Elliot Carver quotes from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Elliot Carver

Mr. Wallace, call the President. Tell him if he doesn't sign the bill lowering the cable rates, we will release the video of him with the cheerleader in the Chicago motel room.

Inspired, sir.

Carver

And after he signs the bill, release the tape anyway.

Consider him slimed.

Elliot Carver

Anyway, there's absolutely no truth in this malicious rumour that I started running mad cow disease stories simply because Sir Angus Black, the great British beef baron, lost £10,000 to me in a game of poker and refused to pay up. Moreover, there's even less truth in the rumour I took a hundred million francs from the French to keep the stories running for another year.

Excuse me, Mr. Carver.

Carver

Yes.

This is the new banker, Mr?

James Bond

Bond. James Bond.

Carver

Another new banker. I seem to collect them. Tell me, Mr. Bond how's the market reacting to the crisis?

Bond

Well, currencies are off. Your stock is soaring.

Elliot Carver

You may have seen the General in the hallway just now but perhaps, with all your jetting around, you've not had a chance to peruse today's headlines. [brings up newspaper scans on the large screens covering the wall: European English-language editions of Tomorrow with one headline CRISIS GROWS and another reading CHINA WARNS OF WAR. sees third news headline THE EMPIRE WILL STRIKE BACK, flanked by UK and Chinese flags] I rather like the last one. It isn't even mine!

James Bond

I never believe what I read in the press anyway.

Carver

Ha! Therein lies your problem, Mr. Bond. You see, we're both men of action, but your era and Miss Lin's is passing. Words are the new weapons, satellites the new artillery.

Bond

And you become the new Supreme Allied Commander?

Carver

Exactly! Caesar had his legions, Napoleon had his armies, I have my divisions. TV, news, magazines. And by midnight I'll have reached and influenced more people than anyone in the history of this planet, [points up] save God Himself. And the best He ever managed was the Sermon on the Mount.

Bond

You really are quite insane.

Carver

The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.

Carver

What you're about to witness, Miss Lin, is not so much a missile attack, but the launch of a new world order. In precisely five minutes, after your countrymen have attacked the British fleet, I shall retaliate for dear old England by sending this missile in to Beijing, where General Chang has called for an emergency meeting of the Chinese High Command. Unfortunately, General Chang will be 'delayed' in traffic, arriving just after the missile has killed your leaders, and too late to stop the air force from sinking the entire British fleet, but he will be just in time to take over the government, negotiate a truce and emerge as a world leader, with a Nobel Peace Prize.

Wai-Lin

And what do you get?

Carver

Me? Oh, nothing... just exclusive broadcasting rights in China for the next 100 years.

Ready to rock and ruin.

Carver

If you'll excuse me, I have something of a deadline to meet.

Elliot Carver

Don't you realise how absurd your position is?!

James Bond

No more absurd than starting a war for ratings!

Carver

Great men have always manipulated the media to save the world. Look at William Randolph Hearst, who told his photographers "You provide the pictures, I'll provide the war". I've just taken it one step further.

Bond

Sorry, I tuned out for a moment, Elliot.

Carver

Touché.

Elliot Carver

You're too late again, Mr. Bond. It's a bad habit. There's nothing you can do. The missile is fully programmed, it can't be stopped. In a matter of minutes, my plan will succeed, and thanks largely to your efforts, the British Navy will destroy the evidence. [Bond surreptiously activates the sea-drill behind them] And I'll be out of here, in a Carver News helicopter covering the event. It's going to be a fantastic show!

James Bond

I may have some breaking news for you, Elliot. [Carver notices the approaching drill as it breaks through a window; Bond uses the distraction to overpower him] You forgot the first rule of mass media, Elliot! Give the people what they want! [Bond leaves Carver in the drill's path]