Barbara Broccoli has told me many times that James Bond will never be played by a woman.
She’d rather be creating interesting stories for actresses, ‘not just turning men into women’.
True to her word, she and director Reed Morano have come up with an explosive new screen heroine.
The producer has put her money where her mouth is and ripped ‘relatable’ assassin Stephanie Patrick from the pages of Mark Burnell’s 1999 novel The Rhythm Section. She has splashed her on to the big screen in the shape of Hollywood actress Blake Lively
‘Why should women have to play men’s roles?’ Broccoli asked when I met her and Morano for tea at the Piccadilly mansion that’s the headquarters of the Eon Productions empire she runs with stepbrother Michael G. Wilson.
The producer has put her money where her mouth is and ripped ‘relatable’ assassin Stephanie Patrick from the pages of Mark Burnell’s 1999 novel The Rhythm Section.
She has splashed her on to the big screen in the shape of Hollywood actress Blake Lively, in what is (for me anyway) her best role to date.
The Rhythm Section, which opens here next Friday, focuses on Stephanie Patrick, a young woman whose family were killed in a plane crash. She was meant to have been on the flight herself.
Stephanie spirals out of control after the incident but regains a semblance of control when an investigative journalist informs her that the air smash wasn’t an accident, but an act of terrorism.
Lively threw herself into the shoot, so much so that she wound up injuring her hand during a tense action scene in a kitchen. Shooting shut down for six months
‘Psychologically, she was on the edge — and the information about what really happened is a rude awakening,’ said Morano, who got Broccoli’s attention with a 132-page pitch to direct the picture.
She was already on Broccoli’s radar — and mine — for her work as the cinematographer on Frozen River, Melissa Leo’s breakthrough film in 2008. She went on to direct early episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale (which won her an array of prizes).
Morano liked the premise of watching a woman who isn’t really a killer learn the ropes.
‘She’s relatable, in that she’s not a professional. Not every punch is going to connect and not every bullet is going to hit its mark.’
Broccoli added: ‘Stephanie’s a reluctant killer. You feel her vulnerability. You’re rooting for her, because you want her to reclaim herself.’
Stephanie spirals out of control after the incident but regains a semblance of control when an investigative journalist informs her that the air smash wasn’t an accident, but an act of terrorism. Lively is pictured in character as Stephanie, left, and the Hollywood actress is seen right at a fashion show last year
Lively threw herself into the shoot, so much so that she wound up injuring her hand during a tense action scene in a kitchen. Shooting shut down for six months.
‘In these sort of movies, you need your hands,’ Broccoli said, drily, waving hers in the air.
Morano used the time to fine-tune the film’s stunts. There are several kick-ass moments. One of my favourites, though, is a meticulously choreographed car chase in an old Mercedes.
‘Usually it’s about a guy looking cool and slick,’ Broccoli told me, ‘but she doesn’t do everything perfectly.’
The Rhythm Section, which opens here next Friday, focuses on Stephanie Patrick, a young woman whose family were killed in a plane crash. She was meant to have been on the flight herself. Lively is seen above as Patrick
Morano tasked cinematographer Sean Bobbitt and his team (along with ace second unit director Chris Corbould and A-list stunt coordinators Olivier Schneider and Lee Morrison) to come up with the moves for the car chase. ‘I said: ‘Let’s make her do insane things!’.’
Another scene that still makes me chuckle involved an improvised line about a cup of tea, Lively’s knee and Jude Law’s groin.
Law plays a mysterious former British intelligence officer who trains Stephanie to be a killer, and a mistress of disguise.
But Stephanie still has a ‘moral centre’, as Broccoli put it. ‘We shouldn’t treat killing carelessly. It’s a big thing to take someone’s life.’
Broccoli and Morano were also adamant Stephanie should not be hyper-sexualised.
‘It’s not voyeuristic,’ Broccoli said.
‘It’s different when you have a female director, looking at it from a different point of view.’
There are three other Stephanie Patrick books, and Broccoli is prepared to turn them into a franchise — if The Rhythm Section fares well at the box office.
‘I love working with women — I love working with men, too! But right now, we need to have more women. And we need to have diversity,’ she told me, before adding: ‘Not only do we have to get the films made, but we have to get the films seen.’
Morano chipped in and said she and Broccoli had ‘bonded in the trenches’ and she would definitely be up for making a second Stephanie Patrick picture.
Before that happens, though, Morano will film the first two episodes of a ten-part Amazon-backed TV series based on Naomi Alderman’s brilliant feminist dystopian tome The Power.
Shooting starts next month on locations including South Africa, London and Vancouver.
Why I’m in love with the story of a bitter divorce
Whatever the reason, Noah Baumbach’s film Marriage Story gets to me every time I watch it.
I’ve viewed it on a cinema screen three times now — and more on the Netflix streaming site than I care to admit.
For me it works on many levels. Baumbach told me it’s a love story ‘hiding in a Trojan Horse of divorce’.
It also (to my mind anyway) works on a political level. The process of divorce involves compromise, but this one is taking place in a world where those who govern us don’t compromise.
Powerful: Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern. Whatever the reason, Noah Baumbach’s film Marriage Story gets to me every time I watch it
I expressed my theory to Baumbach, who laughed and said: ‘The children in the divorce are the country — and they should take better care of the country!’
The director worked closely with his stars Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Laura Dern on the film.
In Driver’s case, Baumbach said, their conversations stretched back over several years.
And all of the chats with his cast eventually informed Baumbach’s humdinger of a screenplay, which is a delicious read.
I hadn’t realised until I read it (more than once, of course) that every seemingly casual moment is scripted. Dern’s tough lawyer Nora kicking off her shoes and tucking them under her feet is a key direction in the script.
And the later moments Johansson’s Nicole shares with Nora are fabulous to read.
Baumbach told me that one of the reasons he wanted to make the film, which has been nominated for six Oscars, was to dispel the notion that ‘divorce brings up a feeling of shame’.
He said: ‘By making it a love story, it isn’t a story of failure. In a way, it’s a story of success. Because, in a way, they get through it.’
The director worked closely with his stars Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver (pictured above) and Laura Dern on the film. In Driver’s case, Baumbach said, their conversations stretched back over several years