The World
Is Not Enough
25th Anniversary
1999–2024

KEVIN HARPER looks back at the production of The World Is Not Enough, released 25 years ago as the 19th entry in the long-running James Bond film series. Following the action-packed Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Pierce Brosnan’s third 007 adventure was a conscious attempt to craft a more realistic fantasy, with new writers and a director chosen for his dramatic background.

Following the spectacular box-office receipts of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Pierce Brosnan’s second appearance as Ian Fleming’s secret agent consolidated his successful reinvention of the character for the 1990s, after losing the role to Timothy Dalton in 1986. Now a bankable international star, Brosnan could choose diverse projects in-between Bond films, and next starred in Grey Owl (1999) for acclaimed director Richard Attenborough. Although the biopic of real-life British schoolboy turned Native American trapper Archibald Belaney (1888–1938) was a critical and commercial failure, Brosnan bounced back with The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) directed by John McTiernan, and co-starring model turned actress Rene Russo. A remake of the 1968 film of the same name starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, The Thomas Crown Affair, was a huge international hit and co-produced by United Artists and Pierce Brosnan’s own production company Irish DreamTime. By his own admission, Thomas Crown was hardly a stretch acting-wise, but Brosnan was keen to show off his versatility and make his James Bond a more rounded character. MGM/UA and EON Productions were also keen to capitalise on their new incarnation of James Bond, and while Tomorrow Never Dies was on release in late 1997 co-producers Michael G. Wilson & Barbara Broccoli began to look for writers.

British screenwriting duo Neal Purvis & Robert Wade were invited to meet the producers after their recent script for the 1999 historical action comedy Plunkett & Macleane had met with their approval. Purvis & Wade had begun their film career with the acclaimed British drama Let Him Have It (1991), starring Christopher Eccleston as Derek Bentley – a teenager convicted of the murder of a police officer and hanged in 1953 under controversial circumstances. Plunkett & Macleane saw the re-teaming of Robert Carlyle [who would be cast as Renard in The World Is Not Enough] and Jonny Lee Miller [grandson of Bernard Lee who appeared as M in 13 James Bond films (1962-1979)] who had both appeared in Trainspotting (1996), directed by Danny Boyle. 16 years later Boyle was artistic director for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and conceived the memorable short film ‘Happy and Glorious’, featuring the cameo appearance of HM Queen Elizabeth and her escort James Bond [Daniel Craig] ‘skydiving’ into the stadium at the start of the games. Boyle was later chosen as the original director of BOND 25 [which became No Time To Die (2021)], but left the project during pre-production along with his screenwriter John Hodge, citing ‘creative differences’ as the reason for their departure. Purvis & Wade delivered their first draft treatment simply called ‘Elektra’ in early February 1998; and a full script, now entitled The World Is Not Enough dated June 18th. The title was taken from the family motto of Bond's supposed real-world ancestor Sir Thomas Bond, mentioned in Ian Fleming’s ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1963), and seen in its Latin form of “Orbis non sufficit” on Bond’s coat-of-arms in the 1969 film version. With a script that had more emphasis on drama rather than action, Wilson & Broccoli approached acclaimed English television and film director and producer Michael Apted (1941-2021) to bring BOND 19 to the screen. Apted was widely perceived as a so-called “woman’s director”, whose work was largely focused on films with a strong central female performance; Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) starring Sissy Spacek as Country singer Loretta Lynn; Gorillas in the Mist (1988) starring Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey; and the 1994 drama Nell starring Jodie Foster had earned all three actresses Oscar nominations, with Spacek winning. Another of Apted’s early films was Agatha (1979) starring Vanessa Redgrave, Dustin Hoffman, and Timothy Dalton. The film focused on renowned crime writer Agatha Christie's famous 11-day disappearance in 1926. This well-made period piece was edited by Jim Clark, who would again work with Michael Apted on Nell (1988), and performed the same duties on The World Is Not Enough (1999).

Michael Apted’s wife, American screenwriter and television/film producer Dana Stevens then did an uncredited rewrite on The World Is Not Enough, primarily to flesh out the female characters’ roles – particularly in those scenes between Elektra (Sophie Marceau) and M (Judi Dench). The kidnapping of Bond’s MI6 boss had been originated by Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham) in the first non-Fleming James Bond novel COLONEL SUN (1968). Although not directly credited in The World Is Not Enough, Kingsley Amis was acknowledged in the end credits of Spectre (2015), as the torture scene [and much of the dialogue] between Bond (Daniel Craig) and Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) was lifted directly from COLONEL SUN. With the female roles now strengthened, Pierce Brosnan felt James Bond was now somewhat overshadowed and American screenwriter Bruce Feirstein [who had co-written GoldenEye (1995) with Jeffrey Caine, and was the sole-credited writer on Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)], returned to revise the role and also provided the brief and poignant final scene for Desmond Llewelyn as Q. The Welsh-born actor, who had played the gadget-master in 17 James Bond films since 1963, was killed in a car crash on December 19, 1999 on his way home from a book signing event.

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