The Battle for Bond by Robert Sellers

Author:Robert Sellers [Sellers, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780955767005
Google: UpKFNwAACAAJ
Publisher: Tomahawk Press
Published: 2008-06-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY

So why did the Bond producers give in to McClory and make a deal? “We didn’t want anyone else to make Thunderball,” Broccoli said simply. “We had the feeling that if anyone else came in and made their own Bond film, it would have been bad for our series. After Goldfinger we naturally felt that we knew more about Bond than anyone else.” He was proven more than right when in 1967 American producer Charles Feldman made Casino Royale (the only other Bond novel outside of Eon’s ownership) and turned it into a spoof and assorted freak show. Broccoli could sense a not dissimilar thing happening with Thunderball. So they had no choice but to get into bed with McClory.

Because of his court victory, McClory would receive sole producer credit on the film, Broccoli and Saltzman would be executive producers, but in reality all three men would essentially act as producers. It was also reported that McClory would receive 20% of the film’s profits. But most significant of all was the fact that even though the 1965 Thunderball film would remain copyrighted in the Eon fold, McClory would retain ownership of all the script materials. All he had to do was promise not to exercise his rights in them and make another Bond film for at least ten years. This he was only too happy to agree to, believing Bond would still be very much alive in a decade’s time and he could one day make further 007 films. But just why did Broccoli and Saltzman agree to this? Did they have no choice; did they miss it in the small print or simply disregard its importance, perhaps thinking that in ten year’s time Bond might be beyond its sell by date? If so, it was a decision that came back to haunt them.

McClory also agreed to the deal on the understanding that Thunderball was the next film on Eon’s schedule, allowing him to cash in quick on the current Bond boom. The producers had hoped to follow Goldfinger with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but were forced by McClory to forge straight on with Thunderball. In October the co-production deal to make Thunderball was publicly announced. McClory was understandably ebullient. Broccoli and Saltzman less so.

Maibaum’s 1961 script for Thunderball was dusted off and by mid-January 1965 a shooting script was complete, featuring revisions by John Hopkins, whose career began on the seminal British television cop series Z-Cars. Hopkins would later write the screenplay for the harrowing Sean Connery police drama The Offence (1972).

Returning to Thunderball after a four-year gap and with three Bond scripts already to his credit Maibaum had learnt what audiences wanted and to some extent tailored the new script to public taste and expectation. Comparing the filmed Thunderball script with the one he’d earlier written, Maibaum realised just how much he’d been influenced by audience reaction. “In re-writing it four years later, I had to remember the proven public delight in jokes, gadgetry and so forth,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.