With the 23rd James Bond film Skyfall setting all sorts of box office records for the franchise, MGM, Sony and EON Productions are already in the planning stages for the next installment with Skyfall co-writer John Logan taking on the scripting duties. While giving a master class at the fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar, five-time Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade confirmed that they won’t be involved with the next movie, having been involved with the writing of all three Daniel Craig films and the two Pierce Brosnan movies before that.
They said they were going to leave after Quantum of Solace but were happy to be able to leave on a high with Skyfall and Wade added:
“I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off because these films take up a lot of time.
What’s interesting about the above is that when asked about directing another Bond movie, Mendes has said that he used up all his ideas with Skyfall, so if he is indeed involved with plot ideas for the next movie, maybe he’ll be convinced to continue on, which should make many James Bond fans happy.
Here is the full press release with quotes from Purvis and Wade on Bond and other things:
As Skyfall becomes the most successful Bond film in its 23 film history, British screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade took part in a master class at the fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) to lift the lid on writing for one of the iconic film franchises of all time.
When we were originally asked to come in to meet the Bond people, we werent expecting to be walking straight into a meeting with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson said Neal Purvis, describing the moment they first started collaborating with franchises producers. Usually there are many other layers of people that stop you getting to the head honchos and we certainly were not expecting to be kept around for 15 years
When we met Eon Productions, only two of our screenplays had been made into films. It just seemed preposterous to us that they wouldnt have other writers on the project added Robert Wade. But theyd read a few of our other scripts and liked our sense of character and action. If theres action without a story or a character angle, then its just boring.
Meeting at 22, the pair who has been writing together for 28 years wrote their first script during the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The British Film industry in 1984 was not in a great shape. Wed write pop videos to make extra money, said Purvis. The tragedy is we were getting paid in the 80s what screenwriters are still being paid today
Since then, theyve written a total of 41 scripts, with ten being made into films. Wade said We were told dont expect anymore than one in ten of your screen plays to be made. She was right. We thought yes, thats probably true, however that wont apply to us.
Now were on our 41st script and have have ten films made. You wouldnt write each day if you didnt believer that your scripts were going to be made, added Purvis.
Addressing the production delays this latest outing, the duo shed light on how important this additional time was We benefited from the delays as we hadnt gotten the story right. The film would not have been made without them, explained Wade.
The third act wasnt right. We gave ourselves a few weeks to come up with a new concept, which ultimately became a metaphor for our journey working on these movies our own Skyfall added Purvis.
When pushed on if the partners were intending to write more Bond films Wade said Were very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think weve gotten it to a good place. I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off because these films take up a lot of time.
Purvis added, We were going to stop with Quantum of Solace, but its good to go out on a high with Skyfall.
Asked about other projects outside of Bond, Wade divulged We did get hired to write a script about Elton John stealing 11 of the best footballers in the world, to play against a team of robots on another planet. That was our second paid job, explained Purvis.
And whats the only thing as a bond writer you cant do? Time Travel says Purvis. And killing him off said Wade, before adding although we have been tempted.”
