Neal Purvis and Robert Wade

Neal Purvis (born 9 September 1961) and Robert Wade (born 1962) are British screenwriters who co-wrote the seven James Bond films from 1999's The World Is Not Enough to 2020's No Time to Die,[1] as well as other works.

Neal Purvis
Born (1961-09-09) 9 September 1961
United Kingdom
OccupationScreenwriter
Robert Wade
Born1962 (age 57–58)
Penarth, Wales
OccupationScreenwriter

Early lives

Purvis' father was a photographer, and as a teenager, Purvis was in a film club that focused on 1940s cinema.[2]

Wade was born in Penarth and lived there until he was 11.[3] 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.[2]

They met each other while they were going to university at the University of Kent, when they were assigned as roommates.[2] They began playing in a band together, which they continued to do for at least 20 years.[2] Purvis left Kent and completed a BA in Film and Photo Arts.[2] Wade graduated from Kent and moved to London where he was later joined by Purvis.[2] They spent six years writing scripts together as well as ghost writing for music videos.[2]

Films

Wade and Purvis' screenplay for Let Him Have It (1991) (based on the true story of Derek 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"[4] and was called "first rate, no non-sense".[5]

Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, hired Wade and Purvis to write their first Bond script because she had seen their film Plunkett & Macleane (1999) and liked that it was "dark, witty, sexy and inventive".[6] 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."[7] In their Bond collaborations, Wade generally does "all the verbiage at the beginning of the script."[8] They created a novelisation of their Bond script for The World Is Not Enough in collaboration with Raymond Benson.[9] Wade and Purvis also wrote a script for a Bond spin-off featuring the Die Another Day character Jinx (Halle Berry), which was attached to director Stephan Frears, but nixed by MGM for budget concerns and "creative differences".[10]

Their 2003 Bond parody, Johnny English, received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, receiving a 33% "fresh" rating at the review site Rotten Tomatoes.[11] However, the film earned $160.5 million in its global box office receipts.[12] A sequel, Johnny English Reborn, based upon their characters but written by Hamish McColl, was released in 2011.[12][13]

Purvis and Wade wrote[14] and produced[15] Return to Sender (also known as Convicted), which was described as a "gripping tale" of a man "fighting to prevent a miscarriage of justice".[14] They had originally written the script while doing research for their first movie, 14 years earlier.[16]

In 2005, they co-authored the bio-pic Stoned (also known as The Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones) about the last days of the life of The Rolling Stones co-founder, Brian Jones, which they base on an account from a builder on the farm where Jones died, claiming that Jones' death was not accidental as recorded by the coroner.[17] 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."[17]

When Daniel Craig was signed on as the new Bond, Wade described their approach "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."[18] Their first work for Craig as Bond, Casino Royale, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[19] and received a Four Star 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."[20] However, their followup Quantum of Solace, which was not based on any Ian 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."[21]

Their screenplay for Skyfall, which they co-wrote with John Logan, was described by Frank DiGiacomo of Movieline as being "very wily" for having Bond experience a mid-life crisis.[22] 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.[23]

On 10 March 2017 it was reported that they were approached to write the script for No Time to Die.[24] In July 2017, it was initially reported they would write the script,[25] but in May 2018, EON announced that director Danny Boyle was instead working with his regular collaborator John Hodge on a new script.[26] In September 2018, following Boyle's departure from the project, Purvis and Wade were re-hired to write a new script.[27]

Family life

Wade and his wife live in West Sussex and have four children.[3]

Filmography
YearFilmCreditNotes
1991 Let Him Have It Written by
1999 Plunkett & Macleane[2] Co-wrote with Selwyn Roberts and Charles McKeown
The World Is Not Enough[2] Screenplay by
Story by		 Co-wrote screenplay with Bruce Feirstein
2002 Die Another Day[2] Written by
2003 Johnny English[2] Co-wrote with William Davies
2005 Stoned
2006 Casino Royale Screenplay by Co-wrote screenplay with Paul Haggis[28]
2008 Quantum of Solace Written by Co-wrote with Paul Haggis
2012 Skyfall Screenplay by Co-wrote screenplay with John Logan[29]
2015 Spectre Screenplay by
Story by		 Co-wrote screenplay with John Logan and Jez Butterworth
Co-wrote story with John Logan
2017 SS-GB Screenplay by Adapted from a novel by Len Deighton
2020 No Time to Die Screenplay by
Story by		 Co-wrote screenplay with Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Co-wrote story with Cary Joji Fukunaga
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References
  1. Christian Tobin. "'Skyfall' writer John Logan to pen next James Bond movie – Movies News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  2. Kevin Conroy Scott (6 March 2006). Screenwriters' Masterclass: Screenwriters Talk About Their Greatest Movies. HarperCollins. p. 347. ISBN 9781557046925. Retrieved 24 October 2012. isbn:1557046921 wade.
  3. "Inspired by childhood in Penarth: James Bond screenwriter set for world premiere of new 007 movie Skyfall!". Penarth Times. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  4. Wiener, Tom (1 August 2002). The off-Hollywood film guide: the definitive guide to independent and foreign films on video and DVD. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 369–. ISBN 9780812992076. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  5. John Ivan Simon. John Simon on Film: Criticism, 1982–2001. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  6. Steven Priggé. Movie Moguls Speak: Interviews With Top Film Producers. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  7. Pomerance, Murray (2004). Bad: Infamy, Darkness, Evil, and Slime on Screen. SUNY Press. pp. 175–. ISBN 9780791459409. Retrieved 27 October 2012. Pomerance is citing a quote recorded by Yarborough in 2000 work.
  8. Scott, Kevin Conroy (6 March 2006). Screenwriters' Masterclass: Screenwriters Talk About Their Greatest Movies. Newmarket Press. pp. 347–. ISBN 9781557046925. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  9. Raymond Benson; Neil Purvis; Robert Wade (1999). The World Is Not Enough: A Novel. Berkley. Retrieved 24 October 2012. Robert Wade film OR screenwriter OR movie OR film.
  10. Moore, Sir Roger (16 October 2012). Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 years of James Bond Movies. Globe Pequot. pp. 77–. ISBN 9780762789696. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  11. "Johnny English at Rottentomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  12. O'Connell, Sean (21 October 2011). "Critic Review for Johnny English Reborn". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  13. "Johnny English Reborn (2011) – Full cast and crew". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  14. Cameron-Wilson, James (1 October 2006). Film Review 2006–2007. Reynolds & Hearn. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  15. Riggs, Thomas (17 August 2007). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Gale. ISBN 9780787690502. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  16. "Male Bonding – 007 screenwriters speak". Empire. 9 March 2004. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  17. Keogh, Tom (31 March 2006). "Movies: "Stoned": The final days of a Rolling Stone". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  18. "Film writers who 'rebuilt' Bond". BBC News. 17 November 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  19. "Interview: Robert Wade and Neal Purvis: The Voice of Bond". The Trades. 29 January 2007. Archived from the original on 13 December 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  20. Ebert, Roger (1 February 2008). Roger Ebert's Four Star Reviews—1967–2007. Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 136–. ISBN 9780740771798. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  21. Farah Nayeri (26 October 2008). "James Bond Seduces in Comeback, Loses Old 007 License to Thrill". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  22. Frank DiGiacomo (15 October 2012). "'Skyfall' early review". Movieline. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  23. McNary, Dave (27 June 2014). "Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Returning to Write 24th James Bond Movie". Variety. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  24. Barraclough, Leo (10 March 2017). "James Bond: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Approached to Write Next 007 Movie (Report)". Variety. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  25. Couch, Aaron; Kit, Borys (24 July 2017). "Next James Bond Movie Sets 2019 Release Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  26. "Universal Wins International Rights to James Bond 25". Variety. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  27. Pulver, Andrew (14 September 2018). "Veteran 007 writers Purvis and Wade rehired to salvage Bond 25". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  28. Willis, John; Monush, Barry (15 May 2010). Screen World: The Films of 2006. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 258–. ISBN 9781557837295. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  29. Dave McNary (26 October 2012). "John Logan to write next two Bond films". Variety. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
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