However, the script was regarded as too expensive to produce. So, Thunderballwas to be the first James Bond film. Long story short: rather than being adapted from a novel, Thunderballwas created as a script by Fleming along with Kevin McClory, a filmmaker, and Jack Whittingham, an experienced screenwriter. The Thunderballstory begins in 1958, and it’s probably one of the longest and most drawn out legal disputes in film history. Likelihood: Probably would have happened if not for the legal stubbornness of Eon Productions. The rights for Casino Royale were already contentious, but any of the other novels were probably fair game. Considered as a straight adaptation, the fact that it involves no international travel at all is probably what took it out of the running. Although it is a tale of rocketry, it’s a surprisingly ‘down to earth’ Bond novel compared to the the 1979 film that shares only a name, a character, and a few basic concepts with the book. While writing Moonrakerin 1954, Fleming had imagined it as a potential film. No did begin production, Fleming had eight published Bond novels under his belt. The most well known project is Thunderball, and we’ll get into that further on. No, there had been earlier attempts to make a theatrical James Bond film. Patrick McGoohan, an established TV spy in Danger Man, was mooted and would have been interesting choice, but he was apparently put off by the promiscuity.īefore Dr. Yet like Grant, in a sense, they would have been safe choices. Stars like David Niven, Rod Taylor, and Dirk Bogarde are amongst the greats. Many of the other actors who were considered would have doubtlessly taken the character in a different direction. And the audience knew that kill he would, when the time came. By comparison, a joke from Connery’s Bond is warfare concealed, a sparring maneuver designed to test out the man he would have to kill. Grant was suave, and a ladies’ man, but his delivery of humor was playful and self-effacing. But if he had, screen Bond would have been a different character. Grant didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want to get tied to a potential series of films. The mix of international espionage with diabolical Cold War villains and a romantic subplot is reminiscent of some of the Hitchcock canon, and it’s perhaps for this reason that Cary Grant had been an early choice. But before that, many established actors had been mooted. The then relatively unknown actor, Sean Connery, was the eventual choice as the first cinematic James Bond.

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