My Name is Modesty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My Name is Modesty is a British-American co-produced action drama motion picture released in Europe in October 2003 and North America in September 2004. It did not receive theatrical release, and instead was released directly to DVD in both regions.
The film is based upon the early years of the character Modesty Blaise, a former crime boss turned secret agent created by Peter O'Donnell for a classic comic strip that ran from 1963 to 2001, and a related series of novels. The film stars British actress Alexandra Staden as Modesty and chronicles a crucial event in the character's life some time prior to the start of the comic strip.
The film was actually produced in 2002 by Miramax but held for release for more than a year. It is reported that the company made the film in order to retain film rights to the character. The full title of the DVD release is Quentin Tarantino Presents My Name is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure but it is not known what (if any) involvement the popular film director had in the production, though it is known that he has wanted to produce his own Modesty Blaise movie for years. Tarantino appears on the DVD release, interviewing Peter O'Donnell.
This film is notable in that it is the very first use of a Modesty Blaise storyline that was not written by the character's creator, Peter O'Donnell. O'Donnell had written every storyline of the comic strip, every novel, and his basic story material (albeit little else) was used for the two previous Modesty Blaise-based films produced in 1966 (see Modesty Blaise (1966 film) and 1982. Although O'Donnell was a consultant on the production, the plot and storyline did not originate from him (indeed the events of this film have no counterpart in either the novels or comic strip.
[edit] Trivia
- The opening scenes, in which Modesty appears as a young child, appear to take place during the Yugoslavian Civil War in the early 1990's. Later scenes show Modesty (who is depicted as a woman in her late teens or early twenties) using modern day cell phones and computers.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The Modesty Blaise series by Peter O'Donnell |
|---|
| Books Modesty Blaise (1965) | Sabre-Tooth (1966) | I, Lucifer (1967) | A Taste for Death (1969) | The Impossible Virgin (1971) | Pieces of Modesty (1972) | The Silver Mistress (1973) | Last Day in Limbo (1976) | Dragon's Claw (1978) | The Xanadu Talisman (1981) | The Night of Morningstar (1982) | Dead Man's Handle (1985) | Cobra Trap (1996) |
| Films Modesty Blaise (1966) | Modesty Blaise (1982) | My Name is Modesty (2003) |
