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A James Bond Period Piece?

SJK91SJK91
edited March 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 1,310
What if?

I know the franchise has already gone through a "major" change, but what if they decide (with the actor following Daniel Craig) to make a Bond adventure set in the 1960s? I usually am not really for "abstract" like this, but truth be told, I would be all for a period piece. To me it is a fascinating concept.

Old Aston Martin, pay phones, typewriters...sixities era charm? The one thing I wouldn't want thought is Russia as the main villain (a la Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Yes the Soviets would be in the background, but with a villain more like SPECTRE or Goldfinger....

Thoughts?
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Comments

  • BondBond
    edited March 2011 Posts: 503
    Honestly, I'm all for it! Don't get me wrong, I love what they're doing with the series now, but Ian Fleming material can only last so long in a 21st century setting.

    I really think they have so much opportunity to make some amazing "60s" Bond films in the 21st century. Bond could smoke again, be a womanizer, and all that other stuff that was really going on in the '60s but that is inappropriate in the 2010s. Bond just doesn't fit in the modern era, whether we admit it or not.
  • Sir_Hilary_BraySir_Hilary_Bray
    Posts: 57
    That would be great, the new OSS117 movies did a great job recreating the 60s feel.

    I'd love to see a 60s soundtrack, picture quality (yes indeed, I love old movies), stylish 60s gadgets
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    Posts: 987
    It will never, ever happen but I would love to see the Fleming books filmed exactly as they were written in the correct late 50's, early 60's era. Admittedly they wouldn't all work as cinematic releases but maybe made as feature length adaptions for TV. I'd love to see the people who produce ITV's Miss Marple and Poirot have a crack at them as they clearly have a working knowledge of how to correctly bring period literary works to the screen in high quality productions.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    I'd like to see it too but as said, Bond must move with the times. Adaptations of the novels would be great but I'd much rather the effort be put into making the best films EON can.
  • dragonskydragonsky
    Posts: 2,491
    wow that would be interesting but i cant say if it is good idea cause i dont know how they are going to make that
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    I´m not a fan of period pieces, but what Chris Nolan did with The Prestige was quite compelling. With a Q who would be on a par with Nikola Tesla a Bond movie set in the post war 50s could be really good. I don´t think it would work for more than one film, but if they can make a film of Bond´s ´rookie years´, then they could also make a period piece. Would have to be 50s though, 60s we´ve had with the Connery films.
  • AgentJamesBond007AgentJamesBond007 Vesper’s grave
    Posts: 2,630
    If that would happen, I would certinly be interested. Seeing Daniel Craig be Bond in its original form would be interesting to see
  • JBFan626JBFan626
    Posts: 1,497
    That would be fantastic, but the problem with that is Bond would be stuck in that era for films to come, where as now he changes with the times. Once the novelty in the period piece wears off, I would foresee the series ending after that.

    But...I'm still all for it. What I loved about the 60's Bonds was that style of the time that can't be recreated today.
  • VirageVirage
    Posts: 1,856
    Good Idea But....
    1. You used Indi as an example and the Russians where up in arms about them being the villeins
    2. It would mean more CGI and remember DAD?
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Dont see why EON have to be so anal. Is there any reason (especially for the 50th anniversary) why they couldnt lease out the rights (although retain editorial control) to a TV company such as those that make Poirot and Sherlock Holmes and film 2 hour TV adaptations of the books as written? I think the majority of them could be filmed on a fairly low budget as the action is not as spectacular as what is expected from the films.

    Considering we are averaging 3 years between films these days it would hardly impact on the box office and would keep interest in the character ticking over in the fallow years.

    The BBC have already done several radio plays that are very faithful to the books so dont see why they couldnt be allowed to go all the way and film them properly.

    Never going to happen for at least the next 20 years though. Not until they really run out of ideas and have to have another reboot. Depends what happens to the rights after Babs and MGW but if Hollywood get hold of them Bond is too much of a cash cow to waste turning into some period piece in black & white when they can throw the latest CGI and effects at it.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    I think I read somewhere that Steven Spielberg was actually interested in doing exactly this type of Bond film, but of course the producers would have none of it. Yes, it would have to be with a new actor portraying Bond, and new actors portraying M, Q, and Moneypenny. I'd like to see a kind of prequel to Dr. No, with a young actor with something of a resemblance to a young Sean Connery. In FRWL Bond recounts to Tatiana about an event where he and M were in Tokyo, perhaps that could be the backdrop, with SMERSH as the villains.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @DB5 brilliant idea! I think a great story could form around that. It could entail anything because the words at the time were for banter's sake and the viewer doesn't know what went down so any kind of plot could be formed. That would be cool.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    would we really want further confusion to the Bond timeline... we already got 2 timelines (essentially) thanks to the reboot with Casino Royale.. do we really need to go back in time and make a period piece that starts everything over, AGAIN??.... for the official franchise, i say no thanks...

    but i have always wondered about what would straight adaptations of Fleming's material look like... which is why I've always been intrigued by the notion of Tarantino wanting to have done Casino Royale verbatim... it would just be one of those things that i think would be very interesting to see, what his take on that story would be - obviously set in the 50's, like he wanted it to be..

    but in terms of moving forward with the films now... i believe that's the direction Bond always needs to be heading, forward... like the line in a classic Metallica song says..

    "Moving back instead of forward seems to me absurd."
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,546
    A JB period piece would be nice but of course preferably outside the film franchise. Said franchise is known to follow existing trends and walk two minutes in the future. As discussed a gazillion times before, I'd love to see a faithful adaptation of Fleming's novels as a high quality made-for-TV series, introducing a 50s / 60s setting. I certainly wouldn't mind, as it gives us the opportunity to properly witness Fleming's world of early sports cars, risqué 60s fashion, the cold war and in which Bond is a WWII veteran.

    Yes, I wants it. Gimme!
  • YtterbiumYtterbium
    edited July 2011 Posts: 269
    We had James Bond in science fiction with Moonraker and a few other so why not a period piece. I guess it could make sense in the saga, as long as it is treated as an original new adventure, and not a tribute to the 1960s films (this has already be done). just to show that Bond belongs to any time settings. It would be a great challenge to be taken by the production, but that would be a great idea. For one or 2 shots maybe, and break definitely any idea of linearity in the franchise. :>

    @haserot : I don't think that would be "moving back". Just a new setting for a Bond adventure. Of course, that will mean that a lot of people will go on saying again that "James Bond is a relic of the Cold War"
  • Monsieur_AubergineMonsieur_Aubergine Top of the Eiffel Tower with a fly in my soup!
    Posts: 642
    I absolutely love this idea, it actually gets me more excited than a modern offering. Oh nostalgia! lol
  • JamesStockJamesStock
    Posts: 565
    I think if it was done as a one-off, it could work amazingly well. However, I think this is something for when the ideas get dry again. Right now, I don't think they need it.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I could see a Bond period piece being done, but not on film. Maybe the BBC could launch a miniseries length Bond program that adapted all the Fleming books during each series. The show would launch with Casino Royale, and five or six episodes would be used to tell that story from beginning to end, trying to remain as faithful as possible to the source. The next series would showcase and adapt Live and Let Die, which would again take place over another five or six episodes. The show would then continue on until we reached The Man with the Golden Gun and the conclusion of the literary Bond's story as told by Fleming. I would certainly love to see the literary Bond treated in such a way, and to get a set of period piece adaptions that Fleming would be proud of.
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,506
    SJK91 wrote:
    What if?

    I know the franchise has already gone through a "major" change, but what if they decide (with the actor following Daniel Craig) to make a Bond adventure set in the 1960s? I usually am not really for "abstract" like this, but truth be told, I would be all for a period piece. To me it is a fascinating concept.

    Old Aston Martin, pay phones, typewriters...sixities era charm? The one thing I wouldn't want thought is Russia as the main villain (a la Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Yes the Soviets would be in the background, but with a villain more like SPECTRE or Goldfinger....

    Thoughts?

    I would not want this to happen if i am to be completely honest. My feeling would be that they have run out of ideas if they were to ever go down this route?

    Their is plenty going on in the world today, it is just as dangerous as when we were living through the cold war? Just give us a good a good gripping modern story for Bond to be involved in?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    I The show would launch with Casino Royale, and five or six episodes would be used to tell that story from beginning to end, trying to remain as faithful as possible to the source. The next series would showcase and adapt Live and Let Die, which would again take place over another five or six episodes. The show would then continue on until we reached The Man with the Golden Gun and the conclusion of the literary Bond's story as told by Fleming.
    From your lips to BBC's ears.
    [-O<
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    chrisisall wrote:
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    I The show would launch with Casino Royale, and five or six episodes would be used to tell that story from beginning to end, trying to remain as faithful as possible to the source. The next series would showcase and adapt Live and Let Die, which would again take place over another five or six episodes. The show would then continue on until we reached The Man with the Golden Gun and the conclusion of the literary Bond's story as told by Fleming.
    From your lips to BBC's ears.
    [-O<

    I agree.
  • StoneShiStoneShi
    Posts: 75
    The day they make a period piece, the day I quit watching Bond. End of story full stop.

    It would not even be true stay true to the essence of Fleming. Fleming did not write period pieces. He just happened to live and work in the 50s and 60s. Were he still alive, we would be reading new Bond novels off Bond would be using iToys, Wii, Samsung Galaxy.

    Bond is made by the approach, attitude, humour. Not pointless period details. Modern period movies all look phoney baloney anyway, fooling nobody. Fans should not be put in charge of Bond, I shudder to think that what comes next. A woman Bond? Get a grip, get real, get a life.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    StoneShi wrote: »
    Get a grip, get real, get a life.
    Seriously? Man, we are discussing a movie series here; it's a hobby outside of grips & lives.
    Sheesh. :))
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited July 2014 Posts: 40,471
    @StoneShi, a period piece would make you stop watching Bond for good? Please. Out of everything that we've been given over the last 50 years, THAT is what would make you quit watching the Bond franchise? Someone's overdramatic.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @StoneShi, a period would make you stop watching Bond for good? Please. Out of everything that we've been given over the last 50 years, THAT is what would make you quit watching the Bond franchise? Someone's overdramatic.

    @StoneShi may not have hit puberty yet, so we should save this adult discussion for when they've come of age. ;)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,471
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @StoneShi, a period would make you stop watching Bond for good? Please. Out of everything that we've been given over the last 50 years, THAT is what would make you quit watching the Bond franchise? Someone's overdramatic.

    @StoneShi may not have hit puberty yet, so we should save this adult discussion for when they've come of age. ;)

    Thanks for quoting me, rendering my edit completely useless. ;-)

    And sadly, you're most certainly right!
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,546
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @StoneShi, a period would make you stop watching Bond for good? Please. Out of everything that we've been given over the last 50 years, THAT is what would make you quit watching the Bond franchise? Someone's overdramatic.

    @StoneShi may not have hit puberty yet, so we should save this adult discussion for when they've come of age. ;)

    Great reply, @Brady! :P

  • Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
    edited July 2014 Posts: 4,400
    Jean-Luc Godard did something similar to this with the Lemmy Caution character. Caution was a character who typically operated in his own time and place in a number of French films but when Godard made the film 'Alphaville' he decided to take the Caution character and recontextualize him in a futuristic dystopian environment and the film is rather marvellous.

    I'd love to see a director with a clear singular vision come and leave their stamp on the Bond series by making a unique one-off film. There was talk from Tarantino at one stage of him wanting to do a version of Casino Royale that followed the events of OHMSS with the film set in the 60's with a story about Bond coping with the death of Tracy. That's a film I'd love to see and I think fits the precedent left by Godard. 'Alphaville' is a truly great film and it also stars Anna Karina so it's automatically amazing.

    6411114785_9d17c24b40_b.jpg
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    I've actually never seen Alphaville. Is this an error I need to correct?
  • daltondalton
    Posts: 1,631
    A period piece Bond would be a fantastic idea. I don't think that it should happen as part of the EON film franchise, but if EON was to partner with a premium cable network (HBO or Showtime) or with a company like Netflix, it could be something truly special.
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