Who should/could be a Bond actor?

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  • Posts: 16,149
    I'm pretty sure there were hints that Pierce wasn't coming back even earlier in 2004. Around the time he was promoting LAWS OF ATTRACTION. Then the official announcement came in October.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited January 2022 Posts: 8,179
    *dp*
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,179
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure there were hints that Pierce wasn't coming back even earlier in 2004. Around the time he was promoting LAWS OF ATTRACTION. Then the official announcement came in October.

    I decided to look it up. Brosnan said he got the call during filming of AFTER THE SUNSET, and the last day of shooting for that film was in 15 February 2004. The video game EVERYTHING OR NOTHING hit shelves on 17 February.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20041104013226/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-10/14/10.30.film

    So while Bond fans were celebrating the release of a Bond video game Brosnan participated in, he already knew he was out of the role and had to stay quiet about it until later in October. Ouch!
  • I've never not been excited about the casting of a new Bond, granted I was too young to have an opinion on Dalton and Brosnan's casting but still, if EoN go for some weird reason go for Holland or a non white actor...looks like the party's over for me.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,344
    Benny wrote: »
    So it was a year between Pierce leaving and Daniel becoming Bond?
    So does that mean we could see a new Bond revealed by the end of 2022?

    It’s possible I guess but I tend to agree with everyone that they’d get the director and a script first. I suppose it depends if they’ve really done some work on it yet or not, but there is still no sign of a limited company being set up for the film, which they usually do early in production for accounting reasons. I tend to think they’re telling the truth when they say they haven’t started, not officially anyway. It might be quite a lot to do in the time.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,556
    I would think Project 007 and its generic video game Bond would come before any announcement of Bond #7. It seems unusual to me, to have some overlap with promoting two different faces we haven't seen before.

    Of course, we were treated to other Bond incarnations a couple of times in the Broz era, but he had already been established for a few years.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    I think the press just crossed a couple of wires on purpose to keep the ball rolling. Eon have said they want to focus on finishing out Craig’s run in full, which includes BAFTAs and Oscars, the Oscars being the later of the two. They seem to consider that „the end of the Craig era“ at which point I have always understood they will start to seriously plan Bond 26 and the search for #7.
    Press has taken the timeline of „nothing happens before the Oscars“ and turned it into „something will definitely happen soon after the Oscars and what could it be except an announcement??!!??11“ to keep the ball rolling.

    I’m not one to bash the media, but they have absolutely no interest in saying „no need to check our website and paper for the next year, there will be no developments for quite some time“ but rather go with „it might be soon! Be sure to stay subscribed, if you are interested! You never know!“.

    So I’m also in the „nothing is settled and it won’t happen before or at the anniversary in October“.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,344
    QBranch wrote: »
    I would think Project 007 and its generic video game Bond would come before any announcement of Bond #7. It seems unusual to me, to have some overlap with promoting two different faces we haven't seen before.

    Of course, we were treated to other Bond incarnations a couple of times in the Broz era, but he had already been established for a few years.

    I expect they’ll try and keep away from each other as much as they can, but the announcement of the movie actor would bulldoze anything about the video game so I’m sure it won’t factor in too heavily.
    The only problem is that they’ll probably have to cast someone in the video game this year and there’s a high chance of that casting being misreported by rubbish outlets as the casting for the films, so I’m sure they’ll be wary of that.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    peter wrote: »
    As I told a couple of our members: buy me a brand new hat coz if there is an announcement after the Oscar’s— from this year— I will take that hat, pour all kinds of tasty sauce on it and I will eat it.

    Not happening.

    Agreed. It is way too soon. And Eon is still pushing NTTD for home viewing.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,392
    It makes me laugh how people will say that there's nothing wrong with bond changing race, but then dismiss tom hardy as "too short" or "too old". What? If we are looking past the race thing, how is it right to be heightist or ageist against actors on the same basis? Is there any reason why bond HAS to be 6 feet tall, or in that 35 - 40 age range? Isn't that just another type of discrimination, albeit one we are less prepared to confront at the present time? Once you chip away at the character enough, it all starts to seem arbitrary. Bond can look like anyone if you squint hard enough. I mean, we say that he has to remain a man because he's such a womaniser and that an essential component of the character, but I can easily see some twitter activist making the case that the idea of men having inherently greater sex drive is retrograde and sexist on its face. The way I look at it, for 30 years we had everyone in mi6 portrayed as the same race, gender, sexuality and no one blinked an eye. They didn't feel the need to change anything and no one even saw it as being a problem. Then in the next 30 years (from the 90's onwards) we've had a female M, a black moneypenny, a black felix lieter and now, as we discovered in B25, a gay Q. The only character in the main cast who hasn't gender/race/sexuality swapped has been Bond, although they did allude to some homosexuality in skyfall in silvas lair. And now people are saying that its inevitable that Bond changes race in future, and there's nothing we can do to avoid it. Then what do you call this force, if not slowly "going woke" over time? If every single character in the main cast HAS to be altered in some way just to continue existing then that's the very definition of bending to suit an ideological agenda. Is there any evidence to suggest that race swapping a character actually improves their standing with a given demographic? Do more black people watch bond now that felix is representing them on screen, and what does that even mean? I find the idea of race swapping to "improve the branding" a deeply cynical approach, not to mention a little creepy. It's the kind of thing that a board room full of executives would come up with, not some bold out of the box thinking.

    People who support this idea seem to think that it will do a lot to freshen up and modernise the franchise, while at the same time arguing that nothing will fundamentally change about it. Well, which is it then? How can we argue that this change would bring about so many positives and invigorate the series overall, and then say its as superficial as changing eye colour? It doesn't really make sense, and thats my issue. There's no collective experience surrounding people with brown eyes or blonde hair like there is around people of different races, so it's a silly comparison to even mention. I can only assume that by freshen up and "modernise" bond, we mean changing things beyond just skin colour. By representation, we don't just mean seeing the same skin tone on screen, but the same underlying experience being depicted. That's where the relatability comes from, correct? So that would mean a major divergence from the rest of the series, and the origin of the books, far greater than Craigs blonde hair ever caused.

    I always thought that killing off bond would be my final straw, but the fact that Craigs journey is now a closed book, put back on the shelf next to lazenby, connery, moore and brosnan and dalton where they can all be looked back on and appreciated by their respective fanbases, is enough to give the series another chance. I can happily move on, take what i find enjoyable about his first 3 entries, and forget that the 2013 - 2023 era even existed when it comes to Bond on the big screen. But if they decide that after all the changes they have made to the cast over the past decades to make it more accepting and inclusive that they have to start messing with Bonds fudamental character for the sake of twitter clout, and if its really true that making nomi the official 007 was babs idea of "testing the waters", then I have no reluctance in saying that I will be jumping ship before it sinks. The writing really is on the wall at that point.

    I personally think aidan turner is perhaps the best and only option right now, because he's the only one who is equally capable of doing both the light and the dark, and I think a balance of both is what's needed if the next era is to get off to a successful start. People say that he only has support because he has a certain bondian look about him, but as far as I'm concerned that's the last thing that qualifies him. His best attributes are not merely his looks, but his ability and natural talent. Anyone who has actually taken the time to watch "and then there were none" can attest to his inherent dark persona and classic rogueishness. he reminds me of early connery/dalton in bringing that raw intensity to the screen. But at the same time, if you watch any interview he does, he is such a light hearted, affable chap in the same way that brosnan and Moore would be off screen, and I feel he would do a much better job handling the press than Craig has done. The fact that he has both extremes, the dark, menacing, cruel side and the breezy, happy-go-lucky side means that whatever story direction they want to go in he is well equipt to take on. Personally I am very much looking forward to a Bond era that is more outside the characters head, and going on the journey with him but not from his perspective so much. The Craig era has its appeal, but I feel like we've been suffering bonds torment along with him for the past 20 years, and I want to get out of that space and back into seeing him from the outside looking in as a character with mystery, intrigue and some levity. That being said he should still have depth to him, and he needs that dangerous mystique, which turner can pull off in spades. If he doesn't at least get a good screen test in the next few years it would be a major travesty for the series, and I think many fans would view it as the one that got away considering how he is already a firm fan favourite.
  • @Mendes4Lyfe you get a lot of stick from people here for a variety of reasons but your post above, was mostly spot on and I agree with most of it. That being said, I champion Jack Lowden to be the new Bond. He's the full package to embody any incarnation of the character that we've already seen these past 60 years. Lastly, before I ever see a black Bond, Hollywood should first experiment with a non white superman and batman...see how that crap turns out.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited January 2022 Posts: 3,147
    Race-swapping Bond? Might work - changing the recipe never harmed Coca Cola, after all. Oh, wait...
    Exaggerating for comedic effect, but you get the gist.
    Aidan Turner would be a great Bond. I could easily believe that Turner and Dalton were playing the same character. Would BB see him as the safe option, though? Bit too much of a reversion to tradition, etc?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited March 2022 Posts: 13,355
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure there were hints that Pierce wasn't coming back even earlier in 2004. Around the time he was promoting LAWS OF ATTRACTION. Then the official announcement came in October.

    I decided to look it up. Brosnan said he got the call during filming of AFTER THE SUNSET, and the last day of shooting for that film was in 15 February 2004. The video game EVERYTHING OR NOTHING hit shelves on 17 February.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20041104013226/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-10/14/10.30.film

    So while Bond fans were celebrating the release of a Bond video game Brosnan participated in, he already knew he was out of the role and had to stay quiet about it until later in October. Ouch!

    We knew about the story breaking in February 2004. See below, I remember it so well. Picking up the new game thinking, 'this could be it'.

    https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/bond_21_brosnan_rumours_timeline.php3?t=bond21&s=bond21

    Bronson mentioned this for the first time in March 2004.

    Here is a great article where it's revealed the sticking point was Brosnan wanted $20m, $3m more than was willing to be paid, so they broke off negotiations with his agent. He priced himself out of Bond.

    https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/bond_21_brosnan_pay.php3

    As we know Broccoli first talked with Craig at Mary Selway's funeral in June 2004. Nearly 18 months later they got their man.

    We first learnt of Craig in Feb 2005, before that Campbell as director and the title in Jan 2005.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,195
    I think an announcement of Cary returning is more possible. It is known that he and Barbara did discuss possible candidates. As Martin Campbell did for CR, he may be part of the vetting process, and may even shoot screentest, as did Campbell.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,344
    The more I think about it, the more the lack of a ‘Bond 26’ Ltd. company suggests they really haven’t started anything at all on the film. Presumably every billable cost and man hour spent on the next film goes against that company for accounting purposes, so without that in place then I suppose they’re not billing that time (if you look on Companies House you can see the companies for the previous films being incorporated often before the previous film had even opened). I guess this might have something to do with the MGM sale and possible uncertainty over where the budget is coming from. Or maybe they just want a break from development.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    Agreed. The Amazon deal has to close first, before any of this.
  • edited January 2022 Posts: 1,629
    Big money gets big participation, generally
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,344
    Are there any MGM films in production or pre-production? I’m not sure how you find that sort of thing.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited January 2022 Posts: 5,970
    mtm wrote: »
    Are there any MGM films in production or pre-production? I’m not sure how you find that sort of thing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer_films
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,344
    Denbigh wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Are there any MGM films in production or pre-production? I’m not sure how you find that sort of thing.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer_films

    Thanks. So if that's correct there's not really much that hasn't started filming already then.
  • LucknFateLucknFate 007 In New York
    Posts: 1,638
    Jimjambond wrote: »
    or a non white actor...looks like the party's over for me.

    Goodbye!
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    edited January 2022 Posts: 8,392
    We probably won't see bond 26 until 2026 at this rate. They haven't even started thinking about the next film yet and it seems to take them longer and longer each time to get things underway.
  • LucknFate wrote: »
    Jimjambond wrote: »
    or a non white actor...looks like the party's over for me.

    Goodbye!

    Hell hasn't frozen over just yet, pal.
  • The answer to the question "Who would Chris Nolan cast as the next Bond?" and the answer to the question "Who will be the next James Bond?" are one and the same.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,179
    Samuel001 wrote: »
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure there were hints that Pierce wasn't coming back even earlier in 2004. Around the time he was promoting LAWS OF ATTRACTION. Then the official announcement came in October.

    I decided to look it up. Brosnan said he got the call during filming of AFTER THE SUNSET, and the last day of shooting for that film was in 15 February 2004. The video game EVERYTHING OR NOTHING hit shelves on 17 February.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20041104013226/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-10/14/10.30.film

    So while Bond fans were celebrating the release of a Bond video game Brosnan participated in, he already knew he was out of the role and had to stay quiet about it until later in October. Ouch!

    We knew about the story breaking in February 2004. See below, I remember it so well. Picking up the new game thinking, 'this could be it'.

    https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/bond_21_brosnan_rumours_timeline.php3?t=bond21&s=bond21

    Bronson mentioned this for the first time in March 2004.

    Search the site and you'll find a great article where it's revealed the sticking point was Brosnan wanted $20m, $2.5m more than was willing to be paid, so they broke off negotiations with his agent. He priced himself out of Bond.

    As we know Broccoli first talked with Craig at Mary Selway's funeral in June 2004. Nearly 18 months later they got their man.

    We first learnt of Craig in Feb 2005, Campbell as director in Jan 2005.

    Thanks @Samuel001! I hadn’t been following the main site until CR was entering production, so I only learned about Brosnan’s departure late in 2004. Playing the EON game completely oblivious to what was happening behind the scenes.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,277
    The answer to the question "Who would Chris Nolan cast as the next Bond?" and the answer to the question "Who will be the next James Bond?" are one and the same.

    I wouldn't go banco on that.
  • The answer to the question "Who would Chris Nolan cast as the next Bond?" and the answer to the question "Who will be the next James Bond?" are one and the same.

    I doubt they’d seriously go for Nolan; he’d want more control than EON would be willing to give.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,179
    The only concern I’d have of Nolan is whether he has control over sound mixing because TENET had the worst.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The answer to the question "Who would Chris Nolan cast as the next Bond?" and the answer to the question "Who will be the next James Bond?" are one and the same.

    So it s Hardy?
  • JeremyBondonJeremyBondon Seeking out odd jobs with Oddjob @Tangier
    Posts: 1,318
    It makes me laugh how people will say that there's nothing wrong with bond changing race, but then dismiss tom hardy as "too short" or "too old". What? If we are looking past the race thing, how is it right to be heightist or ageist against actors on the same basis? Is there any reason why bond HAS to be 6 feet tall, or in that 35 - 40 age range? Isn't that just another type of discrimination, albeit one we are less prepared to confront at the present time? Once you chip away at the character enough, it all starts to seem arbitrary. Bond can look like anyone if you squint hard enough. I mean, we say that he has to remain a man because he's such a womaniser and that an essential component of the character, but I can easily see some twitter activist making the case that the idea of men having inherently greater sex drive is retrograde and sexist on its face. The way I look at it, for 30 years we had everyone in mi6 portrayed as the same race, gender, sexuality and no one blinked an eye. They didn't feel the need to change anything and no one even saw it as being a problem. Then in the next 30 years (from the 90's onwards) we've had a female M, a black moneypenny, a black felix lieter and now, as we discovered in B25, a gay Q. The only character in the main cast who hasn't gender/race/sexuality swapped has been Bond, although they did allude to some homosexuality in skyfall in silvas lair. And now people are saying that its inevitable that Bond changes race in future, and there's nothing we can do to avoid it. Then what do you call this force, if not slowly "going woke" over time? If every single character in the main cast HAS to be altered in some way just to continue existing then that's the very definition of bending to suit an ideological agenda. Is there any evidence to suggest that race swapping a character actually improves their standing with a given demographic? Do more black people watch bond now that felix is representing them on screen, and what does that even mean? I find the idea of race swapping to "improve the branding" a deeply cynical approach, not to mention a little creepy. It's the kind of thing that a board room full of executives would come up with, not some bold out of the box thinking.

    People who support this idea seem to think that it will do a lot to freshen up and modernise the franchise, while at the same time arguing that nothing will fundamentally change about it. Well, which is it then? How can we argue that this change would bring about so many positives and invigorate the series overall, and then say its as superficial as changing eye colour? It doesn't really make sense, and thats my issue. There's no collective experience surrounding people with brown eyes or blonde hair like there is around people of different races, so it's a silly comparison to even mention. I can only assume that by freshen up and "modernise" bond, we mean changing things beyond just skin colour. By representation, we don't just mean seeing the same skin tone on screen, but the same underlying experience being depicted. That's where the relatability comes from, correct? So that would mean a major divergence from the rest of the series, and the origin of the books, far greater than Craigs blonde hair ever caused.

    I always thought that killing off bond would be my final straw, but the fact that Craigs journey is now a closed book, put back on the shelf next to lazenby, connery, moore and brosnan and dalton where they can all be looked back on and appreciated by their respective fanbases, is enough to give the series another chance. I can happily move on, take what i find enjoyable about his first 3 entries, and forget that the 2013 - 2023 era even existed when it comes to Bond on the big screen. But if they decide that after all the changes they have made to the cast over the past decades to make it more accepting and inclusive that they have to start messing with Bonds fudamental character for the sake of twitter clout, and if its really true that making nomi the official 007 was babs idea of "testing the waters", then I have no reluctance in saying that I will be jumping ship before it sinks. The writing really is on the wall at that point.

    I personally think aidan turner is perhaps the best and only option right now, because he's the only one who is equally capable of doing both the light and the dark, and I think a balance of both is what's needed if the next era is to get off to a successful start. People say that he only has support because he has a certain bondian look about him, but as far as I'm concerned that's the last thing that qualifies him. His best attributes are not merely his looks, but his ability and natural talent. Anyone who has actually taken the time to watch "and then there were none" can attest to his inherent dark persona and classic rogueishness. he reminds me of early connery/dalton in bringing that raw intensity to the screen. But at the same time, if you watch any interview he does, he is such a light hearted, affable chap in the same way that brosnan and Moore would be off screen, and I feel he would do a much better job handling the press than Craig has done. The fact that he has both extremes, the dark, menacing, cruel side and the breezy, happy-go-lucky side means that whatever story direction they want to go in he is well equipt to take on. Personally I am very much looking forward to a Bond era that is more outside the characters head, and going on the journey with him but not from his perspective so much. The Craig era has its appeal, but I feel like we've been suffering bonds torment along with him for the past 20 years, and I want to get out of that space and back into seeing him from the outside looking in as a character with mystery, intrigue and some levity. That being said he should still have depth to him, and he needs that dangerous mystique, which turner can pull off in spades. If he doesn't at least get a good screen test in the next few years it would be a major travesty for the series, and I think many fans would view it as the one that got away considering how he is already a firm fan favourite.

    This is probably the best post I have ever read on mi6. I salute you @Mendes4Lyfe. Very, very eloquently put and I could not agree more. You are a true asset to this forum.
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