Tabloids at it again with Bond 25 plot lines - 007 to get married

05-Sep-2017 • No Time To Die

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Another week, another tabloid fake news story about Bond 25. This time, Page Six in the NY Post claims writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have drafted a screenplay that is basically a remake of the ending to On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the first few minutes of Diamonds Are Forever.

A 'Hollywood insider' tells the rag "that in the film that’s so far been dubbed Bond 25: 'Bond quits the secret service, and he’s in love and gets married.' The source continues that 'his wife then gets killed,' bringing Bond back into action. The source says that as the next film opens, they are in wedded bliss. 'The film’s like ‘Taken’ with Bond,' says the source, who adds that the suave spy is trying to avenge his wife’s murder."

As MI6 has previously reported, the SPECTRE script saw Bond and Madeleine drive off at the end of the film with Bond using the line "we have all the time in the world" after quitting MI6. This was removed from the final film and a little ambiguity left as to whether Bond was still in the secret service. 

With Daniel Craig's era having more continuity of characters across films than any of his predecessors, it does leave the writers in a bit of a bind as to how to have Bond move on from Madeleine in the next adventure. Furthermore, the premise of 'Quantum of Solace' was Bond recovering from the death of his love, Vesper Lynd, and it's unlikely that the Bond 25 script would tread similar waters again. Purvis and Wade are Fleming experts and have repeatedly tried to work unused source material from the novels into their films.

Fans have for years considered what an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel 'You Only Live Twice' could look like on screen, as the 1967 film of the same name drew little from the source material. The book followed the OHMSS novel and saw James Bond suffering a breakdown and becoming a security risk after the murder of his wife. M, granting him one final chance, sends him on a vital diplomatic assignment to the Japanese Secret Service. There, he must go to impossible lengths to complete his mission and avenge Tracy and uncovers Blofeld holed up in a deadly Japanese castle.

Beginners Guide To James Bond News In The Media
Reasonably Reliable: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Baz Bamigboye in the Daily Mail (but only articles with his byline, the rest are ranked 'tabloid')
Pinch of Salt: Deadline Hollywood, Foreign newspapers with a distinctly local angle (usually location scouting)
Tabloid Trash: The Mirror, The Sun, The Daily Star, Daily Express, Page Six (New York Post), etc.