The following quotes from Sam Mendes relate to a character's death at the end of Skyfall, so obviously if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now..
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Okay, so as anyone who has seen the movie will know, Dame Judie Dench's M is killed off in
Skyfall. Many fans were shocked by this as Dench has played Bond's handler now since 1995's
GoldenEye. But the decision was made to shake things up a bit and kill off a principal, recurring character - something pretty much unheard of in the franchise. In an interview with Coming Soon, the movie's director Sam Mendes is asked about the decision of off M, and how the idea came about..
"That was an idea that was floating around when I came onto the project and it was in an early treatment written by Peter Morgan, but it was not done, I thought in the right circumstances and in the right way, but the fact of it is there. It was one of the things that we were most interested - it was the only thing that we kept from the Peter Morgan treatment was that one idea. I was amazed that they would allow it to happen, and when they said yes, I thought, ‘Right, that's something that needs to then be built into the story from the very beginning. So, let's go back and work that through.' That's what we did, you know? That's where we were headed the whole time."
What did you guys think about M's demise? Will Ralph Fiennes make a suitable replacement? For the full interview click the link below.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.