Editing Diamonds Are Forever (film) (section)

===Writing===
While ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' was in post-production, [[Richard Maibaum]] wrote several drafts about Bond avenging the death of his wife [[Tracy Bond|Tracy]]. The characters [[List of James Bond villains#Villains in Eon Productions films|Irma Bunt]] and [[List of James Bond allies#Marc-Ange Draco|Marc-Ange Draco]] were set to return and Bond mourning his deceased wife Tracy while [[Louis Armstrong]]'s ''We Have All the Time in the World'' played in the background.<ref name="Lost007Films">{{cite news |last=Chernov |first=Matthew |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/james-bond-lost-007-films-alfred-hitchcock-halle-berry-1201624228/ |title=Why We Never Saw Alfred Hitchcock's Bond, and Three More Lost 007 Movies |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=26 October 2015 |access-date=27 October 2015 |archive-date=27 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027133749/https://variety.com/2015/film/news/james-bond-lost-007-films-alfred-hitchcock-halle-berry-1201624228/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://screenrant.com/diamonds-forever-movie-bond-wife-killer-unresolved/ | title=Why James Bond Doesn't Chase His Wife's Killer in Diamonds Are Forever | website=[[Screen Rant]] | date=30 March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://screenrant.com/sean-connery-diamonds-forever-majesty-secret-service-bond/ | title=Why Sean Connery Returned in Diamonds Are Forever After Missing Bond 6 | website=[[Screen Rant]] | date=10 April 2022 }}</ref> [[Harry Saltzman]] had suggested [[Thailand]] and [[India]] as potential filming locations.{{sfn|Field|Chowdbury|2015|p=213}} When [[George Lazenby]] departed from the role prior to the film's release, a complete rewrite was requested, in addition to Maibaum's script failing to impress [[Albert R. Broccoli]] and Saltzman.<ref name="Lost007Films" /> Following this, Maibaum wrote an original script with [[Auric Goldfinger]]'s twin seeking revenge for the death of his brother.<ref name="Starlog">{{cite magazine |last=Goldberg |first=Lee |url=https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-068/page/n25/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Richard Maibaum 007's Puppetmaster |magazine=Starlog |date=March 1983 |pages=27, [https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-068/page/n61/mode/2up?view=theater 63] |access-date=17 December 2021 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In this version, Goldfinger's brother was a Swedish shipping magnate armed with a laser cannon held within the hull of a supertanker. The idea was borrowed from an early draft of ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' in which [[Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] was to be Goldfinger's twin brother, with [[Gert Fröbe]] set to return.{{sfn|Field|Chowdbury|2015|pp=191, 211}} The film would have ended with a boat chase of [[China|Chinese]] [[Junk (ship)|junks]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[galley]]s on [[Lake Mead]].{{sfn|Field|Chowdbury|2015|pp=211–212}} The plot was later changed after Broccoli had a dream, where his close friend [[Howard Hughes]] was replaced by an imposter. Hence, the character of Willard Whyte was created, and [[Tom Mankiewicz]] was chosen to rework the script.<ref name="cork">{{cite AV media |people=John Cork |title=[[audio commentary|Commentary track]]: Diamonds Are Forever Ultimate Edition, Region 4 |medium=DVD |publisher=MGM Home Entertainment}}</ref>

Mankiewicz says he was hired because Broccoli wanted an American writer to work on the script, since so much of it was set in Las Vegas "and the Brits write really lousy American gangsters"&nbsp;– but it had to be someone who also understood the British idiom, since it had British characters.{{sfn|Mankiewicz|Crane|2012|p=133}} [[David Picker]], then-president of United Artists, had seen the stage musical ''[[Georgy (musical)|Georgy]]'' written by Mankiewicz, and recommended him; he was hired on a two-week trial and kept on for the rest of the movie, as well as several subsequent Bond films. The idea of Goldfinger's brother was scrapped, and Blofeld was written back into the script.<ref name="Starlog" /> Mankiewicz later estimated the novel provided around 45 minutes of the film's final running time.{{sfn|Mankiewicz|Crane|2012|p=138}} The adaptation eliminated the main villains from the source Ian Fleming novel, mobsters called [[List of James Bond villains|Jack and Seraffimo Spang]], but used the henchmen Shady Tree, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.<ref name="cork" />