :

Forster and Wilson both revealed that an earlier idea for the film was scrapped when Forster came aboard to helm. "Once I signed on to do it we pretty much developed the script from scratch because I felt that it wasn't the movie I wanted to make and we started with Paul Haggis [the Oscar winner who rewrote Casino Royale] from scratch," Forster recalled. "And I said to him these are the topics I am interested in this is what I would like to say, what's important to me. And we developed it from there together. Then Barbara and Michael said they liked where we were going and they liked the script."

So once Forster was aboard, he scrapped everything and started over. Purvis and Wade had contributed up until then, but were not retained.

dr. strangelove wrote:

Quote :

Bond: "I've got bad news for you, Silva."
Silva: "Me too."

I see our guys P&W and John Logan brought their A-game. :roll:

Are we really complaining about two random lines of dialogue?

I guess it's a bit like the first photo that was released. Instead of a shot of Bond with the Aston Martin and/or a Walter PPK, the first shot that emerged was Craig by the poolside. So people might be a bit disappointed that the first line of dialogue is not Bondian or clever, and seems humdrum by comparison.

Although I think that if you try and make every line clever, the dialogue comes across as stilted and forced.

I'll wait until I see, and hear, more.

You may not have to wait long. If what I think happens next actually does happen, it's bound to be the money shot of the trailers.

Spoiler:

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Nevertheless, Purvis and Wade didn't write a word of QOS' script.

But they did write the story according to the credits, the heart and soul of the film (or lack thereof) is very much them. While I take on board the fact Foster didn't like it, is it really a case it was binned in full, that nothing survived, tbh even in that scenario using the basis of their story as 'inspiration' the odds favour some of it will have turned out the same?

lachesis wrote:

But they did write the story according to the credits, the heart and soul of the film (or lack thereof) is very much them.

I believe they did write the original story, based on Wilson's idea of Greene causing a drought in the desert.

However, I think your statement that they bear responsibility for the failings of the film is patently wrong. The story is simply a scaffold, a guide to what will happen and when. There are a thousand different directions that each scene could have gone, and the specifics of the film were Haggis' responsibility. I think you're just looking for excuses to criticise Purvis and Wade, and while they're by no means perfect, they bear no responsibility for QUANTUM OF SOLACE. To say that "the heart and soul of the film (or lack thereof) is very much them" is, quite simply, wrong. In fact, it's about as wrong as you could be.

Paul Haggis deserves 90% of the blame for the failings of the script. The other 10% rest with Forster and Zetumer.

Don't forget Daniel Craig's uncredited contributions to the Quanum script (done with Forster):

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/daniel-craig-slams-his-own-bond-re-writes.html

“It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished.”

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

lachesis wrote:

But they did write the story according to the credits, the heart and soul of the film (or lack thereof) is very much them.

I believe they did write the original story, based on Wilson's idea of Greene causing a drought in the desert.

However, I think your statement that they bear responsibility for the failings of the film is patently wrong. The story is simply a scaffold, a guide to what will happen and when. There are a thousand different directions that each scene could have gone, and the specifics of the film were Haggis' responsibility. I think you're just looking for excuses to criticise Purvis and Wade, and while they're by no means perfect, they bear no responsibility for QUANTUM OF SOLACE. To say that "the heart and soul of the film (or lack thereof) is very much them" is, quite simply, wrong. In fact, it's about as wrong as you could be.

Paul Haggis deserves 90% of the blame for the failings of the script. The other 10% rest with Forster and Zetumer.

The story is not the scaffold at all, it is the foundation and the parameters that everything else has to conform to. Unless the story changes, the starting point and the end of every scene has to conform. It is very much the heart and soul of the film and while I do blame Purvis and Wade for those consistent issues that imo are present in every film from TWINE onwards I am in no way selectively applying blame on an individual film basis, given recent interviews Foster, Haggis, Craig and more (as Mr Solo points out) may all have their share of scripwiring input into QoS....the biggest culprit in all likelyhood was the writers strike in terms of that lone film.

But as none of us, to my knowledge, have any solid evidence to be able to apportion blame, or indeed even agree there is an objective measure by which it can be seen there is genuinely any blame to be accounted for, it is quite absurd any of us feel able to confidently predict percentages and selectvely decide some folks get none!

lachesis wrote:

It is very much the heart and soul of the film and while I do blame Purvis and Wade for those consistent issues that imo are present in every film from TWINE onwards I am in no way selectively applying blame on an individual film basis

Except that you obviously are.