Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have co-written the last five James Bond movies, have been recently hired to rewrite John Logan's script for the upcoming James Bond film, Bond 24, apparently to add more wit to the story.
According to The Daily Mail, Purvis and Wade were tasked with adding a bit more wit and humor to the script, leading to the inclusion of more gags, an emphasis the witty banter between Daniel Craig’s 007 and Naomie Harris’s Miss Moneypenny, and a focus on Bond’s report with Ralph Fiennes’s M.
Originally, Purvis and Wade were originally passed over in favor of Logan, given the latter’s report with director Sam Mendes (pictured above) and his massive success with the Skyfall, the previous Bond film.
The changes to the script might be due to John Cleese’s recent scathing comments of the most recent Bond films in the Radio Times. Cleese claimed that the new films were, ‘gritty and humourless’ in order to to appeal to Chinese markets ‘where the audiences go to watch the action sequences, and that’s why in my opinion the action sequences go on for too long, and it’s a fundamental flaw’.
Despite Cleese’s criticisms, the Mail notes that Skyfall earned over £1 billion at the global box office.
The last minute call for rewrites has led to what the Daily Mail is calling ‘polite turmoil’ behind the scenes, and has forced director Mendes and crew to a delay in the start date of filming from October until December.
According to IGN, Bond 24 is slated to October 23, 2015, in the UK and November 6, 2015, in the U.S. It is unknown of these rewrites will push back this date.
Photo Credit: Famous/ACE/INFphoto.com