James Bond: Skyfall Screenwriter Discusses The Direction Of The New Movie, Action And More!

James Bond: Skyfall Screenwriter Discusses The Direction Of The New Movie, Action And More!

Screenwriter John Logan discusses what it was like to be asked to work on the Skyfall script, comments on the rumors that the movie will be a standalone picture and reveals just how much of a role action set pieces will play...

By JoshWilding - Nov 20, 2011 02:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Action
Source: Collider

While the production of this movie has been far from easy (mainly due to MGM's financial problems) filming of Skyfall is now well underway with director Sam Mendes at the helm. Daniel Craig is returning as James Bond and there are impressive new cast additions in the form of Javier Bardem and Raplh Fiennes. Talking to Collider, screenwriter John Logan has let slip some intriguing new details about the highly anticipated movie and you can check out some of the main highlights below. Be sure to click on the link below to head on over to the site for more.

On What It Was Like To Be Asked To Work On The Skyfall Script:

It was amazing. It happened because Sam Mendes and I have known each other for 15 years from theater circles, and we ran into each other at Bar Centrale down on 46th after the theater, and we were talking [in] booths next door to each other and he said, “Can you have lunch tomorrow?” I said “Sure let’s have lunch, that’s great” and I knew he was doing it. So we had lunch and he said there’s this great script by Purvis and Wade that existed, but he wanted me to come onboard and I did the ultimate thing you never do which is I said “Yes. I don’t care what you pay me, I don’t care what I have to do, yes,” because I grew up—the first Bond movie I ever saw was Diamonds are Forever, I remember every moment of it. I’m particularly pleased that Skyfall comes out on the 50th anniversary of Dr. No, so for 50 years this franchise has been going incredibly strong through 23 movies, so to be part of that is incredibly fun. You know I flew in on the set two days ago and I fly back Wednesday back to Pinewood. It’s thrilling.


On The Rumors That This Will Be A Standalone Movie:

It has nothing to do with being a standalone film, as far as I’m concerned, because I don’t think these films are standalone, I think they’re part of a legacy. When I was working on it I was deeply aware as much of Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale as I was of Thunderball, as I was of Ian Fleming in the 50’s writing it, you know you’re a float in a parade. What was particularly thrilling about this is the freedom, because I had the fear that you would going into a franchise movie that you have to put all the toys back in the sandbox, but I’ve never felt anything but completely free as a writer to explore different material, to explore different ideas with these characters and this world. It’s been amongst the best experiences I’ve ever had on a movie. Mind you we’re two weeks into filming, so we’ll see.


On The Amount Of Action In The Script And How Much He Was Involved With Incorporating Those Scenes Into The Movie:

It’s a very collaborative process, and Sam is front and center on everything. He’s got an amazingly exciting adventure mind, which not all filmmakers do. The important thing about action sequences, and you know my first movie was Any Given Sunday so you’re sitting there with Oliver Stone talking about football action, or Gladiators with Ridley Scott, or throat slitting with Tim Burton, is that the action is appropriate to the story, there’s no such thing as generic action because then you’re watching stunts, you’re watching special effects and you’re very impressed by the second-unit photography but you’re not engaged. So the important thing for me is making sure that the action belongs in that movie, cause there’s such a thing as a Bond kind of action, and then there’s a subset of that which is our Skyfall kind of action, they all have their own definitions. And it’s different than the other movies because it’s unique to itself the same way a plane crash in The Aviator is a different kind of action than a football scene in Any Given Sunday.










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headlopper
headlopper - 11/20/2011, 2:56 PM
"Hot Damn!"


Photobucket
Bodwulf
Bodwulf - 11/20/2011, 2:58 PM
James Bond,Roger Moore,Daniel Craig,Timothy Dalton,Sean Connery,Pierce Brosnan,George Lazenby
Hope this one is the best yet. Afraid Bond is falling out of favor again.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 11/20/2011, 3:27 PM
Next time put the video at the top of the article so I don't have to read.
jbak368
jbak368 - 11/20/2011, 3:52 PM
This guy has written some really great movies... and Star Trek Nemesis.
AlexDeLarge87
AlexDeLarge87 - 11/20/2011, 5:55 PM
Guy has a pretty good list yeah! Any Given Sunday, Gladiator, The Time Machine, Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas, The Last Samurai, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, Rango, Ralpg Fiennes´s Shakespeare movie Coriolanus, Martin Scorsese´s Hugo, Skyfall, Steven Spielberg´s Lincoln... And then there is movies like Star Trek Nemesis and Bats!;)
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 11/20/2011, 6:12 PM
@soberchimera61
Reading builds character!
Phlegmbot
Phlegmbot - 11/20/2011, 9:13 PM
Wow...a Hollywood screenwriter who understands the action has to be PART of the plot? How'd that happen?

@jbak368: I'd love to see his First Draft of Nemesis...it may not even be close to what made it to screen. Most big films have at least one uncredited script doctor, plus the producers and directors force changes into the script. And sometimes actors make changes too. Filmmaking, as Logan states above, is collaborative. Personally, I think - even with the numerous character and plot missteps in Nemesis - it would've been a FAR better movie - and a nod to classic Trek - if it was Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) vs. another Picard (also played by Stewart). I mean, if you can create technobabble to explain why a Picard clone exists, you can make-up a reason for him to be the same age as the real Picard.

I'm betting that was the original plan.
Ceejay
Ceejay - 11/21/2011, 12:01 AM
As long as he doesn't start bringing back a bunch of silly gadgets, Q and swiss army knife style cars with ridiculous accessories, then he'll be fine.

And before any idiot starts talking crap about those things being Bond, they're not, they were made up for the movies from Goldfinger onwards and got stupider and stupider as they went on. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace got the character back to the way he was written, continue that way and they'll have the best trilogy of Bond films ever and Craig can depart the role with respect!
Vital
Vital - 11/21/2011, 12:05 AM
I love James Bond movies. They never get "old", ya know?
FireKnightRises
FireKnightRises - 11/21/2011, 12:20 AM
Why bond never have AIDS? he should died of aids
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