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Barbara Broccoli grew up immersed in the world of Bond. In 1961, as Ursula Andress rose out of the sparkling waters of the Caribbean in a white bikini while filming an iconic scene from “Dr. No,” a diaper-wearing Broccoli, all of a year old, looked on from her mother’s lap. One of her earliest memories is of being sick on a remote Japanese island during the shooting of 1967’s “You Only Live Twice.” Connery intervened, lending the Broccoli family his personal doctor. School vacations were spent at Pinewood Studios, which designer Ken Adam would transform into the high-tech lairs for various Bond adversaries; or in whichever tropical paradise or European ski resort was being featured in the 007 installment of the moment.
Bond was such a vivid part of the family’s life that a young Broccoli became confused. “I thought James Bond was a real person until I was 7 or 8,” she says. “He was always talked about, so I didn’t think of him as a fictional character.”
Wilson, who at 77 is 18 years Broccoli’s senior (his mother, Dana, married Cubby Broccoli in 1959), had a different entry to the franchise that formed the basis of the family fortune. During a break from law school, he worked as one of the extras in the climax of “Goldfinger,” playing a Fort Knox guard. When Cubby Broccoli began having tax problems, Wilson, who specialized in that issue, grew more involved.
“I was a partner in a law firm at the time, but once I came in and got a taste for it, I never looked back,” Wilson says.
From advising on legal matters, Wilson quickly moved into the creative realm. He started as an assistant to the producer on 1977’s “The Spy Who Loved Me,” becoming executive producer on 1979’s “Moonraker” and moving on to full producer with 1985’s “A View to a Kill.” He also co-wrote five scripts for the series, beginning with 1981’s “For Your Eyes Only” and carrying through to 1989’s “License to Kill.” Wilson has continued to pop up in Bond films, making cameo appearances in every installment since 1977’s “The Spy Who Loved Me,” playing blink-and-you-miss-them roles as varied as “Greek priest at wedding” and “Man in corridor when M and C meet.”
People who have labored on the franchise say that Broccoli’s and Wilson’s abilities are complementary. “They both have strong points,” says Robert Wade, who has co-written seven Bond films, from “The World Is Not Enough” to “No Time to Die.” “Barbara is very much concerned with the emotional side of the story as well as the relevance of it to now. Michael’s got a very good story brain and has a macabre dimension that allows us to keep the Ian Fleming flavor of the thing.”
Privately, those who have worked with the pair describe Wilson as “cerebral” and keenly interested in exploring the inner workings of MI6. Broccoli is viewed as more finely attuned to what’s going on in the industry. She’s also willing to go toe-to-toe with studio heads, making it clear that she’s outlasted previous regimes and will still be standing when one film czar is deposed for another.
With the cast and crew, many of whom are long-standing Bond veterans, it’s another story. The pair tries to create a familial atmosphere on set.
“Barbara never stops taking care of the crew,” says Cary Joji Fukunaga, the director of “No Time to Die.” “When I was sick, she’d make me homemade soup. And Michael is like one of those old-school coaches who takes you aside and gives you a pep talk to keep your chin up if he thinks you might be down.”
They take their conservatorship seriously, reading and rereading all of Fleming’s novels to ensure they are remaining true to the essence of the character, even occasionally pulling out a dog-eared edition on the set of a film to prove a point. They see themselves as preserving a legacy, one they hope outlives them both. “Michael once told me, ‘No one wants to make the last Bond movie,’” says Neal Purvis, who has co-written seven Bond films with Wade. “The first time we went off to start writing, he said, ‘Don’t screw it up.’”
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