The follow-up, set just one question after the last you heard from me. Scandals, favourites, the Idris Elba Bond discussion and a bonus round, below!
4. Do you have any stories from real life you find especially memorable in the world of espionage? Why so?
I’ve done a university assignment on the Profumo Affair, and my first conclusion on that one is that the affair itself was the least interesting aspect of any of that story! There are entire places to go speaking about the housing situation at the time, specifically in relation to again conversations around the Windrush Generation. That’s before we get into the organised crime matters, conversations about class, race, patriarchy, the power of media and the respectability of government, not to mention the Cold War aspect. Because of all these things, and more, for that matter, it has been dramatized more than once, and subject to many a documentary, though I will often argue the focus of the better stories are often lost to a government ‘scandal’ which would these days probably not make it to ‘mild outrage’ stage as opposed to, ‘expected’. That’s as political as I’m getting for now, though.
5. Are there tensions between what is believable in fiction and what we have learned recently from real life cases such as the Snowden revelations in the US or the Salisbury poisonings in the UK?
And this is where we get a little more downbeat, I suppose. To say the truth is regularly stranger than fiction is getting truer by the day. You just can’t really be an easy arch-nemesis for a spy protagonist easily because whatever you thought of probably happened in the last 5-10 years. That said, there’s no reason that a variation can’t work for you in your story, depending on the one you’re trying to tell.
6. Best spy hero?
For all I’ve spoken about Bond up to now, this is our casual reminder that he’s not so much a spy as a government assassin. To that end, I find it difficult to look past Harry Pearce, head of Section D, in Spooks (which is known in other places as MI:5). He had a wonderful combination of great lines, operational genius at times and later you see what he’s like when someone’s coming for him. It’s an impressive thing to watch. Though I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s a ‘hero’ all the time either.
7. …and favourite spy villain?
So many good choices here. I already mentioned Xenia Onatopp, who just steals many a scene. Silva from Skyfall is perhaps the most effective for me in the modern Bonds. I’m a big fan of Solomon Lane from the Mission: Impossible series overall. And have to say Davian from MI:3, played by the late Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, was one of the nastiest to grace a screen. Did any of them have Kananga’s panache though? Hmmm, now there’s a question…
8. Scenario question: your protagonist is deep undercover and ends in a relationship to keep cover, what is their ethical approach to this? Have they got rules, or would they do anything they had to for their chosen allegiance?
Hmmm. Much as Simone would try very hard to avoid being in that situation in the first place, the answer I think probably depends upon who. However, she’s very definitely got rules, as much for her own protection as anything else. This will possibly come up in the future, I suspect. As a general one though, she tries to get out of any sticky situations causing the least mess possible. She’s not an assassin, but sometimes surprises even herself with how well she can handle herself in a pinch.
9. Speculation continues about the next James Bond and Idris Elba’s name comes up frequently. What’s your thoughts on this?
Many and complex, is the short answer here. But to keep things as simple as possible, It’s pretty obvious he would have been great had the opportunity arisen, and there was a time I’d have loved to have seen this happen, but the length of time Daniel Craig held the gig with various delays etc. put him past the window of opportunity I think. With that said, I think they could do a lot, lot worse than bringing him in as the head antagonist of one of the films. Getting a good villain is as important as the Bond casting, and will bring more out of the Bond if done right. Just using the Craig era as an example LeChiffre was about right for what he was there for, Silva was for me the best of them, balancing charisma and threat nicely. Dominic Greene and Safin fell a bit flat for me, which is quite disappointing given their relative positioning. But I think so much more should have been done with Blofeld, considering his place in the series as a whole and that they couldn’t have cast him any better than with the magnificent Christophe Waltz. Give Elba the right part, and he’d be right up there with the greats.
The two other things I would say here are this. First off, while we’ve got a gap between where the franchise wants to go next, what I want to see more than anything is a spin-off where Nomi and Paloma go on an adventure, and I’ll tell that to anyone who happens to be listening at a given time. I promise you with the right script that could rock. The other is that as much as I love the Bond series and the other major franchises out here, on the theme of Spyfunk! I’d much rather see a dedicated original film franchise emerge from the diaspora somehow. I can think of many things which could be done and so if I get the chance to finish some adventures with Simone and her crew, maybe I could be allowed to demonstrate with one or two myself! Who am I kidding? Where am I going to find the time for this?
I mean, who wouldn’t want to see this as as standalone spin-off adventure?
10. Any questions you want to ask me?
Now, you’ll notice that this is definitely one of my questions, and it would be a bit of an odd loop if I were to respond to this as above, wouldn’t it? So what we’ll do is this. How about I treat this as an, “ask me” below and we’ll do that instead, eh?
You know where to find me. And you know how to ask.
And finally – from espionage to the stars! I’ve got a story coming out in this too – stay tuned for more news on that one!