Idris Elba in “007: Heir Apparent”
James Bond has gone through many changes in fifty years. Everyone has their own favorite version. Connery was the lumberjack of Bonds. Moore was the silver-tongue. Dalton crafted himself into a cold and focused super soldier. Brosnan was a perfect combination of believable physicality and charismatic personality. Craig is a grim Bond haunted by personal trauma.
The Bond of the films, which is not the Bond of Ian Fleming’s novels, has never had clear ancestry. Bond speaks with a British accent and serves in the British Secret Service, until Skyfall nothing deeper has ever been clearly defined. So why not Idris Elba?
This script has been reformatted for Medium. The drop cap numbers are Scene Numbers. Commentary notes are available here.
FADE IN — GUNBARREL IRIS Sequence — silhouette of Idris Elba wearing a suit strolls into frame and suddenly snaps into firing position. None of Elba’s features are distinguishable in the silhouette. Sound of GUNSHOT and a veil of dark blood quickly washes down the screen followed quickly by BLACK.
1 EXTERIOR — WWII Britain. The plane engines of a German airstrike near and alarms sound. MUSIC.
BRITISH RADIO OPERATOR: You have orders to get out, 007!
007: I can’t just leave it! There are women and children still here!
BRITISH RADIO OPERATOR: There’s nothing to be done!
007 creates a massive cannon, using a tank to roll a solid bank vault to stand on end with the door aimed up as the barrel. He pushes in unexploded bombs as the powder, and building debris as the projectile load. The shrapnel is launched at the bombers above, crashing one and turning away the rest. The original James Bond 007 is unable to escape the range of the explosion and dies having saved Britain from a Nazi air strike.
BRITISH RADIO OPERATOR: Incredible! He’s done it! They’re turning back! You will not be forgotten, 007…
2 MONTAGE with a full orchestra enhanced version of Justice’s Civilization (non-orchestral version). The physical files of each (actor to portray) Bond move across the screen. ZOOM IN to text that highlights their accomplishments and references events of specific Bond films.
VOICEOVER from M explains that the 007/James Bond code name became reserved for only the best agents who would then be assigned the most dangerous missions.
3 INTERIOR — MI6 office of “M”. Daniel Craig and Ralph Fiennes sit waiting.
MONEYPENNEY sticks her head into the office: 007 is here.
M: Send him in.
Idris Elba, now 007, enters the room looking every bit the stoic soldier he played in Pacific Rim.
Daniel Craig stands to shake hands with Elba and Elba allows his posture to relax. The size difference is obvious.
ELBA/007 with a smirk: James.
DANIEL CRAIG with an almost relieved smile: Not anymore.
Daniel Craig grabs a folder from M’s desk and hands it to Elba.
DANIEL CRAIG: This is my latest on the mission.
4 MONTAGE — M and Daniel Craig debrief Elba. An odd grouping of royal and corporate heirs are planning a mass overthrow of their leaders to gain control of the European economy and create a unified front with stronger bargaining power against other countries like Russia and China.
M: Don’t worry, Bond, we won’t leave you out in the cold… For long.
5 CUT TO BLACK with Elba VOICEOVER.
ELBA/007: Baker.
MIX UP FROM BLACK to show Elba from the shoulders up. He looks great. The background is blurred beyond recognition.
ELBA/007: Jonathan Baker.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT showing Elba addressing a man across a counter at an Alaskan outpost. The man is a native dog sledder Bond needs to take him to see a glacier near an oil operation. He’s posing as Jonathan Baker, environmental activist writer.
6 EXTERIOR — Aialik Glacier — DAY. Elba and the native dog sledder stand at the edge of a cliff looking over majestic Alaskan glacier. You can see their breath. They talk a bit about the rapidly melting ice and nearby oil operation. A huge oil baron, Frederick Leopold, died in an accident while touring the area, ceding his shares of the company to his twenty-something son and wild executive of Record Label “Leopard Records”. The story of the accident doesn’t add up and Bond confirms MI6 suspicions that it was a murder.
ELBA/007: So the glaciers are visibly melting faster? I read that an expedition lost some people when the cliffs were suddenly collapsed into the side of glacier?
DOG SLEDDER: Yes, Mr. Leopold’s party- Strange story- because the ice field and snow-packs were frozen and incredibly stable at the time of the accident*.
7 INTERIOR — Alaskan outpost cafe. Elba sips tea at the bar, discreetly using a satellite phone to enter information about the ice.
DRUNK OIL WORKER (from off screen/camera): We don’t get many of your kind out here!
ELBA/007: My… “kind”?
DRUNK OIL WORKER stands near Elba aggressively: You bleeding heart environmentalists!
The drunk takes a swing at Elba.
Elba gracefully turns, stands off the bar-stool, places his palm on the back of the drunk’s head and slams his face onto the bar, in one move. He then rests his back against the bar in the classic James Dean pose.
ELBA/007 looks straight ahead, almost bored, and not at the drunk: Well now we’re both bleeding. Aren’t we.
8 Elba (from here on noted simply as Bond) climbs into a small plane. The pilot is a sexy love interest (Maggie Q).
PILOT: Have a nice visit, Bond?
BOND: Yes, a beautiful place. A little quiet and cold for my tastes, but I did find what I was looking for.
PILOT: Any skiing?
BOND: No, no coasting this time, everything is uphill for the moment.
9 MONTAGE of Bond flying from Alaska to Atlanta. VOICE-OVER as M and Bond update each other on the mission. Bond must go to a record release party in Atlanta to spy on the young mogul, Leopold. He is specifically told to avoid the mogul’s bodyguard “Hornet” (a bulked up Alistair Overeem with a short bleach-blonde mohawk).
M: Do not engage young Leopold’s bodyguard, “Hornet”.
BOND: What’s the fun in that, M?
M: He’s a kickboxing champion, currently on suspension for illegal head-kicks.
CUT TO CLOSE UP of Bond’s phone screen. A highlight reel of Overeem’s actual fights streams to Bond’s phone.
BOND: Sounds like he was doing his job?
M: He’s a dangerous man. Avoid him.
10 INTERIOR — Elite Hip Hop Gala Event. MUSIC: Rap version of “The Man With The Golden Gun” playing in the background. This would literally be a rapped version of the original lyrics, no changes, over a big beat version of the song.
Bond enters the event in a tux finally looking like the classical Bond.
BOND: Now this I can do.
Waitress comes by with a tray of drinks.
WAITRESS: Rocks or-
BOND (feeling it deeply after his Alaska trip): Oh no, no ice.
We finally get to see Bond do the classic James Bond introduction with someone. A beautiful woman in a backless dress walks up to Bond.
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: And who are you?
BOND: Bond, James Bond.
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Wow, I think we could form a powerful bond of our own!
BOND lifts the woman’s left hand, as if to kiss it, but instead holds the hand up and looks at the wedding ring: I apologize, but I can think of better ways to die than being shot in the back while in bed.
Bond turns and strikes up conversation with another guest. Bond observes Leopold stumbling out of the party over the guest’s shoulder.
GUEST: There goes Leopold, probably off to smash another car. We’ll see it in the news tomorrow.
Hornet is completely unaware that his boss has exited as women surround him playing with his exotic high-fashion suit (this is a runway suit- very abstract. It’s obvious Hornet is still a self-centered professional fighter more than a bodyguard).
BOND (knowing he has to babysit the inebriated target while chasing him): Damn.
11 Bond pursues to the parking garage just in time to see Leopold in a gold-plated Lamborghini roaring out of the lot.
Elba stands a perfect Bond, in his tuxedo, surrounded by exotic cars. He looks at an Aston Martin Vulcan but goes with the Mercedes SLR McLaren Stirling Moss.
BOND: I need something heavier… Ozzy wouldn’t approve; but it’s metal.
12 EXTERIOR — Atlanta highway system with skyline in the BG — NIGHT. Bass heavy Bond theme plays. Something like THIS but covered by someone fresh like Thundercat & Flying Lotus.
Bond wears a racing helmet as the car is designed with no windshield. Leopold immediately swerves to the wrong side of the freeway and Bond realizes the drunk mogul is in danger of crashing. Comical car chase ensues.
BOND: Aghk! The bloody drunk is going to get himself killed!
Bond parallels Leopold from the other side of the the freeway. There isn’t much traffic but the Lamborghini barely avoids three oncoming cars. Bond is fighting to keep up with Leopold while safely navigating the traffic on his side.
Leopold skids out and spins the Lamborghini.
BOND: I have to end this.
Bond takes the next exit at full speed and uses an overpass to cross over the freeway. Bond races in the wrong direction on a freeway off-ramp, to Leopold’s lane, about ten car lengths ahead of him.
BOND: Can’t get any information out of a dead man.
Leopold has corrected and is again driving against traffic. Bond, ahead of him, must direct other cars in ways that slow the Lamborghini. Police sirens can be heard.
Bond plays chicken with a tractor-trailer, causing it to swerve, trapping the Lamborghini against a barrier. Bond shuts off the lights, pulling to the shoulder, and watches in a rear view mirror.
BOND: (Deep breath of relief)
The police arrive almost immediately and arrest Leopold, which also removes him from Bond’s grasp.
13 As Bond steps out of the Mercedes, back in the garage, he feels a scratch on the door.
BOND: Sorry, dear. You deserve better than demolition derby.
14 MONTAGE — NIGHT — Bond flies to NYC to tail the young Leopold further. We see him on the night flight, landing in JFK, and catching a cab. MUSIC: John Lennon “New York City”.
15 Bond’s cab lets him out in Soho instead of Midtown after a brief argument with the driver about how to get uptown. Bond decides to take the subway.
BOND (looking at traffic map on his phone): Driver, cut across town and take 6th Avenue, Lafayette is gridlocked.
CAB DRIVER: No no! Lafayette is good! I know this, let me drive!
BOND takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes: Dash it, I’ll take the tube.
16 INTERIOR — Bleecker Street Subway Station. Teenage punks on the subway platform harass the well-dressed Bond.
PUNKS: Nice suit, man! How much? I bet this guy’s got a gold money clip!
Bond is able to scare them straight with a hard gaze (something a less imposing Bond might not be able to do).
17 EXTERIOR — Peninsula Hotel Rooftop Bar — NIGHT. Bond meets up with the current, female, Felix Leiter (Cynthia Rothrock) to compare notes before resuming his spying on the target.
FELIX: Ahh, “Bond”.
BOND: And you must be “Felix”.
FELIX: We know of at least three plans to overtake prominent leaders.
BOND: and, like us, you believe each of the “heirs” has designs to takeover.
FELIX: Exactly. I had been watching (name) for months when (name) died last week. They’re kids: the whole group were celebrating like college frat boys for days…
BOND: Not the kind of people one would want running the world.
FELIX: Right- at least their elders celebrate in secret (Felix winks here). Your mogul has booked time in a conference room at Rockefeller Center. We weren’t able to bug the room, as they secured it immediately-
BOND: Both preventing monitoring and raising your suspicions.
FELIX: We believe this will be more than a Record Label meeting. You know what to do.
18 EXTERIOR — 630 5th Ave, New York, NY 10111 — DAY. Bond approaches Leopold and Hornet as they enter Rockefeller Center. As Bond nears the Atlas statue the mogul and Hornet surprise him from behind the statue. Hornet is wearing a more reasonable business suit, but high fashion mirrored glasses, and some facial jewelry, to make it unique.
LEOPOLD raises a hand up to stop Hornet (Note that Leopold has lived a life of extreme comfort and his tough talk should sound cartoony and false): Mr. Bond, we know what you are, you can tell the Queen to forget it, the world is no place for these cold war tactics. Run home, pawn, or be escorted directly to a hearse.
Bond is left standing near Atlas for a hero shot. He looks to the retreating Hornet, a bit bewildered and then recognizes that he is now a target, as he sees a glint in the reflection of Hornet’s glasses.
Bond dives behind Atlas as a sniper fires from the church roof across the street.
Bond crouches behind the base of Atlas and uses the reflections in the Rockefeller Center windows to spot the Sniper, who is perched on the roof of the Church across the street.
BOND says to himself while watching the sniper in the reflection: You’re not worth the trouble.
Bond lunges from behind Atlas and through the revolving door of Rockefeller Center. The sniper squeezes off another shot but it ricochets off the rings of the globe in Atlas’ hands. Inside the building Bond maintains a run until he is safely down the escalator.
19 INTERIOR — Rockefeller Center underground mall. MUSIC: a quick tempo version of the Bond theme to match Elba’s stride. Bond briskly walks, dusting himself off and straightening his coat as he leaves the scene to plan his next move. He looks great striding through the brass and dark stone underground mall in his tailored suit.
20 INTERIOR — 47th Street subway station. Bond hands several hundreds to an MTA worker in the station and leans into him saying something unintelligible.
MTA WORKER in thick NYC accent, before seeing the money: Aye ya Jerk?!
21 EXTERIOR — Union Square — DAY. MUSIC: live musicians play in the background. Bond steps out of the subway in the MTA worker’s gear, classic Greek coffee cup in hand. He pours the coffee into a storm drain and tosses the cup in the trash (he’s too British for coffee, despite his distaste for tea). He uses his cell phone in the shadows.
BOND: I’ve been compromised, but I got them.
22 INTERIOR — CIA office in Freedom Tower — DAY. It is revealed that Bond slapped a mic on Hornet’s jacket. The mic has advanced sonar that allows it to 3d map the entire meeting including faces. Bond, Felix, and M (via web) review the intel. Felix and Bond each set after a new heir from the meeting (avoiding Leopold the mogul).
23 INTERIOR — Dizzy’s Club — NIGHT. A brassy, jazzy, version of Diamonds Are Forever is played live. Bond sits in a dark corner watching his target. A waiter approaches from behind Bond.
HIT-MAN (Liam McGeary) disguised as waiter with gun under serving tray: You really thought you could just strut around in a tux unnoticed?
BOND: It seems I may be doomed to take that bullet in the back after all.
The hit-man is puzzled by the comment for just a second. Bond kicks out the hit-man’s lead leg while rolling off his chair and to the hit-man’s side. He stands to clinch the man from the side and the two struggle. MUSIC.
24 Bond is the stronger of the two and pulls the hit-man out of the restaurant with an arm around his throat. They pass the hostess at the door.
BOND (trying to act calm but obviously straining): He’s got a fish allergy!
Once outside the restaurant the hit-man elbows Bond in the ribs and smashes him up against a marble wall to break free of the headlock. Bond slides off the wall to avoid a boot to the face. Bond grabs the high leg and pushes the hit-man back, across the hall, and to the glass railing of the walkway.
BOND: Who are you with?!
The hit-man pulls a short blade and slashes at Bond. Bond releases the leg, jumps back to avoid the blade, then steps forward to kick the hit-man through the glass railing.
The hit-man grabs at draped decorations to survive the fall and take off running.
Bond quickly drops himself halfway down an escalator, rolls over the handrail to drop to the floor below, and chases the hit-man to Lincoln Center and past the fountain.
25 As Bond reaches the elevated lawn the hit-man is getting into an off-road customized Suzuki vehicle.
Two more of the same vehicle drive up into the plaza and train guns on Bond. Bond runs away.
26 Bond doubles back up a staircase, jumps down onto a passing Suzuki and commandeers it. He knocks out the riders with the butt of his Walther PPK and kicks them off.
27 The other vehicles pursue as Bond drives up onto the High Line park.
BOND: Let’s try to get things back on track, shall we?
While it is nearly empty of people; the design of the park provides numerous hazards for four-wheeled vehicles. Bond and the two pursuing cars are forced to drive on two wheels or through vegetation as they reach the concrete benches which ramp up out of the pedestrian walkways.
28 The vehicle in the rear accidentally shoots out one of the middle vehicle’s tires causing it to lose control, crashing into a large brick building with a very old “Meatpacking” sign on the side.
BOND: So that’s how it’s made.
29 When they reach a fork in the path Bond goes right, just before a crane blocks the path, forcing the enemy to go left. Bond slows just enough to match the enemy and smash into their side as the paths rejoin. The enemy Suzuki is bumped onto a ramp and crashes through the patio window of a photographer’s studio. The model jumps with surprise, the photographer quickly re-composes himself-
PHOTOGRAPHER: Perfect! Hold right there!
30 Then Bond’s smoking, shot-up, vehicle comes to a stop just before the Standard Hotel.
BOND: Ahhhhh, an oasis at the end of the line.
31 As Bond moves down the stairs he passes a police officer.
BOND (taking an American accent and not slowing his stride a bit): Hey- Some crazy British guys just wrecked a bunch of cars up there!
32 INTERIOR — Room at the Standard Hotel — NIGHT. View of the Empire State Building. MUSIC.
PAN TO the bathroom door as Bond steps out in a towel post-shower. Using his laptop, he goes over the evidence thus far and realizes a connection between the heirs and older Bond villains.
33 Still sitting on the hotel bed in his towel, only minutes removed from his shower, Bond calls to inform M that he will be talking to the retired agents who handled the older cases.
BOND: There are connections between the heirs and previous double-oh-sevens, M.
M: Bond, those files are ancient, and closed-
BOND (interrupting): Why didn’t you tell me? I need you to put me in contact with the agents who handled the cases.
M: Retired agents are retired, Bond. You cannot contact them, but I can provide you with their reports.
BOND: Helvetica text in an electronic document? I don’t think so, I’m dealing in blood here, I want to know what these men know, from field agent to field agent.
34/35: Bond sets out, unauthorized but unimpeded by M, to speak with previous Bonds about the former villains who are currently world leaders.
We only need two of the following scenes: one of the “34” scenes followed by one of the “35” scenes:
34A) EXTERIOR — Elite retirement resort — DAY. Music plays over BLACK. MUSIC. SLOW MIX UP FROM BLACK to reveal AERIAL SHOT of the resort.
CUT TO PANNING SHOT of retirees sunning near the pool that ends on Connery and Bond at a poolside bar. Sean Connery is drinking and romancing the days away.
BOND: This seems a bit subdued for you, sir, you were one of the most active agents MI6 ever had?
CONNERY: Great scuba diving out here.
A beautiful older woman (maybe Sophia Loren) walks by.
WOMAN: Hello Sean!
BOND: “Sean”? *chuckle*
CONNERY shrugs with a goofy smile to Bond: I teach lessons every week.
34B) EXTERIOR — AERIAL SHOT of Sydney, Australia — DAY. CUT TO tightly-framed shot of modern art painting from the 1960’s, hold for several seconds, PAN to reveal George Lazenby speaking with Bond as they stand in an Australian art gallery. MUSIC.
LAZENBY: It was a crazy time, the sixties, I was killing to save the world, while the rest of my generation was preaching peace. I grew tired of all the death.
BOND: It is a bloody business.
LAZENBY: Careful, they don’t like too much objectivity… or surprises.
BOND: Funny, based on what I’ve read: Bond has always acted a bit outside the lines.
34C) Bond meets Roger Moore in his estate. MUSIC.
MOORE: Martini?
BUTLER: Shaken or stirred?
BOND (smirking to Moore): People drink these stirred?
They smile wryly at each other as they drink.
BOND: So the space station-
MOORE: Hahaah, “MoonRaker”!
35A) EXTERIOR — The Rock of Gibraltar — DUSK. MUSIC. Bond meets Timothy Dalton as he lounges at the Rock of Gibraltar where he is supervising MI6 training exercises.
BOND: I heard they revoked your license to kill once?
DALTON: I wasn’t always the most favored “Bond”; but I didn’t let license troubles stop me from saving the world.
They are attacked. Dalton makes a heroic last stand, killing the hit-man/McGeary, but dying while saving Bond.
35B) Bond meets Pierce Brosnan who is now a hired assassin on the move. MUSIC. We see Brosnan complete a job with ease, pack up his weapons, and calmly walk to meet Bond, who is waiting at a quiet cafe.
BOND: I hope I’m not taking you away from something else?
BROSNAN: Oh no, my calendar has just been cleared.
BOND (with a knowing smile): Decided to leave MI6 for the money?
BROSNAN (with a smile of his own): I know that you know better, double-oh, I only take the jobs I believe in, MI6 wouldn’t tolerate a rogue agent acting against their interests.
BOND (smiles bigger now): No they would not.
The hit-man/McGeary attacks with a hit squad. Brosnan and Bond team up to quickly dispatch them, but Brosnan is critically wounded and the viewer does not know if he survives.
*Intel from the older Bonds to be provided in the possible scenes above:
RETIRED BOND: Several current world leaders, are former members of SPECTRE. MI6, at the request of the British government, no longer monitors their activities as they did in years past.
BOND: -but the agents who faced them continued to be watchful.
RETIRED BOND: Precisely. You never forget the faces of men who have looked you in the eyes and tried to kill you.
The retiree would then point out the current world leaders who are former members of SPECTRE and tell Bond a bit about the undocumented criminal activities they have each been up to over the years.
RETIRED BOND: Of course not all of the “heirs”, as you’re calling them, may even be aware of the criminal empires laid before them.
BOND: I’m betting my life that they have a full understanding of ALL available resources.
RETIRED BOND: Then you’re dealing with people who have maintained continuous private militias for over forty years… The men who attacked you in New York were more than just guns-for-hire.
36 CUT TO television news coverage of a underdeveloped country as their government is toppled. The leader was the father of the heir Felix is tracking.
37 EXTERIOR — Rear of Allure Of the Seas cruise ship — NIGHT.
CUT TO Leopold and the other young heirs celebrating wildly.
PA ANNOUNCE: Call for Mr. Barry Niven.
CAMERA PANS AND ZOOMS IN on Bond as he watches the heirs from a balcony above and across from them. He stands to take the call. It’s Felix passing along the information from the news report.
BOND: That explains the revelry.
FELIX: Things are accelerating.
BOND: Maybe they’re scared that we’re on their tails.
FELIX: Oh, Bond, everything is about you, isn’t it?
BOND: No no, Felix, I’m just a guy in a suit.
FELIX: Just like a “suit” to leave that mess in New York for the little people to clean up!
BOND: Sorry. Anyone can hit a stationary target, I find it’s best to keep moving once an enemy is gunning for me. Besides; I’m keeping their attentions off you.
38 INTERIOR — Bond’s cabin on cruise ship. Hornet is waiting and attacks Bond as he enters the room. This is an updated version of the train car fight in From Russia With Love with modern Mixed Martial Arts techniques. MUSIC.
BOND: You should be thanking me
HORNET simply raises his eyebrows at Bond.
BOND: I saved your boss from certain death after the party in Atlanta.
HORNET: You just wanted the blood for your own hands-
Hornet “Uberknees” Bond’s body. Elba’s face shows surprise and paralysis.
HORNET: -but Thanks!
This is a similar physical match-up to the earlier fight between Bond and the hit-man; but this time Bond is the one who is physically outgunned. Hornet is dominant but can’t manage to completely subdue Bond. Hornet‘s moves are extremely polished and precise, reflecting his kickboxing career.
39 Bond grabs the twenty-inch flat screen television and smashes it over Hornet’s head. Hornet is only briefly distracted as Bond runs out of the cabin, recognizing that he cannot get past Hornet to reach his gun.
40 Hornet chases Bond down the hall, through a stairwell, and to an engine room.
41 As Hornet reaches the open door to the room Bond attempts to swing a very large wrench into his face. Hornet easily grabs Bond’s hands to stop the wrench, flips Bond over, and slams him onto to the metal grate flooring below.
BOND: Agh!
Bond rolls to his side and off the grate platform to a lower floor in the room. Hornet jumps the railing and drops near Bond, who is already on his feet and scrambling backwards.
42 Bond is able to use the environment of pipes and machinery to maintain a safe distance from Hornet.
HORNET: You know your way around a ship! I heard you’d been an Admiral!
BOND: Wrong guy. I just do my homework.
43 Hornet finally catches Bond in a corner and thrashes his body with strikes. Bond has both arms wrapped around his body for protection but still winces with every hit.
HORNET: Dead end, “spy”!
44 Bond falls face first in a puddle of liquid and gurgles. Hornet, eyes blazing with murderous glee, believes he has killed Bond and leaves him.
45 EXTERIOR — Small tropical beach town with the massive cruise ship docked — MORNING. Bond emerges from the ocean, glances back at the cruise ship, and walks up the beach. He’s bleeding upon close inspection, and wearing his soaked suit pants and undershirt from the fight. MUSIC.
46 INTERIOR — Small Post Office. Bond, now wearing a dry open button-up that he purchased from a tourist market, signs for a package of gadgets from Q branch.
BOND: Live every day like it’s your birthday.
47 Shot of the small town with the cruise ship in the distance again — Mid-day. PULL OUT to reveal that this is now the view from Bond’s hotel room.
INTERIOR — Hotel Room — DAY. Shirtless Bond patches himself up with futuristic second-skin strips (that rapidly dry to your skin and look like your unharmed skin) while Q explains the tools via web conference.
BOND: Good on the bandages, Q.
Q: Of course sir, your welco-
BOND: I was afraid you’d send the pink ones.
Bond lifts a small anti-swelling cold press, with a digital temperature display, from the package of gadgets.
Q: The cold press will automatically adjust its temperature to best treat any swelling you press it against.
BOND: You’re a great corner-man, Q.
Q: You really should sleep, Bond.
BOND: No, best to finish this while they still think I’m dead.
Bond puts on the sharkskin suit and straightens it out in the mirror.
BOND: Sharkskin is still in, Q?
Q: It is if you value your health. This suit is impenetrable by liquid and gas. It will allow some heat to leave your body, but nothing can enter unless the fabric is broken by a blade or a bullet.
BOND: So they can shoot me, but I can’t get a cold.
Q: 007, I trust your ability to dodge bullets, I do NOT trust that you can sidestep radiation or noxious gases.
48 Q has manipulated the GPS guidance system of an heir’s car to detour from its course and bring it just under Bond’s balcony. Bond drops on the roof, landing on a special inflatable cushion gadget that silences his impact, and rides with them.
49 As the road moves into rain-forest Bond notices a massive tractor clear-cutting forest and paving a road as it moves along.
BOND: Now THAT is a doomsday machine. Q, track this vehicle to it’s destination, I’ve found another ride.
50 EXTERIOR — FACTORY — DAY. The heirs are holding a meeting at a factory near a fictional ancient city on the shore of a polluted lake. They have an ultra-modern Ken Adam style office, built atop the factory, overlooking the ruins and lake.
BOND: Is it better or worse to dump your rubbish above sea level?
Q: Well if you’re asking-
BOND: No, but do clean it up once I’ve handled the riff raff.
Q: Yes, the infamous Bond path of destruction.
BOND: Trust me, Q, this one is bigger than us.
51 Bond drives the tractor straight into the building just below the office overlook. MUSIC.
52 The Ken Adam-styled overlook shakes and the heirs all stand in panic. The elite security guards for each heir, dressed in ways that match their respective employers, ready their weapons. The heirs are all in their twenties or thirties, a variety of ethnicities, and dressed in very expensive clothing. Their tastes are mature with the exception of Leopold who wears a leopard fur jacket and Hornet who wears a red suit with a gold chain from his nostril to his left ear. It is obvious that the overlook once hosted many desks and cubicles, some of which remain pushed to the walls, the heirs stand around a large touchscreen table in the center of the room.
53 Bond steps through the door casually, black gloved palms in the air, followed by smoke from the tractor crash. Leopold raises his hand to stay the security.
LEOPOLD: Lower your weapons, Mr. Bond is here as a representative of Great Britain, I’m sure he has some kind of parlay?
BOND: Nice view -but the pool needs cleaning.
AN HEIR: A sad holdover from my uncle’s reign over this factory and land.
BOND: So you moved in at a discount.
AN HEIR: We chose this place to stage our revolution because it represents civilization in its infancy-
BOND interrupts: And you plan for a world run by infants.
A FEMALE HEIR: We plan for a world of constructive growth and the strength to rise above fear-mongering tyrants.
BOND: It all sounds beautiful.
LEOPOLD: Parlay, Bond, what have you got for us?
BOND: I’d ask you to come along quietly- (looks from Leopold to Hornet) But I hope you won’t.
QUICK SHOT of the heir’s faces flashing anger. Bond dives to the floor as he pulls the Walther PPK from the shoulder holster. The armed security begin firing.
54 EXTERIOR — Factory — DAY. CUT TO Felix and CIA/MI6 support agents, wearing clunkier versions of Bond’s suit with helmets on, hopping out of cars arriving on the road Bond just created with the monstrous tractor.
FELIX (into her radio): Thanks for paving the way, Bond!
BOND (over radio): Ah, the clean up I ordered! You’re all giants among men in my book!
FELIX: Sure we are, Mr Big Shot!
55 Felix and the support team enter the factory.
FELIX (to her team as they enter): Avoid firing your guns- it could ignite the gases in the factory!
INTERIOR — Factory — Rare Earth Metals Processing Plant. A guard in the factory immediately fires on the incoming CIA/MI6 agents.
56 SLOW MOTION SHOT as the air around the bullet ignites in flame, causing the bullet’s path to look almost like a flaming laser beam.
Several agents fire back.
57 Felix uses expert karate kicks to subdue guards without her gun.
58 INTERIOR — Ken Adam styled office. Bond is pinned down when support agents flood the office. The surrounded bodyguards and heirs surrender. Leopold runs away in the brief chaos.
59 Bond runs after Leopold toward the depths of the factory while closing up his suit.
60 Epic gunfight between the CIA/MI6 support team and the private militia guarding the factory. Flashes of flame everywhere as gasses ignite in the factory.
61 Some of the militia attempt to escape through the ruins and CIA/MI6 agents confront them among the ancient stone structures.
FELIX: Take as many of them alive as you can! This is not a war, we need information!
62 Hornet steps into Bond’s path as he chases Leopold across a catwalk in the factory. Gunshots and flames fill the large room.
BOND (frustrated): Must you always decide to do your job at the most inopportune times?
63 The factory begins to explode at a structural level, walls crack, steel beams fall.
64 Felix gets ahold of Leopold some distance beyond Bond and Hornet. MUSIC.
FELIX: I have this one, Bond! -Get out!
65 Bond drops off the catwalk to a conveyor belt below and escapes the exploding factory, pursued by Hornet. Bond will not fire his gun within the factory gasses and Hornet manages to disarm him before they exit the building.
BOND (looking at Hornet but talking to his radio): Felix, you and the team round up the heirs, I have a stinging problem to address.
66 Now in the open air outside the factory, Hornet attacks Bond on the conveyor belt aqueduct, that stands twenty feet over the lake of byproduct.
BOND: I think your boss is calling you from inside.
HORNET ignores Bond’s comment with a sinister smile: Nice suit, I’d almost given up on your sense of style!
BOND: Thank you, I can assure you it’s very functional, what is your garment good for?
HORNET (looking perplexed while fighting): My suits are one hundred percent style! I’ll hook you up with my tailor for your burial.
67 Bond barely manages to protect himself from the onslaught of kickboxing attacks, using good defensive techniques but he’s simply over-matched. Bond swipes at Hornet and rips the chain out of his nostril. Hornet, yelling in pain, spins a kick into Bond’s legs.
68 Bond falls off the raised conveyor belt, he hangs from his fingertips but is blocked from climbing back up by Hornet.
Q: Pull up your hood, your suit will protect you!
Under the collar of Bond’s suit is an ultra thin hood/mask with Thunderball style breathing apparatus. The special suit looks like a cross between a sharkskin suit and a scuba suit, with a futuristic sleekness. It allows him to survive the poison lake of rare earth byproduct.
69 Bond pulls the hood over his head as he drops to the lake.
70 As the factory continues to detonate in new areas the conveyor belt aqueduct destabilizes and collapses. Hornet is dropped into the lake near Bond.
71 Bond’s suit allows him to move through the sludge much more easily than Hornet, whose clothing is weighing him down as it becomes saturated with the quicksand-like muck.
BOND: I don’t think I’ll be needing your tailor, his work is a bit porous for my tastes.
72 Bond drowns Hornet and confirms his death as the factory detonates. Local military are arriving on the road Bond created.
Q: Bond- don’t let the lake catch fire! The toxic fumes could carry for miles.
73 Bond uses the unwieldy rain-forest paving tractor to create a barrier of concrete debris between the flaming factory and the lake of waste.
74 He steps out of the cockpit and stands in his shining suit as the Ken Adam styled office collapses onto the factory below and smothers the fire a bit. Bond turns his head to look at the ruins nearby. MUSIC.
75 EXTERIOR — Tropical beach bar — JUST AFTER SUNRISE. CUT TO Bond celebrating at a tropical beach bar. Wearing swim trunks and an open button-up. Felix toasts with Bond.
FELIX: Here’s to surviving your first mission, Bond.
BOND: And to an ever changing world.
FELIX: Together we can change it for the better.
Felix walks away to a table where members of the support team are drinking.
76 The sexy pilot from Alaska makes a water landing and calls to him.
PILOT: I heard you needed a ride?
Bond sets his drink on the bar and smiles as he walks toward the plane.
MUSIC: Bond theme trumpets kick up.
— — — — — — — — -ROLL CREDITS — — — — — — — -
78 FADE UP FROM BLACK — NATURAL SOUND ONLY (ocean waves, tropical birds). PANNING SHOT of the small plane bobbing in gentle waves. CONTINUED PAN to beach. CONTINUED PAN to the ends of two large beach towels laid together on the sand. CONTINUED PAN to reveal Bond and the pilot from earlier laying together. They caress. Bond is holding her from behind.
Bond: That was quite a ride. You… are an excellent pilot.
The pilot laughs and rolls over to playfully hit Bond’s chest.
CUT TO HELICOPTER SHOT of very the small island with a few trees and just enough sand for the reclining pair.
FADE TO BLACK. MUSIC: Bond theme guitar note hits, echoes, fades.
— — — — — — — — — THE END — — — — — — — — — -
…
— — — — — James Bond Will Return In…
— — — — — — — — — B.O.N.D.
