Neal Purvis And Robert Wade Discuss Casino Royale And Bond 22
The BBC News features an interview with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who wrote the scripts for the three most recent James Bond films, including Casino Royale.
‘Personally I really like the books: I came to them from the movies. The films have this wonderful swoop to them but the books have more texture. That’s to do with Bond being this hard-living, dark creature in the middle of all that’s going on,’ said Wade when asked if it was possible to go back to Ian Fleming’s James Bond for each new 007 actor.
‘But it’s true that over the years the film character has developed into something quite different to Fleming’s character,’ adds Purvis. ‘Though there’s often been talk of going back to basics with Bond and making him more ‘Flemingian’ this was the best opportunity ever because we’re starting again with the first novel … we tried to be as faithful to the novel as possible and keep it fairly dark.’
On actor Daniel Craig, Wade said: ‘When you have an actor you play to his strengths–and in Daniel Craig you’ve got a fantastic actor. Pierce Brosnan had wonderful comic timing–a kind of suavity which you have to celebrate when you’ve got it. With Daniel we don’t want him wearing safari suits. He’s got this great toughness to him but not an unthinking toughness. I think that’s where the films will need to go.’
Both Wade and Purvis have also been connected with the script for Bond 22, starring Daniel Craig once again, and due out in November 2008.
‘In the next film the emphasis has to be on the unfinished emotional business at the end of Casino Royale,’ says Wade. ‘It has to be dealt with in such a way that his character continues to have an arc.’
‘It can’t just be he’s tough and he’s tempered steel and totally impervious. There are things he still has to resolve. So that’s the legacy of Casino Royale and it’s important to have it so the actor has something to play.’
Click here to read the entire interview.
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