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Kevin McClory's unfilmed 1976 script for the rogue
James Bond project "Warhead" was sold at
auction this week...
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Warhead Script Sold At Auction
5th December 2008
Kevin McClory's unfilmed 1976 script for the rogue James Bond
project "Warhead", based on a screenplay he penned
with Sean Connery and author Len Deighton, was sold at Christies
auction house on Thursday 4th December 2008 for £46,850.
The lot, which also included McClory's shooting script for "Never
Say Never Again" (1983), was only expected to reach £2,000-£3,000.
It was the highest-selling lot in the Christie's Pop Culture:
Entertainment Memorabilia auction.
McClory, who produced the 1965 blockbuster "Thunderball" after
striking a deal with
EON producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, went
on to remake the film as 1983's "Never Say
Never Again" outside of the Bond stable. The "Warhead" saga
was an on-again off-again thorn in the side of the official series.
After his case to remake the film again was thrown out of court
in 2001 and Sony dropped their support, the Irish producer failed
to sell the script and 'film rights' to "Warhead" a
year later. McClory passed
away on 20th November 2006 at the
age of 80.
Katherine Williams, popular culture specialist at Christie's,
said: "The Pop Culture: Entertainment Memorabilia sale witnessed
a busy saleroom, with numerous international bidders on the telephone
and on Christie's LIVE. We are delighted with the robust prices
achieved for pieces associated with screen icons, including the
the script of an unmade James Bond film which sold for £46,850." The
Warhead script featured various characters in the cast list including
James Bond and Bond girls called Justine Lovesit and Fatima Blush.
A photo of the three authors of the screenplay, taken at McClory's
home in Ireland during their collaboration on the project was
part of the lot. Also sold at the auction was a set of storyboards
to the game sequence of "Never Say Never Again" (£5,000),
and a shooting script with drawings from "Thunderball" (£10,000).
Lot: Kevin McClory Warhead, 1976 Never Say Never
Again, 1983
Kevin McClory's script for Warhead, an unmade James Bond project,
the script entitled "Warhead" Based on "JAMES
BOND OF THE SECRET SERVICE" by Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory,
Jack Whittingham, giving further details on the title page
of the screenplay's authors Len Deighton, Sean Connery and
Kevin McClory, production details including c Branwell Film
Productions, March 21, 1976... and FIRST DRAFT 6 September
1978..., 137pp. mimeographed typescript, various characters
in the cast list include the hero James Bond and Bond girls:
Justine Lovesit and Fatima Blush, other Bond regulars include:
Ernst Stavros Blofeld, Felix Leiter, Moneypenny, M and Q, original
blue paper covers; accompanied by a black and white photograph
of the three authors of the screenplay, Connery, Deighton and
McClory at the latter's home in Ireland, taken during their
collaboration on this project [printed later] -- 8x10in. (20.4x25.5cm.);
and Kevin McClory's shooting script for Never
Say Never Again, 119pp. of mimeographed typescript, variously
dated from 7.9.82
to 23.9.82; 123pp. of mimeographed storyboards including many
dramatic underwater sequences including shipwreck shark attacks
on Bond, the duel between Bond and Largo and the assassination
of Largo by Domino, the pages contained in a maroon vinyl ring
binder -- accompanied by a letter from the vendor explaining
the provenanc.
Robert Sellers devotes a chapter in his book The
Battle For Bond to the film project, Warhead - The Bond Film That Never
Was. In it, he gives a detailed description of the background
to this script which was a collaboration between producer Kevin
McClory, thriller writer and creator of the Harry Palmer character
immortalised on screen by Michael Caine - Len Deighton, and the
first screen Bond - Sean Connery. Sellers depicts this script
as: one of the great-unfilmed scripts in cinema history, described
in Hollywood circles as 'Star Wars' underwater. As a result of
a combination of legal objections from Eon Productions and Connery's
and Paramount's ensuing reservations, Warhead was never made. With
Never Say Never Again, Kevin McClory used his hard fought for
rights to the Thunderball script updating it with '80s technology.
Sean Connery was enticed back to the role of Bond by a number
of inducements including total creative control, a $3million
fee, and a percentage of the profits.
Lot: Kevin McClory Thunderball, 1965
Kevin McClory's shooting script for Thunderball and corresponding
storyboard notebook, the script cover with typescript label,
numbered 4, titled THUNDERBALL (Shooting Script) 30th November
1964, 138pp. of mimeographed typescript, original blue paper
covers, this script with several differences to the final version;
accompanied by a spiral bound notebook, signed on the cover
in red felt pen Kevin McClory, containing 52 printed storyboards
titled Vulcan "Ditching" & Underwater Sequences,
each labelled in black felt pen in an unidentified hand, pasted
in pairs onto 26 separate pages, each -- 3x6½in. (7.7x16.5cm.),
the last page and inside back cover inscribed in blue ballpoint
pen in an unidentified hand with various production details
including $100,000 for charter...Speak to McClory about Hidrofoil...money
in Nassau...Lock up 2 man sub...,4to. original buff paper covers;
[accompanied by a letter from the vendor concerning the provenance].
The Lots were given to the vendor by producer, Kevin
McClory. It was McClory who, in 1958, had worked with Ian Fleming
and screenwriter Jack Whittingham on a script which was finally
entitled Thunderball and which, if it had gone to production, would
have been the first James Bond film, pre-dating Dr. No by four
years. This 1958 venture however was not to be and led to what
has been described by a judge in 2001 as ...a story far too improbable
even for the silver screen.... Fleming used the early screenplay
as the basis for his novel of the same name, without the permission
of his collaborators and was sued by McClory and Whittingham in
1963 for plagiarism. A 40-year legal dispute between McClory and
the producers of the 007 film series over the genesis and ownership
of the screen version of James Bond ensued.
Lot: Never Say Never Again, 1983
A collection of material relating to the 'Game Sequence'
scene in the 1983 Warner Bros. film Never Say Never Again, comprising:
12 pen and ink storyboard drawings, all attached to individual
special effects printed flow charts for the sequence; five
pages of handwritten notes for the scene; five photocopied
pages of proposed illustrations for the video game; a six page
photocopied excerpt from the script containing dialogue and
directions for this scene; five photocopied pages of storyboard
drawings for the sequence; two photocopied pages of diagrams
and notes for the game screen; and an annotated typescript
document entitled Bond Game Sequence, listing various notes
for the construction of both the Globe and the Holgram in Frame.
Related Articles
Kevin
McClory Obituary
Thunderball
Script Timeline
Another
Legal Battle On The Cards (2002)
Thunderball - Production
Notes
Never
Say Never Again
