- For the video game see Tomorrow Never Dies (video game)
| Tomorrow Never Dies | |
|---|---|
 Tomorrow Never Dies film poster |
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| James Bond | Pierce Brosnan |
| Also starring | Michelle Yeoh Jonathan Pryce Teri Hatcher |
| Directed by | Roger Spottiswoode |
| Produced by | Barbara Broccoli Michael G. Wilson |
| Novel/Story by | Bruce Feirstein |
| Screenplay | Bruce Feirstein |
| Cinematography by | Robert Elswit |
| Music by | David Arnold |
| Main theme | Tomorrow Never Dies |
| Composer | Sheryl Crow Mitchell Froom |
| Performer | Sheryl Crow |
| Editing by | {{{editing}}} |
| Distributed by | MGM Distribution Co. |
| Released | December 19, 1997 |
| Running time | 119 min. |
| Budget | $110,000,000 |
| Worldwide gross | $333,000,000 |
| Preceded by | GoldenEye (1995) |
| Followed by | The World Is Not Enough (1999) |
| IMDb profile | |
Tomorrow Never Dies, released in 1997, is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein is credited as writing the screenplay, although it received input from several writers, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering world events and starting World War III. The film was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and was the first James Bond film made after the death of veteran producer Albert R. Broccoli. Although not achieving the same level of success as GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies performed well in the box office and received many positive reviews; a drop in box office performance is usually credited to this movie opening the same day as Titanic.
Contents |
Plot
The plot begins at a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border. MI6 has sent James Bond into the field to spy on it. Via television, SIS and the British military identify American terrorist Henry Gupta whom media mogul Elliot Carver sent to buy an American GPS encoder.
The British order a missile attack on the arms bazaar, but they then realise there are two Soviet nuclear torpedoes mounted on a L-39 Albatros, destruction of which poses potential local radioactive contamination; Bond hijacks the L-39 and flies it to safety after a fight with its weaponeer, who tries to strangle him; unseen, Gupta escapes with the encoder. Elliot Carver, plans to use the encoder to provoke war between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom in an effort to gain an exclusive news market franchise for the Carver Media Group Network. With the encoder, Gupta deviates the frigate, HMS Devonshire, off-course in the South China Sea, where lurks Carver's stealth ship whose crew steal some of its missiles. Carver's henchman, Mr. Stamper, sinks the frigate with a sea drill and shoots down one of two Chinese fighter jets sent to investigate the British presence in Chinese seas. Thinking they have been attacked by the Chinese, Admiral Roebuck gives M forty-eight hours to investigate before the Royal Navy retaliate.
M sends Bond to investigate Carver after Carver Media has released news with critical details hours before these have become known, and MI6 identifies a spurious signal from one of his CMGN communications satellites when the frigate was sunk. Bond travels to Hamburg and seduces Carver's wife, Paris, an ex-girlfriend; the information she tells Bond helps him sneak into Carver's newspaper headquarters and steal back the GPS encoder.
When Carver learns of it, he orders Paris and Bond killed; Paris is killed, but Bond escapes. Bond then goes to the South China Sea to investigate the Devonshire wreck, discovering several missiles gone. He and Wai Lin, a Chinese spy assigned to investigate the sunken frigate, are captured by Stamper and taken to the CMGN Vietnam bureau; they escape and begin collaborating.
They inform the Royal Navy and the Chinese air force to explain what is happening, then find and board Carver's stealth ship to prevent his firing the stolen British cruise missiles at Beijing. During the fight aboard the stealth ship, Bond is able to set off an explosive damaging a part of the ship and exposing it on radar, but Wai Lin is captured. Bond captures Gupta to use as his own hostage, but Carver kills Gupta, claiming he has outlived his contract, but Bond leads a large battle against the crew and Stamper, and Carver is killed by his own sea drill after trying to kill Bond on his own. As Bond begins to start the process of destroying the warhead, Stamper shows that he has held Wai Lin hostage. A fight ensues when he tries to drown her. Bond traps him in the missile firing mechanism and leaves him to die while saving Wai Lin as the stealth ship is destroyed. Bond and Wai Lin hide amongst the wreckage, ending the film.
Cast
- Pierce Brosnan as James Bond (007): British Secret Agent and protagonist
- Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver: Borderline insane Media Mogul.
- Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin: A skilled Chinese agent and Bond ally.
- Teri Hatcher as Paris Carver: A former girlfriend of Bond who is now Carver's trophy wife.
- Ricky Jay as Henry Gupta: An American "Techno-terrorist" in the employ of Carver. Bruce Feirstein said he named this character after a Gupta Bakery, which he went past on the way to the studios.[1]
- Götz Otto as Mr. Stamper: Stamper is the main henchman to Carver and is skilled in the art of Chakra torture.
- Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade: Baker reprised his role of CIA liaison Wade from GoldenEye, helping Bond with the GPS encoder and providing a plane to get to the Devonshire.
- Vincent Schiavelli as Dr. Kaufman: Kaufman is a professional assassin used by Elliot Carver to kill Paris Carver and Bond, and make it look like Bond did it; he is unsuccessful and is killed by Bond.
- Judi Dench as M: Dench reprised her role of M from GoldenEye. M often acts as Bond's advocate, justifying his actions to the military.
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q: Llewelyn returned for his penultimate Bond film, supplying Bond with gadgets.
- Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny : M's secretary
Production
After the success of GoldenEye in reviving the Bond series, there was pressure to recreate that success in its follow-up. This pressure came both from MGM, which had recently been sold to billionaire Kirk Kerkorian who wanted the release to coincide with their public stock offering,[2] and the worldwide audience, with co-producer Michael G. Wilson saying "You realize that there's a huge audience and I guess you don't want to come out with a film that's going to somehow disappoint them."[2] This was the first Bond film to be made after the death of Albert R. Broccoli, who had been involved with the production of them since the series began. The rush to complete it meant the budget spiralled to around $110 million.[2][3] The producers were unable to get Martin Campbell, the director of GoldenEye, to return; his agent saying "Martin just didn't want to do two Bond films in a row". Instead, Roger Spottiswoode was chosen in September 1996.[4] The story had its roots in a treatment written by Donald E. Westlake, although what influence it eventually had is unknown.[5] Bruce Feirstein, who had worked on GoldenEye, penned the initial script which was then passed to Spottiswoode who reworked it. He gathered seven Hollywood screenwriters in London to brainstorm, eventually choosing Nicholas Meyer to perform rewrites.[4] The script was also worked on by Dan Petrie Jr and David Campbell Wilson before Feirstein, who retained the sole writing credit, was brought in for a final polish.[5]
Script
As had been the case previously, with no Ian Fleming novels remaining unadapted, an entirely original story was required. The scriptwriting process was finished very late and after lengthy disputes. Spottiswoode said that MGM had a script in January 1997 revolving round Hong Kong being returned to the Chinese, which happened in July; this couldn't be used for a film opening at the end of the year, so they had to start "almost from scratch at T-minus zero!"[6] Wilson said ""we didn't have a script that was ready to shoot on the first day of filming", with Pierce Brosnan saying "we had a script that was not functioning in certain areas."[2] The Daily Mail reported on arguments between Spottiswoode and the producers with the former favouring the Petrie version, but the latter reinstating Feirstein to rewrite it two weeks before filming was due to begin. They also said that Jonathan Pryce and Teri Hatcher were unhappy with their new roles, causing further rescripting.[7] The title came about by accident: one of the potential titles was Tomorrow Never Lies (referring to the Tomorrow newspaper in the story) and it was faxed to MGM. However, through an error it became Tomorrow Never Dies, which MGM liked so much they insisted on using.[6] The title was the first not to have any relation with Fleming.
Casting
Teri Hatcher was three months pregnant at the shooting start, by her then-husband, Jon Tenney; her publicist stated the pregnancy unaffected by the production schedule.[8] Hatcher later regretted playing Paris Carver, saying "It's such an artificial kind of character to be playing that you don't get any special satisfaction from it."[9] According to Brosnan, Monica Bellucci screentested for the role but "the fools said no."[10] The role of Elliot Carver was initially offered to Anthony Hopkins (who also had been offered a role in GoldenEye), but he turned it down.[4][5] Natasha Henstridge was rumoured as cast in the lead Bond Girl role,[11] but eventually, Yeoh was confirmed in that role. Brosnan was impressed, describing her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work".[12] She reputedly wanted to perform her own stunts, but was prevented because director Spottiswoode ruled it too dangerous and uninsured.[13][14] When called in for casting, Götz Otto (Mr. Stamper) was given twenty seconds to introduce himself. Saying, "I am big, I am bad, and I am German", he did it in five.[15]
Filming
Second unit filming began on 18 January 1997 with Vic Armstrong directing; they filmed the pre-credits sequence in the French Pyrenees and moved on to Portsmouth to film the scenes where the Royal Navy prepares to engage the Chinese.[5] The main unit began filming on 1 April. They were unable to use the Leavesden Film Studios, which they had constructed from an abandoned Rolls-Royce factory for GoldenEye, as George Lucas was using it for Star Wars Episode I, so instead they constructed sound stages in another derelict industrial site nearby. They also used the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios.[4] They planned to film some of the scenes on location in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and had been granted a visa. This was later rescinded, two months after planning had begun, forcing filming to move to Bangkok, Thailand. Some claim the Chinese government put pressure on Vietnam to do this, because they were unhappy with the story involving corrupt Chinese generals doing the bidding of a media tycoon. However, Bond spokesman Gordon Arnell claimed the Vietnamese were merely unhappy with crew and equipment needed for pyrotechnics, with a Vietnamese official saying it was due to "many complicated reasons".[16] The car chase sequence took three weeks to film, with Brent Cross car park being used to simulate Hamburg (although the final leap was filmed on location[17]). A stunt involving setting fire to three vehicles produced more smoke than anticipated, causing a member of public to call the fire brigade.[18] Two locations from previous Bond films were used: Brosnan and Hatcher's love scene was filmed at Stoke Poges golf club, which had been featured in Goldfinger, and the bay where they search for Carver's stealth boat is Khow-Ping-Khan island near Phuket, Thailand, previously used for The Man with the Golden Gun.[17][5] During filming, there were reports of disputes on set. The Daily Mail reported that Spottiswoode and Feirstein were no longer on speaking terms and that crew members had threatened to resign, with one saying "All the happiness and teamwork which is the hallmark of Bond has disappeared completely."[7] This was denied by Brosnan who claimed "It was nothing more than good old creative argy-bargy",[2] with Spottiswoode saying "It has all been made up...Nothing important really went wrong."[6] Spottiswoode did not return to direct the next film; he said the producers asked him, but he was too tired.[6] Apparently, Brosnan and Hatcher feuded briefly during filming due to her arriving late onto the set one day. The matter was quickly resolved though and Brosnan apologized to Hatcher after realizing she was pregnant and was late for that reason. [19]
Music
Barbara Broccoli chose David Arnold to score Tomorrow Never Dies on a recommendation from prolific James Bond films composer John Barry.[20] Arnold had come to Barry's attention through his successful cover interpretations in Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, which featured major artists performing the former James Bond title songs in new arrangements. The film's score combined techno music with a recognisably Barry-inspired 'classic Bond' sound – notably Arnold borrowed from Barry's score for From Russia with Love. For the music for the indoor car chase sequence, Arnold enlisted the help of the band Propellerheads, who had worked with him before on Shaken and Stirred. The soundtrack's reception was good, with Filmtracks describing it as "an excellent tribute to the entire series of Bond score",[21] and Arnold was brought back to score all the subsequent films, three more to date. The theme was chosen through a competitive process. There were around twelve submissions, including songs from Swan Lee, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Marc Almond, Sheryl Crow, and David Arnold.[22] Crow's song was chosen for the main titles while David Arnold's song Surrender, performed by k.d. lang, was used for the end titles, its melody cropping up throughout the film. [21] Both songs include the title as a lyric – "tomorrow never dies" – a first for the series; and this was the fourth Bond film to have different opening and closing songs. Two different versions of the soundtrack album were released, the first lacking music from the second half of the film, and the second lacking the songs. Pulp's effort was retitled as Tomorrow Never Lies and appeared as a b-side on their single Help The Aged.
Release and reception
The film had a World Charity Premiere at The Odeon Leicester Square, on December 9 1997; this was followed by an after premiere party at Bedford Square, home of original Ian Fleming publisher, Jonathan Cape.[23] The film went on general release in the UK and Iceland on December 12, and in most other countries during the following week.[24] It performed well at the box office achieving a worldwide gross of over $333 million,[25] the fourth highest of 1997;[26] it did not surpass its predecessor GoldenEye, which made almost $20 million more.[27] The critical reception of the film was mixed, with the film review collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 52% Fresh approval,[28] and similar site Metacritic rating it at 56%.[29] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four-stars, saying "Tomorrow Never Dies gets the job done, sometimes excitingly, often with style" with the villain "slightly more contemporary and plausible than usual", bringing "some subtler-than-usual satire into the film".[30] James Berardinelli described it as "the best Bond film in many years" and said Brosnan "inhabits his character with a suave confidence that is very like Connery's."[31] However, in the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan thought a lot of Tomorrow Never Dies had a "stodgy, been-there feeling", with little change from previous films,[32] and Charles Taylor wrote for Salon.com that the film was "a flat, impersonal affair".[33] The title song sung by Sheryl Crow was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Original Song - Motion Picture" and a Grammy for "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television". The film received four nominations for Saturn Awards, with Brosnan winning "Best Actor". It also won a MPSE Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature" and a BMI Film Music Award.[34]
Appearances in other media
Tomorrow Never Dies was the first of three Bond films to be adapted into books by then-current Bond novelist, Raymond Benson. Benson's version is expanded from the screenplay including additional scenes with Wai Lin and other supporting characters not in the film. The book also attempts to merge his series with the films, particularly continuing a middle of the road approach to John Gardner's continuity. Continuation with the film series is also largely middle of the road. Notably it includes a reference to the film version of You Only Live Twice where he states that Bond was lying to Miss Moneypenny when he said he had taken a course in Oriental languages. This was done to counter the scene in Tomorrow Never Dies where Bond is unable to read a Chinese keyboard and type a message to his superiors, although this scene does not appear in the novelisation. Curiously, this contradicts Benson's own series since in the previous book, Zero Minus Ten, Bond is able to speak fluent Cantonese. Tomorrow Never Dies also mentions Felix Leiter, although it states that Felix had worked for Pinkertons Detective Agency which is thus far exclusive to the literary series, although this may be a continuation of Gardner's novelisation of Licence to Kill, which also attempted to bridge the literary and cinematic series. Subsequent Bond novels by Raymond Benson were affected by Tomorrow Never Dies, specifically Bond's weapon of choice being changed from the Walther PPK to the Walther P99. The film was adapted into a third-person shooter Sony PlayStation video game, Tomorrow Never Dies. It was developed by Black Ops and published by Electronic Arts on November 16 1999. Game Revolution described it as "really just an empty and shallow game",[35] and IGN said it was "mediocre".[36]
References
- ^ Dye, Kerry Douglas. "His Word is Bond: An Interview With 007 Screenwriter Bruce Feirstein", LeisureSuit.net, 1999-11-15. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ a b c d e Ashton, Richard (1997). Tomorrow Never Dies. hmss.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ Business Data for Tomorrow Never Dies. IMDB. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ a b c d "Latest Bond Production Shaken, Stirred", Variety, 1996-12-08. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ a b c d e Production Notes - Tomorrow Never Dies. mi6.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ a b c d Collette, Kevin. "Yesterday’s 'Tomorrow': Spottiswoode Interview", ianfleming.org, 2004-04-10. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ a b Shooter, Anne. "Bond in the Crossfire", Daily Mail, 1997-05-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ Johns, Elizabeth. "Teri Hatcher Pregnant", E!, 1997-05-02. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ "Hatcher regrets Bond movie", Yahoo! News, 2006-11-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ "Brosnan Bares All For Playboy", Playboy, 2005-11-05. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ Ferguson, Amy. "Back In Action", Tribute. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
- ^ Cohen, David. "Bond girl Yeoh gets licence to thrill 007", South China Morning Post, 1997-02-11. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ "Bond Leading Lady Won't Do Stunts", Associated Press, 1997-05-21. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ "Much More Than Just A Bond Girl", South China Morning Post, 1997-05-30. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ "Promi-Porträt: Götz Otto", kwick!, 2007-10-20. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ "China Resists Western Efforts to Bond", New York Daily News, 1997-03-10. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ^ a b Tomorrow Never Dies filming locations. movielocations.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ Keeling, Judith. "Bond Goes Down A Bomb In Brent Cross", Evening Standard, 1997-06-17. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ "Brosnan Bares All For Playboy", Playboy, 2005-11-05. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ Macnee, Patrick (Narrator). The Bond Sound: The Music of 007 [DVD (Documentary)].
- ^ a b Review of Original Album. filmtracks.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
- ^ (2006). James Bond's Greatest Hits [Television]. UK: North One Television.
- ^ Tomorrow Never Dies - The Premiere & Press. mi6.co.uk (2003-12-12). Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ Release dates for Tomorrow Never Dies. IMDB. Retrieved on 2006-01-14.
- ^ Tomorrow Never Dies. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ 1997 Worldwide Grosses. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ GoldenEye. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Tomorrow Never Dies. metacritic.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Tomorrow Never Dies", Chicago Sun-Times, 1997-12-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Berardinelli, James. "Tomorrow Never Dies", www.reelviews.net, 1997. Retrieved on 2006-01-13.
- ^ Turan, Kenneth. "Tomorrow Never Dies", Los Angeles Times, 1997-12-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Taylor, Charles. "Stale Bonding", Salon.com, 1997-12-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
- ^ Awards for Tomorrow Never Dies. IMDB. Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
- ^ Liu, Johnny. "Tomorrow Never Dies", Game Revolution, December 1999. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
- ^ Perry, Doug. "Tomorrow Never Dies", IGN, 1999-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
External links
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) at the Internet Movie Database
- MGM's official Tomorrow Never Dies website
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| "Official" (EON Productions) films |
| Dr. No • From Russia with Love • Goldfinger • Thunderball • You Only Live Twice • On Her Majesty's Secret Service • Diamonds Are Forever • Live and Let Die • The Man with the Golden Gun • The Spy Who Loved Me • Moonraker • For Your Eyes Only • Octopussy • A View to a Kill • The Living Daylights • Licence to Kill • GoldenEye • Tomorrow Never Dies • The World Is Not Enough • Die Another Day • Casino Royale • Bond 22 |
| "Official" (EON Productions) Actors |
| Sean Connery • George Lazenby • Roger Moore • Timothy Dalton • Pierce Brosnan • Daniel Craig |
| Non-EON films |
| Casino Royale (1954 TV) • Casino Royale (1967 satire) • Never Say Never Again |
| Non-EON Actors |
| Barry Nelson • Bob Holness • David Niven • Sean Connery • Maxwell Caulfield • Adam Blackwood • Tim Bentinck • Jason Carter • David Houston • Toby Stephens |
