Michael France on GoldenEye and Screen Credit Dissapointment
Long time Bond fan and successful screenwriter Michael France (Cliffhanger, The Hulk) — who was given story but not screenplay credit on GoldenEye — was interviewed recently at the website UnderGround Online (“Screenwriting Punishment with Michael France”). France spoke about his upcoming film, The Punisher, and also gave some insights into how he approached “Bond 17,” and how he felt he was under-credited in the end.
FRANCE: In Goldeneye…we were kind of reintroducing Bond – it was Pierce’s first Bond movie, it had been six years since another Bond movie had come out, and that sort of bombed, so arguably it had been eight or ten years since anyone had taken notice of Bond. I wrote a script that played up all of my favorite things about Bond – all the classic elements, his sophistication balanced by his ruthlessness, the way he is either repelled by his job or thrilled by it, depending on the situation…and I wanted to do something I hadn’t seen in the movies. It occurred to me that we’d never really seen Bond interacting with another Double O sector agent. In the rest of the series, they are nameless, faceless characters…M says, “003 got killed in Malaysia but he sent us this expository note”, or something, and the story would move on with just a slight reaction from Bond, if any at all. That seemed false to me. I thought Bond would have very good friends in the sector – that they’d be as tight as men who go into combat together — and I thought it would really be something to build up that kind of relationship and make a Double O agent the villain. Just figuring out that character relationship – that Bond would torture himself because he blames himself for the death of his friend, then learning that the whole thing was a setup allowing that same “friend” to betray him — gave me a great deal of the story and screenplay for Goldeneye.
SV: We’ve read that you felt you were under-credited on Goldeneye. Can you give us a bit of insight into what happened and, more importantly for struggling writers out there, how the crediting process works in relation to getting story credit?
FRANCE: I wish I could give you more insight into what happened in this case, but just about everything in a credit arbitration is kept very secret by the WGA. The producers proposed that I would receive first position “written by” credit on Goldeneye. But it went to arbitration at the Writers Guild, and at least two out of three arbiters did not agree with what the studio proposed. I wound up with just a story credit, despite the fact (and I very comfortably use the word “fact”) that I wrote more of the screenplay than anyone else involved. I’m not knocking the writers who did receive credit when I say that – both of them have told me privately that they thought I should have received screenplay credit. I don’t know what to tell your readers, except that the Writers Guild credit arbitration process is unavoidable and unpredictable. I believe the process generally works, but every working writer has a disappointment in dealing with that system, and Goldeneye is definitely mine.
For the complete interview visit UnderGround Online (UGO).
For a list of Michael France’s screen credits visit IMDb.
In an effort to fan the flames—and because I wanted to write about my views on the matter—I present a rebuttal of sorts.
“Offering for bid is 1 of 2 movie props believed to have been used in the making of the film “Thunderball”. It is a reduced scale model of the Avro Vulcan Bomber that was ditched off the coast of Nassau Bahamas. The model stands approximately 6.5 feet tall and has a wingspan of nearly 7 feet. It is constructed in fiberglass and is highly detailed. There are guidewire holes in several locations of the model which were used to suspend the prop from an overhead skate. To better understand how this prop was used, view the special edition DVD of the movie with voice over commentary by special effects genius John Stears. He explains in great detail how they filmed the sequence. This model is 40 years old and it shows it…there are a number of battlescars on the model which were most likely inflicted during test shots of the splashdown sequence. As in most films, the propmasters create not one , but a number of props to guard against damaging the only one. I acquired this prop from a longterm resident of Nassau, Bahamas, who got it from the son of a local engineer who worked on the film in 1965…as the story goes, this engineer became fast friends with the likes of legendary cameraman Lamar Boren as well as other associates on the set. He received the prop as a gesture of gratitude and it has been sitting in a garage ever since. It is truely amazing that it has survived all of these years. It has been quite an adventure investigating the prop for authenticity…most of the people associated with the making of the film have passed away and it is next to impossible to locate any paperwork to verify their use. However, I have made contact with a well known special effects icon who worked on the film that verified the existence of such a prop….at this time, I am not at liberty to divulge his name until I have his written consent….I am still working this one detail out. Personally, there is no doubt in my mind that this prop was used in the production of the film “Thunderball”…I do not claim that this is the actual prop used in the final film sequence of the movie because of minor differences in the camo paint but, nonetheless, it is a very rare piece of cinematic history. Good luck on this one of a kind collectible.”