He then went to Jamaica to write the book, which came out the following spring. This was ‘a straight thriller with particularly English but also general appeal, allowing for some wonderful film settings’. He said it was ‘an expansion of a film story I’ve had in my mind since the war’. Fleming wrote to him about his third novel – still to be written – which would be Moonraker. “In 1954, he corresponded with producer Alexander Korda, who had read a proof of his second novel, Live and Let Die, and had praised it. He tried very hard to interest producers in the UK and US. Fleming was obsessed with getting his books filmed. The screenplay had been under the radar until it surfaced at a Bonhams auction in 2015, from where it was acquired by a private collector.Īndrew Lycett, author of the biography Ian Fleming: The Man Who Created James Bond, told the Observer: “Finding this screenplay is very exciting. In the 1970s, the films reflected a climate that wasn’t life-threatening.” He added that the screenplay is “much more serious” than the 1979 film, which reflects the time when it was created: “You have the threat of the cold war and serious nuclear threats. Title page of screenplay for Moonraker by Ian Fleming. Screenplays for Bond films … are usually 100 pages. A true scriptwriter would have concentrated on the dialogue, with minimal directions: “That’s why it’s 150 pages. Gilbert said that his screenplay was fascinating, but “far too descriptive”.
It’s conceivable that Fleming then developed this when discussing the subsequent films with Broccoli and Saltzman.”įleming had been an officer serving in British naval intelligence during the second world war and was a journalist before becoming a full-time novelist. It would appear to originate here with Fleming, rather than a later screenwriter. Gilbert said: “Bond wears light blue swimming shorts – as blue as his eyes – which would become a defining image of Bond, along with the black tuxedo, portrayed by Connery and revived by Daniel Craig. In the screenplay, 007 and a policewoman go swimming off the coast of Kent. Photograph: Express Newspapers/Getty Images Ian Fleming’s only film script was for Moonraker but it was never used. The undeveloped screenplay has come to light as part of a major collection of Bond material amassed by two leading antiquarian bookshops in London, Peter Harrington and Adrian Harrington Rare Books, where Gilbert is the resident Fleming expert. All 12 of the Bond novels, including From Russia With Love, became popular motion pictures, although many strayed from Fleming’s original plots. The novelist had to wait until 1962, two years before his death, to see any of his novels adapted for cinema: Albert (“Cubby”) Broccoli and Harry Saltzman adapted his 1958 novel Dr No for the now classic film starring Sean Connery, which led to one of cinema’s most successful franchises.
The typed screenplay, still in its Rank folder, remained forgotten decades after Fleming had submitted it. It is a very Bondian scenario – a megalomaniac who wants to see the downfall of Britain.”īut the Rank Organisation, at the time the biggest film company in the UK, failed to see its potential. It is his only attempt at a film script, so it’s hugely important. Jon Gilbert, an expert in Fleming literature, told the Observer: “This is the very first screenplay written by Fleming imagining Bond for the big screen. M’s flirtatious secretary, Miss Moneypenny, is conspicuous by her absence.Ī Cockney card sharp called Tosh – a special branch officer working undercover – is one of a new cast of characters who take on the villain Hugo Drax. The head of the British secret intelligence service is not called “M”, and more closely resembles an affable 1950s city gent than the gruff character of the novels and films. Just as in the novel, Bond is portrayed as a cold-hearted assassin, but Fleming makes some changes.