Robert Prendergast examines the many screen portrayals of James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
This article first appeared in Film Stories issue 36.
It seems no person can live an interesting life and not find themselves the subject of a live-action adaptation, and Ian Fleming is a prime example - with his life having been shown on screen several times. The many adaptations offer wildly different takes, though all seem to have a fascination with the parallels between him and his most famous fictional character.
References to Fleming are frequent in the Bond franchise. ln No Time To Die, we find Bond reenacting Ian Fleming's life, living at the Goldeneye estate in Jamaica where Fleming resided when writing the Bond novels on his golden typewriter. In the film Bond spends his days just as Fleming did: drinking, and catching salmon. It wouldn't be a huge leap of imagination to have seen Bond at a typewriter writing, "The scent of smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning."
It's not just Fleming's work that remains relevant, but the story of his personal life is still a marvel to many. Stories of his womanising and espionage have been told and retold enough to question what is truth and what is wishful thinking applied to his most famous character. Audiences appear so keen to believe that 007 is real that we allow the magic of cinema to convince us that Fleming was in fact Bond - a misconception prolonged due to the often-exaggerated depictions of him in popular culture. The reality is somewhat different.