THN Interviews Stevan Riley Director Of ‘Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story Of 007’

In the 50th year since DR. NO shot onto cinema screens one man, Stevan Riley, was charged with telling the untold story of 007. With EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007 available on DVD now, and SKYFALL released on Blu-ray and DVD 18th February, we had a chance to discuss the documentary and his thoughts on Sam Mendes’ Bond:

How did you first become involved in Everything Or Nothing?

The film’s producers John Battsek and Simon Chinn had long been in touch with the Bond filmmakers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, about making the first ever cinema documentary on James Bond to commemorate the 50th Anniversary.  I was invited to pitch as director.  It interested me how Bond had indeed lasted 50 years – the longest running film series in history.  I set about researching the struggles faced by the creators of Bond, notably the writer Ian Fleming and the producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman who first brought Bond to the silver screen.  I wanted to portray the survival story of Bond and answer the question – while Bond was saving the world, who was saving James Bond?

Are you a Bond superfan, and if so how did it feel to be in charge of this documentary?

I’m not sure I qualify for the badge of superfan.  Having met several hardcore fans in the course of my research, they represent another level.  Like most Brits I grew up on the movies and it was a big event in our household when Bond would be on TV at Xmas. It was an exciting prospect for me as director to be entrusted with such a powerful cinematic and cultural icon and to attempt to capture Bond’s legacy on film.

As it premiered as part of Global James Bond Day there must have been a lot of pressure to ensure the finished product was true to Bond’s legacy – how did you go about this?

The expectation mounted as the project progressed. There was definitely a pressure in attempting a 60-year history of Bond to do things right.  Bond’s a character that’s close to everyone’s hearts and on whom everyone has an opinion.  I knew comparatively little of the history of Bond when setting out to make the documentary, but made sure to watch all the films and read every book I could get my hands on.  I developed a keen interest in the human stories behind the scenes.  There was a great deal of drama in the fight to protect Bond involving larger-than-life personalities and some real-life villainy, not unlike a Bond film itself.

Everything Or Nothing is spectacularly edited with footage from Bond’s past used to act out what is being said by the contributors. Whose idea was this originally and how difficult was it to put together?

Using clips from the Bond films to represent the story of the real-world characters was a happy solution to several problems.  Firstly there wasn’t a wealth of original archive footage for Fleming, Broccoli or Saltzman.  The film starts with Fleming and explains that the character of Bond was semi-autobiographical, based on many of the author’s own experiences and his alter-egotistical fantasies.  It worked nicely therefore to show Fleming’s life as predating and imitating scenes from the films.  Once the style was set, it was fun to apply it to the rest of the characters.

I wanted also for the documentary to mimic the feel and tone of a Bond film, so using movie clips and original music score was a no-brainer.  It was also a neat device to serve the audience many of their favourite Bond moments. The same intention applied to the pace and rhythm of the edit. The energetic and resourceful cutting style of the documentary was a homage of sorts to pioneering Bond editors like Peter Hunt.  Selecting the clips was a fiddly process and meant regularly delving into over 40 hours of Bond footage from the 23 movies produced to date.  Co-writer Peter Ettedgui was a special help, bringing to bear his encyclopaedic knowledge of the movies.

How was it working with Simon Chinn and John Battsek, two massively successful, Oscar-winning, documentary producers?

I’ve worked with John before, he produced a film I directed called ‘Fire in Babylon’ so we already had a good relationship.  Simon and John obviously know their stuff and provide fantastic support, not least during the trickier times.  They put a lot of faith in me to pursue a vision and are the sort of producers for whom you want to do a good job.

Was it disappointing not have Sean Connery directly involved in the project?

We were of course very keen to get Sir Sean.  He’s the iconic Bond in most peoples’ minds, and the actor to whom the series owes its huge initial success.  We made several approaches at different times and via various contacts but he repeatedly declined.  The film does not shy away from the frustrations Sean had with playing the character or his fallouts outs with Harry and Cubby.  Sean was very explicit in archive footage as to his grievances and it becomes obvious in watching the documentary as to why he might not have chosen to participate.

With Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman sadly no longer with us it must have been thrilling to be able to speak with Barbara Broccoli and Steven Saltzman amongst others, at such length about their fathers. What has been their reaction to the finished product?

I was lucky to get interviews with close relatives of Ian Fleming, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman.  They were all very generous with their time and incredibly honest in helping me get to the heart of the Bond story.  It became clear that we were tackling some painful family episodes, memories of which were still raw and sensitive.  I was somewhat nervous at the premiere as to how they would react to the presentation of their loved ones in all their shades so was relieved to get their unanimous approval.  It’s the highest compliment for them to have endorsed the film as the definitive Bond story.

Finally, have you seen Skyfall and what did you think of it?

I think Skyfall hit just the right note of nostalgia and celebration for a film marking the 50th anniversary.  There were plenty of fun in-jokes and nods to the past, that played to the audience’s deep affection for Bond. Javier Bardem I thought was superb as Bond villain, and Daniel expanded his role with a light humorous touch.  It has set things up nicely for the next Bond film, bringing together a whole new family of characters for M, Q and Moneypenny.  I’m looking forward to see where they take things from here.

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007 is available on DVD now, and SKYFALL will be released on Blu-ray and DVD 18th February.