Young Simon Templar
Here's a thought...my eldest son has recently discovered both Young James Bond and Alex Rider (he's only 7, so I'll give him a year or two before I let him discover the Saint).
Of course, I couldn't miss the opportunity to read the books either and they got me thinking. The Bond books in particular are rather splendidly written; Charlie Higson has done a superb job of taking Fleming's character to Eton and shows an excellent understanding of how to put together a Bond story.
Would a Young Simon Templar work?Labels: 2006, James Bond
3 Comments:
Are you talking about a Harry Potter like movie about a young Saint getting into all sorts of mischief? Isn't that a bit like the beginning of the Val Kilmer movie? I'd prefer to see Simon Templar in his prime, and driving a sporty Volvo!
I knew you'd bring up the Kilmer movie! Yes I guess in some ways it would be like it--by the way I'm not by any means advocating or supporting this, I just think the young Bond books are rather good, so wondered what folks think about a young Saint.
But I do think the Saint would have to be re-established first!
I was thinking the Young Bond books would be terrible - but I was very pleasantly disappointed. Likewise, if The Saint was tackled by a good writer, it has the potential to be fascinating. Simon Templar would be more interesting than Alex Rider or Bond because he would be a real adventurer - I can imagine a piratanical seventeen year old who has a childish enthusiasm for life but a curiously mature drive and morality. Discovering how and why The Saint developed into the smiling, devilish buccaneer would be fascinating.
I've tried writing stories about a character that encapsulates everything great about The Saint (who's heard the Sound of the Trumpet) but brings him up to date. I wanted to think about what a Saintly attitude would get you in today's modern world...
But it got me thinking... If you wrote stories about a young Saint, when would you set them? Chronologically, the Saint was just too young to have avoided the first world war (as you can guess from what he says in The Last Hero.) But his career spanned sixty years! He was still a devilish thirty year old in the 1980s. When would you set the stories?
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