›

From Rumours With Love - Stories from Bond films that proved to be wrong

BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
in Bond Movies Posts: 15,643
After reading a post regarding the rumoured status of CR in another thread, it reminded me of some of those old rumours that used to be discussed on message boards.
I recall TWINE or DAD was going to have a cameo of every leading Bond girl. Obviously, this proved to be incorrect.
I recall the story of the Fiat Panda being used in CR. MI6 Community also covered the story...

https://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=2655

Seems that Ford did continue to be the car that Bond drove in the finished film after all.

If possible, a link to any rumour would be good. Always fun to look at stories from the previous films that failed to live up to the hype.

Comments

  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 2 Posts: 6,495
    I had a fun time reading this thread from 2005. The rumour was that the final few candidates for Bond (including Craig) weren’t up to scratch and new screen-tests were being planned that would cast the net wider. Campbell was supposedly in favour of a complete unknown, which sounds familiar!

    https://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/25092-more-screentests-planned-for-new-007/

    It’s fascinating reading what fans thought at the time. You’d think the entire film was in disarray and that EON were unable to find anyone! That’s genuinely not something I’d ever associated with CR’s pre-production (in fact the narrative we get today is that Craig was ‘the chosen one’/the one they had to convince, and that CR is one of the most well regarded Bond films. Incidentally I think there’s some spin in that narrative with how early they supposedly noticed his Bond potential, but I do think he was genuinely the one the producers wanted at this point, and knew what EON were going for with CR. Even then I’m sure they’d have made do with Cavill, who barely seems to register in this thread despite how famous he’d go on to be). Some very funny quotes about how Craig won’t be Bond in there too! It’s a wonderful little reminder that we as fans often know little.

    More recently we’ve obviously had the ATJ contract signing/gun-barrel rumours which got us talking.
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan
    edited December 2 Posts: 905
    The big one that seems to have stuck around is that Dalton's third film was going to be called, 'The Property of a Lady', despite there being no evidence beyond a few fan rumours, and Alfonse Ruggiero Jr, who co-wrote the infamous 'robots' treatment with MGW, confirming in Mark Edlitz's book, that it was never under consideration as a potential title.
  • BT3366BT3366
    Posts: 1,994
    Wasn't there a rumor going around the time of SF filming that Connery was being pursued for the Kincaid role?
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 15,497
    Lashana Lynch turned out to be 'M. Nomi 007', and not 'James Bond 007'. Very good news for the intelligent folk who read that she'd be 007 and then claimed that Bond cannot be a woman.
  • DEKE_RIVERSDEKE_RIVERS
    Posts: 2,616
    Aquator with Natasha Henstridge. It was too good to be true.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,981
    Grace Jones was originally meant to be in NTTD but she quit on her first day. I've never been sure if this was true or a rumour. I suspect the latter.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/grace-jones-bond-25-quits-may-day-cameo-daniel-craig-a8982301.html
  • Agent7777Agent7777
    Posts: 41
    BT3366 wrote: »
    Wasn't there a rumor going around the time of SF filming that Connery was being pursued for the Kincaid role?

    I think that was being considered at the time but Sam Mendes decided against it as it would have been a distraction and would have taken you out of the movie, so Connery wasn't even approached. Makes sense, although I would have relished Connery delivering the line "Try and stop me, you jumped up little s***"
  • Risico007Risico007
    Posts: 10,035
    boy oh boy... a few of my favorites


    1. Bond 22 is going to be titled Risico
    2. Craig's second film to have the Olsen twins as bond girls ( this was back when they were attractive and not way to thin)
    2. Bond 23 is definitly going to be Risico
    3. Bond 23 is Definitly Going to be the property of a lady
    4. Going into number 3 I think it was the sun who claimed Quantum was run by a Woman who was part of the UN and thereforth in a way already ruled the world (with plot that has Quantum basically as the Illuminati)
    5. Bond 24 is definitly going to be Risico
    6. Bond 24 is definitly going to be The Property of a lady
    7. While not a film rumor I will put on video game rumor in here Telltale games to make James Bond: Solstice
    8. Bond 25 is definitely going to be titled Blofeld

    thats about it for now
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,971
    Not sure if this was just a rumour or if it was seriously taken into consideration, but I remember reading that Safin would turn out to be Dr. No.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 4 Posts: 6,495
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.
  • MalloryMallory Rules Reastaurant
    edited December 4 Posts: 2,425
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.

    Richard Maibaum, as quoted in The 007 Archives:

    When Wolf and I began working on the script, we decided that Fleming's Dr No was just the most ludicrous character in the world. He was just Fu Manchu with two steel hooks. It was 1961, and we felt that audiences would stand for that kind of stuff anymore. So, bright boys that we were, decided that there would be no Dr No. There would be a villain who always had a little marmoset monkey sitting on his shoulder, and the monkey would be Dr No.

    Cubby was outraged, in his usual good natured way.... "No monkey, d'you hear? It's got to be the way the book is". He made a very strong point about it.

    Even Now, 15 films later, if we got into an argument - we argued all the time - he hit me with "DR NO IS A MONKEY!", which I can't argue with, since he had the treatment on hand to prove it
  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 4 Posts: 6,495
    Mallory wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.

    Richard Maibaum, as quoted in The 007 Archives:

    When Wolf and I began working on the script, we decided that Fleming's Dr No was just the most ludicruos character in the world. He was just Fu Manchu with two steel hooks. It was 1961, and we felt that audiences would stand for that kind of stuff anymore. So, bright boys that we were, decided that there would be no Dr No. There would be a villain who always had a little marmoset monkey sitting on his shoulder, and the monkey would be Dr No.

    Cubby was outraged, in his usual good natured way.... "No monkey, d'you hear? It's got to be the way the book is". He made a very strong point about it.

    Even Now, 15 films later, if we got into an argument - we argued all the time - he hit me with "DR NO IS A MONKEY!", which I can't argue with, since he had the treatment on hand to prove it

    :)) Fair enough! I think I'd heard it was one of those often quoted but untrue 'facts'. Think Maibaum simply went off piste with the story there! And I suppose it's not a million miles away from Blofeld's cat as his cypher.

    Looking up old Bond articles from the early 2000s is quite interesting when it comes to rumours. Supposedly some website in 2001 'leaked' parts of an early Bond 20 script.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1503805.stm
    Website Bond20.com claimed to be displaying leaked script previews from the forthcoming film, which it says will be called Final Assignment.

    The film will star Pierce Brosnan as 007, Nigel Havers as his enemy David Saten, and John Cleese as MI6's new technical gadget man R.

    The site claims Bond will find out that his father, Andrew Bond, was also an agent who worked with Q in the early days - and did not die, as he thought, with his mother in a climbing accident.

    The action is said to take place in four main locations - France, Sydney in Australia, Tokyo in Japan and New York in the US.

    The film, which will be the 20th Bond movie, will include a helicopter chase through New York's skyscrapers and a fight to the death on the crown of The Statue of Liberty, the site adds.

    On this occasion the threat to the world is not posed by bombs or laser beams but by the internet.

    David Saten will reportedly attempt to hack into UK and US Government and private-sector computer systems - in a bid to use the ultimate cyber-terrorism against the free world.

    But Eon Productions say that the website rumours are nothing to with the film makers.

    "They seem to have picked up rumours that have been flying around the press in the last couple of years and incorporated them," said the spokeswoman.

    Now, the funny part of all this is there are some eerie echoes of SP and NTTD in there!
  • 007ClassicBondFan007ClassicBondFan
    Posts: 2,762
    007HallY wrote: »
    Mallory wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.

    Richard Maibaum, as quoted in The 007 Archives:

    When Wolf and I began working on the script, we decided that Fleming's Dr No was just the most ludicruos character in the world. He was just Fu Manchu with two steel hooks. It was 1961, and we felt that audiences would stand for that kind of stuff anymore. So, bright boys that we were, decided that there would be no Dr No. There would be a villain who always had a little marmoset monkey sitting on his shoulder, and the monkey would be Dr No.

    Cubby was outraged, in his usual good natured way.... "No monkey, d'you hear? It's got to be the way the book is". He made a very strong point about it.

    Even Now, 15 films later, if we got into an argument - we argued all the time - he hit me with "DR NO IS A MONKEY!", which I can't argue with, since he had the treatment on hand to prove it

    :)) Fair enough! I think I'd heard it was one of those often quoted but untrue 'facts'. Think Maibaum simply went off piste with the story there! And I suppose it's not a million miles away from Blofeld's cat as his cypher.

    Looking up old Bond articles from the early 2000s is quite interesting when it comes to rumours. Supposedly some website in 2001 'leaked' parts of an early Bond 20 script.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1503805.stm
    Website Bond20.com claimed to be displaying leaked script previews from the forthcoming film, which it says will be called Final Assignment.

    The film will star Pierce Brosnan as 007, Nigel Havers as his enemy David Saten, and John Cleese as MI6's new technical gadget man R.

    The site claims Bond will find out that his father, Andrew Bond, was also an agent who worked with Q in the early days - and did not die, as he thought, with his mother in a climbing accident.

    The action is said to take place in four main locations - France, Sydney in Australia, Tokyo in Japan and New York in the US.

    The film, which will be the 20th Bond movie, will include a helicopter chase through New York's skyscrapers and a fight to the death on the crown of The Statue of Liberty, the site adds.

    On this occasion the threat to the world is not posed by bombs or laser beams but by the internet.

    David Saten will reportedly attempt to hack into UK and US Government and private-sector computer systems - in a bid to use the ultimate cyber-terrorism against the free world.

    But Eon Productions say that the website rumours are nothing to with the film makers.

    "They seem to have picked up rumours that have been flying around the press in the last couple of years and incorporated them," said the spokeswoman.

    Now, the funny part of all this is there are some eerie echoes of SP and NTTD in there!

    Sounds like an interesting premise - though I’m not sure if that Helicopter Chase through NYC would’ve been the best idea for a climax considering 9/11.

    “Final Assignment” would’ve been a pretty great alternate title for NTTD too.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    Posts: 6,495
    007ClassicBondFan wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    Mallory wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.

    Richard Maibaum, as quoted in The 007 Archives:

    When Wolf and I began working on the script, we decided that Fleming's Dr No was just the most ludicruos character in the world. He was just Fu Manchu with two steel hooks. It was 1961, and we felt that audiences would stand for that kind of stuff anymore. So, bright boys that we were, decided that there would be no Dr No. There would be a villain who always had a little marmoset monkey sitting on his shoulder, and the monkey would be Dr No.

    Cubby was outraged, in his usual good natured way.... "No monkey, d'you hear? It's got to be the way the book is". He made a very strong point about it.

    Even Now, 15 films later, if we got into an argument - we argued all the time - he hit me with "DR NO IS A MONKEY!", which I can't argue with, since he had the treatment on hand to prove it

    :)) Fair enough! I think I'd heard it was one of those often quoted but untrue 'facts'. Think Maibaum simply went off piste with the story there! And I suppose it's not a million miles away from Blofeld's cat as his cypher.

    Looking up old Bond articles from the early 2000s is quite interesting when it comes to rumours. Supposedly some website in 2001 'leaked' parts of an early Bond 20 script.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1503805.stm
    Website Bond20.com claimed to be displaying leaked script previews from the forthcoming film, which it says will be called Final Assignment.

    The film will star Pierce Brosnan as 007, Nigel Havers as his enemy David Saten, and John Cleese as MI6's new technical gadget man R.

    The site claims Bond will find out that his father, Andrew Bond, was also an agent who worked with Q in the early days - and did not die, as he thought, with his mother in a climbing accident.

    The action is said to take place in four main locations - France, Sydney in Australia, Tokyo in Japan and New York in the US.

    The film, which will be the 20th Bond movie, will include a helicopter chase through New York's skyscrapers and a fight to the death on the crown of The Statue of Liberty, the site adds.

    On this occasion the threat to the world is not posed by bombs or laser beams but by the internet.

    David Saten will reportedly attempt to hack into UK and US Government and private-sector computer systems - in a bid to use the ultimate cyber-terrorism against the free world.

    But Eon Productions say that the website rumours are nothing to with the film makers.

    "They seem to have picked up rumours that have been flying around the press in the last couple of years and incorporated them," said the spokeswoman.

    Now, the funny part of all this is there are some eerie echoes of SP and NTTD in there!

    Sounds like an interesting premise - though I’m not sure if that Helicopter Chase through NYC would’ve been the best idea for a climax considering 9/11.

    “Final Assignment” would’ve been a pretty great alternate title for NTTD too.

    I'm not entirely sure how Bond's Dad factors into all of it, but other than that none of it sounds terribly implausible. If someone said to me these were early ideas (not necessarily written in a script) I wouldn't believe it to be untrue.
  • moneyofpropre2moneyofpropre2 France
    Posts: 909
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.
    From Scripting 007 :
    G0SMN1ZWsAAZZjU?format=jpg&name=large
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,940
    I remember just after QOS was released there was a rumour that Rachel Wieiz was going to be the villian in the next film, it was going to be revealed she was the head of Quantum.

    What's mad is this before Daniel and Rachel started dating, maybe it was someone who saw they were going to work together and assumed it was for Bond.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 4 Posts: 6,495
    moneyofpropre2 wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    Some people are still convinced that was the intention, but was edited out (which is very unlikely).

    Speaking of DN, one I've always heard is that an original draft involved No being revealed as a monkey controlled by another villain or something. Not sure if this is a rumour from the time as such (or if it's even true or false, although I've heard people claim it's false). It's possibly more one that came out subsequently. I presume it's not true either, or some sort of distorted claim, but I'm not actually 100%. It's a strange little tidbit anyway.
    From Scripting 007 :
    G0SMN1ZWsAAZZjU?format=jpg&name=large

    I like the fact that they saw fit to add the illustration of a monkey!

    Anyway, that all makes sense. Again, it's a sort of pre-cursor to Blofeld's cat. Perhaps that's even where they got the name 'Buckfield'.
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan
    Posts: 905
    BOND 25 was going to be called 'Shatterhand'.
  • FoxRoxFoxRox
    Posts: 12,919
    I remember reading all sorts of odd rumors about Bond 25, including Craig coming back for a 2-parter after SP. There was stuff about an MR remake, a basic revenge plot with Blofeld killing Madeleine, cloning being a main villain plot point, etc. It was a long, rough road with the rumor mill leading up to NTTD!
  • Mathis1Mathis1
    Posts: 8,665
    Who remembers Finlay Light??
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,643
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Who remembers Finlay Light??

    Wow!
    Now we’re going back. He was one of a mass of people rumoured to replace Sir Rog.

    Though no one knew who he was…and many still don’t.

  • Mathis1Mathis1
    Posts: 8,665
    Benny wrote: »
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Who remembers Finlay Light??

    Wow!
    Now we’re going back. He was one of a mass of people rumoured to replace Sir Rog.

    Though no one knew who he was…and many still don’t.

    Yeh, one paper actually had an article stating he had been cast! !
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited 1:11am Posts: 7,063
    BT3366 wrote: »
    Wasn't there a rumor going around the time of SF filming that Connery was being pursued for the Kincaid role?

    That was the rare rumor that felt true.
    FoxRox wrote: »
    I remember reading all sorts of odd rumors about Bond 25, including Craig coming back for a 2-parter after SP. There was stuff about an MR remake, a basic revenge plot with Blofeld killing Madeleine, cloning being a main villain plot point, etc. It was a long, rough road with the rumor mill leading up to NTTD!

    Before SP, I remember Logan saying that he was writing a two-parter and that "Bond should always be fighting Blofeld."

    Remember Al Pacino as Blofeld?
Sign In or Register to comment.