BOND 24’s Script Got Major Overhaul

A few weeks ago, we learned that the screenplay for the planned 24th James Bond adventure was getting a bit of a polish from franchise veterans Robert Wade and Neil Purvis with the idea of punching up the script by adding some more gags and focusing on the interplay between Bond (Daniel Craig) and other series regulars M (Ralph Fienes) and Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris). It now appears as if that rewrite was more extensive than originally thought.

Baz Bamigboye, despite being at a tabloid site like the London Daily Mail, has perhaps one of the best inside lines to the Bond franchise production offices and late last week his sources told him that Purvis and Wade’s work was more than just a polish on John Logan’s draft of the screenplay.

‘There was an awful lot of work to do. It was a big job. The impression given was that Purvis and Wade were hired to add jokes — but it was a bigger deal than that,’ an executive at one of the studios associated with the Bond films explained.

Purvis and Wade wrote the first draft of the screenplay and apparently were a bit unhappy that director Sam Mendes brought in Logan to do subsequent drafts, as Bamigboye is reporting that Mendes “almost went down on his knees to persuade Purvis and Wade to return to the Bond fold.”

Whatever the process, everyone seems happy with the results as the production is headed towards its production start in late November/early December for its release on October 23, 2015 in the UK and November 6, 2015 in the US.