James Bond veteran and BAFTA-nominated director Danny Kleinman has crafted all but one of 007’s title sequences since taking over from Maurice Binder, the creator of Bond’s iconic gun barrel shot, with 1995’s GoldenEye . For Skyfall Kleinman created a moody, inky death dream of a title sequence powered by Adele’s “Skyfall” theme song — a reflection, he explains, of the MI6 agent’s dark emotional state as Bond’s 23rd EON outing unfolds. REVIEW: James Bond Is Reborn In Lavish Skyfall “At the beginning of the film there’s always an amazing action sequence, and this time it ends with Bond being shot. So one of the things I wanted to do was perhaps suggest what might be flashing through Bond’s mind as he thinks he might be dying,” Kleinman explained to Movieline. Kleinman memorably used scorpions to open Die Another Day and turned Casino Royale ‘s literal and figurative gambling theme into a kaleidoscope of deadly hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs . The key guiding motif for Kleinman’s Skyfall title sequence? Death. “It’s a sequence that starts with Bond underwater and thinking that he’s dying,” Kleinman said. “I took that on as being almost like going into the underworld, feelings of mortality and feelings of, perhaps, regret and nostalgia.” In Skyfall ‘s opening sequence Bond drifts through a watery dreamscape of daggers and guns, encountering faceless, shadowy foes who threaten to overtake him. “One of the lines in the movie is about the intelligence service working in the shadows,” Kleinman said, “and I found that really interesting — the idea of being in the shadows and how shadows suggest different things but can also be intimidating.” “It’s quite a macabre and dark sequence, because I think the film is about Bond coming to terms with things that have happened in the past and with [Judi Dench’s M], it’s a very emotional story — moreso than most Bond films. My intention is to set up an atmosphere that gives you little clues, little hints, but is not too specific.” He paused. “It’s better than watching a bunch of names against black, anyway.” How does one go about creating a fantastic James Bond title sequence? Kleinman takes us through his creative process, the delicate art of teasing Bond’s exploits without giving too much away, how closely he works with Bond theme song creators like Adele — or not, as it happens — and his favorite 007 title sequence of all time.
James Bond veteran and BAFTA-nominated director Danny Kleinman has crafted all but one of 007’s title sequences since taking over from Maurice Binder, the creator of Bond’s iconic gun barrel shot, with 1995’s GoldenEye . For Skyfall Kleinman created a moody, inky death dream of a title sequence powered by Adele’s “Skyfall” theme song — a reflection, he explains, of the MI6 agent’s dark emotional state as Bond’s 23rd EON outing unfolds. REVIEW: James Bond Is Reborn In Lavish Skyfall “At the beginning of the film there’s always an amazing action sequence, and this time it ends with Bond being shot. So one of the things I wanted to do was perhaps suggest what might be flashing through Bond’s mind as he thinks he might be dying,” Kleinman explained to Movieline. Kleinman memorably used scorpions to open Die Another Day and turned Casino Royale ‘s literal and figurative gambling theme into a kaleidoscope of deadly hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs . The key guiding motif for Kleinman’s Skyfall title sequence? Death. “It’s a sequence that starts with Bond underwater and thinking that he’s dying,” Kleinman said. “I took that on as being almost like going into the underworld, feelings of mortality and feelings of, perhaps, regret and nostalgia.” In Skyfall ‘s opening sequence Bond drifts through a watery dreamscape of daggers and guns, encountering faceless, shadowy foes who threaten to overtake him. “One of the lines in the movie is about the intelligence service working in the shadows,” Kleinman said, “and I found that really interesting — the idea of being in the shadows and how shadows suggest different things but can also be intimidating.” “It’s quite a macabre and dark sequence, because I think the film is about Bond coming to terms with things that have happened in the past and with [Judi Dench’s M], it’s a very emotional story — moreso than most Bond films. My intention is to set up an atmosphere that gives you little clues, little hints, but is not too specific.” He paused. “It’s better than watching a bunch of names against black, anyway.” How does one go about creating a fantastic James Bond title sequence? Kleinman takes us through his creative process, the delicate art of teasing Bond’s exploits without giving too much away, how closely he works with Bond theme song creators like Adele — or not, as it happens — and his favorite 007 title sequence of all time.
If you weren’t one of the scores of moviegoers who contributed to Skyfall’ s $90 million box office take this past weekend and you’re still in spoiler-avoidance mode, then you should stop reading right here. If you did see the movie over the weekend, then you’re probably still thinking about the surprises that Skyfall holds for James Bond fans. Key among them is the reveal in the movie’s final scenes that Naomie Harris , who opens the movie by accidentally shooting Daniel Craig ‘s Bond, is the franchise’s sexy new Ms. Moneypenny. In an interview with Movieline , Harris talks about becoming the first black woman to join James Bond’s MI6 support team (Colin Salmon played Chief of Staff Charles Robinson in Tomorrow Never Dies , The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day ) and how, after playing a zombie-killing bad-ass in 28 Days Later and a secret agent in Skyfall , she’s well-equipped for the apocalypse. Movieline: When you took the role of Eve in Skyfall, were you aware that you were going to be revealed as Moneypenny and what that would entail? You are clearly going to be in other Bond movies as a result of this. Harris: Let’s see, who knows! But yes, when I took the role, I was told about the role fully. And that was part of the reason that it really excited me. I knew that my character was going on this amazing journey — and in a really modern way, which is fantastic. You are the first black woman to be cast as a member of the MI6 support team and, let’s presume, in a recurring role in the franchise. Have you thought much about the cultural significance of that? I was brought up in Britain, and I’m very proud of my Britishness and my culture. And Bond is a big part of that. So, I’m very aware of the significance of this role and being in a Bond movie. I don’t take it lightly at all. Barbara and Sam and Michael auditioned actors of all different ethnicities around the world, and there was no sense of, we just want a black person for this role. I love that kind of open casting. It’s really brilliant and speaks so highly of them. It’s fundamentally who they are. They’re so progressive. They were looking for the best person for the role. [Smiles] Exactly. Related Story: ‘Skyfall’ Producers On 007’s Post-9/11 Progressive Streak & Idris Elba Rumors: Could Bond Be Black, Gay, Or A Woman? Bérénice Marlohe told me that she found the concept of being a Bond girl very abstract. Is it different for you because James Bond is so firmly rooted in your culture? I don’t have a problem with the label. I don’t necessarily think it’s relevant anymore, but I don’t have a problem with it. If that’s what people want to refer to me as, then I’m more than happy. [Being a Bond girl] means glamor, sexiness, classiness and having an enigmatic quality. It means all good things really. But I do think they’re the building blocks for more. So, I would hate to be just that. That’s the starting point, basically. You’ve got to have so much more. You’ve also got to be extremely fit. I was surprised by all of the physical training you had to undergo for the role. Were you aware of this going in or did it surprise you? Sam did say to me, “It’s an action role, but you’ve done action stuff before. You’re used to that.” And in the audition, I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll do anything. I can ride. I can shoot.” So I kind of agreed to it, and then I didn’t realize how intense it was going to be. It was two months, five days a week, two hours a day working with a personal trainer who did running and circuit training and yoga. Then it was three days a week on the gun range: machine guns, Walther PPK’s, sniper rifes. Then it was two days a week doing stunt driving. And once a week with the stunt guys doing combat training as well. So, for a girl who does not exercise, that was a big physical change. And I have to say it was really tough in the beginning, but by the end of it, I got used to it. I loved it, actually. Do you own a gun? No! I certainly do not own a gun, although I went through my bag the other day and discovered that I had a dummy gun in there that we used while we were filming. Good thing you didn’t go to the airport with that. I know! I definitely would have gotten arrested. Between 28 Days Later and Skyfall , you are clearly prepared for the apocalypse. I am. I’m the woman to be with if there’s any crisis going down. What are you doing next in between your Bond films? I finished Bond and then two days later, I flew to South Africa to play Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom . I finished that a month ago. So, I’m going to do this tour for Skyfall , which is over a month long, and then I’m having a break. It’s a year of non-stop work. Have you talked to Danny Boyle about doing any more work with him? I haven’t, but I would always work with Danny because he’s an amazing director. I really credit him with giving me the career that I have. He’s the guy who — when I had just left drama school — took a risk on me and cast me in 28 Days Later , which changed my life and my career. And then 10 years later, he was the guy who cast me in Frankenstein on the Olivier stage when I hadn’t done theater for 10 years. And that’s how I got Bond, which has brought my career to a whole new level. So I would always work with Danny. Have you ever thought about directing? No. I think that if I was going to do anything it would be writing. That’s what my Mum does. [Editor’s Note; Harris’ mother is sitcom writer Lisselle Kayla.] That’s what I grew up around. But at the moment, I have no real interest in that. I always imagine myself retiring and writing somewhere in the countryside. Let’s see. Read more on Skyfall and celebrate Bond’s 50th anniversary with all things 007. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Introspective masculinity, women on top, cross-dressing PSAs , gay undertones — the James Bond franchise has come a long way in 50 years, most notably during the current era built around Daniel Craig ’s serious Blond Bond with the icy blue eyes. Behind the scenes, producers Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson set the record straight on recent Idris Elba-as-Bond rumors and pointed to the post-9/11 shift that spurred them to take Bond from the slick reign of Pierce Brosnan to the morally-complex brand of progressive contemporary heroism embodied in this week’s Skyfall . “I think once we made the decision to go with Casino Royal e – we had the rights, and we decided to make the change after Die Another Day – it had a lot to do with 9/11 and the way the world was at that time,” Broccoli told Movieline recently in Los Angeles. “A post-9/11 world. It was a real opportunity to recalibrate.” Craig’s Bond re-set the franchise on a grittier path starting with Casino Royale , which exposed 007’s only vulnerability — his heart — and its continuation Quantum of Solace , which healed his emotional wounds with violent redemption. Skyfall , however, finds Bond unencumbered by romance; feeling his loneliness and approaching obsolescence. His new enemy is mortality itself — and Silva, the off-kilter, tech-savvy nemesis bent on revenge against former boss M (Judi Dench) played with calculated control by Javier Bardem. “They are mirror images of one another,” explained Wilson, who has produced every Bond film since 1979’s Moonraker . “They come from the same background, and in a way M has sacrificed them at one point or another for what she considered to be a greater good. But one becomes obsessed by this and it drives him. The other one goes through a funk but gets over it and comes back to defend her and the country. It’s an interesting thing about how people cope with the negative things that happen in their lives.” PHOTO GALLERY: 007 MINGLES WITH ROYALTY AT THE SKYFALL PREMIERE In a franchise known as much for its suave but patriotic spy hero as its insanely evil and flamboyant villains, Skyfall dares to contradict both tropes. Bond, for the first time, questions whether queen and country value his service, his sacrifices, and his very life, while Silva, it’s revealed, actually has a pretty good reason to seek vengeance. Skyfall asks a question relevant to today’s global military interests: Who is to blame when the few are sacrificed for the good of the many? “We wanted to create a complex story, and the whole point is that things aren’t black and white anymore,” said Broccoli. “As M says, they have to operate in the shadows. You don’t know who the enemies are. You have to fight on a very different playing field than when there was a more specific world order. Ultimately it comes down to individuals and the spirit of self-sacrifice for the greater good, and that’s what Bond is about. It’s about heroism.” That heroism isn’t exclusively reserved for James Bond, either. Broccoli and Wilson see the role of women in Skyfall as part of a larger legacy of 007 heroines in various forms — mostly shapely ones, embodied in five decades of Bond girls — that stems from writer Ian Fleming’s own wartime experiences. “You have to understand that in his experience during the war, women were very active and part of the resistance, part of the war effort,” said Broccoli. “So he saw women as being very heroic and courageous. And I think when you look at the early films, that’s very evident in the characters — they’re all very strong characters. Some of them have had some hardship, but they all go about their missions with a real determination. Many times they sacrifice themselves for Bond, and I think that’s something that definitely came out of his experience in the war.” PHOTO GALLERY: MEET BERENICE MARLOHE, SKYFALL ‘S NEW BOND GIRL Bond’s women, of course, weren’t always written with strengths to complement their overt sexualization. “I think that there was a period in time in the films when the women became more window-dressing,” she admitted. “But certainly in the last five or six films there’s been a real effort to make them as complex and interesting and heroic, or as bad and evil as the villain. And casting Judi Dench as M, making her the authority figure, has given that relationship between Bond and M a lot more complexity. But I think the films have evolved the same way society has evolved. I hope that they’ll continue to evolve.” Could there conceivably be a female Bond one day? “Everything is possible,” teased Wilson. That said, Bond is a man, and will probably stay that way. Broccoli, who produced the Equals campaign PSA, which featured Craig as 007 dressed in drag , cautioned against getting too carried away with the possibilities. “It isn’t about interchanging men and women, it’s about giving people an equal kind of opportunity,” she said. “So there’s certainly the possibility of having a female heroic figure that is like Bond, but just to interchange them — I don’t know what the point would be.” As for the notorious Skyfall scene in which Bond and Silva share a flirtatious exchange , Wilson and Broccoli are amused by fan speculation about 007’s newly fluid sexuality. “I think they’re trying to psych each other out,” Wilson said of the scene. A game of chicken, so to speak, I asked? “Yes!” he replied. So maybe the producers aren’t quite ready for an openly bisexual Bond, or a lady Bond. They’re also not jumping to replace Craig in that bespoke Tom Ford suit either, despite a report that Idris Elba was being courted to become the first black 007. Broccoli set the record straight. “I love Idris and I met him on something else,” she explained. “We are very happy with Daniel Craig [laughs] and I always say I can only be in love with one person at a time.” “Daniel Craig is James Bond,” she continued. “It’s not even… we can’t even think about it. It’s like going down the aisle to get married and looking for your next husband. It doesn’t work that way. But [Elba] is a phenomenal actor. With Craig signed on for at least two more Bond films, we likely won’t see a new Bond come into the picture for a few more years. But could the future of Bond ostensibly be color-blind? “Oh, absolutely,” said Broccoli. “Why not?” Read more on Skyfall and celebrate Bond’s 50th Anniversary with all things 007 . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
With Skyfall ‘s Daniel Craig seemingly winding down his reign as James Bond, it looks like screenwriter John Logan will be writing off into the sunset alongside him. Deadline reports that the Oscar-nominated Logan ( Gladiator , The Aviator , Hugo ) is writing two connected scripts that will likely see Craig through the last two 007 outings he’s currently signed on for. [ PHOTOS: Prince Charles meets 007 on the Skyfall red carpet ] Like the storylines connecting Casino Royale with the subsequent Quantum of Solace , Bonds 24 and 25 would take Craig through another multiple film dramatic arc, which Bond fans seemed to have loved. And with his Bond increasingly dealing with themes of age and obsolescence, as he does in November’s Skyfall , these two Bond films would presumably see Craig passing the torch to a new agent , or at least closing his chapter of the franchise. Logan, meanwhile, earned his first Bond credit on Skyfall alongside Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. [ Deadline ]
That cufflink-speeding train move ? Just the tip of the bespoke iceberg when it comes to deconstructing Daniel Craig’s Bond through his fashionista sensibilities. But what do Skyfall ‘s style choices tell us about 007’s frame of mind? From the sharp-eyed folks at Clothes on Film , dapper deconstruction of Skyfall : “For the man himself a modern cut of single breasted, two and three button Britishness. In context these costumes feel real. Silva’s (Javier Bardem) long leather coat might be a villain’s indulgence, but Bond looks immaculate and attainable; far from Savile Row though instilled with the swagger of 1960s cool. Even if Craig – here at his broadest – is in danger of bursting from the fabric on occasions, the vents always hang straight and providing he remembers to breathe in, the top button closes comfortably.” And: The stubble (and island casual outfit) say it all… “Costume tells Bond’s tale just as much as the stubble that appears then disappears from his chin. Pre-credits he wears a grey sharkskin suit (actually ill-advised for Craig’s pale complexion), then hits the bottle in baggy leather flight jacket and untucked island shirt. For Bond this is as bad as Superman losing his cape – he is almost unrecognisable. Back in London, an unseen trip to Selfridges then stop off at Crockett & Jones and everything is okay again.” Read the full review here . [ Clothes on Film via Movie City News ]
Barbara Broccoli was born into the world of James Bond ; along with co-producer Harry Saltzman, her father, Cubby Broccoli, brought 007 to the big screen with Dr. No when Barbara was only two years old. It would be inaccurate to say Broccoli inherited the Bond legacy — she’s made it her own, serving as producer from Goldeneye onwards, and in many ways, ushering cinema’s favorite secret agent into the modern era. The Skyfall producer rang Movieline to talk about the early days, Bond’s role in the cultural conversation over the years, and what the future holds for the character who, fifty years later, is still synonymous with effortless cool. Tell us a little about the beginning of the Bond film franchise. How did your father, Cubby Broccoli, along with Harry Saltzman, make the decision to adapt Ian Fleming’s spy novels? My father had wanted the rights to the films early on, but they eluded him. Harry Saltzman had an option, and my father heard this, called him up, and they joined forces just as the clock was ticking down, as the option was about to expire. Fortunately, they went to Arthur Kremp, who my father had a relationship with, and asked him if he would finance the film ( Dr. No ). David Picker, who was the young executive in the room, loved the Bond books, and he persuaded United Artists to take a shot and make the film, which was a huge commitment then. A million dollars for a budget, at that time, was significant. They were a force to be reckoned with. Cubby and Harry were both very passionate, determined men. They were driven. They wanted to see this series of books made into a film, and they were very passionate about their choice of Sean Connery, who was an unknown. They fought for him, and there was a lot of resistance because he wasn’t well known at all. The studio wanted a star, they wanted an American and all these various things, but [Broccoli and Saltzman] stuck to their guns, and the rest as they say, is history. Bond is turning 50 this year. In 2012, he’s still going strong. Why has the franchise endured? It basically comes down to Ian Fleming. I think he wrote a very complex character that has been able to evolve through the decades, with the assistance of the extraordinary men who have played the role, starting with Sean Connery who established the role to great effect in Dr. No , and all the subsequent actors have taken it and made it their own and made it of their time. I think Bond the character is distinct: He’s British, he has a certain code that he lives by, he’s incorruptible… he’s a classical hero, but he’s also fallible. He has inner demons, inner conflicts, and he’s a romantic. He gets himself caught up in all kinds of situations because of his heart, which gets broken in Casino Royale . He knows at the end of that first story that in order to do the job he does he has to make a lot of personal sacrifices, and one of them is that he cannot really have a proper relationship or a family, and that is a burden to him. By that same token, how do you think the character of Bond has evolved over the years, beginning with Sean Connery and running up to today with Daniel Craig ’s portrayal? With Daniel, the first film he did was Casino Royale , which was the first book, so that’s very much about how Bond became the Bond that we all know and love. It explains a lot about his history and why he got to be the way he is, particularly in his relationships with women, as I described. He knows he’s unable to really form a proper commitment with a woman because he may be captured, tortured, as he is in Casino Royale … he can put himself in that situation but he couldn’t put anyone else he loved, like a wife or a child, in that kind of jeopardy. So, I think with Daniel, it’s sort of come full-circle. We started with Fleming and fifty years later, we’re back to Fleming again: He’s very much central to the making of these films. The spirit of Ian Fleming is always with us and we particularly honor and celebrate him now, fifty years later, during this anniversary. Can you talk a little about your own relationship with 007 from a personal standpoint and how it’s changed from your childhood to the present? I was born in 1960, my father did the deal in ’61, and the first film was made in that year and released in ’62, so my life is synonymous with Bond. Growing up he was a huge figure in our lives, so much so that I thought he was a real person [laughs]. But it soon dawned on me that he was a fictional character. I spent a lot of time on the sets growing up. We would go on vacation from school, go on location, where the films were being filmed. Wonderful places: Exotic locales like Japan and the Bahamas, and the people making the films were part of our extended family. My father would be with them all day long and they would all come home for dinner. We were always together. It was a very large, happy family. Do you think Bond’s place in the pop culture spotlight has been constant, or has it fluctuated over the years? What kinds of challenges arise in making this franchise relevant to audiences today? There have always been challenges. I remember when we were doing Goldeneye and people were saying “The Cold War’s over, the wall’s down — does the world need James Bond anymore?” Of course, the answer was a resounding “Yes!” Just because the wall came down didn’t mean the world was at peace. In fact, good and evil were slightly blurred, and we didn’t know who the enemy was. I think we’re always trying to come up with intriguing storylines and villains for Bond to go up against, and when you look at Skyfall , and you look at Javier Bardem you’ll find… [laughter] he’s sort of the ultimate Bond villain. He’s provided a very exciting counterpoint to Daniel. How did Sam Mendes get involved with Skyfall ? Well, Sam and Daniel had worked together on Road to Perdition , and they’d had a great collaboration. When we were looking for a director, Daniel called us up and said “Oh, I was just at a party last night with Sam and I asked him if he wanted to do a Bond film — it turns out he’s a huge fan. What do you think?” And we said, “Oh my goodness, do you think we could actually get Sam Mendes? He’s a consummate film director, Oscar-award winner. Do you really think he’d be interested?” So we met with him, and it turns out — who would have known it – he’s a big Bond fan. So we snapped him up. He’s made an unbelievably terrific film, so we’re delighted. Has it been a little different working with a director like Sam, who is such a force of nature, on a franchise project like Bond that in the past has largely been producer-driven? I guess our attitude towards Sam was “We have a set of parameters as far as what we feel a Bond film is, but within those parameters…” There’s no point in hiring someone like Sam Mendes and then tying their hands. We wanted him because of his talent and his vision, and we worked together very closely on the script, and set the parameters together. He wanted to make a great Bond film, so it all turned out extremely well. As it turns out he was just like a kid in a candy store [laughs]. He loved the challenge, he lived up to it, and he exceeded all expectations. So I think the film has got all the wonderful, dramatic intriguing storylines and characters — we have a wonderful cast, many of whom were attracted to this because of Sam — and he’s also delivered tremendous action and excitement. He’s ticked all the boxes as far as I’m concerned. Learn more about Barbara Broccoli and the Bond legacy in the EPIX documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 . Read more in Movieline’s ongoing Bond at 50 series leading up to the November 9 release of Skyfall . John Jarzemsky is a contributor at LitReactor, Twitch, and can be read semi-regularly at his personal blog, the ineptly named Super Roller Disco Monkey Hullabaloo! or on twitter @jtjarzemsky . He is big in Japan. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
So maybe Daniel Craig lost last night’s SNL spotlight to Big Bird . He still held his own and promoted Skyfall with fun little riffs on his James Bond persona, starting with his opening monologue — an Oscars-style In Memoriam tribute to all the poor guys he’s killed over the years while dutifully serving as Hollywood’s iciest action hero. Watch above to see Craig uncharacteristically (but nevertheless quite charmingly, I must say) go a bit goofy on the SNL stage (unfortunately NBC hasn’t released the monologue excerpt on its own, but here’s the full episode). For another dose of 007’s big SNL promo push, hit the Bond-themed digital short below detailing 50 years of lesser-known Bond Girls… [via NBC ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
With her soulful contralto, Adele was born to sing a Bond theme song. She delivers with “Skyfall,” produced by regular collaborator Paul Epworth, and released yesterday on James Bond’s 50th birthday . That should be a relief to music lovers and Bond fans alike, but just how much musical DNA does Adele’s “Skyfall” share in common with the best Bond themes to date? At some point in the mid ’70s, Bond theme songs lost their way. I blame Carly Simon. “Nobody Does it Better,” which she sang for 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me , is a perfectly good pop ballad — it was Simon’s greatest hit, after all — but it was not a Bond song. It broke all the traditions: its title was different from the movie’s, it was in a major key, and it made no musical allusions to the composer behind the unmistakable 007 sound, John Barry. As if in apology, producers brought back Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever songstress Shirley Bassey for the next movie, Moonraker , but the rekindling was all too brief. After that, there was a string of songs that sounded like ’80s sitcom theme songs. Seriously, listen to Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only” and imagine it playing over Three’s Company –style opening credits, with scenes of Bond walking into MI6’s office and throwing his hat onto the coat rack while Ms. Moneypenny rolls her eyes and smiles. Same with “ Octopussy .” Just think of what “Thunderball”’s Tom Jones could have done with that title. MGM and Albert Broccoli seemed to come to their senses after realizing what a mistake they’d made entrusting the theme song for The Living Daylights to A-Ha. They took a step in the right direction with the next one, Gladys Knight’s “License to Kill,” which opens with a direct quote of the opening motif from “Goldfinger.” In 1996, with “Goldeneye,” Tina Turner did with the music what Pierce Brosnan did with the character and helped rescue the entire franchise. Since then, the only real crime against 007 tradition was Madonna’s disjointed dance number for Die Another Day . Adele’s “Skyfall” is the most classic Bond theme since the classic Bond themes. The song may not be as infectiously hummable as some of Adele’s other hits, like “Rolling in the Deep,” but it fits perfectly within the James Bond tradition. Breaking the song down to its constitution elements, we can see how it compares to its predecessors: Voice You can’t listen to this song and not immediately think of Shirley Bassey, though Adele throws in a little more melisma. C-minor key More than three quarters of James Bond songs are in a minor key. The only other one in C-minor, however, was Garbage’s “The World is Not Enough. ” Dr. No references Peppered throughout the song are echoes of the original instrumental theme John Barry wrote for Dr. No , including the unmistakable four-note riff here played by the electric guitar 1 minute 50 seconds in, and the distinctive, sixties-sounding final chord (a minor ninth, if you’re curious), which is the same chord that concludes the Dr. No theme. Instrumentation Like Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does it Better,” the song begins simply, with vocals over piano. But then the strings, electric guitar, and John Barry–esque horn blasts kick in, bringing to mind the Sean Connery–era Bond themes. Thankfully, “Skyfall” did away with the tambourine. Melody The rising fifth in the hook (“… let the sky fall”) is reminiscent of “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” and “The World is Not Enough,” which all have same interval in the main melody. Also like “The World is Not Enough” and Sheryl Crowe’s “Tomorrow Never Dies,” the verse ends on a suspended fourth chord. Tempo: ca. 78 bpm Practically the same as “License to Kill.” Lyrics This song does a better job of integrating the title into the lyrics than many of its predecessors, although Adele has to break the nonsensical title into two words. Carly Simon simply plopped the words “The spy who loved me” into an otherwise boilerplate love song, and Chris Cornell didn’t even bother including “Casino Royale” into his theme song , “You Know My Name.” Adele’s repetition of the title at the end of the song makes me think of what Tom Jones did with “Thunderball” and Tina Turner did with “Goldeneye.” Anything else? How much deeper can we go in overanalyzing this? Let me know in the comments. Julian Sancton is a writer based in Manhattan. He has contributed to Vanity Fair, Esquire and Playboy, among other publications. Follow Julian Sancton on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
“This is the end/hold your breath and count to ten…” Adele ‘s moody retro James Bond theme song has hit the web in full! How does it measure up to its predecessors? (Best theme in many Bonds, no?) Listen to the U.K. crooner sing “Skyfall” and chime in with your thoughts after the jump. I can’t quite tell how the lyrics have anything to do with the plot of Skyfall , but it’s a nice return to form. Adele’s certainly one of the strongest Bond theme singers in 007 history. Where does “Skyfall” rank among the best and worst Bond songs of all time ? [via the official 007 Twitter ]
