No Time To Die: Production Diary

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Comments

  • edited October 2017 Posts: 1,031
    Got a new hypothesis re. Waltz. They are recasting - Blofeld will have undergone radical surgery to look like ... Dr. Shatterhand (or another name to throw Bond novel devotees off the trail) ... for it to be later revealed that he is Blofeld ... who has killed Madeleine.
  • 001001
    Posts: 1,575
    The New Blofeld ?

    le-message-sympa-de-zlatan-ibrahimovic-a-lukaku-854065.jpg
  • Posts: 1,031
    001 wrote: »
    The New Blofeld ?

    le-message-sympa-de-zlatan-ibrahimovic-a-lukaku-854065.jpg

    No.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,567
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    Woah! That is....possibly true...but I would rather cling to the belief that as we are 2 years away from the next film, and over one year away from meeting the new cast, we are decidedly in a sort of limbo where nothing much is likely to happen for months.

    But that sense of meh does linger, and I have always been a Bond optimist.

    My concern is for the franchise after Craig goes. Are there major plans to shake it up and create a Bond universe? If there are I may simply retire with my 25 film box set and sit in a corner somewhere telling myself it was all so much better in the old days.

  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    NicNac wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    Woah! That is....possibly true...but I would rather cling to the belief that as we are 2 years away from the next film, and over one year away from meeting the new cast, we are decidedly in a sort of limbo where nothing much is likely to happen for months.

    But that sense of meh does linger, and I have always been a Bond optimist.

    My concern is for the franchise after Craig goes. Are there major plans to shake it up and create a Bond universe? If there are I may simply retire with my 25 film box set and sit in a corner somewhere telling myself it was all so much better in the old days.
    I can appreciate the concern about the post-Craig era, but I'm actually far more optimistic about B26 onwards, because I believe a shakeup is indeed coming. I'm also willing to accommodate a shared universe (whatever form that may take) if it means getting a 'move on', ditching this continuity driven dead end and generating more frequent future releases.

    Regarding retiring with the 25 film box set and pontificating about the old days being better like an old fogey, I'm afraid I'm nearly already there.

    I agree with the Wiz that based on what we know at the moment, B25 does seem like a lame duck 'stub' effort, apparently motivated more by business than creative considerations. I am open to being pleasantly surprised however. I still retain a glimmer of distant hope.
  • Posts: 1,452
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    What a crock of...

  • Posts: 11,119
    ffff-ing hell. A certain breed of Bond fans are truly taking over this topic eh :-).
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    ffff-ing hell. A certain breed of Bond fans are truly taking over this topic eh :-).
    That's why staying detached helps, mate. I've been less engaging recently and the headaches are less. This thread is raining with opinionated people.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    A question that's been on my mind is why they pushed this back to 2019. I'm pretty sure they could have done a one film distribution deal earlier if they really wanted to (complex though they might be). They could have also locked down a script earlier.

    Arguably they lost most of 2016 and really started to get going sometime this year.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 7,976
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    One of the best, most accurate posts I've ever seen on here. We've entered Bond inertia.
  • SeanCraigSeanCraig Germany
    Posts: 732
    I found „forced connected narrative“ in SP, only and therefore I agree THIS entry left the film series with some problems ... but nothing that can‘t be solved ... and best by just ignoring parts of it.

    I don‘t mind a lot of things Mendes brought into the series: I like the new M, especially like the new Q and am OK with the new Moneypenny (I don‘t understand why she had to he a field agent, but ok so be it).

    Is Craig really just back for the money? I doubt that - more that he wants to go off on a high note which can be only good if this motivates him the way he was with CR, QoS and SF. All stellar performances of his and thus I think this is a very positive thing for B25.

    I agree on one thing though: B26 will most likely bring a radixal change - as radical as CR was. And it can turn out good or bad ... we‘ll see.

    I am not as excited about B25 as I was with SP ... because I felt let down by it‘s last third especially. But I think excitement will kick in once there are more substantial news
  • Posts: 4,619
    No director of substance would want to touch it.
    *cough* Denis Villeneuve *cough*

  • edited October 2017 Posts: 1,162
    TripAces wrote: »
    Milovy wrote: »

    Stop stop stop with the plot holes nonsense. This is BOND!!!! Every single film is choc full of not only gaping plot holes
    Stop stop stop with the plot holes nonsense. This is BOND!!!! Every single film is choc full of not only gaping plot holes, but stupid plots ....


    No, they are not and just because you and some others aren't able to grasp the difference between movies that are not to be taken too seriously and those that consist of nothing but pathetic nonsense sewn to ridiculous plot holes, it still would be nice if you would refrain from accusing all those, that can see the difference of making things up, nitpicking or dramatizing. I mean if all bond movies where like Skyfall (and also Spectre for that matter) it would make all of us bond fans mindless, dumb grinning consumers that are just happy as long 007 goes through the motions. Some of us certainly and obviously are but again, not all of us. By a wide margin I would hope. And again, before you start firing the usual volley at me I make you the same offer that I already made to other proponents of Skyfall. Just tell me what you're thinking makes sense in Skyfall and I tell you are you are wrong. From all the Bond movies (and actually any today other I know ) It's only with Skyfall and - to a very large extent - for specter I can make such an offer. This actually says it all!
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited October 2017 Posts: 23,883
    SeanCraig wrote: »
    I agree on one thing though: B26 will most likely bring a radixal change - as radical as CR was. And it can turn out good or bad ... we‘ll see.
    This is where I'm most optimistic. I am more looking forward to a change now than I was during Brozza's low point.
    No director of substance would want to touch it.
    *cough* Denis Villeneuve *cough*
    Could explain a lot of things, including Waltz not being asked back. Hopefully more radical changes coming too.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 7,976
    No director of substance would want to touch it.
    *cough* Denis Villeneuve *cough*

    They always say you don't have to be the fastest in the herd to escape death, you just have to be faster than the slowest. Looks like Denis has drawn the short straw and may have to do it. I don't envy him.
  • Posts: 1,162
    Murdock wrote: »
    Nothing beats Korean colonel turning into British industrialist billionaire as worst plothole in the Bond franchise. ;)

    Actually this is not a plot hole. It's just laughable and impossible. The plot hole is that this "newborn" gets recognized within a year by the royal family and made knight.
  • Posts: 1,162
    001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg

    Yes, yes and yes! Better make it two or three of them.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited October 2017 Posts: 15,423
    001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg

    Yes, yes and yes! Better make it two or three of them.
    I'm on board with that, as well! :D
  • Posts: 19,339
    Kinky...
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    We won't see that until a reset regrettably. We're all about messages and fitting in with the prevailing sensibilities for now and the climate is not conducive to such privileges.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    bondjames wrote: »
    We won't see that until a reset regrettably. We're all about messages and fitting in with the prevailing sensibilities for now and the climate is not conducive to such privileges.
    True!
  • Posts: 1,162
    ColonelSun wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    What a crock of...

    Could you please point out where exactly @TheWizardOfIce was wrong in his reasoning?
  • Posts: 1,452
    ColonelSun wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    What a crock of...

    Could you please point out where exactly @TheWizardOfIce was wrong in his reasoning?

    Seriously??? I won't even waste my time.

  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    bondjames wrote: »
    NicNac wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    Woah! That is....possibly true...but I would rather cling to the belief that as we are 2 years away from the next film, and over one year away from meeting the new cast, we are decidedly in a sort of limbo where nothing much is likely to happen for months.

    But that sense of meh does linger, and I have always been a Bond optimist.

    My concern is for the franchise after Craig goes. Are there major plans to shake it up and create a Bond universe? If there are I may simply retire with my 25 film box set and sit in a corner somewhere telling myself it was all so much better in the old days.
    I can appreciate the concern about the post-Craig era, but I'm actually far more optimistic about B26 onwards, because I believe a shakeup is indeed coming. I'm also willing to accommodate a shared universe (whatever form that may take) if it means getting a 'move on', ditching this continuity driven dead end and generating more frequent future releases.

    Regarding retiring with the 25 film box set and pontificating about the old days being better like an old fogey, I'm afraid I'm nearly already there.

    I agree with the Wiz that based on what we know at the moment, B25 does seem like a lame duck 'stub' effort, apparently motivated more by business than creative considerations. I am open to being pleasantly surprised however. I still retain a glimmer of distant hope.

    I feel all this stems from Craig being given way too much power and however much people want to say 'Cubby made mistakes too so get off Babs' case' that comes from mismanagement at the top.

    Yes he's a very good Bond. Yes it's nice he wants to have an input. Yes I wanted to see him continue as long as he is credible.

    But

    The Blofeld and SPECTRE arc is too big to set up from scratch and then resolve in one film. They realised that and planned it as two but then they were scared Craig wouldn't come back for a 5th so catastrophically decided to condense it all into one film. That's one of SP's other flaws (among the many) - trying to fit too much in.

    They needed to sit down with Dan and have an awkward conversation along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Fair enough. We'll save it for the new Bond when you're done. Ok let's talk about B24 then a nice standalone film, a big epic, your TB or MR as it were.

    Instead it seems we got something more along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Err Ok. Would you be alright if we cram it all into one? Pleeease Dan.
    Dan: Yeah I suppose so.
    EON: Thank you so much. We're pathetically grateful. Obviously it will be a terribly unsatisfactory film now and Christ knows how we'll follow it up but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

    They couldn't even get him to sign up for B25 (even give him a 4 year 'rest' if you must) so we have this bizarre scenario where he drives off into the sunrise so he's done or Blofeld is still alive so he's not done depending on Dan's whim about doing another one.

    This will he/won't he cockteasing didn't matter in Rog's days because they were all standalone entries but if you want to make a grandiose story arc about SPECTRE and Blofeld then surely you need to know if your star is returning don't you?

    Just show some leadership and get him to make his mind up and either we get SP in 2015 and then at the end of SP 'James Bond will return in Blofeld 2017 and Shatterhand 2019' (not blown away by those titles - just using them to illustrate the point).

    And if he doesn't want to sign up he can just do B24. If he wants to go on and they decide it makes business sense to keep him on he can do B25 as a standalone (as appears to be happening anyway) too and then at the end of whichever turns out to be his last film we get 'James Bond will return in SP' and the new guy gets to surf on that wave of expectation and goodwill.

    Being bezzie mates with your employees is rarely a good idea in business.
  • Posts: 19,339
    bondjames wrote: »
    NicNac wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    Woah! That is....possibly true...but I would rather cling to the belief that as we are 2 years away from the next film, and over one year away from meeting the new cast, we are decidedly in a sort of limbo where nothing much is likely to happen for months.

    But that sense of meh does linger, and I have always been a Bond optimist.

    My concern is for the franchise after Craig goes. Are there major plans to shake it up and create a Bond universe? If there are I may simply retire with my 25 film box set and sit in a corner somewhere telling myself it was all so much better in the old days.
    I can appreciate the concern about the post-Craig era, but I'm actually far more optimistic about B26 onwards, because I believe a shakeup is indeed coming. I'm also willing to accommodate a shared universe (whatever form that may take) if it means getting a 'move on', ditching this continuity driven dead end and generating more frequent future releases.

    Regarding retiring with the 25 film box set and pontificating about the old days being better like an old fogey, I'm afraid I'm nearly already there.

    I agree with the Wiz that based on what we know at the moment, B25 does seem like a lame duck 'stub' effort, apparently motivated more by business than creative considerations. I am open to being pleasantly surprised however. I still retain a glimmer of distant hope.

    I feel all this stems from Craig being given way too much power and however much people want to say 'Cubby made mistakes too so get off Babs' case' that comes from mismanagement at the top.

    Yes he's a very good Bond. Yes it's nice he wants to have an input. Yes I wanted to see him continue as long as he is credible.

    But

    The Blofeld and SPECTRE arc is too big to set up from scratch and then resolve in one film. They realised that and planned it as two but then they were scared Craig wouldn't come back for a 5th so catastrophically decided to condense it all into one film. That's one of SP's other flaws (among the many) - trying to fit too much in.

    They needed to sit down with Dan and have an awkward conversation along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Fair enough. We'll save it for the new Bond when you're done. Ok let's talk about B24 then a nice standalone film, a big epic, your TB or MR as it were.

    Instead it seems we got something more along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Err Ok. Would you be alright if we cram it all into one? Pleeease Dan.
    Dan: Yeah I suppose so.
    EON: Thank you so much. We're pathetically grateful. Obviously it will be a terribly unsatisfactory film now and Christ knows how we'll follow it up but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

    They couldn't even get him to sign up for B25 (even give him a 4 year 'rest' if you must) so we have this bizarre scenario where he drives off into the sunrise so he's done or Blofeld is still alive so he's not done depending on Dan's whim about doing another one.

    This will he/won't he cockteasing didn't matter in Rog's days because they were all standalone entries but if you want to make a grandiose story arc about SPECTRE and Blofeld then surely you need to know if your star is returning don't you?

    Just show some leadership and get him to make his mind up and either we get SP in 2015 and then at the end of SP 'James Bond will return in Blofeld 2017 and Shatterhand 2019' (not blown away by those titles - just using them to illustrate the point).

    And if he doesn't want to sign up he can just do B24. If he wants to go on and they decide it makes business sense to keep him on he can do B25 as a standalone (as appears to be happening anyway) too and then at the end of whichever turns out to be his last film we get 'James Bond will return in SP' and the new guy gets to surf on that wave of expectation and goodwill.

    Being bezzie mates with your employees is rarely a good idea in business.

    Well said Wiz,cant fault that post and totally agree.
    Especially with the final line you wrote as well,so so true.

  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    bondjames wrote: »
    NicNac wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    Or more likely a new director just doesn't want to take on any of Mendes's baggage, which is what I assumed some time ago. Where I got it wrong was whether a new director would want Craig along either (given the baggage is all his).

    This is certainly an issue.

    Any director worth his salt would say no to cleaning up the steaming turd Mendes has left. But the baggage is not solely Mendes it's also Craig and the Craig era. They put continuity and connected narrative above all else with the Craig era and to just ignore all that for one tacked on film seems a massive cop out and a pretty pointless exercise to be honest.

    By all logic and reason the obvious thing to do would be to recast and start with a clean slate but of course that's not happening as due to trying to nail a better distribution deal they have signed Craig for one more.

    Babs is not fussed and would rather do her arty farty Oscar bait projects. MGW is spent and deserves his retirement. Dan is only really in it for the money at this stage (and possibly trying to elevate his legacy to join the big 2 of Sean and Rog). P&W sound like they are out of ideas. No director of substance would want to touch it. Even amongst the fans here there doesn't seem much excitement. We're just treading water until 2022 and a new Bond.

    I can't help feeling B25 is shaping up to be a lame duck film that nobody really wants.

    Woah! That is....possibly true...but I would rather cling to the belief that as we are 2 years away from the next film, and over one year away from meeting the new cast, we are decidedly in a sort of limbo where nothing much is likely to happen for months.

    But that sense of meh does linger, and I have always been a Bond optimist.

    My concern is for the franchise after Craig goes. Are there major plans to shake it up and create a Bond universe? If there are I may simply retire with my 25 film box set and sit in a corner somewhere telling myself it was all so much better in the old days.
    I can appreciate the concern about the post-Craig era, but I'm actually far more optimistic about B26 onwards, because I believe a shakeup is indeed coming. I'm also willing to accommodate a shared universe (whatever form that may take) if it means getting a 'move on', ditching this continuity driven dead end and generating more frequent future releases.

    Regarding retiring with the 25 film box set and pontificating about the old days being better like an old fogey, I'm afraid I'm nearly already there.

    I agree with the Wiz that based on what we know at the moment, B25 does seem like a lame duck 'stub' effort, apparently motivated more by business than creative considerations. I am open to being pleasantly surprised however. I still retain a glimmer of distant hope.

    I feel all this stems from Craig being given way too much power and however much people want to say 'Cubby made mistakes too so get off Babs' case' that comes from mismanagement at the top.

    Yes he's a very good Bond. Yes it's nice he wants to have an input. Yes I wanted to see him continue as long as he is credible.

    But

    The Blofeld and SPECTRE arc is too big to set up from scratch and then resolve in one film. They realised that and planned it as two but then they were scared Craig wouldn't come back for a 5th so catastrophically decided to condense it all into one film. That's one of SP's other flaws (among the many) - trying to fit too much in.

    They needed to sit down with Dan and have an awkward conversation along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Fair enough. We'll save it for the new Bond when you're done. Ok let's talk about B24 then a nice standalone film, a big epic, your TB or MR as it were.

    Instead it seems we got something more along the lines of:

    EON: We want to do SPECTRE and Blofeld but it will take 2 films at least, 3 would be better. Can you commit to that?
    Dan: No I'd rather slash my wrists.
    EON: Err Ok. Would you be alright if we cram it all into one? Pleeease Dan.
    Dan: Yeah I suppose so.
    EON: Thank you so much. We're pathetically grateful. Obviously it will be a terribly unsatisfactory film now and Christ knows how we'll follow it up but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

    They couldn't even get him to sign up for B25 (even give him a 4 year 'rest' if you must) so we have this bizarre scenario where he drives off into the sunrise so he's done or Blofeld is still alive so he's not done depending on Dan's whim about doing another one.

    This will he/won't he cockteasing didn't matter in Rog's days because they were all standalone entries but if you want to make a grandiose story arc about SPECTRE and Blofeld then surely you need to know if your star is returning don't you?

    Just show some leadership and get him to make his mind up and either we get SP in 2015 and then at the end of SP 'James Bond will return in Blofeld 2017 and Shatterhand 2019' (not blown away by those titles - just using them to illustrate the point).

    And if he doesn't want to sign up he can just do B24. If he wants to go on and they decide it makes business sense to keep him on he can do B25 as a standalone (as appears to be happening anyway) too and then at the end of whichever turns out to be his last film we get 'James Bond will return in SP' and the new guy gets to surf on that wave of expectation and goodwill.

    Being bezzie mates with your employees is rarely a good idea in business.
    Once again I completely agree with you and that is why, blasphemous as it may seem to some, I'm actually hoping for some structural changes in ownership and control sooner rather than later.
  • 001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg
    Who is that fetching young lady exactly?

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg
    Who is that fetching young lady exactly?
    Chili Pepper.
  • Posts: 19,339
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg
    Who is that fetching young lady exactly?
    Chili Pepper.

    I thought that was a vegetable ?

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited October 2017 Posts: 15,423
    barryt007 wrote: »
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    001 wrote: »
    Bond needs a Buxom Babe like this.

    artsfon.com-43316.jpg
    Who is that fetching young lady exactly?
    Chili Pepper.

    I thought that was a vegetable ?
    Well, so is Anya Amasova. And even more so, Kara Milovy.
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