Who should/could be a Bond actor?

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  • JeremyBondonJeremyBondon Seeking out odd jobs with Oddjob @Tangier
    Posts: 1,318
    Looks like he's channeling his inner angry Dalton in that GIF above. ;-)

    He does resemble him indeed. For that reason alone it should be Turner. I want and need more 'Dalton Bond' in my life!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    If that was Dalton, he wouldn't wouldn't be asking. ;) There is a resemblance there, though. Not the eyes, but the face in general.
  • JeremyBondonJeremyBondon Seeking out odd jobs with Oddjob @Tangier
    edited July 2019 Posts: 1,318
    If that was Dalton, he wouldn't wouldn't be asking. ;)

    To be fair it isn't the 80s anymore, get with the times, no stepping on toes without politely asking first ;)
  • Posts: 2,436
    Getafix wrote: »
    Getafix wrote: »
    What are you talking about?

    Connery is clearly Scottish in all his films. Connery couldn't pass as English if he tried! He's so Scottish that Fleming created a Scottish-Swiss ancestry for Bond.

    Yes Fleming conceived of Bond as English but when Cubby and Harry cast Mishter Bond, Fleming changed his ethnicity.

    Keep up!

    Dalton was never really Welsh either - that's total nonsense. I think he might have been born there but he grew up in Derbyshire and went to school in Manchester I think. His natural accent is north west English. It comes out a lot in LTK.

    And yes I'm very happy to describe myself as European, as well as British and English. What on earth is your problem with that? Aside from anything else they're statements of fact. It's an unavoidable geographical truth that the UK is a European nation.

    No he didn't. He changed his background story. Still, in all the books he's got dark hair, blue eyes, he's handsome in a ruthless way, about six feet tall and has a scar on his right cheek.

    Now some of that is superficial (scar, eye-colour), but it makes a heck of a lot of difference if he'd be changed in a 72 y/o lady from nagorno karabach. Would the biggest problem be beeing a lady? Beeing 72 y/o? Or his ethnic background. Already with Craig people were complaining he looked like a Russian thug and the man's English himself.

    Could, or perhaps should there be a carribean-background 005 or 009? Why not? But why change the protagonist so fundamentally that all connection to the past is lost? That makes no sense at all.

    As at @Revelator pointed out, yes he did.

    Fleming's Bond is technically not even English. Scots Swiss. And that's because Fleming created a back story to keep pace with EON's really quite extensive reimagining of the character.

    So for Fleming 'purists' the news is just in - they've been tweaking the character in the films since day one.

    In fact screen Bond is so not English that out of the 6 actors to play him only 2 were English (if you buy the 'Welsh' Dalton thing).

    Either that or he was mining his own Scottish ancestry. The Swiss side obviously comes from his Swiss girlfriend who his mother wouldn't let him marry.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    edited July 2019 Posts: 8,217
    If that was Dalton, he wouldn't wouldn't be asking. ;)

    To be fair it isn't the 80s anymore, get with the times, no stepping on toes without politely asking first ;)

    True, but Dalton Cool and Classic Bond are timeless, bring on Turner...
  • Posts: 6,709
    Well well well gents, ask and thou shalt receive. Ross Poldark to channel his inner James Bond in the new Poldark season. Could this mean anything? ;) Aidan Turner ahoy:

    https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a28231970/poldark-series-5-aidan-turner-james-bond-style-spy/

    giphy.gif

    Can't remember Craig looking as intense/menacing as this. Well perhaps when his bits got smashed in CR...


    The next one has to be Turner! In 2024 he'll be younger than Pierce was in GE. And that'll be four years after Bond25. The guy has the looks and the acting chops. He's also a very agreeable fella. He's got the voice, the intensity and the screen presence. And he's used to a scar prosthetic. For the very first time, they could give Bond his scar. And the smersh burn on the back of his hand at some point. Oh so many Fleming storylines and narratives one could turn into brilliant scripts...
  • Posts: 11,425
    No problem with Turner but don't see it personally. By then there will be other contenders. Feel EON and Nolan (if involved) will look further afield.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    Getafix wrote: »
    Getafix wrote: »
    What are you talking about?

    Connery is clearly Scottish in all his films. Connery couldn't pass as English if he tried! He's so Scottish that Fleming created a Scottish-Swiss ancestry for Bond.

    Yes Fleming conceived of Bond as English but when Cubby and Harry cast Mishter Bond, Fleming changed his ethnicity.

    Keep up!

    Dalton was never really Welsh either - that's total nonsense. I think he might have been born there but he grew up in Derbyshire and went to school in Manchester I think. His natural accent is north west English. It comes out a lot in LTK.

    And yes I'm very happy to describe myself as European, as well as British and English. What on earth is your problem with that? Aside from anything else they're statements of fact. It's an unavoidable geographical truth that the UK is a European nation.

    No he didn't. He changed his background story. Still, in all the books he's got dark hair, blue eyes, he's handsome in a ruthless way, about six feet tall and has a scar on his right cheek.

    Now some of that is superficial (scar, eye-colour), but it makes a heck of a lot of difference if he'd be changed in a 72 y/o lady from nagorno karabach. Would the biggest problem be beeing a lady? Beeing 72 y/o? Or his ethnic background. Already with Craig people were complaining he looked like a Russian thug and the man's English himself.

    Could, or perhaps should there be a carribean-background 005 or 009? Why not? But why change the protagonist so fundamentally that all connection to the past is lost? That makes no sense at all.

    As at @Revelator pointed out, yes he did.

    Fleming's Bond is technically not even English. Scots Swiss. And that's because Fleming created a back story to keep pace with EON's really quite extensive reimagining of the character.

    So for Fleming 'purists' the news is just in - they've been tweaking the character in the films since day one.

    In fact screen Bond is so not English that out of the 6 actors to play him only 2 were English (if you buy the 'Welsh' Dalton thing).

    Again, the mixture between ethnicity (caucasian, predominantly in north-western Europe) and nationality, your cultural background. Swiss, on the whole are closer to English then, let's say, Chinese. Why is it so difficult to get these two untangled? English, Scots, Swiss are all nationalities and I think it isn't too far a stretch to change that in a character as long as it fits with the physical representation.
    Of course it could be that you'd have a black person with Swiss and English antionality. But that would be a rare breed indeed. Still, Bond was described by Fleming many times over as white (even complaining about the tan he'd gotten on a mission). Changing ethnicity, all in all, is a far bigger step than nationality.
    And yes, they've been tweaking the character since the beginning, there's no reason to be so pedantic about that. But again, one change (ethnicity, sex, orientation) is a bigger one than another (heritage, hair colour, eye colour). Why? Because it's film and it's make believe, and we're supposed to believe it's the same character. Sorry, but when they're turning Bond into a 72 y/o grandma, it's just not Bond anymore. No matter how kick-ass you might be.
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 11,425
    The 72 year old grandma is a straw man.

    There's been some interesting 'colour blind' casting in TV recently. Initially it jars and then you just get used to it. Same could happen in Bond. Maybe not today but I'm confident it will happen. And as long as they pick the right actor I think most people will accept it.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    Getafix wrote: »
    The 72 year old grandma is a straw man

    Woman. Straw woman. Or, as an old member once described Goldfinger's factory guard: 'a gun toting hag'.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    Getafix wrote: »
    Fleming didn't envisage Bond as Scottish either but look what happened. The whole point of Shaft is that he's black. Is the whole point of Bond that he's white or is the character bigger than that?

    Bond isn't cosmopolitan. I think that is mostly peoples complaint.
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 17,757
    Looks like he's channeling his inner angry Dalton in that GIF above. ;-)

    He does resemble him indeed. For that reason alone it should be Turner. I want and need more 'Dalton Bond' in my life!

    Don't we all. ;)
    If that was Dalton, he wouldn't wouldn't be asking. ;) There is a resemblance there, though. Not the eyes, but the face in general.

    Very true!
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 5,767
    Can't remember Craig looking as intense/menacing as this. Well perhaps when his bits got smashed in CR...
    Why would you? Craig made a point of working with understatement.

    That being said, I'd love to see Turner as Bond!
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    edited July 2019 Posts: 8,266
    Getafix wrote: »
    There's been some interesting 'colour blind' casting in TV recently. Initially it jars and then you just get used to it. Same could happen in Bond. Maybe not today but I'm confident it will happen. And as long as they pick the right actor I think most people will accept it.

    I'd much rather keep the characters as they exist now and let them come up with different stories. I love the Black Panther, and no-less adore Wonder Woman and Lara Croft. These are fantastic stories that don't do under to Bond in any shape or form, and do much more for the PC story than taking something that's existed for almost 70 years and abuse it 'because the times have changed'.

    And Bond isn't TV. If it 'jars' at first, millions will be lost.
  • edited July 2019 Posts: 6,709
    Getafix wrote: »
    The 72 year old grandma is a straw man.

    There's been some interesting 'colour blind' casting in TV recently. Initially it jars and then you just get used to it. Same could happen in Bond. Maybe not today but I'm confident it will happen. And as long as they pick the right actor I think most people will accept it.

    Sometimes to the point it's historical inaccurate and jarring. Just for the sake of imposing today's (granted, better) standards.

    The choice of the right actor involves choosing an actor with the right physical characteristics, the ones his author chose for him. It's a matter of respect for the original material. But this discussion is going round and round and I was never fond of merry go rounds.

    Want a Chinese James Bond? A Black James Bond? A dwarf James Bond? A female James Bond? A gay James Bond? A Furry James Bond (Oh yeah, we had that one with Connery)? An alien James Bond? Get a multiverse like Spider Man did. How about a pig James Bond? Or a Nicolas Cage voiced James Bond. Oh, I know, get someone who is a stellar actor, but looks nothing like James Bond, doesn't act like him, is not a secret agent for the Mi6, ..., Just call him James Bond, and we're off.

    This discussion is nonsensical to me. But for the sake of it, do carry on.
  • Posts: 5,767
    Univex wrote: »
    Oh, I know, get someone who is a stellar actor, but looks nothing like James Bond, doesn't act like him, is not a secret agent for the Mi6, ..., Just call him James Bond, and we're off.
    .
    Interesting point, Craig is very close to this description. Goes to show how much it depends on how well the actor, producers and director pull it off.
  • Posts: 11,425
    boldfinger wrote: »
    Univex wrote: »
    Oh, I know, get someone who is a stellar actor, but looks nothing like James Bond, doesn't act like him, is not a secret agent for the Mi6, ..., Just call him James Bond, and we're off.
    .
    Interesting point, Craig is very close to this description. Goes to show how much it depends on how well the actor, producers and director pull it off.

    Thanks for pointing that out!
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    Getafix wrote: »
    boldfinger wrote: »
    Univex wrote: »
    Oh, I know, get someone who is a stellar actor, but looks nothing like James Bond, doesn't act like him, is not a secret agent for the Mi6, ..., Just call him James Bond, and we're off.
    .
    Interesting point, Craig is very close to this description. Goes to show how much it depends on how well the actor, producers and director pull it off.

    Thanks for pointing that out!

    He's tall, Caucasian, has blue eyes, is handsome in a ruthless kind of way. How does he close to that description. If you ask me he's very close to fleming's description....
  • Posts: 6,709
    Getafix wrote: »
    boldfinger wrote: »
    Univex wrote: »
    Oh, I know, get someone who is a stellar actor, but looks nothing like James Bond, doesn't act like him, is not a secret agent for the Mi6, ..., Just call him James Bond, and we're off.
    .
    Interesting point, Craig is very close to this description. Goes to show how much it depends on how well the actor, producers and director pull it off.

    Thanks for pointing that out!

    He's tall, Caucasian, has blue eyes, is handsome in a ruthless kind of way. How does he close to that description. If you ask me he's very close to fleming's description....

    He really is. The only off thing is the blonde hair. He's even got Hoagy Carmichael's nose ;)
  • Posts: 11,425
    I thought he was short
  • Posts: 11,425
    Thin end of the wedge. Has the world gone mad? Now Ariel is turning black! The end is nigh!

    All I can say is never let Rob Marshall nr a Bond movie.


    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/04/us-singer-halle-bailey-cast-as-ariel-in-disneys-live-action-remake-of-the-little-mermaid
  • NeverOnTheFirmsTimeNeverOnTheFirmsTime A plane tree'd square off the Kings Road
    Posts: 34
    Getafix wrote: »
    I thought he was short

    If you think 5'10 is short then you must spend an awful lot of your time hanging out with basketball players 😉
    In my opinion all the actors who have thus far portrayed 007 have brought some (if not all) of the literary 007's characteristics to the screen. I get sick and tired of the constant Craig bashing (too short, too ugly, looks like a Russian mobster, etc, etc ad infinitum); lest we forget, Fleming himself described Bond (through Vesper's eyes) as resembling Hoagy Carmichael (who was no oil painting) and, at various times, described Bond as looking 'ruthless'. Further, Fleming's Bond was a serious man doing a serious job, frequently disgusted with the job he held and prone to bouts of mild depression - and Craig has brought that to his portrayal in spades.
    I trust that EON will pick the right man for the job when Craig departs the role, as their track record so far has been, on the whole, pretty sound. Who that man will be is anybody's guess right now, but we can all be fairly secure in the knowledge that it will not be a deformed wheelchair-bound dwarf of Afro-Carribean descent.
    So long as it's not Henry Cavill (aka 'The IKEA Wardrobe') then I'm sure I'll be happy with Bond no 7.
  • Posts: 11,425
    5.10 isn't tall though is it?
  • NeverOnTheFirmsTimeNeverOnTheFirmsTime A plane tree'd square off the Kings Road
    edited July 2019 Posts: 34
    Getafix wrote: »
    5.10 isn't tall though is it?
    Agreed. But it certainly isn't short.
  • Posts: 17,757
    I'm Craig's height, and I definitely consider myself to be on the shorter side.
  • Posts: 4,409
    Getafix wrote: »
    Thin end of the wedge. Has the world gone mad? Now Ariel is turning black! The end is nigh!

    All I can say is never let Rob Marshall nr a Bond movie.


    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/04/us-singer-halle-bailey-cast-as-ariel-in-disneys-live-action-remake-of-the-little-mermaid

    Marshall comes from the theatre world. Where there is a tradition in taking literacy characters and reinterpreting them. For example, in London tonight there are probably numerous productions of Hamlet happening. Each with a unique approach and lead.

    Ariel, like 007, is a fictional character. Much in the same way Hamlet is.

    On this note, here’s A photo of the next James Bond:

  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited July 2019 Posts: 13,978
    Kingdom Come: Deliverance was only a video game, albeit one set in a real place. But that didn't stop the cries of 'racism', for the lack of black people in the game. The developers who were from that part of the world, Bohemia, even said that there were no black people in that part of the world, at that time.

    And I don't see Scott Adkins in that pic, by the way.
  • NeverOnTheFirmsTimeNeverOnTheFirmsTime A plane tree'd square off the Kings Road
    edited July 2019 Posts: 34
    I am personally convinced that Idris Elba will never be Bond, for reasons that others on this thread have eloquently set out many times already. And I'm also sure (with all due respect) that Scott Adkins won't ever be cast in the role either - right look, but his acting chops are somewhat dubious, IMHO.
    Who it will actually be is a mystery at this point in time - but that's what makes this thread so enjoyable.
    And, as an aside - we all have free rein to visualise our chosen Bond when reading Fleming/Gardner/et al, 👍
  • Posts: 1,661
    If there's any truth to the rumour that Eon will sell up after Bond 25 - that's a game changer moment. It means B and MG won't be casting the next actor. The next producers could have a completely different idea of how Bond looks, his height, age etc. It's another element to add to the mystery!



  • NeverOnTheFirmsTimeNeverOnTheFirmsTime A plane tree'd square off the Kings Road
    Posts: 34
    fanbond123 wrote: »
    If there's any truth to the rumour that Eon will sell up after Bond 25 - that's a game changer moment. It means B and MG won't be casting the next actor. The next producers could have a completely different idea of how Bond looks, his height, age etc. It's another element to add to the mystery!



    That's true - but I reckon a new producer will be less likely to make any controversial changes - at least in the short-term - as they'll want to maximise potential box-office returns. As the old saying goes, it if ain't broke, don't fix it 🤓
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