No Time To Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga has said that he was still writing the movie's screenplay after filming had wrapped, stating that for certain parts of the third act the process was almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.
During an interview with Esquire Middle East, the director delved into his time on Bond 25. When initially taking the helm, Fukunaga had limited time to develop the script before production began – a factor that seems to have led to the director still working on its screenplay as the film entered post-production.
“With Maniac we were writing as we shot, and after we finished, I told myself that I was never doing that again," Fukunaga told Esquire, referring to his Netflix show starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. "But then with Bond, we were still writing when we’d wrapped. I was even writing in post!”
Part of the difficulty for Fukunaga came as Daniel Craig himself injured his ankle early into filming. With the film's lead restricted, the director was forced to begin writing and filming scenes off the cuff with uncertainty surrounding how they'd be pieced together in the film's final cut.
“I was writing dialogue that was intentional enough, but vague enough, that I could apply it to a number of different things happening in the third act. It was almost like a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ novel writing these pages: ‘If this happened here, and you have to go here, then this page will work for that,'" he said.
"When we finally put the film together, it all made sense, somehow all fit together. But I’ll tell you a secret, that I think is okay now that we’re so close to release, there are pieces that Ralph Fiennes says in the trailer that neither Ralph nor I knew exactly what he was saying it for,” said Fukunaga.
Fortunately for Fukunaga, No Time To Die had a team of seasoned actors who each pitched in with their own thoughts and ideas throughout production. “I would look at what I wrote and say, ‘look, I’m sorry, Ralph, this is the really non-subtextual version of this,’ and then have Ralph deliver something that turns my shitty throwaway line into something great. And Rory Kinnear would know what needs to happen and add in a line of his own, and I would say, ‘Rory, that’s a f**king great line’."
To his credit, Fukunaga wasn't the first director attached to Bond 25. The American director stepped into the role after it had been vacated by Oscar-winner Danny Boyle who cited creative differences as the reason for his departure. On taking the helm, Fukunaga had a fraction of the usual time needed to prepare the script. He also wasn't solely responsible for the screenplay, which was also put together by Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
No Time To Die has already hit theatres across 54 markets and will premiere in the US on October 8. Despite an unconventional approach to finishing the film's screenplay, No Time To Die has set multiple records since its release with a $119 million international box office debut. For more on the latest Bond blockbuster, make sure to check out this article breaking down the film's ending and our No Time To Die review.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.