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Screenwriter John Logan has talked about his involvement
on the "Skyfall" script and how he approached
the job of penning 007's latest adventure...
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John Logan Talks Skyfall
20th November 2011
It was first
announced back in January that
American screenwriter John Logan would be joining regular scribes
Neal
Purvis and Robert Wade to finalize the shooting script for the
23rd James Bond film, now titled "Skyfall".
With all the cast and crew raving about the quality of the work
at the kick-off
press conference, with Daniel
Craig going so far as
to say it excited him even more than "Casino
Royale",
the expectations for the film are high. In a quick trip back
to New York City between time on the set at Pinewood Studios,
Logan sat down with Collider.com this
week to discuss his work on 007.
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"Skyfall" director Sam
Mendes has known Logan for fifteen years, and the
writer explained how he came to work on the project: “[Sam
Mendes] 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.”
With the experimental idea of making a direct sequel to
a Bond film on the last outing "Quantum
of Solace" falling a little flat, everyone at
the press conference was keen to stress that "Skyfall" would
not be following on from the last film so closely.
Logan explained that to say it's not following
on is one thing, but all Bond films in some way are sequels
due to
the franchise canon. “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," Logan said. "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.” |
Writing a franchise film can be a blessing
and a curse to a screenwriter: starting out with a well proven
formula
but still
having to make something original and different. Logan said that
he did not feel restricted by the history of the preceding 22
films: “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.”
The script of "Quantum" was hampered by the writers
strike, which often left director Marc Forster and Daniel Craig
adjusting scenes at short notice, and the final film relied a
lot on action. But with the longer writing time on "SkyFall",
and having Mendes involved for a year before cameras rolled,
Logan says making the blend of action and drama work has been
foremost in their minds. “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 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.”
Many thanks to Steve. Click over to Collider to watch the
interview video.
Briefing
The 23rd James Bond
film, "Skyfall", commenced principal studio photography on 7th November
2011 for a UK
release on October 26th, 2012 and the USA on November
9, 2012. MGM will produce, finance and distribute 007's
23rd adventure in
partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Daniel Craig will
be returning as the legendary British secret agent, alongside Judi
Dench as "M", with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal
Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. The cast will also include Bérénice Marlohe,
Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Wishaw.
The film will shoot at Pinewood Studios and on location in London, England;
Scotland; Shanghai, China and Istanbul, Turkey.
It will be the longest gap between Bond movies without
a change in the lead role. In addition, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of
the EON Productions series of James
Bond films.
