GOLDNEYE Screenwriter Michael France dies at 51

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ST. PETE BEACH, Fla., April 14 (UPI) -- "Cliffhanger" and "GoldenEye" screenwriter Michael France has died at his St. Pete Beach, Fla., home following an extended illness, his sister said. He was 51.

France suffered from diabetes that impaired his left arm and right leg, Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times reported.

He was fund comatose nine months ago in his home in St. Pete Beach by his sister, Suzanne France, who found his body Friday at his home.

"He didn't look that bad on Thursday night," Suzanne France said Saturday. "He was sick, but I didn't think he was as bad as he was the last time or I would have just called an ambulance.

"He was sitting up, he had good color, he was making jokes. Just sitting there on the couch with his dog," she said.

Michael France shared the screenwriting credit for "Cliffhanger" with John Long and the 1993 film's star, Sylvester Stallone. He wrote the 1995 James Bond movie "GoldenEye" with Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein.

He was also a screenwriter on several Marvel Comics film adaptations, including "The Hulk" (2003), "The Punisher" (2004) and "Fantastic Four" 2005.

He owned the Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach, where he showed a variety of classic, independent and foreign films, along with current blockbusters.

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2013/04/14/Screenwriter-Michael-France-dies-at-51/UPI-76171365959590/

France was a frequent critic of the WGA arbitration system. Ten years ago he spoke, possibly unwisely, of his dissatisfaction:

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"My agent lobbied hard for [GoldenEye]," French says. "It's not like your agent just calls up and suggests you, and somebody says: "Great idea, we'll take him.' For the Bond film there were, like, 30 other writers campaigning to get the job. You have to show up and really give them something."

France met several times with Bond series producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson about his Agent 007 ideas. They took him to meet Bond's cinema godfather, producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli.

"If the whole thing had stopped there, that would have been a definite thrill for me, to go to his house and meet him," France says. "I convinced him that I would take an approach they would like that would take the characters seriously but still have fun with them."

France got the job, wrote the screenplay, then got his first taste of Hollywood's curious approach to crediting screenwriters. Names that moviegoers see listed as authors in film credits aren't always the ones who wrote first, and perhaps not those who wrote the most. Writing credits are determined by the Writers Guild of America, a process with a built-in arbitration system because of the disputes that often erupt.

For example: France's GoldenEye script was reworked by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein, who eventually shared screenplay credit by writers guild decision. France got credited only for the story. "My thinking is that I got seriously undercredited on that one," he says.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/20/Floridian/Flexing_his_writer_s_.shtml

Writer of Goldeneye, Hulk, Cliffhanger and Fantasic Four.

Goldeneye the best Bond movie to date and i wish he and atleast one of the other writers (Jeffrey Caine) get another change writing another Bond movie.

Rip 51 Years old, the same age as the Bond movies exist this year.

Having read his original draft, it's surprisingly close in many ways that I can see his dissatisfaction over getting undercredited. Sure wish that he and Caine got more Bond gigs.

EON has been thieving from France's original draft of GOLDENEYE for years. Heck, even QUANTUM OF SOLACE stole a sequence from France's GOLDENEYE draft.

RIP.

Which sequence was that, Harmsway?

FieldsMan wrote:

Which sequence was that, Harmsway?

The sinkhole/sky-diving sequence.

Harmsway wrote:

EON has been thieving from France's original draft of GOLDENEYE for years. Heck, even QUANTUM OF SOLACE stole a sequence from France's GOLDENEYE draft.

Writer of the Bond films since 1995.