The Many Lives of James Bond Read online

  THE MANY LIVES OF JAMES BOND

  HOW THE CREATORS OF 007 HAVE DECODED THE SUPERSPY

  MARK EDLITZ

  GUILFORD, CONNECTICUT

  An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

  4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200

  Lanham, MD 20706

  www.rowman.com

  Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

  Copyright © 2019 by Mark Edlitz

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

  This book is not authorized or endorsed by Ian Fleming Publications, The Ian Fleming Estate, EON Productions, Danjac, LLC, or any other James Bond copyright holder.

  An earlier version of the Roger Moore, George Lazenby, and Tom Mankiewicz chapters appeared in How to Be a Superhero, which was published by BearManor Media.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

  ISBN 978-1-4930-4156-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4930-4157-2 (e-book)

  The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

  To Mom, my late Dad, Tracy, Joan, Irving, Gail, and Elliot,

  for their love and support.

  To my wife Suzie and my children Ben and Sophie,

  for their love and lunacy.

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Half Title

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Author’s Note

  PART I

  BOND ON FILM DIRECTING BOND MOVIES Martin Campbell

  Roger Spotiswoode

  John Glen

  WRITING BOND MOVIES Bruce Feirstein

  Tom Mankiewicz

  Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais

  WRITING BOND SONGS Leslie Bricusse

  Don Black

  PART II

  BOND IN PRINT WRITING BOND NOVELS Anthony Horowitz

  ILLUSTRATING BOND COMIC STRIPS John McLusky

  WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING BOND GRAPHIC NOVELS Mike Grell

  PART III

  BEING BOND Roger Moore is James Bond

  Hoagy Carmichael is James Bond

  Bob Holness is James Bond

  David Niven is James Bond

  George Lazenby is James Bond

  Michael Jayston is James Bond

  Joseph Malone is (a dancing) James Bond

  Corey Burton is James Bond Jr.

  Simon Vance is James Bond

  Tim Bentinck, Andrew Bicknell, Maxwell Caulfield, and Jason Carter are James Bond

  Dietmar Wunder is James Bond

  Kai Martin is James Bond

  PART IV

  DESIGNING 007 THE ILLUSTRATED BOND Robert McGinnis

  Rudy Obrero

  Dan Goozee

  THE LOOK OF BOND Jany Temime

  GAMING BOND Glen A. Schofield

  PART V

  BOND WOMEN Lana Wood

  Lisa Funnel

  Appendix: Quotable Bond

  Acknowledgments

  Notes

  About the Author

  INTRODUCTION

  Pick a Bond, any Bond. When you hear the name James Bond, what comes to mind? For many, it is likely to be a favorite Bond movie or one of the actors who has portrayed the secret agent. After all, it is natural to think first of the cinematic Bond. The multibillion-dollar franchise has retained its remarkable box office power for nearly sixty years—the first Bond movie, Dr. No, appeared in 1962—and its popularity shows no signs of waning. Still, another Bond aficionado might think first of the twelve novels and nine short stories written by Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming.

  But the movies and books are just the most prominent facets of the diverse and ever-expanding James Bond universe. Bond fandom extends to continuation novels, video games, comic books, comic strips, radio dramas, and even to an animated television series.

  The James Bond movies and books have been a lifelong passion of mine. My first exposure to the cinematic Bond was seeing Moonraker when I was eight years old. After watching 007 duel the giant, steel-toothed villain Jaws in space, I was hooked. From there, I devoured every Bond movie. In elementary school, I scribbled “Roger Moore #1” on a piece of loose-leaf paper and pinned it to my T-shirt. I watched Thunderball on my grandparent’s small television set in Boca Raton, Florida. I’d run home from school to watch and rewatch my VHS copies of the series, which I recorded while watching the ABC Sunday Night Movie. I wept when I ran out of tape partway through The Spy Who Loved Me and I couldn’t record it in its entirety. My dad’s generous offer to tape over one of his treasured New York Giants games didn’t immediately assuage my outsized grief.

  I read faded Pan editions of the Fleming novels as I walked between classes in middle school. The walls of my bedroom during high school were covered with stills of Sean Connery and George Lazenby and posters for the Timothy Dalton and Roger Moore Bond movies. My shelves bulged with Bond books and memorabilia, including the Corgi Lotus Esprit and my aunt and uncle’s gift of the Gilbert figures from Dr. No and Goldfinger. I had vivid anticipatory dreams of the not-yet-released Never Say Never Again, and I saw A View to a Kill in a theater on two consecutive nights. In my mid-twenties, I went to a James Bond convention where I asked Pierce Brosnan to introduce himself as Bond would. He graciously played along.

  As an adult, I had the pleasure of meeting Roger Moore, and true to Bond form, we were wearing tuxedos. I stuttered and stammered at first, but he helped calm my obvious nerves with his natural charm. Like many Bond fans, I was gutted when Moore passed away in 2017. I spent all of my childhood and most of my adult life trying to be Moore’s Bond. It’s safe to say that Bond in particular, and my love of movies in general, have consumed much of my life.

  Although my love of Moore has never diminished, I have stopped worrying about whose 007 is best and learned to love all the Bonds. For me, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig have all become “my Bond”—each of them is a rightful heir to the Bond throne.

  Despite my long and unwavering fascination with Bond, his psyche always has been an irresistible mystery to me. Beyond his dedication to queen and country and his unquenchable desire to devour life’s finer things in all their pleasurable forms, I have often wondered who James Bond is, what drives him, and what—if anything—he really wants.

  In an effort to find out, I have interviewed the writers, directors, actors, and other creators of Bond films, graphic novels, video games, radio dramas, songs, and audiobooks to learn how they attempted to understand this enigmatic and malleable character.

  This book is composed of five parts. In “Bond on Film,” I ask the directors, writers, and lyricists to talk about their artistic and practical decisions in bringing the cinematic 007 to life. In “Bond in Print,” authors and comic book creators explain how they got inside the mind of Bond. In “Being Bond,” actors discuss their interpretations of the character and reveal what it’s like to “become” the agent. The artists in “Designing 007” have visually represented Bond in print, on film, and in video games. “Bond Women” takes a look at how the women Bond becomes involved with help to illuminate his character.

  These interviews explore the ways the artists got involved with their projects, examine how they approached
their work, scrutinize their thoughts and feelings about the character, and consider the extent to which they felt a sense of responsibility to earlier interpretations of James Bond and to the franchise. Many of the artists also reflect on our collective need for a character like Bond.

  Through these wide-ranging conversations, I attempt to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the artists’ goals, the challenges they faced, and how they met them. As I talked with these creative people, a through line emerged. It involves a series of fundamental questions about Bond that artists must reckon with when interpreting the character. Who is James Bond and, beyond successfully completing a mission, what does he want? Why did he become an agent? What is the nature of his inner life? Would he be capable of a satisfying life away from the high-octane adventure and danger of his work as a spy?

  I’ve scoured his cinematic and literary adventures for clues. But finding answers to these questions has not been easy. When I asked the three-time Bond screen-writer Tom Mankiewicz about Bond’s personal life, the late great wordsmith and raconteur confessed, “Bond’s personal life is a cipher to me.”

  So who is James Bond? What motivates him? And what creative decisions do artists make when interpreting the character?

  This book is my attempt to explore and answer those questions.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  In different novels, Ian Fleming, who was not fussy about continuity, rendered Bond’s elite section as “Double-O” (with a dash), “Double O” (without a dash), and “double-o” (in lower case). Similarly, in different media M, Bond’s superior, is styled with and without a period. For consistency, I have chosen to use “Double-O,” except when quoting Fleming or someone else who depicts it differently, and to exclude the period from M. For aesthetic reasons, I have opted for “Eon Productions” rather than “EON Productions” and to identify the animated series James Bond Jr as James Bond Jr. (with a period) and the Bond film SPECTRE as Spectre.

  The Many Lives of James Bond is meant to serve as a companion to the original works of art—the movies, books, songs, video games, and radio dramas—that I write about. I was not able to publish reproductions of all the Bond posters, actors, and assorted other images that are referenced in this volume. So during the discussion about the Moonraker poster, for example, I encourage you to stop reading, search the internet for the relevant image, and then return to the book. Although I refer to scores of Bond adventures, I have written in depth only about projects for which I’ve been able to obtain a primary interview. If your favorite Bond tale or artist is absent from this volume, I offer my apologies—and add that I probably wanted to include them but was unable.

  All of these interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

  I have referred to many Bond books, fanzines, experts, super fans, websites, podcasts, and message boards that have informed my thinking about 007. I have benefited greatly from their scholarship, their insights, and their passion, and I am deeply indebted to them all.

  Finally, it is my hope that these interviews will help bring deeper insight into the artists’ crafts, expand our appreciation of Ian Fleming’s multifaceted creation, and generate even greater enjoyment of the works themselves.

  DIRECTING BOND MOVIES

  MARTIN CAMPBELL

  As the director of GoldenEye (1995) with Pierce Brosnan and Casino Royale (2006) with Daniel Craig, Martin Campbell set the template for two radically diff erent periods of Bond films. Campbell’s GoldenEye confidently continued the Bond traditions when skeptical pundits questioned the viability of the series. His Casino Royale subverted the audience’s expectations by eschewing the franchise’s tropes while at the same time deepening Bond’s character and delivering the requisite thrills. Campbell established Brosnan’s Bond as a sophisticated and charming veteran who dutifully serves his country and launched Craig’s as an unformed, reckless, unestablished agent who joined MI6, as love interest Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) describes, as a “maladjusted young man” with “a chip on [his] shoulder.”1 Whereas Brosnan’s Bond eschews long-lasting relationships as a survival mechanism, Craig’s Bond draws women close, falling in love and eager to leave the spy game for both Lynd and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux in Spectre [2015]). These eras of Bond films, established by Campbell, are as diff erent as their singular characterizations.

  Making a Bond film is always a challenge. But when you made GoldenEye and Casino Royale you had the additional responsibility of establishing a relationship between the audience and a new James Bond that, if successful, could last more than a decade. Is that daunting?

  You know, it’s not. Although, quite honestly, Casino was a slightly more daunting task than directing GoldenEye, simply because it was a change of gear for Bond. The producers [Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson] felt that the previous one [Die Another Day (2002)], with its invisible car and its Ice Palace, was perhaps a bit too fantastical. We all wanted to bring the whole thing back down to earth. The idea was to go back to the books where the character was darker. Clearly, Casino was a different direction than the previous Bond films. So it was slightly nerve-racking because we were concerned as to how the audience would respond to our new direction.

  When you were hired, was Craig already cast as Bond?

  No, absolutely not. We tested a lot of Bonds. We tested eight people.

  Wow, that many?

  Yeah, that’s standard practice for casting a new Bond, and Daniel was one of the eight [a group that also included future Superman Henry Cavill]. It was Barbara Broccoli who was the engine behind picking Daniel. She loved the idea and she felt that he would be absolutely terrific as Bond. Barbara was the one who really pushed for him.

  Could any of those eight actors have done it or was it down to just a couple?

  They could’ve done it but not nearly as well as Daniel. Daniel was clearly the best actor. He also fits Fleming’s description of Bond in that he’s certainly more rugged than what we’ve had previously.

  All eight actors had a full screen test?

  Everyone had a full day.

  What do you remember about the screen test?

  It’s the scene we always test: the scene in From Russia with Love (1963). In it, Bond enters his hotel room, takes off his jacket, his gun, his shoulder holster, and he turns on the bath. He senses that someone’s in the bedroom. So he crosses the terrace, opens the door, and there’s a blonde girl in bed. He knows he has to seduce her because he wants the information about the Lektor, the decoding machine. The scene covers all the aspects of Bond’s character. I think every Bond actor has been tested on that scene.

  Can you recall the moment when you thought Craig was the guy?

  It did take me a little adjustment to say, “He would be absolutely great for this new incarnation of Bond.” When Daniel came over to England, he was shooting a movie in America. He came off with red eyes and he literally had no sleep. I felt sorry for him. He came off the plane, did the test, did very well, and then was straight back on a plane and away again. We looked at them all and Barbara had no doubts at all. I had no doubts about his acting abilities, but I sort of questioned whether—with Pierce having worked out as the old incarnation of Bond—audiences would accept this new approach. Then I saw the crime drama [Layer Cake (2004)] starring Craig again and thought, “There’s no question. The guy’s terrific.” He also has a wicked sense of humor. That kind of did it for me. [Note: Craig, who shares Campbell’s estimation of the condition he was in during the screen test, said, “If (Barbara) hasn’t destroyed that piece of film yet, I hope she will. It’s awful. I don’t want anybody to ever see it. My eyes were just swimming.2]

  Daniel Craig as James Bond.

  ILLUSTRATION BY PAT CARBAJAL

  After Craig was cast as Bond, I watched Layer Cake. I thought, “This guy’s a good actor but he’s not James Bond.”

  I think a few of us thought that. We were a little unsure not about his acting because he’s obviously a superb actor, but if he was right for B
ond. The template of Bond had always been the traditional good-looking actor. Daniel is handsome but rugged, tougher, darker, and grittier.

  Can you expand on how casting Daniel helped change the direction of the series?

  Pierce was an obvious Bond, right? Great-looking guy and, frankly, there was no one else at the time who was as good. Although we tested maybe two or three people [including Sam Neill], beyond that, Pierce was it. Roger Moore was it for [producer] Cubby Broccoli at that time. He is very good looking, fit the image perfectly. Though Tim Dalton is good, he was not as successful as either Roger or Pierce. After Pierce, we initially were looking at the kind of actors that we were brought up with for Bond. With that comes the humor, the great action, the women, and the misogyny. That was the formula. With Daniel, the template changed.

  We went back to the tone of the books and made an effort to make the films tougher, grittier, and more realistic. We wanted to make Bond a darker character and tougher, but also more human. In the books, he smoked too many cigarettes; he smoked seventy a day [as Fleming established in the first chapter of Casino Royale (1953)]. He drank too much and his liver was dodgy. All that was in the book. We didn’t [explicitly] go that far with it. We had to adjust our own thinking about where we were headed with the tone of the movie, which was very different than the other ones.

  Because we were doing an entirely different Bond, that required casting somebody unique and somebody different. We all had to adjust to the idea that we were doing an entirely different Bond. And that took some thinking.

  Once he was cast, was there time for rehearsals?

  Yes, we were able to do rehearsals as much as we could. We rehearsed on set and Daniel was so committed to making it a success. Not only had he obviously worked out tremendously, but he also just got the character. He did a hell of a lot of work on it.