Neal Purvis | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1961-09-09)9 September 1961 (age 63) |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
Robert Wade | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 62–63) Penarth, Wales |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
Neal Purvis (born 9 September 1961) andRobert Wade (born 1962) are British screenwriters who co-wrote sevenJames Bond films, from 1999'sThe World Is Not Enough to 2021'sNo Time to Die,[1][2] as well as other works.
Purvis's father was a photographer, and as a teenager, Purvis was in a film club that focused on 1940s cinema.[3]
Wade was born inPenarth and lived there until he was 11.[4] His mother was an artist, and from an early age he wanted to be a writer and began making home-made films as a teenager.[3]
They met each other while attending theUniversity of Kent, when they were assigned as roommates.[3] They began playing in a band together, which they continued to do for at least 20 years.[3] Purvis left Kent and completed a BA in Film and Photo Arts.[3] Wade graduated from Kent and moved to London where he was later joined by Purvis.[3] They spent six years writing scripts together as well asghost writing treatments for music videos.[3]
Wade and Purvis' screenplay forLet Him Have It (1991) (based on the true story ofDerek Bentley, a young man who gets caught up in street gangs in post war London and is later controversially hanged), displayed the writers' "outrage toward a system hell-bent on vengeance"[5] and was called "first rate, no non-sense".[6]
Barbara Broccoli, producer of theJames Bond films, hired Wade and Purvis to write their first Bond script because she had seen their filmPlunkett & Macleane (1999) and liked that it was "dark, witty, sexy and inventive".[7] Purvis described their approach when they joined the Bond franchise as to "come in with ideas, things we've found in science magazines, on the internet, interesting weapons and what's happening in technology. Then we find a journey for Bond to go through."[8] In their Bond collaborations, Wade generally does "all the verbiage at the beginning of the script."[9] They created a novelisation of their Bond script forThe World Is Not Enough in collaboration withRaymond Benson.[10] Wade and Purvis also wrote a script for a Bond spin-off featuring theDie Another Day characterJinx (Halle Berry), which was attached to directorStephen Frears, but cancelled by MGM because of budget concerns and "creative differences".[11]
Their 2003 Bond parody,Johnny English, received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, receiving a 33% "rotten" rating at the review siteRotten Tomatoes.[12] However, the film earned $160.5 million in its global box office receipts.[13] A sequel,Johnny English Reborn, based upon their characters but written byHamish McColl, was released in 2011.[13][14]
Purvis and Wade wrote[15] and produced[16]Return to Sender (also known asConvicted), which was described as a "gripping tale" of a man "fighting to prevent a miscarriage of justice".[15] They had originally written the script while doing research for their first film 14 years earlier.[17]
In 2005, they co-authored the bio-picStoned (also known asThe Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones) about the last days of the life ofThe Rolling Stones co-founder,Brian Jones, which they based on an account from a builder on the farm where Jones died, claiming that Jones's death was not accidental as recorded by the coroner.[18] The film was criticised for "fail[ing] to convey what mattered about Jones artistically, what he contributed to music, why we should feel more than pity."[18]
WhenDaniel Craig was signed on as the new Bond, Wade described their approach to screenwriting thus: "When you have an actor you play to his strengths ... He's got this great toughness to him but not an unthinking toughness. I think that's where the films will need to go."[19] Their first work for Craig as Bond,Casino Royale, was nominated for aBAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[20] and received a 4/4 review from Roger Ebert, who stated that the film "has the answers to all my complaints about the forty-five-year-old James Bond series, and some I hadn't even thought of."[21] However, their followupQuantum of Solace, which was not based on anyIan Fleming work, was criticized because while having "the right ingredients: plenty of car, plane or boat chases ... spooks, vendettas, and turncoats", it lacked the "magic, and a decent plot."[22]
Their screenplay forSkyfall, which they co-wrote withJohn Logan, was described by Frank DiGiacomo ofMovieline as being "very wily" for having Bond experience amid-life crisis.[23] In 2012, it was announced that "after a tremendous run" with the Bond franchise, Wade and Purvis would not be involved in the 24th Bond film, which would be solo written by Logan.[1] However, on 27 June 2014, it was announced that they were being brought on to polish the screenplay for the next film.[24] In November 2014, it was announced that the BBC has commissioned Wade and Purvis to adaptLen Deighton's 1978 novelSS-GB. It was broadcast on BBC One in five one-hour episodes from 19 February 2017 and 19 March 2017.
On 10 March 2017 it was reported that they were approached to write the script forNo Time to Die.[25] In July 2017, it was initially reported they would write the script,[26] but in May 2018, EON announced that directorDanny Boyle was instead working with his regular collaboratorJohn Hodge on a new script.[27] In September 2018, following Boyle's departure from the project, Purvis and Wade were re-hired to write a new script.[28]
Wade and his wife live in West Sussex and have four children.[4]
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Robert Wade film OR screenwriter OR movie OR film.
