Pressible Excitement, All Within a Span of Just Two Hours Having Had Lunch with the Man
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BECOMING BOND Production Notes Canadian Distribution filmswelike Bookings and Inquires: [email protected] Publicity and Media: [email protected] Logline: A unique documentary/narrative hybrid chronicling the stranger-than-fiction true story of George Lazenby, a poor Australian car mechanic who, through an unbelievable set of circumstances, landed the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), despite having never acted a day in his life. Then after being offered the next six Bond films and a $1 million signing bonus, he turned it all down… DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT As I was driving in to have lunch with George Lazenby, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, having been a Bond fan since a young age, I was excited to meet one of the few to ever play the role. On the other, as a documentary filmmaker, I was trepidatious. I wasn’t sure what to expect and had a sinking sensation that perhaps this character wouldn’t pan out to be worthy of a film. So many of the stories from his life that I could find online seemed just too absurd, too bizarre. I had made up my mind that no one’s life could be this crazy… But I couldn’t have been more wrong. As I sat listening to him recount one incredible story after another (we only got to about age 18 in our two and half hours), I was captivated by a man who, in the simplest terms, had lived a truly full and original life. This one man’s life story has it all: There is love. Heartbreak. There are fist fights. Jail time. There is sex. A lot of sex. There’s money. Briefcases full of cash. There is alcohol and drugs of all kinds. Jealousy. Feuds. Stolen cars. Life changing LSD trips. There is incredibly real drama and very high stakes, alongside twists and turns you could never see coming. And at the center of it all, a surprisingly relatable and lovable everyman. An underdog. A poor used car salesman from a small town in Australia. So what do you need for a great biopic? Well, first off you need a great story, which this has in spades. But you also need a great storyteller. And I’m not sure I’ve sat with a more gifted storyteller in my life. George tells his own life story in such a way that I laughed so hard (and so frequently) during our lunch that the hostess had to ask us to quiet down. And as I drove home from our meeting, I was inspired by his storytelling with an idea that I think can elevate this beyond the traditional documentary… A UNIQUE APPROACH I see the potential of filming a traditional documentary but with a new style of reenactments. We’ve seen dramatic reenactments in all sorts of docs, from Nanook of the North through Man On Wire but we’ve never seen the comedic and entertaining reenactments that have been done more recently in shows like Drunk History. George’s stories are larger than life (I kept thinking of BIG FISH and FORREST GUMP as I sat with him), and he tells them in a such an entertaining way, that reenacting them with his voice dubbed over the scenes (a la Drunk History) with a young, talented and well-suited actor to play him, will make for a hilarious and unique fresh style to a documentary. IN SHORT, I went from being trepidatious about this project to insuppressible excitement, all within a span of just two hours having had lunch with the man. I know I can translate that feeling on the big screen and can bring the film to life in a way never before seen in a documentary. -Josh Greenbaum Filmmakers: Josh Greenbaum – director Josh Greenbaum is an Emmy award-winning writer/director. His feature documentary THE SHORT GAME won the Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix to launch their Originals film division. Greenbaum is the creator, Executive Producer, and Director of the Emmy nominated Hulu Original series “Behind the Mask” now in its second season. On the film side, Greenbaum is attached to direct an adaptation of the bestselling children’s book FLAT STANLEY for Twentieth Century Fox and BAD COUPLES for Universal with Elizabeth Banks attached to star. Greenbaum is a graduate of Cornell and Oxford Universities and received his MFA in film from the graduate program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Christopher Leggett – producer Christopher Leggett is a an award-winning, commercial, film and television producer and partner at Delirio Films. In his former position as a producer at NBC/Universal Sports, Leggett created and produced the docu-series AGAINST THE TIDE. He broke into the indie world with the Webby Award-winning music video for Icelandic band Sigur Rós directed by Alma Har’el and starring Shia LaBeouf. Leggett then partnered with Academy Award winner John Battsek and Emmy award winning director Josh Greenbaum for the 2013 SXSW Audience Award-winning documentary THE SHORT GAME, which followed the greatest 7-and-8 year-old golfers as they competed in the World Championships of Junior Golf. This film was picked up by Netflix as their first original title. In 2015, Leggett partnered with executive producer and Academy Award winner John Legend to produce CAN YOU DIG THIS (2015), a portrait of four "gangster gardeners" pioneering the urban gardening movement in notoriously dangerous South Los Angeles. 2016 marked the return of the early collaboration by Leggett, Har’el and Labeouf for Harel’s sophomore feature film LOVETRUE, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the jury award for Best Documentary at Karlovy Vary later that year. Currently, Chris is in production on two Hulu-orginal documentaries, BECOMING BOND and TOO FUNNY TO FAIL. Rafael Marmor – producer Rafael Marmor is the founder of Delirio Films, a boutique production company focusing on feature documentaries, docu series and commercials. His first feature documentary Blue Blood, about an underground boxing club at Oxford University, was released theatrically by Warner UK before it’s broadcast premiere on BBC’s Storyville. After a short digression producing on two scripted projects, Boaz Yakin’s Death in Love and HDNet’s comedy series Svetlana, Rafael returned to the documentary world as a producer on Alma Har’el’s Bombay Beach, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. His next film, No Place on Earth, premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and was later released in theaters nationwide by Magnolia Pictures. He followed quickly with The Short Game, which won the audience award at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix as their first original documentary. His last film Can You Dig This, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 LA Film Fest. He has three new feature docs slated for release in 2017 as well as a 6-episode docuseries currently in production. Marmor is a graduate of Cornell University. CREDITS Director: Josh Greenbaum Producer: Rafael Marmor, Christopher Leggett, Josh Greenbaum Screenwriter: Josh Greenbaum Cinematographer: John Rutland Editor: Billy McMillin Production Designer: Caity Birmingham Music: John Piscitello Principal Cast: George Lazenby, Josh Lawson, Kassandra Clementi, Jeff Garlin, Jake Johnson, Jane Seymour, Dana Carvey Additional Credits: Line Producer: Kourtney Gleason, Casting By: Angela Demo, C.S.A., Associate Editor: Terry Yates BECOMING BOND End Credits WRITTEN DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY Josh Greenbaum PRODUCED BY Christopher Leggett, Rafael Marmor EXECUTIVE PRODUCER David De Rothschild DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY John Rutland PRODUCTION DESIGNER Caity Birmingham EDITOR Billy McMillin ORIGINAL SCORE BY John Piscitello LINE PRODUCER Kourtney Gleason CASTING BY Angela Demo, C.S.A. JOSH LAWSON KASSANDRA CLEMENTI JANE SEYMOUR JEFF GARLIN DANA CARVEY Associate Editor Terry Yates FILM UNIT, REENACTMENTS PRODUCTION MANAGER Lindsay Rodger 1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR John Mattingly 2ND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Kerry Carter CAST (in order of appearance) GEORGE Josh Lawson BELINDA Kassandra Clementi HARRY Jeff Garlin KEN Landon Ashworth MAGGIE Jane Seymour PETER HUNT Adamo Palladino GUNDLE Sofia Mattsson AMELIA Karian Deyko DYSON LOVELL Jonathan Slavin JOHNNY CARSON Dana Carvey YOUNG GEORGE Jason Maybaum BELINDA’S FATHER John A. McKenna BELINDA’S MOTHER Ros Gentle BELINDA’S BROTHER Charlie Hopkins OXFORD BOYFRIEND Jon Walburg CHARLES JENKINS Beeny Royston CO-WORKER Mike Erwin RECEPTIONIST Julianna Guill OTHER CO-WORKER Mike Nelson TEENAGE GEORGE Matthew Josten JUNE GREEN Teressa Liane CHOOK WARNER Nathan Lovejoy TEACHER Kelly Lester YOUNG MAN NOT BUYING Brendan Kaufman RICHARD BLOQUE Mercer Boffey FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER Christopher Le Crenn AUSTRALIAN FRIEND Ben Seton PARISIAN GIRL Alexa Bondar VOCAL COACH Karen Teliha CUSTOMER BUYING CAR Ben Bowen JOHNNY HORTON Monty Franklin ODD MAN Jake Johnson TAILOR Noel Schwabb GIRL IN CLASS Savannah Judy DOCTOR James Walsh ADDITIONAL CASTING BY Michael Beaudry 2ND 2ND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR John Clarkson, Chris Cook PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Sandra K. Chavez PRODUCTION OFFICE COORDINATOR Erin Sanderson ART DIRECTOR Charles Swazey SET DECORATOR Rachael Ferrara LEADMAN John Gombas SET DRESSERS Kevin Bici, Grant Cdebaca, Caleb Dawson, Michael Lopez, Stephen McGlade, Richard Theisen, Lilia Yanow ON-SET DRESSER Jen Herrig SCRIPT SUPERVISORS Joshua Gannon, Alyssa Perper 1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA Jason Gonzalez, Chris Guekins, Cameron Riddles 2ND ASSISTANT CAMERA Dan Marino, Chess Pettengill SOUND MIXER Chris Trueman, Oscar Grau Martin GAFFER Billy Coleman BEST BOY ELECTRIC Johnathan Huggins LIGHTING TECHNICIANS Zane Blanchard, Chad Cohlmia, Daryl Gilmore, Ivan Herrara, Laura Pearson, Tom Platt, Harry Schroder, Andrew Simone, Paul Tackett, Joey Warning KEY GRIP Joe Hernadaz, AJ Soiza BEST BOY GRIP Doug Sampson, RJ Saraza GRIPS Justin Bernard Steven Bueler Andy Carazo Yohan Herman Ryan Hueter Chris Martin Christopher Montgomery Kristian Ostergaard Sean Talbott Victor Wang PROPERTY MASTER Paul McCaffery ASSISTANT PROPERTY MASTER Shannon Pollack HAIR DEPARTMENT HEADS Monte Haught, Lorna Reid MAKEUP DEPARTMENT HEAD Shari Hoover HAIR & MAKEUP FOR MR.