Neal Purvis and Robert Wade

MooseWithFleas

With John Logan being mentioned as the writer in the press release for Bond 24, this could mean the end of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade's tenure as Bond writers. There's a chance they could be brought on to help, but one would imagine they would have been mentioned in the release as well.

So with that in mind, what is your opinion on Purvis & Wade? Their writing credits in the series spanned from The World is Not Enough through Skyfall. Only Richard Maibaum and Michael Wilson have as many writing credits. What do you think their strengths, weaknesses, high points and low points were?

Blackleiter

MooseWithFleas wrote:

With John Logan being mentioned as the writer in the press release for Bond 24, this could mean the end of Neal Purvis & Robert Wade's tenure as Bond writers. There's a chance they could be brought on to help, but one would imagine they would have been mentioned in the release as well.

So with that in mind, what is your opinion on Purvis & Wade? Their writing credits in the series spanned from The World is Not Enough through Skyfall. Only Richard Maibaum and Michael Wilson have as many writing credits. What do you think their strengths, weaknesses, high points and low points were?

I could be wrong, but I thought I read that Purvis and Wade announced they were leaving the series after Skyfall?

MooseWithFleas

It appears you are correct!

The latest James Bond film Skyfall marks the last Bond movie for the series' veteran screenwriting team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The duo's Bond film debut was The World is Not Enough and they then worked on Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film, Die Another Day, as well as all three Daniel Craig entries.

Purvis and Wade made the announcement while appearing at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. “We’re very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think we’ve gotten it to a good place," Wade told The Hollywood Reporter. "I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes [Skyfall's co-screenwriter and director, respectively] have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off, because these films take up a lot of time.”

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/19/longtime-bond-writers-purvis-and-wade-leave-series-after-skyfall

Blackleiter

MooseWithFleas wrote:

It appears you are correct!

The latest James Bond film Skyfall marks the last Bond movie for the series' veteran screenwriting team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The duo's Bond film debut was The World is Not Enough and they then worked on Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film, Die Another Day, as well as all three Daniel Craig entries.

Purvis and Wade made the announcement while appearing at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. “We’re very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think we’ve gotten it to a good place," Wade told The Hollywood Reporter. "I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes [Skyfall's co-screenwriter and director, respectively] have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off, because these films take up a lot of time.”

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/19/longtime-bond-writers-purvis-and-wade-leave-series-after-skyfall

See! This old codger's memory still functions every once in a while! )

MooseWithFleas

Personally, I am glad for the change. I thought the scripts for TWINE and DAD are very lackluster and rely way too much on puns. I thought the 3 Craig films all had scripts ranging from solid to terrific; however, they did have help from Paul Haggis and John Logan during that era.

Barbel

When a movie goes well, the director gets the praise. When it doesn't, the writer gets the blame...

MooseWithFleas

I don't think that's always true. Maibaum certainly gets plenty of credit for his work on the Bond films. Also Guy Hamilton gets issued blame for Diamonds are Forever as much as Mankiewicz.

Barbel

I was generalising, of course, which has its pitfalls. I do think that directors get the lion's share of praise, though, while writers are kept in the background: how often does a writer get to do a commentary for example?

Firemass

Barbel wrote:

I was generalising, of course, which has its pitfalls. I do think that directors get the lion's share of praise, though, while writers are kept in the background: how often does a writer get to do a commentary for example?

I was pleased to hear Christopher Wood on a Moonraker commentary track.

Barbel

And Tom Mankiewicz got to make a few comments too elsewhere, but it's still rare. I'm not counting MGW, who comments in his role as producer.

Rik

Barbel wrote:

I was generalising, of course, which has its pitfalls. I do think that directors get the lion's share of praise, though, while writers are kept in the background: how often does a writer get to do a commentary for example?

Not a lot, and a know it's not Bond, but on the Superman 4 DVD there is a commentary track by the writer which is quite amusing, as It's basically just 90 minutes of him crying about how the filmmakers have butchered his script. )