That sucks.
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For the more recent instances of filming commencing without a title, does anyone recall approximately when the title was announced in either case? QOS was the most recent IIRC, with DAD & I think TND previously.
Quantum of Solace was confirmed on 24th Jan 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7206997.stm
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The title for Die Another Day was announced on March 12th 2002, with principal shooting starting on January 11th 2002. Minor scenes like the Korea surfing scenes were already shot in December 2011 (was the first news item I ever read on CBn).
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Iām surprised to see that he is in Pinewood and not in New York prepping for surgery.
He also does not look as if he was filming other stuff. Maybe he indeed is involved in the ongoing re-writes?
Or something as dull as meeting Eonās insurance providers.
Unless heās already had the surgery, and the news is behind.
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Norwegian rally driver Petter Solberg has recevied a call regarding possible stunt driving in Bond 25, but says nothing has been confirmed.
It looks more like he was at Pinewood for meetings, as others have said. I see The Sun reported the surgery was due to take place yesterday or today in New York.
Why would he go from Jamaica > New York > London > New York > London when injured for meetings if he could just Skype in?
RWās also just arrived in London.
Could be likely
Thank you for this Dustin. This may be why I like the filmāthe characters are shown as pawns of the narrative they inhabit rather than autonomous individuals. I feel a similar way about THE GODFATHER PART III. In that film, Michael Corleone has become the puppet of the narrative of being āDon Corleoneā which resonates as a correlative of how human beings in general lose autonomy in a regime of neoliberalism and late capitalism. Many of Coppolaās films are about characters trying to maintain/exercise their autonomy in a society/culture which seeks to control them and dictate their behaviors.
Shameless plug: my article on the films of Francis Ford Coppola:
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That would tally with the ākite in a stormā key phrase - only for my tastes there is too little evidence of the actual storm given in SPECTRE. Why would Blofeld act the way he does? Why would White hide out in some shed when heās even prepared to kill himself? Why is Lucia on the one hand scared of her husband and his set - but on the other totally unfazed by events since her divorce went pretty much as planned?
I get that they all are pawns. But the plotās game doesnāt remind me of chess because the connections donāt seem to be there. Plenty of whatās missing - in my opinion - might or might not have been in earlier versions of the script or on the cutting room floor.
Mind you, that might not even be a lot of material in actual dialogue or exposition - as SPECTRE already is a woefully huge monolith of film - but the devilās in the detail or its absence.
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All good questions, but not pressing for my viewing experience (for me, an equivalent question would be: why did no one look in Mrs. Batesā coffin the morning of the funeral and discover that her body was missing? Or my favorite film quandry presented by my favorite movie: how does Karen Richardsāa Radcliffe girlādrain the gas tank in ALL ABOUT EVE?). A great novelist like Patrick White needs 500+ pages of dense prose to limn adequately the motivations of a handful of people. Films cannot be that throrough or specificāthey are a psychologically thin medium.
SPECTRE is about control and surveillanceāabout characters who believe they have autonomy coming to the realization that they do not, and the decisions they then makeāRobot Bond awakens. If a viewer approaches the film on a realistic/documentary level (and/or desires/needs it to work on such a level), it failsāa handgun will not bring down a helicopter. But a realistic approach would also kill many other films, including some (all?) Bond moviesā24 casts of villains and killers and yet he is still alive.
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Well, heck, why would Bond and Villiers chopper into Dimitriosās place when they had to have stopped at the Ocean Club for Bond to change clothes? Why not just drive? Because these secret agent fellas do crazy things.
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My take: logic does bring up many doubts, but since nobody behaves absolutely logically all the time discrepancies should be allowed and are even necessary for any story to develop. Sensible people acting absolutely logically would make for very dull and predictable drama.
I can defend many things in SPECTRE:
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Blofeld is drunk with power and quite mad, therefore he first tries to kill Bond, and when that does not work he allows him into his lair, in order to prove that only he himself is able to kill Bondā¦ which he isnāt but tries again in the finale.
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White hides out because he wants to go out on his own terms.
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Lucia has fallen into a kind of catatonic state, expecting to be killed off and having no chance to escape the clutches of Spectre.
But there are many things that one has to bend over even more backwards to explain. And I donāt see any reason in the film that this is what Mendes was aiming for. It rather happened that way due to the constant re-writing and adapting to the problems on set.
A more satisfying Bond film at least gives Bond a much more active role, a clearer purpose. Sure, Bond always has to change his plans by adapting spontaneously. Thatās why he is such a fun character. But in SPECTRE the absence of a clear plan how to deal with Blofeld, especially with the Smart Blood connection to Mi6 (which he must still consider active), is disappointing. It would have made much more sense that Bond at that point wanted Mi6 to descend on the lair, only to find out (via a Q message?) that they will not come - āyouāre on your own, Bond - just like you wanted itā.
By the way: Nobody looks into Mrs. BatesĀ“ coffin because nobody wants to. ItĀ“s not as if people always open the coffin before it is sealed and carried to the grave. And Norman definitely will be the last one to be alone with her. Soā¦
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Problem is that is true of almost every single Bond film. Something that people are happy to overlook in other films but with Spectre many on here have a major problem with.
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True. But I think that really only is due to the āserious, more intelligent approachā that the CraigEra supposedly follows. And from writers and directors with award accolades for masterful storytelling one does expect more.
But why? Do you equate fame with quality? Why does the director of America Beauty get held more accountable for James Bond being based on an airport novel (Flemingās words, not mine) than the director of Alfie?
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