Sights You'd Like to See in a Bond Film

Here's an idea that I'd like to see: a non-linear Bond film. It would be a huge risk, but if it was done properly, Ithink it would be very effective.

The film would have to open with Bond being caught while on a mission and tortured or interrogated by the villain, who wants something from him. Bond uses the opprotunity to try and recall what happened to lead to his capture, which is closely related to what the villain wants, and so he has to try and avoid being brainwashed at the same time. The film could be presented as a series of vignettes that are not shown in chronological order (because of the questions the villain asks Bond, and Bond trying to fill in the blanks when he is on his own), presenting a mystery for Bond and the audience to figure out. Kind of a cross between PULP FICTION, MEMENTO and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY.

Given plot is secondary in most Bond films,would anyone notice? Chases and setpieces are mainly spectacle.

Perhaps, but you could still do it and include the odd chase or setpiece as part of one of the flashbacks.

Interesting idea, but I'd say EON being prepared to experiment to that extent is unlikely.

It wouldn't be that difficult.

First, you write a film that is linear. Bond's assignment is to recover someone or to find something, which the villain also wants to do. At some point during the story - probably at the end of the second act - Bond gets caught by the villain and interrogated or tortured for information. He escapes and everything is ultimately resolved. Then you go back and chop the film up into smaller segments, rearrange them into the order that you want, and write additional scenes between Bond and the villain to bridge the gap.

It would be kind of like CASINO ROYALE starting with Bond being captured by Le Chiffre, who walks him through scenes from the casino half of the story, trying to convince him that either Mathis or Vesper betrayed him. Bond realises that Le Chiffre needs the account number and the password to get the funds, but while Bond has the password, Le Chiffre doesn't know who has the account number, and comes to the conclusion that Le Chiffre is really trying to get Bond to tell him who has the account number. Bond then has to find a way to make Le Chiffre go after the wrong person - Mathis - and lead him into a trap. At the end of the story, Bond discovers Vesper committed suicide rather than give up the account number.

That sounds like a vey static drama, almost a two-hander with one set. Better suited to the stage.

Well, I reckon it could work if done properly. The above based on CASINO ROYALE is a hastily-assemed idea to outline how it could work; if it were actually done, it would have to be done with a lot more care and forethought as to how events relate to one another.

Sorry to interrupt, but isn't this thread designed for locations, whereas this thread (https://bondandbeyond.forumotion.com/t1524-what-you-d-like-to-see-in-bond-24) is for everything else?

I know I've opposed the idea before, but I was in the city today and it struck me just how well Sydney could work in a Bond film. It just has to be done properly.

When I was watching Pacific Rim, I had to laugh at a scene where a kaiju bursts through a wall designed to protect the city because you can see the Sydney Opera House in the foreground and the Harbour Bridge in the midground, and the wall in te background. I found this funny because the kaiju attacks from the wrong direction - if it's coming from the ocean, then it should pass the Opera House first. The position of the wall means that if it actually existed, all of the Eastern Suburbs and the Central Business District would be wide open to attack from the sea.

With that in mind, it occurred to me that you could shoot the film in the CBD and avoid the Harbour Bridge and Opera House entirely. Sure, they're iconic landmarks, but they shouldn't be used for anything more than establishing shots. There's some great stuff in the city, with turn-of-the-century buildings competing for space with ultra-modern skyscrapers. And the entire city is unplanned - it really just grew as needed. So where lots of cities like New York are built on a grid pattern, Sydney is wrapped in a labyrinth of tarmac ribbons. It's easy to get lost, and you can turn a corner and find yourself suddenly in the middle of a vast park like the Domain. In places, it's almost like the entire city was designed so that an invading army would have to split up and would inevitably get lost, wander into itself and start fighting under the belief they had found the enemy. I think it's the kind of place that Ian Fleming would have liked, and well-suited to Bond.

One of the other great things about Sydney is that it's a great example of urban renewal at work. The waterfront used to be dominated by industrial estates, but as land values went up, industry was forced further and further west. Their former sites were cleaned up and converted to residential areas, but the factories weren't demolished. They were turned into apartments instead, so the waterfront has this really unique look to it as you start going west.

The big challenge is getting it right. The problem I've always had with Australia in a Bond film is that I've been hard-pressed to figure out how it could fit into a story. But I had an idea a few weeks ago where the next Bond film needs to start small. All three Craig films have started with Bond in mid-assignment. So start with the world behaving itself and Bond sent off on a seemingly-useless assignment where the presence of a Double-Oh is a necessary formality, but not much more. And from there, build up to something with gravity and actual stakes. Sydney might work for that first location.

It's about time he heads to Australia.

And New York again. Maybe Saratoga, too, for the horse races.

My concern is that, if Bond were to come to Australia, then certain elements here would try and take advantage of it and use it for marketing, kind of like what the Indians tried to do during production of Skyfall. I doubt we'd do anything as obvious as issue restrictive filming permits and then ease those restrictions if production worked with their tourism campaign, but I think there are some people who would try and use it to their own ends.

There's also the risk of dumbing things down to shots of city landmarks, as if that is the only character the city has. I'd hate to think a film might write a footchase into the Harbour Bridge climb (you can actually walk over the steel arch of the bridge) as an excuse to get panoramic shots of the city. The landmarks are nice, but once you get past them, then you run into the real character of the city.

Also, one thing that should never, ever be done is to include the Outback. I've hated the idea ever since John Woo did it in Mission: Impossible II. Sure, having parts of the film set out on sheep station might come across as distinctly Australian, but the problem is that the plot hinged having Tom Crise being able to get to Thandie Newton the moment something went wrong - but you're not going to find a sheep station like that within a thousand miles of Sydney. There was an episode of "JAG" that did it as well, with a character who was supposed to be Australian commenting that he took his Toyota Land Cruiser into the Outback on weekends, as if you just drive down the road and hey presto, it's the Outback. For or American friends, it's the equivalent of saying that Mount Rushmore is just up the river from New York City and that you can go and visit for the day and make it home in time for dinner.

Having said all that, were Australia to feature in Bond 24, then I'd like to think that Sam Mendes would get it right. He made Skyfall with such obvious respect and affection for the series that I don't think he'd resort to shots that concentrate on the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to set the scene. Rather, he'd play it smart and probably do something like have Bond arrive at the Garden Island naval base (which is not actually an island) - in uniform, since that's something that's been missing for a while - with the Bridge and Opera House in the background.

It's not like he shoved obvious London landmarks down our throats in Skyfall.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

It's not like he shoved obvious London landmarks down our throats in Skyfall.

Came close with the Tube train... :*e*: 

On the back of more Italian location news, I would like to see Venice pop up again in the future, though this time with the Carnivale back drop. I believe it was written in for TND in an earlier draft (later replaced by Hamburg) but I think Carnivale would harken back to the Junkanoo/Rio MR parade and add that sense of benign bizarre.

Maybe not in the Craig era as Italy has been feature so prominently recently, but maybe for Bond Actor 7







And can you imagine the title sequence using Carnivale motifs??

I was reading about one of those mad dictators in Latin America back in the 1950s and 60s the other day, and he had this bizarre fascination with Napoleon - to the point where he dressed in period-specific military uniforms, surrounded himself with Napoleon's likeness, and modelled himself on Napoleon's mannerisms. It stuck out in my mind as something very Bondian, so if ever there is another character like General Medrano or the President of Isthmus in LTK, it could be a nice little visual thing.

Isn't that kinda like Brad Whitaker, PM?

Kind of, but he was more obsessed with military history in general. I'm thinking of someone who builds a cult of personality around Napoleon and turns it up to eleven, almost as if he thinks he *is* Napoleon. He dresses in period-specific costume, outfits his army with French officers' uniforms and equipment, and even has Napoleon's flagship recreated in exact detail (impractical as it would be).

Not sure I see such a 'ripe' villain happening while Craig is Bond, to be honest.

Maybe, but that's why I'm thinking more in terms of a secondary villain - like Medrano. Plus, I'd like to see Bond encounter a villain who is batshit insane. It's not enough to carry a film, but it could work if they were giving sanctuary to the primary villain.

Yeah, what a sight I'd like to see, PM…

We'd see it in the film, so yes, it's a sight.

Latest Austrian pics for Bond 24 reminded me of this place. Wouldn't mind seeing Lake Bled, Slovenia pop up in the future… Wrote a Bond manuscript with this location for a portion of it years ago.



That's a church in the middle of the lake.

Here's a sight I'd wanna see in a future Bond film - Katia Winter:



Preferably as a blonde (even though the red works):

She looks frosty.