This Week In Bond (August 23rd, 2022)

Christmas jokes sold separately

By many accounts, ‘The World Is Not Enough’ (TWINE) had a different atmosphere compared to regular productions. Following the tumultuous and chaotic production of ‘Tomorrow Never Dies,’ the usual Bond Family good vibes would take some rebuilding. The first and second units were, for all intents, working independently and could have been shooting different films. And the usual camaraderie between the cast was not quite there, either. In her memoir ‘The Real Girl Next Door,’ Denise Richards explained how the atmosphere was also not what she was used to: “I love bonding with the cast and hanging out, getting to know one another. This experience was different. I had nobody to hang out with. Pierce was with his family, the crew all had families in London, and Sophie Marceau was in and out to Paris, where her family lived. I was lonely on this long shoot, but it was a huge opportunity and I sucked it up, and focused on my work.”

Richards was maligned in the press as being “the worst Bond girl ever” upon release of TWINE at the end of 1999. Years before clickbait existed, the exaggerated headlines still rippled around the world and fellow critics joined the pile-on. And it wasn’t really her fault.

She worked tirelessly to promote the film, shuttled to over 30 premieres around the world with countless junkets, press conferences, and interviews. “Unfortunately, the reviews I got made it hard to suck it up during my interviews. Except for Roger Ebert, reviewers followed the harsh route of the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Wilmington, who wrote, ‘There’s the script —and that’s the problem.’ Actually, most were meaner, and I felt I was unduly singled out. ‘How could she play a scientist in hot pants and a halter top?’ critics asked. The barbs were so bad that Michael Apted told Entertainment Weekly, ‘I hope I didn’t hang her out to dry.’”

And yet they did. The character was originally conceived as an insurance investigator, but that had to be changed when Brosnan made ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ between Bonds where the leading lady was also an insurance investigator. A 20-something nuclear scientist would be one thing, but costuming the character to look like Lara Croft from ‘Tomb Raider’ seemed straight out of MGM’s casting playbook to appeal to ‘Male Youths’ for their all-important box office demographic reports. With the film in the can, no efforts were made to help soften the preposterous position Richards would be in for promotional work. In fact, they doubled down.

Recalling her press work for the film, Richards explains: “I was prepped on what I said on TV and in interviews. It didn’t matter what question was asked, I was supposed to answer in a way that would have the broadest appeal and try to come off as an accessible girl next door. I was to downplay questions asked about my racy role in ‘Wild Things’ and try to come up with an intelligent side of my character. Intelligent? I was a Bond girl running around in hot pants! But okay! Everyone was supposed to perceive me a certain way, and therefore like the film. It was like answering staged questions in a beauty pageant. And it never felt right.”

“I knew you had to have thick skin in this business, but this was my first time receiving criticism, and it stung. Right before going on MTV’s Total Request Live before heading to Europe, I found a USA Today review of the movie in the dressing room. I’d been taught to avoid reviews for this very reason. This one slammed the movie… How was I going to go out on live TV and put on a happy face about the movie? How the hell was I going to do nearly four weeks of press across Europe knowing people thought the movie sucked and I was a terrible actress? Devastated, I called home. ‘Denise,’ mom said, ‘just hold your head up high. Let people see the real you. They’ll know the difference. You have a lot of fun ahead of you.’ She was right. But I was depressed about it. I had a horrible pit in my stomach and I was embarrassed doing my interviews, feeling as if every journalist were making fun of my performance. Whether or not it was true, it was how I felt.”

Richards still carries the stink of the ‘Worst Bond Girl Ever’ headlines around, with a lot of fandom easily attaching themselves to that conclusion without much critical thinking. Sure, the character was ridiculous, but is that the fault of the actress hired to play her? Richards had a film career that was blossoming before Bond came calling, which is more than can be said for many of the leading ladies cast in the earlier Bond films where some were even plucked from beauty pageants. She also went on to have a career afterward, which again, is more than many who came before her.

“Those who don’t get her performance are missing the mark”
- Pierce Brosnan

Her camp energy in the film is a much-needed juxtaposition to Sophie Marceau’s dramatic performance and the film would be worse off without her. 20 years on, now seems a good time to reappraise Denise Richards in the pantheon of Bond Girls and assign that ‘Worst Ever’ title to a more deserving candidate.

We recently got the opportunity to ask Denise about her time on Bond with the benefit of two decades to soften the impact of those reviews. She told us, in retrospect, “It was an incredible experience. Even when I was promoting the movie, I got to travel to all these different countries for the premieres. I really didn’t understand how big Bond was until I was doing it.”

“Do I have Bond girl at the top of my résumé? Well, it’s one of them! Why was my character called Christmas? I don’t know. It’s a funny name … Are there any other characters called Christmas? Jim Carrey’s character is called Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber. So if we got married I’d be Christmas Christmas.”

‘The World Is Not Enough’ is back in UK cinemas this week as part of the 60th Anniversary re-release schedule.

News

Q The Music are now in the final leg of their farewell tour (in 2022) as they bring down the curtain on 18 years of performing at community events and theatre shows, during which time they have become well known for their James Bond songs and cues covers. The tour will culminate in London’s world-famous West End, at the appropriately named “Her Majesty’s Theatre” – a venue which houses “Phantom of the Opera” – the second longest-running theatre show in the world. There are less than 60 tickets left for this final performance on October 23rd, 2022 in London.

Bond Stars hosted a special ‘60 Years of Bond’ event at Pinewood Studios last week with a phenomenal set of guests and a full day of programming for the lucky fans who were able to attend. Matthew Field reported on the day’s events for MI6 - you can read all about it here.

Listen

The general consensus on ‘The World Is Not Enough’ seems to be that it fails to be more than the sum of its parts, but some of those parts are good, if not great. We assemble a James Bond & Friends panel of Joe Darlington, Calvin Dyson, and Sean Longmore to discuss how close we came to the magic formula.

Watch

Pierce Brosnan was surprisingly candid in this Hong Kong press conference for the release of ‘The World Is Not Enough.’ On one hand, he emphasizes that audiences seem to love the campness and formula of the film, but on the other hopes that they throw the formula away one day.

MI6 Archives

Did you know that Victor ‘Renard’ Zokas was an art thief? That’s the backstory that the art department gave him, although the script painted him (no pun intended) as a terrorist for hire. Was this an in-joke about Brosnan’s new film ‘The Thomas Crown Affiar’ or a deeper link back to the Bond villains of old who stole art? According to this prop report, Renard was last seen in Baku and there is no mention of MI6 sending a Double-O to put a bullet in his head.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Many of our back-issues of MI6 Confidential magazine sold out years ago, but to satisfy the demand for those early years between 2007 and 2010 (when it was called MI6 Declassified) we created two special ‘Reloaded’ compendium editions containing the best features across those years. These are available to order now and ship anywhere in the world.

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