LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) — The producers of James Bond films say an early version of the screenplay for the new movie "SPECTRE" is among the material stolen in the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.
According to leaked documents, studio executives hated the way the screenplay ended.
Eon Productions said Sunday it is concerned that third parties who received the screenplay might seek to publish it.
British actor Daniel Craig (C), French actress Lea Seydoux (L) and Italian actress Monica Bellucci (R) pose during an event to launch the 24th James Bond film 'Spectre' at Pinewood Studios at Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire, west of London, on December 4, 2014. French actress Lea Seydoux and Italian star Monica Bellucci will star alongside Britain's Daniel Craig in the new James Bond film 'Spectre', the producers said on December 4 at the historic Pinewood Studios. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)
The company warned it is subject to copyright protection and that "all necessary steps" would be taken to protect the rights of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Danjaq LLC, which is responsible for material related to James Bond on screen.
The folks over at the Gawker blog Defamer got their hands on the screenplay notes; here's their synopsis of the film (heavy possible spoilers ahead):
Bond, having destroyed part of Mexico City on a rogue operation, and facing forced retirement as MI-6 merges with its sister agency MI-5, escapes across Europe on a mission posthumously assigned to him by his late boss, M (played by Judi Dench). He seduces the wife (Monica Bellucci) of a man he assassinated, and, using information from her, attends a meeting of a sinister group of masked terrorists led by a man who knows Bond from his past. Meanwhile, Bond's current boss, M (Ralph Fiennes), battles his likely successor and the head of MI-5, C (Andrew Scott), over the future of an intelligence sharing program called Nine Eyes. Bond witnesses the death of Mr. White, a villain from Casino Royale, and finds White's daughter Madeiline Swann (Lea Seydoux) in Austria. The pair head to Morocco, get drunk, [have sex], have stilted conversations, take a train to the desert, and kill a henchman named Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista).
Up until that point in the story, apparently, studio executives were happy. But the third act of the film gave them plenty of concerns, Defamer reported:
The problems seem to start when Bond meets the villain, a mysterious man named Heinrich Stockmann, who also uses the alias Franz Oberhauser, played by Christoph Waltz. In an irritating expository monologue, Stockmann confesses over dinner that he is Bond's older foster-brother and also the head of a terrorist organization named Spectre. Bond is tortured; and then for unclear reasons manages to bluff Stockmann into rushing back to London, where it has become clear that C has been working for Stockmann the entire time. Bond, accompanied by Q, who was in the next cell the whole time, follows Stockmann to London, where he kills him.
In emails and notes, studio executives called the ending everything from "overblown and familiar" to "rough rough rough," with one writing in all-caps:
THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME KIND OF A TWIST RATHER THAN A SERIES OF WATERY CHASES WITH GUNS.
The screenplay troubles come on top on reports that the Bond film is way over budget, with production costs ballooning to over $300 million.
There's been speculation that North Korea is behind the cyberattack in retaliation for the upcoming comedy "The Interview." The film depicts an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has condemned the film, but denied the hack.
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