Thunderball

:There is also a game in the UK National Lottery called Thunderball

The controversy over the novel

From a screenplay to a novel

Thunderball was originally conceived as the first film in a possible series of films for a production company called Xanadu Productions, formed by Ian Fleming, Ernest Cuneo, Ivar Bryce and Kevin McClory. The history of Xanadu Productions is very complicated and even today very controversial. The first draft of Thunderball was written by Cuneo and sent to Bryce. The rough draft was specifically designed around an idea by Kevin McClory to shoot the film underwater using Todd-AO cameras. Thunderball would later go through several rewrites, although some elements from Cuneo's version would remain in the final novelized story by Fleming. The main villains of the screenplay at the time were the Russians but after the first draft was subsequently changed to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Some sources, including Raymond Benson's The James Bond Bedside Companion{{ref|Benson}}, claim that the idea of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. came from McClory, while other sources including "Inside Thunderball"{{ref|Cork}}, an article by John Cork who is also the author of many official biographies, documentaries, and DVD featurettes on Ian Fleming and the James Bond films, claims S.P.E.C.T.R.E. was created by Fleming. The second draft of Thunderball was written by Fleming where the villain "Largo" is introduced as well as some of the main plot points from the novel and film including the theft of a nuclear device. The rest of the project was a collaborative effort between Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming on a story and a screenplay over a two-year period. During this time, Xanadu went bust and Ernest Cuneo supposedly sold his rights to the drafts of Thunderball to Ivar Bryce for one dollar.

Related Topics:
Ernest Cuneo - Ivar Bryce - Todd-AO - Russia - Raymond Benson - The James Bond Bedside Companion - John Cork - DVD

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The finished screenplay was meant to be produced by Kevin McClory; however, McClory had recently finished an unsuccessful film called The Boy and the Bridge. This led to complications with getting proper financial backing for the film. In John Pearson's biography, The Life of Ian Fleming{{ref|Pearson}}, Pearson claimed that McClory had visited Fleming at Goldeneye, Fleming's house in Jamaica, where Fleming explained to McClory his intention to deliver the screenplay to MCA with his recommendation for McClory to produce the film. Additionally, Fleming told McClory that if MCA were to reject the film because of McClory's involvement that McClory should either sell himself to MCA, back out, or prepare to go to court. A few months later, however, Fleming met Harry Saltzman and later Albert R. Broccoli and sold them the film rights to the current series of published books as well as future James Bond novels except for Casino Royale, the rights for which had already been sold to other parties.

Related Topics:
The Boy and the Bridge - John Pearson's - The Life of Ian Fleming - Goldeneye - Jamaica - MCA - Harry Saltzman - Albert R. Broccoli - Casino Royale

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Because the deal between Fleming and McClory collapsed, Fleming took the story and the screenplay and novelized them as his ninth James Bond novel. Initially, the novel credited only Ian Fleming as writer although the book is dedicated to his friend Ernest Cuneo ("Muse"). Prior to publication, McClory received an advanced copy of the book and consequently filed suit along with Whittingham against Fleming in 1961 for "plagiarism and false attribution". Additionally, McClory filed a lawsuit against Ivar Bryce for "injuring him as a false partner in Xanadu Productions". The courts ruled that the lawsuit would not interfere with the publication of the novel because a number of books had already been shipped to retailers. The lawsuit, on the other hand, did prevent Thunderball from becoming the first James Bond movie, although screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who in the future would either cowrite or adapt thirteen James Bond films, did complete a screenplay adaptation.

Related Topics:
1961 - Screenwriter - Richard Maibaum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In December 1963 Fleming settled out of court with McClory at the behest of Ivar Bruce, who felt Fleming's health was being seriously affected by stress from the lawsuit (Fleming had already been victim to one heart attack and in 1964 would die from a second). During the lawsuit, Whittingham had dropped out due to financial difficulties and had sold his rights to the scripts to McClory. The settlement forced future versions of Thunderball to credit on the title page: "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming", in that order though Ian Fleming's main author credit remained. Additionally, McClory was given the right to make a film adaptation of the book as well as the rights to all aspects of Thunderball, which supposedly included the rights to the villainous organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Blofeld's white Angora cat, and nine additional plot treatments and outlines {{ref|rights}}. In an October 1997 interview with The Daily Telegraph{{ref|Daily_Telegraph}}, McClory stated this included the rights to any James Bond film plot that would include an "atomic bomb hijacking".

Related Topics:
1963 - Heart attack - 1964 - Angora cat - October - 1997 - The Daily Telegraph

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bond Battle Royale

After being awarded the rights to make a film, McClory attempted to get backing to turn Thunderball into a film; however, he was unable to do so. He reluctantly later went to Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli and proposed collaborating on an adaptation of Thunderball as the fourth official James Bond film in 1964. In 1965, Thunderball was released starring Sean Connery as agent 007. In the agreement between EON and McClory, McClory agreed that he would not attempt to make another Thunderball adaptation for ten years. During that ten years, McClory's ownership of the Thunderball film rights did not prevent further Bond films, specifically, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Diamonds Are Forever from featuring Blofeld, S.P.E.C.T.R.E., and the Angora cat.

Related Topics:
1964 - You Only Live Twice - On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Diamonds Are Forever

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1976, after the ten-year agreement expired, McClory teamed up with Sean Connery to write an original James Bond adventure. It has been reported that it was to be titled Warhead 8, Warhead, or James Bond of the Secret Service and possibly not only to have starred Connery as 007, but directed by the actor as well. This original Bond adventure was scrapped when MGM filed suit against McClory, who at the time did not have the finances to engage in a legal suit. Moreover, John Brosnan's book James Bond in the Cinema{{ref|Brosnan}} claimed that McClory and Connery learned specific plot details for The Spy Who Loved Me that were supposedly similar to Thunderball and Warhead. Early scripts for The Spy Who Loved Me indeed featured Ernst Stavro Blofeld and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. as the main villains of the film. They were later replaced by Karl Stromberg and his unnamed organization.

Related Topics:
1976 - John Brosnan - The Spy Who Loved Me - Karl Stromberg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the 1980s, McClory finally was able to contest the rights to the James Bond character when he met Jack Schwartzman. Schwartzman was key for receiving backing from Warner Bros. and for winning the support of the British High Court against MGM. Consequently, Schwartzman and McClory produced the 1983 film Never Say Never Again, a remake of Thunderball scripted by Lorenzo Semple Jr. that starred Sean Connery as James Bond in a much-publicized return to the role after a 12-year hiatus. That same year, EON Productions released Octopussy starring Roger Moore as agent 007. The media quickly dubbed this unique situation the "Battle of the Bonds", particularly during a brief period when both films were scheduled to arrive in cinemas nearly simultaneously (they were ultimately released several months apart).

Related Topics:
Jack Schwartzman - Warner Bros. - 1983 - Never Say Never Again - Lorenzo Semple Jr. - Octopussy - Roger Moore

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the 1990s Sony and McClory teamed up and planned another remake of Thunderball, titled Warhead 2000 A.D., with either Liam Neeson as Bond or with Timothy Dalton returning to the role of 007. In 1997, Sony announced a rival James Bond series, which forced MGM and Danjaq, L.L.C. (owner of EON Productions) to file suit against Sony and McClory, barring them from making the film. Plans for this third movie were abandoned in 1999 when Sony settled with MGM, ceding any rights to making James Bond films. McClory still claims ownership of the film rights to Thunderball, although MGM and EON have also asserted McClory's rights to Thunderball have expired. Likewise in the settlement, MGM relinquished to Sony their partial rights to Spider-Man, allowing Sony to release the film in 2002. (In 2005, a Sony-led partnership ended up buying MGM.) MGM obtained the film distribution rights to Never Say Never Again from Warner Bros. in 1997.

Related Topics:
Sony - Liam Neeson - Timothy Dalton - MGM - Danjaq, L.L.C. - 1999 - Spider-Man - 2002

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the middle of the onslaught of lawsuits between Sony and MGM, Sony countersued MGM in 1998 attempting to claim that McClory was the coauthor of the cinematic Bond and was owed fees from Danjaq and MGM for all past films. This matter, which McClory calls "The Greatest Act of Piracy in the History of the Motion Picture Industry", was thrown out in 2000 by Judge Edward Rafeedie on the ground that McClory had waited too long to bring his claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Rafeedie's decision soon thereafter.{{ref|full_decision}} Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote: "So, like our hero James Bond, exhausted after a long adventure, we reach the end of our story."{{ref|Judge_ruling}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~