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That was a little joke on my part hence my use of the smiley face. ;)
GE. I bet Barbara was quite happy with Pierce after GE's all around huge success.
And I agree here with DaltonCraig007.
I am perfectly happy with the tradition of Bond as British and white. I simply would not mind Bond being another race as long as quite British.
Agreed. I rank GE very highly personally in my list. It's a throwback of sorts, to Bonds of old, Russian angle and all, but with some new twists for the 90's added as well. Very enjoyable movie IMO.
I thnk TND is very good too, if a bit by the book. It was similar to TSWLM (female equal to Bond/water lair etc.) but the idea of a media mogul as the villain was a good one. TND is a throwback to larger than life Bonds of yore.
I actually rate TMWTGG much higher than TWINE, just on use of locations & cinematography alone. The Hong Kong/Macau bits as well as Scaramanga's lair are miles above any location work in TWINE. Moore was also in excellent form. It's not great, but it's entertaining for me & I liked the mano a mano between Bond & Scaramanga.
DAD was just taking the piss IMO.
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As I said before, I don't think a minority actor should be excluded from being Bond just because he is a minority. However, he should be the best candidate for the role if chosen, and that will be very difficult to justify, purely on a statistical basis, given the far larger number of absolutely excellent potential white candidates that exist for this coveted, high profile role. So the discussion is moot.
What other ways did they date?
as i am sure many others have done before me, but i'll add my 2 cents in as well.....
the only decision Sony has over Bond - is figuring how much they are going to have to spend on production... thats it... fact... and as a matter of fact, once the guys from Spyglass Entertainment bailed MGM out of it's financial troubles, Sony's impact on Bond became even less - as they only control 50% of the production budget, and distribution.... Sony owns absolutely no stake in the Bond franchise - 50% belongs to MGM, the other 50% belong to EON and Danjaq - and not even MGM controls who is hired for any role in the films - much less James Bond... the only ones responsible for casting are EON.... Amy Pascal over at Sony can nominate anyone she wants - but all she is just doing is the ol' proverbial weeing into the wind lol... back in 2005, when Craig signed on for 007 - Sony wanted someone different, someone with already established star power - EON went with Craig.... some control those studio execs have huh? lol... with almost every other franchise, you may be right... but Bond is one of those unique ones, where studio execs remain hands off - EON will never give up it's decision-making power.
but for the record.... I like Elba - fantastic actor... but i'll be honest, i am tired of the PC agenda "lets change characters ethnicities from white to something else - just because it's PC and makes very little sense." ...... i've always been of the mind that there are strong Black characters already out there - go focus on them, or help create more - casting a Black James Bond comes off exactly how it sounds - stunt casting - and he will forever be known as "The Black" James Bond, not simply James Bond....... also, the day we get a Black Bond, is the day I want a White John Shaft or Luke Cage.... it's stupid that this always gets brought up, with each new Bond movie... but it quickly dies out..
I like said in an earlier post, why not a Muslin? Why not a Navajo Chief from Monument Valley? Why not a woman for that matter, Joan Bond?
Why fix it if it's not broken?
Because race IS essential. It's as simple as that.
But really, Ms Pascal talks way way too soon about her "wish". Because let's face it, it was "Skyfall" and Daniel Craig that gave Sony their first 1 Billion Dollar feature. I think she talks way too soon about this, and it shows that contractual matters are unimportant for her.
Let's face it. Daniel Craig still has a contract to do a fifth. And I find that completely logical. Daniel Craig admitted on December 4th that he still loves to play James Bond 007.
And frankly, I want him to do a fifth, hell even a sixth. Considering his admirable shape he's in. I don't get the "age" criticism and that people keep mentioning "yeah he's too old to do a fifth". My my my, how disrespectful. The discussion should not be about Craig's biological age and Amy Pascal's wishes. The discussion should be about Craig's physical fitness and how he, as uncredited creative consultant (because that he is), qualitatively upgraded the Bond franchise in such a way that us Bond fans should marvel continuously!
And having said that, I am already looking forward to Daniel Craig's fifth outing as 007 (2018). And I even don't mind if he fills Connery's footsteps, by doing an official sixth film (2020).
And after that? If Elba still is fit enough? Then I absolutely don't mind to see Idris Elba as the next James Bond. And now, for me personally, this is the end of this discussion. "SPECTRE" is on dear Bond fans :-)!
"These days, you can't even write racial abuse in excrement on someone's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat."
But if you read carefully, you could have read that this was not really my point.
People here have mentioned
Also I love how some people and the media keep citing one throwaway, facetious comment about Craig wanting to quit the role since CR when he has on many occasions declared how much he lives making these movies and how he looks forward to taking things further. Craig will definitely do his contracted 5th movie and I won't be surprised if he goes on to make a 6th and a possible 7th. Damon is doing another Bourne movie in 2 years and he'll do a couple more and he's already 44. Colin Firth is 54 looks good and will be kicking ass in secret service and there's Tom Cruise. Age at 46 for an established Bond actor isn't even an argument.
At the end of the day, speculating conjecture while ignoring the facts is somewhat silly and off kilter. The fact is, Craig is doing a 5th and the shape he's in can keep him in the role for years to come.
How many freaking Bond movies are we gonna get Stuck with this Ass-Hole. I would love to know who they are going to pick as Bond Girl ...
A homosexual Bond, yes, a Bond played by a homosexual actor would require no rewrtite whatsoever. Neither would, say a mixed race actor who can pass as white.
I am against a Black Bond as I am against an American Bond or an obese Bond or Bond first cast in his late 40s. Idris Elba is an amazing actor, he is British, but that does not make him Bond. Or Blofeld (as he was also rumored and mentioned here to play Blofeld). A character is not an interchangeable shell that can be filled by every professional or amateur actor.
Age is very relevant: the oldest actor cast as Bond was Roger Moore, and that was back in the early 70s, when they could still make Bond on a yearly basis. Now it is more every three years. Moore and Brosnan started showing their age and did not go on to become geriatric Bond. Bellucci is an exception when it comes to the Bond girl and as far as we know she is not a recurring character.
True. Craig is Bond for the foreseeable. As for the testosterone, it is all getting rather 1950. Equating being black to being obese or disabled is laughable, or if I were to be less polite, totally fucking moronic.
Completely agree.
I don't want 007 portrayed by 50-year old actors.
It didn't work well with Moore IMO.
Bond is ideally young man 30-45.
2 more for Craig max. Then goodbye.
Re-cast with mature 28-31 year old, and milk 5 prime age movies out the guy. No old dog.
Idris Elba btw would make a great older version of Fleming's Mr. Big.
A young Sean Connery or George Lazenby lookalike, would make a great new James Bond.
Do I really need to explain?
Just google images "Daniel Craig 2014": https://www.google.nl/search?q=Daniel+Craig+gym+2014&biw=1920&bih=888&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=waWdVN7NAcX2O4eEgFg&ved=0CCMQsAQ
And you'll find the legacy our beloved Mr Craig is still leaving behind. Something Roger could have never accomplished.
One would be better.
Then get back to proper young man Bond.
There's no legacy there.
Anyway, I was going to wade in here but @DaltonCraig007 pretty much summed up all that I was going to say. It's not something that has to happen, but I wouldn't give a shit if it did, because there's nothing about the modern, 21st century James Bond that suggests he couldn't be played by a black actor.
If you're a Fleming purist fair enough but otherwise I don't see the problem. In fact some (not all) of the members who seem to be the most vocal about being against a black Bond (because it's againsr the source material) I've never seen even discuss a single Fleming book on here, and others saying a black Bond would be bad because Fleming wrote Bond as white have defended the likes of MR before (which is nothing like the book in any way shape or form). Just strikes me as hypocritical.
Oh, and one more thing: the white Shaft comparison doesn't work. For one thing Shaft has only been played by one actor while Bond has been played by 6, who all look very different and who all play very different interperetations of the character. And Shaft is defined by his race (black private dick). Bond isn't (people say British secret agent, not white secret agent). Not anymore anyway. In the 50s and 60s sure, Bond's race was a big part of it because you couldn't have a black man who came from a similar background to Bond. In the 50s it was impossible to have a black man in a similar position with a similar background as Bond. But now, in 2014, it's perfectly possible for a black guy to come from the same background as Bond so his skin colour is no more important than his hair colour or eye colour.
Summed up pretty well @thelivingroyale. Some people are just scared of the unknown, the status quo is much more comfortable. The fact people resort to 'the PC brigade' argument underlines their paper thin grasp of reality.
Generally speaking age is relevant but not in the case of Craig who I have already given multiple reasons why and I will reiterate from my last post; he's an established Bond actor with 3 films under his belt and is only 46. If a 46 year old today was being cast for his first Bond movie it just wouldnt happen. Some of the older guys I've mentioned look great and credible in the role and as mentioned Craig looks relatively the same as he did 8 years ago. Look at the gaps in years for the MI movies and even taken. I'm not saying I want to see Bond as a late 50s/60 year old man however, his looks at 52 wouldn't have changed drastically compared to how he looked at 38. This isn't a Roger Moore type situation and like you said in response to what I said about Bellucci, Craig is an exception. Everything about his involvement with the Bond movies compared to his predecessors is an exception. Brosnan's age had nothing to do with him not coming back for a 5th movie that most people would have been happy with and were expecting. His age only played a factor because the series was starting over and needed to be told from the perspective of Bond 's 00 roots. As for the gaps, SF had a 4 year gap for reasons I don't need to go into and SPECTRE'S 3 year gap could have been shortened to two years but with the producers not deciding on a director sooner in the hopes of Mendes returning which obviously did but only after he was ready to come back, well we're now where we are. A 2 year cycle is definitely doable and there are movie productions with equally large productions if not bigger that can have a shorter turn around time but even with 3 year cycles, Craig can easily squeeze in Bond 25 and 26.
But you do make compelling arguments @livingroyale.
However if it simply comes down to preference, I like Bond cast in the Fleming mold.
Now if down the road, Eon's stranglehold on Bond could be released, there might be room for alternative takes on Bond. The marketplace can decide what works.