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Yes, sometimes the big name actor is the draw and not the character that they happen to be playing this time around in yet another of their big budget films. That shouldn't really happen with a James Bond film, especially not with the first film by a new Bond actor anyway. Of course as the actor's fame grows with the following Bond films they appear in they may well become the main draw of their Bond films but that shouldn't be the initial appeal. The character of James Bond is, and has proven to be, bigger than any one actor who has held the role at a point in time over the last 60 years of the series. Eon have generally (with a few exceptions such as TV stars Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan) chosen actors who aren't quite yet household names and I think that is an approach worth sticking to in the future as it provides proven positive results.
Yes, he certainly was famous and I imagine a household name given his TV show appearances. The same would go for Pierce Brosnan I think given how popular Remington Steele was, especially in the US. I made that caveat in my post above, suggesting that there were exceptions to the unknown actor rule.
No, I agree. Moore was a household name and had starred in multiple TV series by the time he played Bond. Brosnan hadn't attained that level of fame or popularity by the time he came to play Bond but I would say he was better known than some who started out as Bond.
Fame is relative; the bottom line is that none of the actors were boxoffice draws, with Moore and Brosnan being primarily known for their work in television.
Yes but any of the previous actors that played Bond, you could suddenly plonk them in a Fleming period piece set in the 1950's, and they would all fit in seamlessly. There would be nothing jarring about it.
You could believe any of those actors could be a 1950's Bond from the character that Fleming wrote about, if the script allowed it (even Moore and Brozza). ;)
I don’t think that’s true (Craig especially isn’t a 50s guy. Would Fleming’s Bond have wept over a computer monitor showing an image of a strange woman like Brosnan’s did?) but even if it were, so what? It’s not a period piece, it’s an adaptation.
Why is it relevant to say they could be plonked into the 50s when that’s not what is happening? The films are set in the present day.
It's not a "one or the other" question though. The Bond of the modern James Bond movies didn't have a background origin until 2012 and his skin color hasn't been relevant. In today's climate there's no way a modern Bond film would touch on racial issues or colonialism. It's not as if they'll be faithfully adapting Fleming's Live and Let Die anytime soon. Modern Bond is not a chain-smoking Imperialist who thinks female spies should go back to the kitchen and mind the pots and pans.
And no, we've never had a fully Fleming Bond onscreen. You can look at each Bond actor and come up with a list of reasons why he doesn't match Fleming's original, starting with that working class "overgrown stuntman" Connery, moving on to cocky Ozzy Lazenby, blonde toff lightweight Moore, etc. Fleming would have taken one look at Daniel Craig and assumed he was playing Red Grant.
At their best the movies have deftly translated Fleming to the screen, but they will always be a separate entity. And Fleming would have wept to see the films of YOLT, DAF, TMWTGG, MR, etc. If there's an essence of Fleming's character in a film like MR, it's pretty vaporous. The films quickly turned into self-parodies and Bond became a smirky know-it-all travesty of Fleming's version.
Whether or not a Bond actor has black hair or blue eyes is no longer important. And in a 21st century franchise skin color might not be important either. It's more important for a Bond actor to be someone who's handsome and British and looks equally good in a tuxedo and a street fight. No single Bond actor ever fully matched the physical characteristics of Fleming's original. And doing so would only match the letter, and not necessarily the spirit, of the character. The films in general frequently failed to give us the letter of the books, but on several occasions they've given us the spirit.
A 21st century Bond simply isn't going to conform to the letter of Fleming's original. He's not going to openly pine for the return of the British Empire, regret the emergence of sex equality, call Koreans apes, etc. With luck he'll still be strong and handsome and will gamble, drink, womanize, be prepared to undergo torture, hardship or death for the UK, and present himself with a blend of savoir faire, wit and toughness. That's still the essence of Fleming's Bond, even if many other characteristics have been left by the wayside over the years.
I'm not one of those woke twerps who thinks the next Bond must be non-white. But if Elba was 15 years younger I think he would definitely have to be seriously considered for the part.
I would argue that we have had an actor that nailed Fleming's Bond, and that was Timothy Dalton, both in looks and character.
With regards your other points, yes Bond doesn't need to tie in with Fleming's description anymore to still make the bucks at the box office. But I would prefer it if the actor did have a striking resemblance in both looks and spirit to the character Fleming wrote about. I couldn't care less if this upsets any woke brigade.
I'm not talking about the characters the actors played in their films. I'm purely talking about if they physically played the role in a 50's period scripted film. Where would a Fleming 1950's script allow a scene with Bond weeping over a computer screen? I think you lost the point I was trying to make.
You could plonk any of the previous actors in, say Casino Royale (set in 1953), and I think all of the actors would work in that period piece film.
And yes, the films are set in present day, and yes maybe Fleming description of the original Bond isn't relevant anymore for modern audiences, in both looks and spirit. It doesn't mean I can't state an opinion though about what I prefer, does it?
Thank you, yes; excellent post.
Where did that last random comment come from? Surely the only person who stated a preference and hence would be upset about being disappointed would be yourself, not some imagined enemy ‘brigade’.
It seems odd and slightly pointless to me to have a preference to have actors who could play a particular role in a completely different period movie when they’re not and never will be in that movie. I certainly didn’t lose what you were saying, my next comment was “ Why is it relevant to say they could be plonked into the 50s when that’s not what is happening?” It’s just so you can imagine them in something else? Obviously you can state your opinion, no one said you can’t, and I’m equally allowed to state my reaction to it.
Personally I think it’s better to choose the actors for the film they’re actually appearing in.
If EON decides to now cast, say a black actor, or an Indian, or a Chinese, or a female in the role, then this wouldn't work anymore with Fleming's original vision of the character, and it would be proved so if you tried to stick them in a faithfully adapted 1953 period piece. That's the only point I was trying to make, which may seem trivial, pointless or irrelevant to you.
But I know I'm wasting my breath here and its falling on deaf ears, so I give up. Thankfully no one here has yet screamed `racist!' or `sexist!' at me yet for such a radical, wild, outrageous opinion, so maybe you are right that I haven't managed to offend any woke brigade (at least not on here).
And yes, I’m afraid that to me the idea of casting an actor for a film that they’ll never appear in is a bit of a pointless one. And it really depends on how you define ‘Fleming’s original vision’ anyway: as to how rigidly you observe the exact letter of that, because clearly several of the past actors do not conform to that. What you have to remember is that these are adaptations: they literally adapt the material for a new medium, which means that they change it to suit. They don’t and can’t just take the book and stick it on the screen, and Bond has long moved beyond the books anyway.
Bond has moved beyond the books, but I would still prefer an actor that closely resembled the original character Fleming wrote about. That may seem a strange opinion to some, but that's how I feel.
I posted a rant about this a few pages back so won't wasn't your time repeating myself.
The only time the word should be used in my humble opinion is when describing what you do after sleeping.
I agree with all what you mentioned above - PLUS the black comma of hair or a thin, cruel lip. ;)
We can't keep talking about a "relic from the Cold War" if our Bond wasn't around.
If we want to see Bond films made in the present day that present Bond as a modern character, we have to accept that they will in several ways move further away from certain parts of the character's original conception and foundation. I doubt there will be a Fleming period piece film anytime soon, thanks to the magic of copyright extensions and the commercial limitations of such a project.
In the 50s, he had a 30s car, and sort of an imperialistic government workforce mindset. In the 60s, in the films, he was clearly a 40s and 50s man with a 60s sex drive. In the 70s and 80s, he was outdated by everything that surrounded him, and that was the appeal. He used modern gadgets with a bit of contempt for them. In the 90s, he was a relic of the cold war. And in the 2000s, he liked things the "old way", as Craig put it in SF, and drove a 64 Aston Martin, and still used a PPK.
So, there'll always be something from the past deeply rooted in the man. He should never be a product of his time, he should be a product of old reacting to his time, that is and always will be part of the appeal and exoticism.
Right?
Yes indeed, it's mostly nonsense.
Yes, IF they can find a guy who hits all of those as well as looking exactly like Fleming's description of Bond then great, but there aren't many perfect candidates out there and the priority for me is hitting the movie star requirements first and foremost. Hugh Jackman isn't exactly a great physical match for the Wolverine of the comic books- he's a tall thin guy and not a short stocky, hairy type; but everyone agrees he was perfect playing the role and made it his own. The acting is the main thing. (He'd have been an amazing Bond of course)
It's a great point. The Bond who played a role in the cold war is in his 60s now. James Bond living in the 2020s would be a slightly different guy.
Yeah Bond has always been the old fighting the new: he works for an old guy in a stuffy oak-panelled office, lives in a sort of faux-Regency nightmare, wears very classical suits, drives old British cars and fights to keep the status quo etc. whereas his opponents live in the most modern and futuristic modernist lairs, wear clean-lined nehru collared suits and often have ideas to change the whole path of the human race. Forward-thinking is represented as something to be stopped in the Bond movies. And it's from the books too: don't forget that Goldfinger was named after the famous modernist architect whose work Fleming despised. Even Bond's gadgets -his one concession to the modern world- are designed by an elderly old inventor, a very classical model of the idea of the quaint British eccentric. Funnily enough Roger was the only Bond who really seemed to be slightly more in tune with the modern world, with his fashionable flares and his very modern Lotus Esprit. In comes Tim and he's back smoking, wearing tweed and driving a big, old Aston.
So yes, Bond has to be old-fashioned, but that won't really have much of an impact on his casting because anyone can have an old-fashioned mindset.
Well said! Post of the week! =D>
The problem is that never in the history of Bond has there been such an aggressive agenda to delegitimize, demonize and ultimately render irrelevant every that James Bond represents and stands for.
Bond has moved on too, just keeping 20 years behind the present day. I'm not sure what you think is being demonised about what he stands for.
Part of the appeal right from the start of Bond in the cinema is that wonderful and energising dichotomy that the audience think of Bond as being supercool and yet also at the same time, a bit of a dick. We don't actually want to see him cut down to size for his arrogance, but we perversely enjoy seeing him getting away with being a dick in situations which we would never get into. It's a massive part of the appeal of watching him.
Nah that's still Revelator's for my money: they hit the nail on the head.
And there I was hoping you would choose one of my posts.
BTW, that `random' comment was actually in direct response to the `woke twerp' reference found in your post of the week.... ;)
Funny enough, Revelator managed to escape any such harsh, daily mtm criticism on daring to mention the dreaded term `woke', and gets heaped with lots of praise from yourself instead. Some guys have all the luck.