Michael G. Wilson on Bond 23 - `no significant work done`

Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall attended the Bradford International Film Festival in Bradford, England last week. The headline event for James Bond fans was producer Michael G. Wilson's "Master Class" on the making of James Bond movies which was held - appropriately enough - in the Museum's Cubby Broccoli Theatre. Wilson and Eon Productions have long been patrons of the Museum and the film festival, but this was his first participation in an actual event. Tony Earnshaw, the Artistic Director of the Museum, had tried for years to convince Wilson to sit down for a one-on-one interview, but the typically modest Wilson had to be convinced there was actually interest among the movie-going public to hear a discussion about the inner-workings of the Bond films. The rapt attention of the audience would immediately nullify those concerns.

Wilson is not known for being overly-verbose and tonight was no exception. However, he was comfortable, relaxed and in good spirits - and he spoke about the making of the Bond films with refreshing candor. Wilson related how he had been happily pursuing a career in law when the increasing legal difficulties between his stepfather Cubby Broccoli and his production partner necessitated his move into the Eon offices in order to work on legal matters. After Broccoli and Saltzman split, Cubby convinced Wilson to stay on and groomed him in the fine art of movie producing.

Wilson acknowledged that the production of each film is a frantic period and that Eon delivers the finished movie to the studio with relatively little wiggle room to make changes. He said this actually works in Eon's favor because it precludes studio brass from ordering wide-ranging alterations to the films, as there simply isn't enough time to enact them. On the other side of the coin, he expressed frustration that the tight deadlines have compromised Eon's influence over the title song. He said that in the past, the composer of the song worked in consultation with the filmmaking team. In recent years, however, Eon had little or no say over the song, which has been delivered so late in the process that the producers have to accept whatever is delivered.

At the end of the session, Wilson took questions from the audience. Someone asked Wilson why he allowed the action sequences in Quantum to be edited with so many fast cuts that it robbed the scenes of any suspense. Wilson acknowledged that they were attempting to please modern audiences who are used to that style of editing but did not outwardly endorse the style. He said that Eon always experiments with different filmmaking styles that the director may favor - and that by the time the first edit is done, there is precious little time to make radical changes.The only news Wilson broke about the next Bond film (Bond 23) is that there is no news at all. He said there had been no significant work done on the next entry.

Click here to read the full report on Cinema Retro magazine's blog.

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