When Brosnan Approached McClory to Do Rival Bond Film

Skip to 12:55 and it's Brosnan talking about how he pursued doing a Bond film with McClory sometime after LTK had come out. Never actually knew about this. It's actually a good thing this never worked out because this might have flat out torpedoed his chances at getting the gig in '94, and who knows where his career would have been after that. It's funny reading his expression when asked the question, he's clearly not comfortable, thinking "ooooohh yeah, that... I dodged a bullet there".

Look at you, sourcing TND promotional material. Are you softening up to the film, MP?

I remember watching this interview years ago. It absolutely would have hindered his chances of becoming an official Bond had he made Thunderball 3.

Can't imagine audiences would be overly keen on NSNA Mk 2 within a decade of the first remake, so probably for the best.

He's in a playful mood at the start ... he says 'Rolling' so many times I thought he was about to do the Rawhide theme, but then segues into a rendition of the Bond one instead.

Yeah, the McClory thing would've been a terrible idea (maybe it would've been the one titled either 'Warhead' or 'James Bond Of The Secret Service').

McClory also considered Lazenby for NSNA until Connery expressed interest. Then by the late 90s McClory wanted to get Dalton for another, which probably would have been even more unlikely given Dalton's loyalty to EON. Just goes to show how insanely persistent McClory was in his quest to make a rival Bond series, even if it was only based on one book!

Kevin McClory presents: (out-takes and leftover footage of) SEAN CONNERY in Never Take No For an Answer.

(Worked for Peter Sellers.)

Makeshift Python wrote:

Just goes to show how insanely persistent McClory was in his quest to make a rival Bond series, even if it was only based on one book!

And highly unimaginative and spiteful. He could cast anyone as Bond but keeps going back to Eon's official picks for the role.

Wonder if Connery would've contacted Dalton to warn him about what a miserable experience NSNA had turned out to be.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

Just goes to show how insanely persistent McClory was in his quest to make a rival Bond series, even if it was only based on one book!

And highly unimaginative and spiteful. He could cast anyone as Bond but keeps going back to Eon's official picks for the role.

I sorta get why McClory felt entitled to Bond films, because he wrote what was supposed to be THE first Bond film ever, but then several obstacles got in the way of that being realized (including Fleming not even crediting him for the novel). That said, even though things didn't pan out he at least produced TB, which I imagine made him enough money to retire for life. However, seems he was too egotistical to let it go. Even his own family thought he was too obsessed over it, and it's telling that after they inherited the rights to TB after his death they soon gave it to EON with no complaints.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Wonder if Connery would've contacted Dalton to warn him about what a miserable experience NSNA had turned out to be.

I don't think he would have paid enough attention to bother warning, but if Dalton called to ask his opinion of McClory I'm sure he'd have gotten an earful.

From the nicknames game: Kevin "I co-wrote the script of what became Thunderball - that makes James Bond my intellectual property" McClory.

Imagine had Fleming been smart and given credit to McClory for the novel, then this wouldn't have been such a big mess for EON.

A Scotsman give credit - to an Irishman?!

Makeshift Python wrote:

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

Just goes to show how insanely persistent McClory was in his quest to make a rival Bond series, even if it was only based on one book!

And highly unimaginative and spiteful. He could cast anyone as Bond but keeps going back to Eon's official picks for the role.

I sorta get why McClory felt entitled to Bond films, because he wrote what was supposed to be THE first Bond film ever, but then several obstacles got in the way of that being realized (including Fleming not even crediting him for the novel). That said, even though things didn't pan out he at least produced TB, which I imagine made him enough money to retire for life. However, seems he was too egotistical to let it go. Even his own family thought he was too obsessed over it, and it's telling that after they inherited the rights to TB after his death they soon gave it to EON with no complaints.

Absolutely. But McClory could have got your man Jason Isaacs for instance but he seemed hung up on using the official Bond actors.

I believe I mentioned around here somewhere before that the front-door security woman at my office building is actually a cousin of McClory's. Unsurprisingly, his family's POV on it seems to be that he got shafted .

Ooh interesting Blunty. Shafted, law, the man was determined to remake Thunderball unto death.

Kind of surprised his family hasn't found a way to carry on the mantle so to speak.

They divested themselves of the temptation to keep beating a dead horse by selling the SPECTRE / Blofeld rights back to EON. It was probably the best thing to do, although in their haste to capitalize on that purchase, MGW & BB tried to do too much with it all at once. Oh well, they now have the luxury of reworking it as much as they like.

McClory wasn't exactly film business savvy, so with his family having zero interest in that it makes more sense to just make a deal with EON over the usage of Thunderball, rather than waste money on failed attempts at launching a rival franchise. McClory might have had an even happier life just licensing his intellectual properties to EON, rather than be so pig headed about it.

You always wonder what the whole situation had been like and what McClory and Whittingham contributed etc.

Then you read the excellent Battle for Bond and you realize...McClory was...well he had his heart in the right place and was a character...but also seemingly a bit of a nut. The whole issue that killed the film originally was that Fleming and Co were tied to someone with no real experience trying to produce a film. Then they tried to get out politely and secretly many different times. Bad idea.

And talking about screwed....just look up Jack Whittingham who was the person to bring all the disparate elements and drafts and half baked drafts into script form. Who stayed with McClory in good faith and got nothing. And nothing afterwards nor did his family receive anything.


But McClory had tenacity. It wouldn't have been easy to make TB in 1965-I've always felt they probably had to hold McClory at bay somehow to get the film done. In my head I've always pictured him popping up with a bunch of celebrity guests in tow, cigar in hand with new "ideas". But I could be wrong it's merely what I've imagined.


Best part of Battle for Bond for me? All the early envisioning and attempts to make the film. Casting was a big challenge but I did get a great kick and vindicated feeling when all acknowledged, Fleming included that despite being American and thought of as a certain image that James Stewart could still play the role effortlessly and then seriously considered hiring him. As a lifelong Jimmy fan and great admirer of his daunting, risk laden, fearless dark postwar period of performances it was amazing to see that even Fleming acknowledged him.

I haven't read Battle for Bond for a few years but I felt Whittingham was the one who was shafted most. I felt, from what I read, McClory really didn't contribute as much as the others.

The idea for the organization of gangsters, spies and terrorists came from Fleming friend Ernest Cureo (Cuneo? immortalized in DAF, anyway). But, since Whittingham was paid to write it into the script that McClory had commissioned, that apparently gave McClory the rights to SPECTRE and the name Blofeld in perpetuity.
MP makes a good point - like Terry Nation and his Daleks, McClory could have offered leasing rights, but after co-producing TB and recovering from Saltzman's departure, I don't thing Cubby would have been in the mood for that.

Yes, it's usually how it works - the producer retains the rights. But where both Fleming and McClory received credit, Whittingham didn't.

Leasing the rights would have made the most sense. He could have taken a cut of TSWLM and any future instalments that featured Blofeld/SPECTRE. But then, how elusive could Blofeld be? What would it say about Bond if he couldn't make use of his licence to kill on this one man?

Obviously McClory did not have exclusive right to the image of Blofeld - bald head, Mao jacket, Persian cat... hence EON getting away with offing an unnamed character in FYEO. Except for the cat, McClory didn't evoke any of those tropes (not even the name, except in the titles) in NSNA.

AMC Hornet wrote:

Obviously McClory did not have exclusive right to the image of Blofeld - bald head, Mao jacket, Persian cat... hence EON getting away with offing an unnamed character in FYEO. Except for the cat, McClory didn't evoke any of those tropes (not even the name, except in the titles) in NSNA.

Not even any sense of menace. Max von Sydow was a great actor but you wouldn't know it from NSNA.

He just doesn't have enough time to do anything-but does have an interesting presence as Blofeld. I like that he seems almost bemused with himself which is reminiscent of his turn as the King in Conan the Barbarian.

I always thought it was odd that he seemed to be attempting Connery's accent, with the signature "sh"s with every s he sounded out. "THE TEESH OF ALLAH"