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An open letter to Peter Morgan

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An open letter to Peter Morgan

News broke last week that ‘Frost/Nixon’ and ‘The Queen’ writer Peter Morgan is to join regulars Robert Wade and Neal Purvis in scripting the next James Bond movie. With the damp squib of ‘Quantum of Solace’ still fresh in his mind, Tom Huddleston decided to pen an open letter to Morgan laying out a few friendly dos and don’ts...

Dear Peter,

While we at Time Out are thrilled that you, one of our country’s most talented and inquiring screenwriters, have accepted the challenge of penning the next James Bond movie, there are a few salient points we feel you might like to keep in mind while writing what will inevitably become one of 2011’s most important and, we hope, enjoyable movies. We trust you accept our advice in the friendly spirit with which it’s intended…

Please give the characters room to breathe
Perhaps the greatest stride writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and erstwhile colleague Paul Haggis made with ‘Casino Royale’ was giving Bond and his companions a real sense of life, depth and emotional conflict. We’re used to Bond the wisecracking automaton, but with an actor like Daniel Craig in the role this approach is a terrible waste. ‘Quantum of Solace’ reduced Bond to little more than grunts and sneers – a smart thug who faces off against a loquacious but rather pathetic villain. You’ve already proved your worth as a master of verbal sparring in your previous scripts, so we’re sure you’ll have the murderous banter down pat. The challenge will be to make us care about Bond again.

Please respect your audience
There’s no doubt that the best of Bond is revealed when there’s a strong storyline packed with twists, switchbacks and double crosses: just think of Sean Bean’s deception in ‘Goldeneye’, or Vesper’s betrayal in ‘Casino’. As long as your action sequences are gripping and your characters convincingly motivated, there’s no crime in keeping the viewer guessing.

Please don’t waste your Bond girls
Another of the great pleasures offered by ‘Casino Royale’ was the chance to see Bond confronted by female characters who could hold their own: not just Eva Green’s scheming Vesper, but Judi Dench’s fractious, commanding M. Dench was the best thing in ‘Quantum’, but she was let down by Olga Kurylenko’s fiery but underused Camille. It’s a lesson the makers of Bond have been long in learning: these women can be more than just eye-candy. A strong female lead doesn’t just centre the film, she allows writers and audiences a chance to get to the core of Bond himself.

Please don’t remake the Bourne series
Both ‘Casino’ and ‘Quantum’ were clearly inspired by the downbeat realism of the Bourne trilogy, but while the former balanced gritty action sequences with a wry streak of self-deprecating humour, the writers and director of ‘Quantum’ seemed content with an endless parade of repetitive shakycam punch-ups in grimy locales. So, while action is clearly the lifeblood of the series, remember that Bond always benefits from a moment of levity amid the mayhem.

Please show us something we haven’t seen before
It’s hard to think of anywhere Bond hasn’t been (Antarctica? Everest? Leamington Spa?), but one of ‘Quantum’ director Marc Forster’s better accomplishments was picking some stunning international locations, from the seedy streets of Panama and the barren Atacama Desert in Chile to the grandiose opera house at Lake Constance in Austria. While the old Bonds were increasingly confined to traipsing between MI6 and Moscow battling the same faceless, jabbering Russkies, the global nature of the new films’ mysterious conspiracy means that Bond can now head just about anywhere, and beat up just about anyone.

Finally, we await the Bond producers’ choice of director with bated breath. Some interesting names have been rumoured, though we understand Danny Boyle has officially denied all knowledge and Christopher Nolan is busy with all that Batman business. But the Bond films have never been about the big-name directors; in fact, with names like Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Paul Haggis, you could say it’s one of the few major film series where the choice of writer actually matters more than the choice of director. Which is where you come in, Mr Morgan.

Good luck!

Yours in anticipation,

Tom

Author: Tom Huddleston


User comments on this story

  • siggi said...
    Lake Constance just do not exist, but there is a lake called Bodensee with a city called Konstanz and a city called Bregenz where parts of "Quantum of Solace" were shot, as well as in Feldkirch in Austria. Posted on Jun 25 2009 07:30
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  • Tom Huddleston said...
    Lake Constance is on the border of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It has an opera house on it. Where they filmed 'Quantum of Solace' What's your point? Posted on Jun 25 2009 06:08
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  • Siggi said...
    Dear Mr Huddleston,
    it should be remarked, that not the british authors like Dahl (one script), the Canadian Haggis (contribution to two scripts) or Purvis & Wade (contribution to four scripts), but an american called Richard Maibaum set the tone in the Bond films with an astonishing list of 13 Bond scripts - and all the classics like "From Russia With Love", "Goldfinger" and "On Her Majesty´s Secret Service" are included. But I agree, that Bourne is Bourne, just better in his field and should not be copied. Weren´t the Bondfilms trendsetters once? The Bourne films by the way were directed by a Brit and an American and written by an American. If Mr Morgan dives into Fleming, discover loose ends and finds the right adversary (Goldfinger is still the most acknowledged), I have no doubt, that there will be an exciting story to follow. The importance is the research and the homework - where is Lake Constance Mr Huddleston? Posted on Jun 25 2009 04:47
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  • Sorking said...
    Tom, couldn't you have saved some time by just saying "I didn't care for Quantum of Solace, please don't make the next film like that?" This isn't helpful writing advice, it's a list of passive-aggressive gripes.
    I disagree on your take on that film anyway (Bourne-blah, Camille-blah, Short-runtime-blah; tired old crits all) but let's not pretend this is any more insightful or useful than 'Here's what I like - make that'. 'How the action is shot' is hardly up to the writer, is it? And "respect your audience?" As if a writer goes in to a project thinking 'Hey, I guess I'll show the audience total disrespect this time, that'll be cool.'
    Not only would the single opinion statement have been quicker, but it would have avoided putting all the focus on only one of THREE writers during production of what is, in fact, another in a series of these producer-led films. Posted on Jun 24 2009 23:00
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  • Brandon said...
    Weak scripts have been par for the course in the Bond series ever since Dalton left the role, but that's hardly all that needs fixing. Barbara Broccoli's feminized 007 should be replaced by a real man, the ludicrous product placements in the movie should be ditched, and a return to some decent Bond music is highly in order. QOS was an awful joke. Posted on Jun 24 2009 20:00
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  • Justin said...
    Ok, i think that what this guy wrote wasn't bad at all, but i really like the darker edged Bond. I am a fan of the Bond films and the books. I don't mind a funny line maybe two or three, but don't make it an action laugh-athon. I don't mind stepping away from the Bourne ideas. But please don't bring a whole bunch of gadgets, maybe one realistic gadget, because Roger Moore and Brosnan overused the gadgets and that's what lost me about Bond. That's why when i saw Casino Royale i was happy to see that they went back to the books and taking the gadgets out, because Bond in the books was about skill and not using gadgets, Q wasn't even in the novels at all. Plus i don't think that Q is fitting to Daniel Craig's interpretation. I wouldn't mind if Q comes back later, but not with Daniel Craig in the role. I don't want to start anything at all by saying that, but that's how i feel about it. I would ask for a good script, great Bond girl and villain, good action, and good character development. That's all i ask. Posted on Jun 24 2009 18:06
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  • Steph said...
    As a student currently residing in the town, I feel there is a lot of scope for a Leamington Spa-based Bond storyline. I would actively encourage location shooting :D Posted on Jun 24 2009 12:43
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