List of James Bond Allies in Golden Eye - Production - Prelude

Prelude

Licence to Kill had underperformed at the box office and was, in the American market, the lowest-grossing film of the series. Also, in 1989, MGM/UA was sold to the Australian broadcasting group Qintex, which wanted to merge the company with Pathé. Danjaq, the parent company of Eon Productions, sued MGM/UA because the Bond back catalogue was being licensed to Pathé, who intended to broadcast the Bond series on television in several countries across the world without the approval of Danjaq. These legal disputes delayed the film for several years.

While the legal disputes went on, Timothy Dalton was still expected to play Bond in the new film, as he had signed a three-film contract. Pre-production work began in May 1990 with a story draft written by Alfonso Ruggiero Jr. and Michael G. Wilson. Production was set to start in 1990 in Hong Kong for a release in late 1991, however the legal disputes caused these dates to pass without a film in production. In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France was writing the screenplay, due to be completed in January or February 1994. Despite France's screenplay being completed by that January, in April 1994 Dalton officially resigned from the role. To replace Dalton, the producers cast Pierce Brosnan, who had been prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract to star in the Remington Steele television series. Judi Dench was cast as M, making GoldenEye the first film of the series featuring a female M. The decision is widely believed to be inspired by Stella Rimington becoming head of MI5 in 1992.

GoldenEye was produced by Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions. With Albert Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died seven months after the film's release), his daughter Barbara Broccoli described him as taking "a bit of a back seat" in film's production. In his stead, Barbara and Michael G. Wilson took the lead roles in production while Albert Broccoli oversaw the production of GoldenEye as consulting producer but is credited as "presenter". Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer approached John Woo to make GoldenEye; Woo turned down the opportunity, but said he was honoured by the offer. The producers then chose New Zealander Martin Campbell as the director. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and that "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".