Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz talks about his work on the James Bond films

Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz is perhaps best known for working on the screenplays for the James Bond movies Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. He received sole credit for Live and Let Die and shared credit on the other two with Richard Maibaum. He also did uncredited work on The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

Mankiewicz was also asked by director Richard Donner to rewrite the screenplay for Superman: The Movie, but was uncredited.

Superman Cinema recently spoke to Mankiewicz about his career, and a significant portion of the interview was dedicated to his 007 work. Click here to read the complete interview.

How did you get involved with the Bond series?

It was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me, and I keep telling the kids that I'm teaching now that it just happens that way sometimes.
My father who won four Oscars including 'All About Eve', which still holds the record for the most nominations. It's Bette Davies' signature role, Margot Channing - fasten your seatbelts it's going to be a bumpy night.

My favourite line is [in unison] "There comes a time that a piano realizes that it has not written a concerto."
Claudette Colder was cast for the part but broke her back skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho. Broke her vertebrate. She wouldn't have been good as Bette Davies.

I wrote the book for Broadway Musical, Georgy Girl. Carole Bayer wrote the lyrics and a George Fischoff wrote the music and we were nominated for three Tonys and closed after three nights.
It was a whole year of my life down the drain. My credits up to then were two musicals specials with the Sinatras and a little surfing movie called 'The Sweet Ride', which didn't work, and then I went on to Georgy.

I came back to California with my tail between my legs wondering if it's ever gonna happen and should I even, Jesus, maybe… After working on something for a year and after three nights the play closes - it's one thing to be on Broadway at 26 years old and it's another thing to be closed on Broadway in 72 hours.

I came home wondering what to do. I had this little place at the beach and my agent called me and said, "How'd you like to write the next James Bond movie?" And I said, "It's not nice to be cruel, Malcolm." And what happened to me, unbeknownst to me was David Picker, who I did not know, rang.

United Artist was having dinner with Cubby Broccoli in New York. Cubby said, "Here's the deal: I need a total rewrite on Diamonds Are Forever. I need an American writer and I want him to be young. Most of the picture takes place in Vegas. The Brits don't write people in Vegas well, but I need someone who can write in the British idiom and it's impossible. David Picker said, "I was at a musical two nights ago, Georgy Girl, all the characters are British and I thought the book was really terrific. It was written by a Mankiewicz - I don't know remember his first name but he's got to be a young Mankiewicz because I know all the older ones. So, he's American and he wrote all these British people just great."

So I went up to see Cubby Broccoli and they had such confidence in me that they signed me up on a two week guarantee. Two weeks to turn in the first 30 pages, and the greatest phone call I ever got in my life was from Cubby, "Keep going."

Now, if David Picker hadn't been in one of the opening three performances of Georgy, and I don't know why UA were there because we didn't have any stars, who knows, I'd never have had that meeting, I'd never have gone on to Diamonds Are Forever. You'd like to think, well you know, 3 years from then, 5 years from then? Something might happen but you keep on writing. These are the accidents that happen in this business all the time.

Was it a conscious decision to make Diamonds Are Forever more comedic?

Yes it was and Sean liked it that way too. I became a big hero on the Bonds because they sent the first 60 pages when I had done the first half - Sean had said that I was not going to do it unless he got a script he liked and they had John Gavin waiting in the wings, who was going to play Bond if they couldn't get Sean back -- he was an American.

They sent the 60 pages to Sean and he said he liked it, "The writer, how old is he?" And they said, "26," And then Sean started calling me Boyo which he still calls me to this day. And he said, "Tell the boyo to keep working."

I tell you something very funny, an interesting trivia story. There's this wonderful little sophisticated moment, which in the beginning they go to Daviers, M and Bond.
Bond: "A Sherry Commander?"
Bond: "Thank You"
And M says: "Not for me, Doctors orders."

And the line originally was when Bond sipped it, "Pity about your liver, sir, unusually fine Solera. '61, I believe."
And Cubby's lawyer was reading the script, and he was part of the wine jury who gave the stars out to different wines, and he said, "Would you tell that kid that there is no year on a Sherry bottle, it can't be 61. What they do is take casks and put the worst vintage on top and then the next and the next and then the best vintage is on the bottom, so they all run through the best vintage but there's no year. So quickly, embarrassed as I was, I changed the scene to:

Bond: A Sherry Commander? Pity about your liver, sir, unusually fine Solera. '51, I believe.
M: There is no year for sherry, 007.
Bond: I was referring to the original vintage on which the sherry is based, sir. 1851, unmistakable.

Your trademark in the Bond films is your witty dialogue.

I enjoyed doing it because it was dialogue you couldn't get away with in any other kind of movie except Bond.
In DAF, they try to sneak diamonds up the asshole of a corpse and Bond and Felix are looking at it, and Lieter says, "I give up, the diamonds are here somewhere."
Bond says, "Alimentary, my dear Leiter."

And Cubby says, "What the fuck is this?"
It's the alimentary canal, Cubby. It means it's stuck up his ass. He said, "Take it out -- no one will know that." Guy Hamilton said, "Oh no, I like that." So it stayed in the picture.

Cubby and I were at Mann's Chinese standing in the back. It was a full house and Sean says, "Alimentary, my dear Leiter. Out of 1500 people two guys laughed. Cubby looked over to me and said, "Big deal - two doctors."

In the original script it had a different ending, Tiffany Case being tied to the bed whilst Wint and Kidd.

Yes, we decided that it was too S and M
It was very weird thing because in those days, and it still holds true, largely, the Brits cared a great deal about violence in terms of your ratings. I had originally had Mr Wint and Mr Kidd put a scorpion down the mouth and the Brits said, "The kids will not be allowed to see that." Although it's fine with the Americans. Then you saw Lana Wood's breasts for about a quarter of a second and the Americans said, No, no, no and of course that's fine with the Brits cos the they are more healthier about that, but the tying her to the bed got a little hot for the censors.

I'll tell you another story, Charles Gray who was a very sophisticated feller and a wonderful actor playing Blofeld. At the end he's got Bond trapped on the oil rig and Bond says, "Well, I guess you've won, Blofeld," or something like that. And Blofeld says "As François Duc de La Rochefoucauld once observed, humility is the worst form of conceit, I do hold the winning hand," And I wrote that and Cubby once again said, "You what?"
I said, "La Rochefoucauld, Cubby, 17th century French writer."
"Get it out."
Then, he started calling it Nicklaus, I don't why know. He'd call and say, is that Nicklaus line still in there? Guy loved it and he shot it in the scene in such a way that it had to be in the movie because there was no coverage and Cubby got furious, and I mean furious like you know, really angry. He said, "I told you guys that I did not want that Goddamn Nicklaus line in there."

So now we are starting Live and Let Die and we are in Cubby's office and Guy says, "By the way, Cubby, I saw Diamonds in Paris and La Rochefoucauld got a big laugh," and Cubby answered, "Paris was the only place we made no fucking money."

BIG LAUGH.

He always had an answer for ya, I loved Cubby.

For Live and Let Die, you changed a lot of things...?

Yeah, we changed a lot of things because Roger taking over and nobody knew if that was a big disaster or not, meaning that the world was so use to Sean that it didn't matter who came.

I wrote Solitaire black and Diana Ross was going to play her, but at the last minute, David Picker said, "NO. First of all there's two or three countries where I can't open this in if she sleeps with a black girl; one being Japan, they don't like race mixing at all on the screen. Secondly we don't know how good Roger is going to be, Ross might blow him off the screen; we don't know. But the black thing - don't do it." I said it's a much better picture, David, and he said "Don't be a James Bond about this, just change it later."
I said, "Okay," So Solitaire became white.

John Barry, who everybody loved and came back later on to the series, was deemed inappropriate because his themes were so connected to Sean, I mean everybody would see Sean in the John Barry themes.
And Paul McCartney, uh, here's a good story: Paul McCartney writes Live and Let Die. Cubby says to me, "Boy didn't we get taken, listen to this," And plays Live and Let Die, which he hates, and I said to him, "Cubby, this is terrific."
Jerry Moss of EMI records was in London at the time; Cubby loved him, and I said, "Let Jerry have a listen to this." Jerry listened to it and he said, "Cubby, I can guarantee you that this record will go platinum and it will become the number one song in the world. If you don't like it, I'll be happy to give you one million dollars for your rights to the song right now." Cubby just stared. Starting the next day, Cubby said, "We have this great song by Paul." And what's his name who arranged the score?

George Martin
George wrote a wonderful score.

But yeah, a lot of things were intentionally a little different so we didn't handicap poor Roger with things reminiscent of Sean.

Was it a conscious decision to have a blaxpoitation picture? (I hadn't read Live and Let Die at this point)

Yes, it was and I got a lot of compliments at that time especially from Vincent Camby in the New York Times saying that it was handled well and the black people loved the movie, and remember, Ian Fleming was an incredible racist if you read his books. The last black person he talked to or saw was in the 30s because in the book they say stuff like show-nuff and talk in this old Negro like waiting for the Levy; it's like you're in Gone with the Wind, it's really awful.

I'd read Fleming and God knows they are wonderful books. He was very much the British Raj, but the Black people in Live and Let Die were completely unrecognizable to the United States of America; you wouldn't know what they were talking about. Why would they talk like that from the 19th Century?
Solitaire in the book had a deck of cards; I changed it to Tarot cards because I thought they'd add more mystery. I started doing everyone's Tarot cards in London because I got into it, and pretty soon, every party I went to I took my Tarot cards. Here's a funny story:

Michael Caine lived out on the river by the Thames and he had a big party. He said, "Don't forget to bring your tarot cards because everybody wants their Tarot read. So, I'm sitting there and doing people's Tarot. I'm not really getting into the party at all; then finally I think I've done everybody until this beautiful mixed race girl comes up, "You haven't done mine yet" And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry" So, I sit down and I realized from Michael that this a girl he didn't buy for a couple of weeks.
And I'm doing the Tarot cards and I'm saying what's really happening, "You're very much in love." She said "Yes" The man you love is near "Yes," and I said "It's going to work out and you'll marry him." And Michael is listening. I say to her, "It will work out and visions of a child." Michael behind her goes "Jesus." Her name is Shakira Caine and they've been married for over 30 years and they have a child, and to this day whenever we run into each other, Shakira says, "You have to get him to do your Tarot cards, he's amazing - he has this power - amazing."

Then you did Man with the Golden Gun

I was not that happy with it, and some people really like it, I don't like it so much. I left that picture half way through. To be frank, I and Guy started snapping each other; we became great friends again later. Guy was responsible for bringing me back on Live and Let Die. We went on location scouts to Thailand and Hong Kong and Iran and all over the place. I finished the first draft and I went to Cubby, "Cubby, I really think my usefulness is done on this picture." And he said, "Okay, if you feel that way." And so I came back here to do a picture with Peter Yates called 'Mothers, Jugs and Speed' with Bill Crosby, and then Guy and I became friendly again.

I rewrote the Spy Who Loved Me at Cubby's house for no money and no credit because they had already given out the credits -- you could only have two non Brits in the main titles. Cubby paid me cash under the table to rewrite the picture and when Roger Moore started getting the rewrites in England, he said, "This is Wankiewicz, Wankiewicz wrote this." He could tell right away, "Good, he's on the picture." Cubby said, "No, no, no, no, no one is suppose to know he's on the picture."

The Spy Who Loved Me was all at Cubby's house. I had a typewriter and I was at the cottage down by the pool.

So a lot of your work is in the final picture?

Oh yeah, a lot of the dialogue is mine. They kill off a Dr Markowicz in the beginning.

Cubby asked me to kick off Moonraker because they didn't have any idea how to kick it off. Lewis, Cubby, and I went to NASA. We got in those machines and we thought about some things. I wrote three or four pages for Lewis to kick off the thing because I was never going to write it.

Was it the stuff in NASA?

Yeah, some of it was NASA, and they did have an idea about a space shuttle swallowing whatever, and so I tried to piece together a barebones story form for Lewis to go and find himself a writer. I was on it for about three weeks.

So, you never wanted to go back to Bond?

There comes a certain time in your life, you know. Including 'Spy Who Loved Me' and the little bit on 'Moonraker' -- I had done five of them and that was enough.

They deputised me to go and have lunch with Sean just before they were starting to cast 'Live and Let Die', just to see if he would come back because he and I got on well. I said to him, "Sean, there are alligators, there's crocodiles, there's boats etc." And Sean said, "You know boyo, I always hear that it's my fucking obligation to play James Bond. I've done seven, when does my fucking obligation stop? After ten, twelve, fifteen?" You can't type this thing for your whole life, you can't do it. I think that's true of writing, after you've written four and half Bonds let somebody else do it, it's their time.

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