How can you deviate from the truth yet show the truth a few seconds later?
You could say the same thing for the whole series. Dreadful.
Dominic Cooper was on the radio last week talking about this series...he said the producers went with the angle of "this is the truth the way Fleming would have liked to see it"....ie a romanticized, Bond-esque view....I think it works on that level...
It does. But it's not for me. It was too contradictory and a bit dull compared to the truth. I think they took the easy way out in the approach to things as if testing the water and then backing off completely. They also dulled Fleming's character down and turned him into a itinerant schoolboy out for larks. When in reality he was far more serious and committed.
The first episode annoyed me, although the next two made me look forward to the next. But the last one left me feeling empty.
Look at it as a piece of entertainment. If you want accuracy then watch a documentary on Fleming. It's entertainment that has to appeal to a wide audience. They managed to fit Fleming's story into a feature film structure in 4 parts. Also they acknowledge that they have changed the truth. There is a conversation that I thought neatly summed it up. I've transcribed it:
*SPOILER
Monday- "What you told Rushbrooke...a hell of a story."
Fleming- "It was wasn't it."
Monday- "Was it true? I actually read all the field reports"
Fleming- "I may have enhanced one or two of the details."
Monday- "Maybe it wasn't all true.... should have been though."
Fleming "It was a bloody good story wasn't it?"
Every Hollywood film ever made changes the truth to fit the story. Characters in the film Braveheart lived hundreds of years apart. The rule of film-making and script writing. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
I'd have given my right arm to have directed it, my only one change would have been to cast Benedict Cumberbatch as Fleming.
You could say the same thing for the whole series. Dreadful.
Dominic Cooper was on the radio last week talking about this series...he said the producers went with the angle of "this is the truth the way Fleming would have liked to see it"....ie a romanticized, Bond-esque view....I think it works on that level...
It does. But it's not for me. It was too contradictory and a bit dull compared to the truth. I think they took the easy way out in the approach to things as if testing the water and then backing off completely. They also dulled Fleming's character down and turned him into a itinerant schoolboy out for larks. When in reality he was far more serious and committed.
The first episode annoyed me, although the next two made me look forward to the next. But the last one left me feeling empty.
I have yet to watch the final two episodes - for some reason my hd pauses on the spanking scene ;% .....I suppose it was difficult for the network and producers...do they go with reality and risk a smaller audience or 'jazz it up a bit' and play to a bigger audience ?
The first two episodes I can enjoy on an 'entertainment' level - although it is difficult not to sit there and say "that didn't happen" !
In the UK, men and motors - or whatever macho bollocks the channel is called - is showing SPYMAKER; THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING.
Now for those who haven't seen it, I'd recommend a scan. OK, it is no more authentic than the Cooper version, BUT I'd suggest that Jason Connery's more charming, roguish devil may care Fleming might be closer to the truth than Cooper's brooding, anxiety ridden IF.
Comments
It does. But it's not for me. It was too contradictory and a bit dull compared to the truth. I think they took the easy way out in the approach to things as if testing the water and then backing off completely. They also dulled Fleming's character down and turned him into a itinerant schoolboy out for larks. When in reality he was far more serious and committed.
The first episode annoyed me, although the next two made me look forward to the next. But the last one left me feeling empty.
*SPOILER
Monday- "What you told Rushbrooke...a hell of a story."
Fleming- "It was wasn't it."
Monday- "Was it true? I actually read all the field reports"
Fleming- "I may have enhanced one or two of the details."
Monday- "Maybe it wasn't all true.... should have been though."
Fleming "It was a bloody good story wasn't it?"
Every Hollywood film ever made changes the truth to fit the story. Characters in the film Braveheart lived hundreds of years apart. The rule of film-making and script writing. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
I'd have given my right arm to have directed it, my only one change would have been to cast Benedict Cumberbatch as Fleming.
I have yet to watch the final two episodes - for some reason my hd pauses on the spanking scene ;%
The first two episodes I can enjoy on an 'entertainment' level - although it is difficult not to sit there and say "that didn't happen" !
Now for those who haven't seen it, I'd recommend a scan. OK, it is no more authentic than the Cooper version, BUT I'd suggest that Jason Connery's more charming, roguish devil may care Fleming might be closer to the truth than Cooper's brooding, anxiety ridden IF.