It’s a very good point on Kuchlers realism being relevant to Craig.
But one mans ‘outlandish’ is another’s ‘exciting’ and so I’d take the gamble on Mantle bringing something new, rather than reverting to the gritty CR and QoS aesthetic (I don’t see SF of SP as grittily photographed).
Bond thrives on constant change.
Mantle’s 28 Days Later cinematography is closer to the faded yet stylised look Craig’s 4 have gone for, although obviously major differences in all 4 as they are 4 very different DOP, the thinking behind them seems to be the same - just off reality. Mantle’s style generally would be closer to that, the styles done in Kuthers pair are very specific so as to mirror their films, thus are very different to each other and unlikely to indicate what he’d do on Bond.
For my money Mantle seems more likely as I can see Boyle trying to keep his crew as close to home as possible, by which I mean his regulars in editing, production design, costume design and DOP. Music is a bit of a wild card given how he has more than one composer that he’s used multiple times…one of whom being David Arnold…
Which DP is he working with on his musical shooting before Bond? Maybe he will keep that working relationship going, prepping with him during downtime aspects of BOND 25.
Edit: It´s Jack Ross, the DP he worked with on his TV series “Trust” recently. Could very well be that he loved working with him so much that he chose him to do the since April (!) shooting musical. Wouldn’t be surprised if Ross will return for BOND 25 then.
Trust does have incredible cinematography so I’d be really happy with this.
For those who havn’t seen it…
Looks interesting - although the Scott film, being first, probably stole its thunder.
Watching the trailer I’m wondering whether BOND 25 will feature Boyle´s trademark of protagonists breaking the fourth fall, speaking directly into the camera.
Was that maybe the big Boyle idea? A story about Bond telling us about a particularly difficult case going wrong?
One plausible way of doing that without breaking the format thereafter would be to adapt Pearson’s Bio, which begins, if memory serves, with an older Bond recounting his journey.
That would be a novel way of introducing 1 or 2 new Bonds at different stages in his life; as Crag recounts we see other actors at portraying that age. One of those could go on to be Bond 7, with Eon getting to test reaction via this movie.
Of course a key thread/nemesis would be the ultimate post story -a villain-gets-one-last-try-at-bond sequence, with said villain cropping up these years later to try and finish Craig. That gives Craig his finale and decisive role in the movie.
That’s the plot of Young Indiana Jones on its initial airing. Lucas later removed the Old Indy telling his story, the only bit of this remaining is a cameo by Ford as not as old, but older than the one we generally see Indy.
Useless trivia for you on a Monday afternoon.
But on the actual point, we could have this kind of narrative, with you led to assume it’s the audience that Craig is talking to, it would then reveal towards the end that he’s talking to the villain that connects all these points, which would take us into the final act.
Narrative V.O. is an interesting idea for Bond. It served well for Craig in Layer Cake. Then again, the last time Bond had a narrative V.O. was that ridiculous ABC edited airing of OHMSS in '76. Of course, that wasn’t sanctioned by EON or UA. I’d trust that if it was done, it’d play out better. The great thing about it is that if it doesn’t work, you can easily remove it.
The thing with voice over is that it’s great when it works - but it’s really bad when it doesn’t. Harrison Ford hated it in Blade Runner; apparently it was an afterthought by the studio suits forced on Scott to play up the 40s private eye/Philip Marlowe folklore.
For Bond it would even have precedent: Fleming once wrote a voice over for Bond (either for Moonraker’s or Thunderball’s script, I forget which). And then there have been a couple of the newspaper strips told in first person.
That said, I once or twice tried this in fanfic but I didn’t really hit the tone I wanted. Bond just doesn’t seem the talkative kind. On the other hand, if it’s some kind of twist, a narrative within, a debrief…
Didn’t Tarantinos CR proposal involve narration from the novel?
Having bond talk to the camera is ultimately imo a bad move, but at least breaking the 4th wall challenges the audience.
Whereas VO narration is the most unchallenging form of story telling, making the process of exposition far easier and far less cinematic. It turns cinemas cardinal rule of ‘show, don’t tell’ on its head. I definitely don’t see Boyle doing that.
Depends on the narration - Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang springs to mind, although I confess that it’s generally the exception rather the rule - otherwise I’ve only seen narration work to open and close a film (Iron Man 3 and Layer Cake being good examples, but obviously both of those end with it being in narrative)
The obvious problem would be not to explain what the viewer sees anyway. Also, narration from a novel sounds a much cooler idea than it would likely turn out to be in a two hour film. Chances are the effect would be gimmicky - and like many ‘cult’ films in the end not as clever as one hoped for.
There are certainly a few examples that would speak for such a move. But it would have to be very very well-executed and used just ever so sparingly. On balance I’m sceptical.
It’s almost like having a five in Baccarat with narration (first person or speculative) in films. The odds being exactly 50/50 on bettering or worsening your hand with the third card. It used to be exposition and to cut corners on filming something. It would also depend on character and story. If there were ever to be a true adaptation of TSWLM, the first third would be a VO montage and maybe comprise five minutes of screen time. As to something contemporary, it would have to be crafted well and hopefully not come off as comedy. Do we really want to hear Bond’s thoughts?
Imagine MR when Drax begins his speech in the space station:
DRAX: “First there was a dream… Now there is reality…”
BOND (V.O.) : “Oh no… Seriously… The “God Speech”?.. This is going to go on for hours… Perfect world…blah, blah, blah… At least Stromberg kept it short… and on the planet… Wish I had brought a flask…” 
Apparently, almost everyone goes to work full time on Bond 25 this week. I don’t have a link, but it was posted on mi6community.com
Narration and private dicks go hand in hand thanks to Chandlers amazing writing setting the template when adapted for film.
And in the hands of a writer like Shane Black that template really sings.
Bond and Marlowe are too different to allow a bond writer to stand on Chandlers shoulders as Black does. It would be either too Marlowe or not as good as Marlowe - that character owns the internal monologue.
I’m open to this. The Atomic Blonde formula to be precise. Starting the film with Bond during a MI6 evaluation, recounting specific segments of his Bond 25 journey. Bond stands up from a chair at the end to say “and that’s why I had to come back.” He loves his country too much, or has a strong sense of duty…something along those lines. That’s the Bond I’d like to see. Someone who is human, tough, yes…but lovable.
It’ll be a massive disappointment if this grand idea of Boyle’s is to include a narrative gimmick like narration.
Official Pre Production then? Just a little more than four months before the reported start of principal photography. Sounds about right. Final budget work up, securing of locations, final casting decisions, physical action choreography and rehearsals, action sequences hammered out, storyboard layouts, script polishing, wardrobe. Yup… A laundry list of things but that’s filmmaking. Onward!
A title is usually enough to satisfy me. I can then add a film into the catalogue before it’s even made.
For this kind of device to feel satisfying the final act needs to be in ‘the now’.
It needs to all effect something that is yet to happen, or else it’s just Jackanory.
There’s the ‘twist ending’ as in The Usual Suspects, which in ‘the now’ at the very end fundermentally effects everything you’ve seen.
But I think bond would need a substantial action orientated final act post this recounting; a ploy, a plan, a reason for bond recounting this other than simply recounting it. His story takes us up to ‘now’ and then explosively continues.
Perhaps bond could be put into silva’s arc, ergo the reveal at the end is that it’s the villains interviewing him as a defector only to find out he wanted to be here for another reason. Personally I’d prefer to see this as a PTS, since the device is fairly hackneyed now and we’d see it coming.
It’s nearest familiar in the canon is the first third of Fleming’s FRWL and the Russian dossier. That’s a president for using a high(ish) concept device in a bond story and making it work well.
If done well, like FRWL it’s great, but it’s far easier to cock up a high concept than to get it right, so if this is boyle’s idea then good bloody luck to him.