Whats the story with Never Say Never Again

Monza860

I don't understand how did this movie get made. I've been told by several people that the movie was a remake of a bond movie. I was also told that it was made by Gypsies or so my uncle says. So whats the story with this movie?

Solaris

I'm probably not the best person to give you this info because I'm not 100% sure of it myself but I'll give you the jist.

Back in the Day Fleming was asked about creating a TV show of James Bond. Fleming wrote a number of treatments for episodes of this said TV show along with Kevin McClory and James Wittingham, one of the tv shoow treatments eventually became Thunderball. when the TV show idea collapsed Fleming recycled the tratment into thunderball but did it without the permission of Wittingham and Mcclory. Fleming was took to court, several times I believe, and after a long conveluted court case, McClory got the rights to SPECTRE, Blofeld and Thunderball. EON had to pay McClory a substantial amount of money to use SPECTRE and Blofeld and to make the Movie Thunderball with Sean Connery. much later McClory started to believe that because he owned the rights to Thunderball, Blofeld and SPECTRE he could make his own Bond Movies and start up a rival franchise. He started writing an original Bond script until it became aparent that he could only remake Thunderball, becuase that is all he had the rights to do. Thus Never Say Never Again, a Thunderball Remake again with Sean Connery as James Bond was made.

Asp9mm

Monza860 wrote:

I was also told that it was made by Gypsies...

That line should win an award of the week )

Monza860

Ok so why would Connery make this movie?

Sweepy the Cat

He was in it for the money (Like DAF)

The Cat

Five million copies of these:

http://greymoon.stormsdream.com/Sample_Bill_Front_12-05-4.jpg

Loeffelholz

The Cat wrote:

Five million copies of these:

http://greymoon.stormsdream.com/Sample_Bill_Front_12-05-4.jpg

Yes, that's it all right {[]

Napoleon Plural

Connery had been out of the limelight really, his 1970s films hadn't done that well. That said, returning to Bond bit him because the filming process was a nightmare, worse than all the other flims put together, he said.

Hardyboy

Solaris wrote:

Back in the Day Fleming was asked about creating a TV show of James Bond. Fleming wrote a number of treatments for episodes of this said TV show along with Kevin McClory and James Wittingham, one of the tv shoow treatments eventually became Thunderball. when the TV show idea collapsed Fleming recycled the tratment into thunderball but did it without the permission of Wittingham and Mcclory. Fleming was took to court, several times I believe, and after a long conveluted court case, McClory got the rights to SPECTRE, Blofeld and Thunderball. EON had to pay McClory a substantial amount of money to use SPECTRE and Blofeld and to make the Movie Thunderball with Sean Connery. much later McClory started to believe that because he owned the rights to Thunderball, Blofeld and SPECTRE he could make his own Bond Movies and start up a rival franchise. He started writing an original Bond script until it became aparent that he could only remake Thunderball, becuase that is all he had the rights to do. Thus Never Say Never Again, a Thunderball Remake again with Sean Connery as James Bond was made.

You're mostly correct, Solaris, but you're mixing up two different scenarios. The Bond TV series came before the Thunderball troubles and was unconnected to McClory. Fleming wrote treatments for the television series, and when the series collapsed he rewrote them as short stories and published them in the For Your Eyes Only collection. He never had any legal troubles over them.

Thunderball began as an original motion picture. McClory was to direct, and he and Fleming worked out the initial story before giving it to Jack Whittingham to write as a final script. While the movie was in production Fleming novelized the screenplay. The production collapsed, Fleming published the novel without attribution, and along came the lawsuit.

As for EON--they didn't pay to use SPECTRE and Blofeld in the first two Bond films, and I don't think they had to pay McClory for use of them in YOLT or OHMSS (in DAF SPECTRE is never named, though Blofeld is in it). It was McClory who approached Broccoli and Saltzman with the idea to co-produce Thunderball. EON jumped at the chance and made McClory agree to not attempt to make another Bond film for ten years after the release of Thunderball. The rest is history.

chrisno1

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Connery had been out of the limelight really, his 1970s films hadn't done that well. That said, returning to Bond bit him because the filming process was a nightmare, worse than all the other flims put together, he said.

Connery certainly needed a hit by 1983, but some of his most interesting work was in the '70s. Obession, A Bridge Too Far, The Man Who Would Be King, The Anderson Tapes, Cuba, The Molly Maguires, good films one and all (I'll ignore Zardoz and Meteor). He'd also just made Outland, which was High Noon in space, and someting of a taster for Bladerunner in it's forlorn take on the future of law enforcement.

IMO Connery gives a pretty good performance in NSNA, much better than the one's Sir Roger was turning out for Eon. Without NSNA I am not certain Connery's star would have risen as high as it did, he certainly wouldn't have got The Untouchables, because he wouldn't be seen to be a bankable. NSNA confirmed his star status.