Friday
22Aug2008
Spielberg Wanted to Make James Bond Movie
Friday, August 22, 2008 at 11:17AM 
Steven Spielberg, Bond director?
According to an
upcoming memoir by
Roger Moore, the man who appeared as 007 seven
times in the 1970s and 80s, Spielberg once had designs on a middle-period Bond
flick. In his new book, My Word is Bond, Moore describes meeting the
up-and-comer at a Paris hotel in the late 1970s.
"He was a huge Bond fan and said that he would love to
direct one of the films," recalls Moore. "He'd recently had great success with
Jaws and Close Encounters and was considered a very hot property."
If my math is right, that would put Spielberg in line to
maybe direct
Moonraker, which, frankly, would have been the
best option for both parties at the time. It probably would've been really cool,
actually.
'I was rather excited at this news and went looking for
(Bond producer
Cubby Broccoli) to tell him." Apparently, the
Cubster was not as excited as Moore, telling his star, "Do you know how much of
a percentage he'd want?"
According to the third Bond, directors never got
a piece of the real action in the series, "(S)o Spielberg went off and made
Indiana Jones who I reckon to be a period James Bond!"
Moore, now 80, spends much of his time working for
philanthropic causes. His memoir will be released on November 4th, just ten days
before the latest 007 adventure,
Quantum of Solace.
Reader Comments (3)
This is hardly news. Everyone knows that while on holiday together during Star Wars' opening weekend, Spielberg mentioned to George Lucas that he was really interested in doing an adventure movie, like a Bond movie. To which Lucas replied, "I've got something better than James Bond: Indiana Smith". The rest is movie history.
Also, Roger Moore was the third Bond in the official movie series. Remember George Lazenby?
Indeed. Spielberg's desire to direct a Bond movie was extensively covered in Empire magazine's 25th anniversary Indiana Jones special issue, and even more extensively in the J.W.Rinzler/Laurent Bouzereau "authorized" The Complete Making of Indiana Jones ("The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films") published by Ebury Press earlier this year.
That's two glaring errors for me today. Sorry. I was rushing to finish the story and spaced on Mr. Lazenby, who starred in one of the better Bond movies, so I'm pretty embarrassed. On the plus side, I was rushing because I had to go see Appaloosa at a very, very early press screening.
Do we know if the Bond movie in question would have been Moonraker?