We are in an age of populism (of various stripes). Expect it to seep into/infect all of the arts.
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“…Audiences won’t care how or why 007 has come back into their lives as long as the script is entertaining and Barbara Broccoli has cast the right actor to play him. Bond is like Hamlet or Sherlock Holmes. He’s eternal.”
This quote by Charles Cumming sums it up.
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Perhaps Bond should stumble into M’s office disguised as a bookseller and then explain his great escape. 
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Or maybe finally the chance to use the beginning of Fleming’s TMWTGG? Leaving M and the audience stunned and then immediately starting the opening credits.
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And then introduce a hitherto completely unknown henchman as Blofeld’s former right hand man and the “most dangerous man in the world” (air gun assassination attempt included). Or better make that a “right hand woman” – Irma Bunt. But please spare us any attempts of trying to explain a German name by use of English language (A “baggy sail”? “Bunt” in German means “colourful”… 
).
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Sounds like a John Gardener, Guy Hamilton or Tom Mankiewicz type of idea.
Both did indeed steal from Arthur Conan Doyle…more than once.
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It’s terrifying to think that Guy Hamilton was going to direct a 500 page script for Superman. It probably would have been a low point MCU type of movie. He would have lacked Donner’s epic vision. He and the Salkinds would have grounded Superman before he could fly. He probably would have hurt Superman 2 even more if he had directed (which apparently did almost happen). I think we dodged a big Kryptonite bullet by Guy Hamilton not directing Superman. And TSWLM, as well. As I said before, Mankiewicz is a bit of a hypocrite by calling the original Superman scripts to campy. His Bond stories are also on the campy side. I do think his Batman script did have potential though with the right director. Apparently Donner wanted Mankiewicz to direct his version of Superman 3. Supergirl and Brainiac would have been major characters. Another big what if of Superman.
Also, does anyone know if TM commented on Bond after he left? Not just on his own movies. I know he endorsed Timothy Dalton as Bond. He also said that Richard Donner was too American to direct one.
Tom Mankiewicz said Hamilton was too cynical to direct Superman, and it was a good thing that he didn’t.
As far as DAF is concerned, I think the film has become campier in retrospect. LALD and TMWTGG were conscious attempts to inject genre quotes into the Bond formula. The failure of the merge (more pronounced with LALD) resulted in films that read as camp.
DAF was a Bond film merged with the zeitgeist of 1971. It can be read as camp, but also as documentary.
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An article I wrote on another site. As for some more of TM and Superman, here are some things that I noticed. I think that TM was a bit sensitive to talk about Superman, for a fair reason. While the Cubby and Harry partnership was getting more and more stressed during his movies, they weren’t the greediest of producers. They generally supported TM, and Guy Hamilton sounds like he wasn’t the most humble of directors. The Salkinds, on the other hand, were repeatedly criticized by people even outside the Superman series. After Donner was fired, he (and Stuart Baird, the main editor) didn’t come back out of respect for Donner. Donner was the one who got TM hired, after TM didn’t want to do it, at first, from a rewriting standpoint. Another reason that TM didn’t come back, was losing a possible directing job: Superman 3, with Brainiac, Bizzaro and Supergirl. So I understand why there aren’t many articles about his time with Superman. Yes, please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Tom Mankiewicz’s work on Bond and Superman. He definitely wrote some great lines for the villains. He should have gotten a screenplay credit for TSWLM. I think that Cubby and Harry’s tensions and Guy Hamilton’s quite often cynical with a mix of campy direction really shows in the early 70s movies. Also, Mankiewicz, Hamilton and the producers knew how to make a Bond. Unlike Richard Lester, the Salkinds and the Newmans. At least cinematic Bond has recovered. Superman hasn’t since Richard Donner’s firing. Mankiewicz’s Batman screenplay would have been interesting if made under the right director. Donner, Joe Dante and Ivan Reitman were apparently all looked at. They could have made some magic happen. The modern day Batman movie franchise started with Michael Uslan’s dream, and Tom Mankiewicz’s script. I will be forever grateful. Speaking of TM and Batman,Yes, I am grateful for Tom Mankiewicz writing an earlier Batman film screenplay. There are a few flaws in it, definitely. There were way too many characters in it, for one. I know The Penguin and Robin were surprise appearances who were cut, in later rewrites. They were originally setups for the sequel, I know. Also, NO WAY would The Joker be that faithful to a leader over him for that long! He would eventually kill his leader and takeover everything himself. So he was a bit out of character here, especially if Jack Nicholson was going to play him from the beginning. The script itself doesn’t strike as something would direct in his style. It was basically a mix of Batman '66, Superman '78 and traces of TM’s Bond writing style (even the Aston Martin makes an appearance)! As I said, it would take a unique director to adapt it properly. But, it is truly an interesting read, that isn’t boring. I like his choice to play The Penguin: Peter O’Toole. Interesting choice. So all in all, TM actually did help Batman find his cinematic feet. Also yes, he did have a way with witty quotes. While a bit campy at times, he did help Bond writing out at a time that it needed it. Campy, but realistic villain plots. He could have helped a few of the Bond movies lightning up, after he left. Even though it was the easy way, he purposely left Bond he said because it was the easy route. Ironically, his dad was a bit disappointed after a while because Tom became so focused on commercial movies. So, TM can say that he truly had a unique writing career. Maybe he should have written novelizations of his Bond screenplays. That would have made him a unique Bond continuation author.
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Did you really read all those script versions? Where are they available?
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Actually, one of TM’s Batman scripts is available online. As for the other scripts, my information is coming from the man himself. In the behind the scenes documentary on Superman. Google has his different Batman scripts.
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True High Camp always has an underlying seriousness. You can’t camp about something you don’t take seriously. You’re not making fun of it; you’re making fun out of it. You’re expressing what’s basically serious to you in terms of fun and artifice and elegance.
–Christopher Isherwood
Defining camp has resulted in various definitions. I am a follower of Isherwood’s understanding, with its notion of a seriousness underlying the camp presentation. In contrast, Susan Sontag’s definition emphasizes the frivolous, the artificial, and the failure of seriousness in camp.
I think DAF is an example of the serious understanding of camp, and that subsequent Bond movies used a camp aesthetic for its frivolousness and artificiality, and jettisoned the seriousness.
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Roger always said “We’re inviting everyone to laugh with us, not at us…Unless I’m doing a love scene.”
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I recently sent a message to James Rollins, to compliment him on his Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull novelization. I mentioned to him that some of us think he would be a good pick for a Bond continuation novel. He responded! He said that he wants to still write an original Indy adventure. Also, he would like to write an original Bond, as he is a fan of both the books and the movies. I would support him, he knows how to write an adventure!
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I feel sure a number of established authors would like to try their hand at a Bond novel. After all, Fleming’s works are amongst the classics of the genre and still read by enthusiastic fans and newcomers alike*. While no other writer after Fleming quite delivered the same heady mixture, few in the field can convincingly claim their work isn’t somehow influenced or inspired by his example - if only to distance themselves from Fleming and Bond.
That said, I’m not sure it’s IFP’s first priority to get into the market with the objective to find the most fitting author or develop the most interesting premise. There seems to be a commendable inclination to give up and coming writers a start with a new angle (Kim Sherwood) just as they agree to explore unusual sidelines with established writers (Vaseem Khan).
But whichever it is, my impression is not they’d be willing to commission one of the more expensive bestsellers or it would already have happened. I know Lee Child supposedly turned down the opportunity twice - but a large part of such a deal would be the paycheque and that’s more often than not the stumbling block.
*Unlike many other classic thriller giants who once ruled the genre but are largely forgotten today: Peter Cheyney, Eric Ambler, Dennis Wheatley, John Buchan, Dashiell Hammett, Desmond Corey, Adam Hall, Lionel Davidson, Jack Higgins…the list is endless.
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