{{Short description|British screenwriting duo (born 1961)}} {{Use British English|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox writer |name=Neal Purvis |birth_date=September 1961 (age {{Age|September 1961}}) |birth_place= |occupation=Screenwriter }} {{Infobox writer |name=Robert Wade |birth_name=Robert Newton Wade |birth_date=September 1961 (age {{Age|September 1961}}) |birth_place= |occupation=Screenwriter }}
'''Neal Purvis''' (born September 1961)<ref>https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/mEjaooPx8778jYpijs1CVnlrGmU/appointments</ref> and '''Robert Wade''' (born September 1961)<ref>https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/eOrKeL7XgG898TC3i2OI0G1mjT8/appointments</ref> are British screenwriters. They are best known for writing seven James Bond films, from 1999's ''The World Is Not Enough'' to 2021's ''No Time to Die''.<ref name="digitalspy">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a433485/skyfall-writer-john-logan-to-pen-next-james-bond-movie.html|title='Skyfall' writer John Logan to pen next James Bond movie |work=Digital Spy|first=Christian |last=Tobin|date=25 October 2012 |access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Vincent|last=Dowd|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63143081|title=James Bond: Duo were 'privileged' to renew 007 story|website=BBC|date=7 October 2022|accessdate=11 February 2024}}</ref>
==Early lives== Purvis's father was a photographer, and as a teenager, Purvis was in a film club that focused on 1940s cinema.<ref name="masterclass">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/screenwritersmas00kevi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/screenwritersmas00kevi/page/347 347] |quote=isbn:1557046921 wade. |title=Screenwriters' Masterclass: Screenwriters Talk About Their Greatest Movies |publisher=HarperCollins |author= Kevin Conroy Scott |date=2006-03-06 |access-date=2012-10-24 |isbn=9781557046925}}</ref>
Wade was born in Penarth and lived there until he was 11.<ref name="penarthtimes1">{{cite news |url=https://penarthtimes.co.uk/news/latestnews/9991370.Inspired_by_childhood_in_Penarth__James_Bond_screenwriter_set_for_world_premiere_of_new_007_movie_Skyfall |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118204843/https://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/latestnews/9991370.Inspired_by_childhood_in_Penarth__James_Bond_screenwriter_set_for_world_premiere_of_new_007_movie_Skyfall_/ |url-status=live |archive-date=2018-11-18 |title=Inspired by childhood in Penarth: James Bond screenwriter set for world premiere of new 007 movie Skyfall! |work=Penarth Times |date=2012-10-18 |access-date=2012-10-24}}</ref> His mother was an artist, and from an early age, he wanted to be a writer and began making homemade films as a teenager.<ref name="masterclass"/>
They met each other while attending the University of Kent, when they were assigned as roommates.<ref name="masterclass"/> They began playing in a band together, which they continued to do for at least 20 years.<ref name="masterclass"/> Purvis left Kent and completed a BA in Film and Photo Arts.<ref name="masterclass"/> Wade graduated from Kent and moved to London, where he was later joined by Purvis.<ref name="masterclass"/> They spent six years writing scripts together, as well as ghostwriting treatments for music videos.<ref name="masterclass"/>
==Films== Wade and Purvis' screenplay for ''Let Him Have It'' (1991) (based on the true story of Derek Bentley, a young man who gets caught up in street gangs in post war London and is later controversially hanged), displayed the writers' "outrage toward a system hell-bent on vengeance"<ref name="Wiener2002">{{cite book|last=Wiener|first=Tom|title=The off-Hollywood film guide: the definitive guide to independent and foreign films on video and DVD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvLNn3boZjoC&pg=PT369|year=2002|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=9780812992076|page=369}}</ref> and was called "first rate, no non-sense".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qKqcD3VMi0C&pg=PA312|title=John Simon on Film: Criticism, 1982–2001 |author=John Ivan Simon |year=2005 |isbn=9781557835079 }}</ref>
Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, hired Wade and Purvis to write their first Bond script because she had seen their film ''Plunkett & Macleane'' (1999) and liked that it was "dark, witty, sexy and inventive".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40UTI-uUHpwC&pg=PA27 |title=Movie Moguls Speak: Interviews With Top Film Producers |author = Steven Priggé |date=January 2004 |isbn=9780786419296 |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> Purvis described their approach when they joined the Bond franchise as to "come in with ideas, things we've found in science magazines, on the internet, interesting weapons and what's happening in technology. Then we find a journey for Bond to go through."<ref name="Pomerance2004">{{cite book|last=Pomerance|first=Murray|author-link = Murray Pomerance|title=Bad: Infamy, Darkness, Evil, and Slime on Screen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po5Z4wDu8rgC&pg=PA175|year=2004|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791459409|page=175}} Pomerance is citing a quote recorded by Yarborough in 2000 work.</ref> In their Bond collaborations, Wade generally does "all the verbiage at the beginning of the script."<ref name="Scott2006">{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Kevin Conroy|title=Screenwriters' Masterclass: Screenwriters Talk About Their Greatest Movies|url=https://archive.org/details/screenwritersmas00kevi|url-access=registration|access-date=27 October 2012|date=6 March 2006|publisher=Newmarket Press|isbn=9781557046925|pages=[https://archive.org/details/screenwritersmas00kevi/page/347 347]–}}</ref> They created a novelisation of their Bond script for ''The World Is Not Enough'' in collaboration with Raymond Benson.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/worldisnotenough00bens |url-access=registration |quote=Robert Wade film OR screenwriter OR movie OR film. |title=The World Is Not Enough: A Novel |year=1999 |publisher=Berkley |author1=Raymond Benson |author2=Neil Purvis |author3=Robert Wade |isbn=9780425173503 |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> Wade and Purvis also wrote a script for a Bond spin-off featuring the ''Die Another Day'' character Jinx (Halle Berry), which was attached to director Stephen Frears, but cancelled by MGM because of budget concerns and "creative differences".<ref name="spinoff">{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Sir Roger|title=Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 years of James Bond Movies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbgW5w347KIC&pg=PT77|year=2012|publisher=Globe Pequot|isbn=9780762789696|page=77}}</ref>
Their 2003 Bond parody, ''Johnny English'' starring comedian Rowan Atkinson, received generally mixed reviews from critics, receiving a 33% "rotten" rating at the review site Rotten Tomatoes.<ref name="rotten">{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/johnny_english/|work=Rotten Tomatoes|title=Johnny English at Rottentomatoes|date=18 July 2003 |access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref> However, the film earned $160.5 million in its global box office receipts.<ref name="washpost">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/johnny-english-reborn,1177502/critic-review.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023002439/http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/johnny-english-reborn,1177502/critic-review.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2011|title=Critic Review for Johnny English Reborn|first=Sean | last=O'Connell|date=21 October 2011|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=28 October 2012}}</ref> A sequel, ''Johnny English Reborn'', based upon their characters but written by Hamish McColl, was released in 2011.<ref name="washpost"/><ref name="IMDBjer">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634122/fullcredits#cast|title=Johnny English Reborn (2011) – Full cast and crew|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=27 October 2012}} {{unreliable source?|date=October 2012}}</ref>
Purvis and Wade wrote<ref name="Cameron-Wilson2006">{{cite book|last=Cameron-Wilson|first=James|title=Film Review 2006–2007|url=https://archive.org/details/filmreview20062000jame_0|url-access=registration|access-date=27 October 2012|date=1 October 2006|publisher=Reynolds & Hearn|isbn=9781905287284}}</ref> and produced<ref name="Riggs2007">{{cite book|last=Riggs|first=Thomas|title=Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-VkAAAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Gale|isbn=9780787690502}}</ref> ''Return to Sender'' (also known as ''Convicted''), which was described as a "gripping tale" of a man "fighting to prevent a miscarriage of justice".<ref name="Cameron-Wilson2006"/> They had originally written the script while doing research for their first film 14 years earlier.<ref name="empire">{{cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=15659|title=Male Bonding – 007 screenwriters speak|date=9 March 2004|work=Empire|access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref>
In 2005, they co-authored the bio-pic ''Stoned'' (also known as ''The Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones'') about the last days of the life of The Rolling Stones co-founder, Brian Jones, which they based on an account from a builder on the farm where Jones died, claiming that Jones's death was not accidental as recorded by the coroner.<ref name="seattletimes"/> The film was criticised for "fail[ing] to convey what mattered about Jones artistically, what he contributed to music, why we should feel more than pity."<ref name="seattletimes">{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2002900494_stoned31.html|title=Movies: "Stoned": The final days of a Rolling Stone|first=Tom | last=Keogh|date=31 March 2006|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref>
When Daniel Craig was signed on as the new Bond, Wade described their approach to screenwriting thus: "When you have an actor you play to his strengths ... He's got this great toughness to him but not an unthinking toughness. I think that's where the films will need to go."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6153810.stm |title= Film writers who 'rebuilt' Bond |work=BBC News |date=17 November 2006 |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> Their first work for Craig as Bond, ''Casino Royale'', was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=5168 |title=Interview: Robert Wade and Neal Purvis: The Voice of Bond |work=The Trades |date=29 January 2007 |access-date=24 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213161032/http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=5168 |archive-date=13 December 2012}}</ref> and received a 4/4 review from Roger Ebert, who stated that the film "has the answers to all my complaints about the forty-five-year-old James Bond series, and some I hadn't even thought of."<ref name="Ebert2008">{{cite book|last=Ebert|first=Roger|title=Roger Ebert's Four Star Reviews—1967–2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LNBX1H4C98QC&pg=PA136|year=2008|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=9780740771798|page=136}}</ref> However, their follow up ''Quantum of Solace'', which was not based on any Ian Fleming work, was criticised because while having "the right ingredients: plenty of car, plane or boat chases ... spooks, vendettas, and turncoats", it lacked the "magic, and a decent plot."<ref name="bloomberg">{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ar4nZ6QXbPbg&refer=home|title=James Bond Seduces in Comeback, Loses Old 007 License to Thrill|last=Farah Nayeri|date=26 October 2008|publisher=Bloomberg L.P.|access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref>
Their screenplay for ''Skyfall'', which they co-wrote with John Logan, was described by Frank DiGiacomo of ''Movieline'' as being "very wily" for having Bond experience a mid-life crisis.<ref>{{cite web|author=Frank DiGiacomo |url=http://movieline.com/2012/10/15/skyfall-early-reaction-james-bond-daniel-craig-javier-bardem/ |title='Skyfall' early review |publisher=Movieline |date=15 October 2012 |access-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> In 2012, it was announced that "after a tremendous run" with the Bond franchise, Wade and Purvis would not be involved in the 24th Bond film, which would be solo written by Logan.<ref name="digitalspy"/> However, on 27 June 2014, it was announced that they were being brought on to polish the screenplay for the next film.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=McNary|first=Dave|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/neal-purvis-robert-wade-write-24th-james-bond-movie-1201253200/|title=Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Returning to Write 24th James Bond Movie|magazine=Variety|date=27 June 2014|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> In November 2014, it was announced that the BBC has commissioned Wade and Purvis to adapt Len Deighton's 1978 novel ''SS-GB.'' It was broadcast on BBC One in five one-hour episodes from 19 February 2017 and 19 March 2017.
On 10 March 2017, it was reported that they were approached to write the script for ''No Time to Die''.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Barraclough|first=Leo|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/neal-purvis-robert-wade-write-24th-james-bond-movie-1201253200/|title=James Bond: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Approached to Write Next 007 Movie (Report)|magazine=Variety|date=10 March 2017|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> In July 2017, it was initially reported they would write the script,<ref name="Bond25">{{cite magazine|title=Next James Bond Movie Sets 2019 Release Date|last1=Couch|first1=Aaron|last2=Kit|first2=Borys|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/james-bond-25-sets-2019-release-date-1023977|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|date=24 July 2017|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> but in May 2018, EON announced that director Danny Boyle was instead working with his regular collaborator John Hodge on a new script.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/bond-25-universal-international-rights-1202822141/|title=Universal Wins International Rights to James Bond 25|magazine=Variety|date=10 March 2017|access-date=24 July 2017}}</ref> In September 2018, following Boyle's departure from the project, Purvis and Wade were re-hired to write a new script.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pulver|first=Andrew|title=Veteran 007 writers Purvis and Wade rehired to salvage Bond 25|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/14/james-bond-25-007-writers-neal-purvis-robert-wade-rehired|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 September 2018|access-date=14 September 2018}}</ref>
==Family life== Wade and his wife live in West Sussex and have four children.<ref name="penarthtimes1"/>
==Filmography==
===Film=== {|class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Director ! Notes |- | 1991 | ''Let Him Have It'' | Peter Medak | |- | 1997 | ''An American Werewolf in Paris'' | Anthony Waller | Uncredited rewrite |- | 1999 | ''Plunkett & Macleane'' | Jake Scott | |- | 1999 | ''The World Is Not Enough'' | Michael Apted | |- | 2002 | ''Die Another Day'' | Lee Tamahori | |- | 2003 | ''Johnny English'' | Peter Howitt | |- | 2004 | ''Return to Sender'' | Bille August | |- | 2005 | ''Stoned'' | Stephen Woolley | rowspan="2"|Also co-producers |- | 2006 | ''Casino Royale'' | Martin Campbell |- | 2008 | ''Quantum of Solace'' | Marc Forster | |- | 2011 | ''Johnny English Reborn'' | Oliver Parker | Characters created by only |- | 2012 | ''Skyfall'' | rowspan="2"|Sam Mendes | |- | 2015 | ''Spectre'' | |- | 2021 | ''No Time to Die'' | Cary Joji Fukunaga | |}
===Television=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Title ! width="65" |Writers ! width="65" |Executive<br>producers ! Notes |- | 2017 | ''SS-GB'' | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |}
Refs:<ref name="masterclass"/><ref name="WillisMonush2010">{{cite book|last1=Willis|first1=John|last2=Monush|first2=Barry|title=Screen World: The Films of 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxunSeshPngC&pg=PA258|year=2010|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781557837295|page=258}}</ref><ref name="variety2012">{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118061314?refCatId=13|title=John Logan to write next two Bond films|last=Dave McNary|date=26 October 2012|work=Variety|access-date=27 October 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0701031|Neal Purvis}} *{{IMDb name|0905498|Robert Wade}}
{{Johnny English}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purvis, Neal and Robert Wade}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century English male writers Category:21st-century English male writers Category:English television writers Category:English screenwriters Category:English male screenwriters Category:British male television writers Category:Screenwriting duos Category:Welsh television writers Category:20th-century Welsh screenwriters Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Alumni of the University of Kent Category:21st-century Welsh screenwriters Category:21st-century English writers