This James Bond Story Deserves a Movie Adaptation

This James Bond short story would be the perfect entryway to a new cinematic era for the MI6 super spy.

Before the James Bond series became one of the most successful ongoing franchises in cinematic history, it was a groundbreaking series of espionage novels that provided a similar intriguing hook to international readers. The British novelist Ian Fleming, who also wrote the children's classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, wrote twelve novels about the world's classiest MI6 super spy and inspired the film series. Additionally, he wrote nine short stories that have also inspired various installments in the series. Fleming's role in shaping Bond was essential, and anything he's written about the character has some sort of value. That includes Bond's quick escape into the Big Apple that was the subject of "007 in New York," the James Bond short story that still deserves an adaptation as the franchise figures out its next direction in the wake of Daniel Craig's final appearance as the character in No Time To Die.

Compared to some of Fleming's other short stories that were adapted to the big screen, such as Quantum of Solace and The Living Daylights, "007 in New York" is relatively light on plot. The 12-page adventure was originally published in the October 1963 edition of the New York Herald Tribune, and focused on Bond's somewhat tumultuous adventures in the Big Apple. Bond ventures to New York City in order to inform an American CIA agent that her boyfriend is actually in league with the KGB, and completes his mission with relative ease.

Unlike some of Fleming's other shorts, there's more focus on Bond's opinions about his "American cousins" rather than the details of his mission. However, that singular element is enough to warrant the expansion into a feature length adventure, as Bond has only occasionally traveled to the United States over the course of the franchise. While the Craig era of the franchise explored how Bond fit into a post-9/11 world and spent time detailing his relationship with Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), there hasn't been a Bond film that has spent a significant amount of time in New York. A feature film version of "007 in New York" would be the perfect way for the next era of the franchise to find a new, globalized element that shows how Bond is perceived by a different country.

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Fleming's life was actually just as exciting as the characters he created, as his adventures in the navy between 1938 and 1952 were thought to serve as the inspiration for many of his stories. Fleming's personal exploits were actually the subject of an underrated 2014 miniseries titled Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, which starred Dominic Cooper as a version of the author who was just as suave and debonair as 007 himself. "007 in New York" is one of only four of Fleming's original titles that have yet to be adapted, alongside "Risico," "The Hildebrand Reality," and "The Property Of The Lady."

Bond fans know that some of the film adaptations tend to be more accurate than others. 2006's Casino Royale is a fairly straightforward adaptation that even uses specific lines from the novel, including Bond's venomous final words for Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), the one "Bond girl" that actually broke his heart. However, 1979's Moonraker has nothing in common with the legitimately thrilling, reality-based Fleming novel that didn't feature lasers, Jaws, or the idea of James Bond going to space.

What makes Fleming's short stories valuable is the specifics of his writing; he offers up details about the character that are priceless, and it's no secret that many of the best Bond adventures are those that were closer to his original conception of the character. While the Timothy Dalton era of the series was unfairly maligned during its initial release, time has proven to be very kind to both The Living Daylights and License to Kill. Dalton frequently discussed the importance of staying true to Fleming's original depiction of the character; like Craig, he played Bond as a darker assassin who acknowledges the inherent heartlessness of the character.

While there are many Bond films set in the United States, the franchise has more often used America as the butt of a joke. The borderline racist blaxploitation elements of Louisiana's depiction in Live and Let Die, the elaborate Las Vegas scenery of Diamonds Are Forever, and Christopher Walken's campy Silicon Valley shenanigans in A View To A Kill all rank among the franchise's low points. Bond has occasionally visited or mentioned New York, and it's only in Live and Let Die that he spends a prolonged amount of time in the city for a few expositional scenes that set up the character of Mister Big (Yaphet Kotto) before the film shifts gears and heads to Louisiana. Clearly, any New York-set adventure in Bond's future would have to develop a more modern perspective.

Placing Bond within the center stage of American capitalism is an inherently exciting prospect; how would Bond react to figures such as Succession's #1 boy, Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong)? Seeing Bond face off against greedy Wall Street tycoons would certainly be an interesting new take on the Bond villain. One of the reasons that villains such as Javier Bardem's Silva and Mads Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre were so terrifying were that they felt realistic; a ruthless internet hacker and the arms dealer of a major drug cartel were far more believable than a crazy SPECTRE terrorist hell-bent on creating a ridiculous weapon. Is there anything scarier for a 21st century espionage franchise than American greed?

Although the specific casting of Craig's replacement is important, what matters more for the franchise as it moves into its future is what it chooses to do differently compared to its predecessors. Bond can no longer exist just in a vacuum, and seeing how his adventures are perceived by a different culture would be an interesting way to distinguish the franchise moving forward. A "007 in New York" film would be worth it just to see Bond make jokes at the expense of Americans; can his English-speaking counterparts match his level of classiness?

Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for eight years with bylines at Dallas Observer, About.com, Taste of Cinema, Dallas Morning News, Schmoes Know, Rebel Scum, and Central Track. He aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in McKinney, TX.