John Hodge talks about his exit from Bond 25

Writer discretely talks about his time on the 25th James Bond film and his departure with Danny Boyle.

Danny Boyle’s long time writing partner is John Hodge, whose six part adaptation of The Ipcress File directed by James Watkins is currently showing on Britain’s ITV.

Back at the beginning of March Hodge spoke to The Guardian about the new series, based on the Len Deighton novel. The book was, of course, filmed back in 1965 starring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer and produced by one half of the then Bond production team, Harry Saltzman.

Talking about their script for Bond 25, which he and Boyle left in August 2018, Hodge says:

I think it was me they really wanted rid of, but Danny took the bullet, too.

That’s pretty much what Boyle has said in the past; that there was a dispute over the script and the producers wanted to bring in a new writer, which Boyle refused.

After they left the production there were tabloid rumours that the pair’s insistence on killing James Bond off at the end of the film saw them get the boot. There we other rumours saying that they were forced out as they didn’t want to kill off James Bond, which retrospectively seem more likely but sadly he doesn’t elaborate:

My understanding was that that twist had been decided even before we came on board because Daniel Craig wanted it. I think, with us, it was that old cliche “creative differences”. It felt very dramatic at the time but it was just another bump in the road of the Bond franchise.

He also says half a line of his made it into the film, but he won’t reveal what it was. Read the full interview at the link below.

Source: The Guardian