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Yes I can't think that Moore and Rigg ever worked together, but on the basis that both were great with Pat Macnee, I think they'd have worked together very well!
They are both strong enough actors to work well with each other.
Agree completely. And the same goes for every other actor too.
Strong and distinctive directors when the novelty of an actor or franchise wanes is a great idea universally to keep things fresh.
No Time To Wait at a theatre near you 2026!
Give the franchise to Disney- we'll have movies every other year + a bunch of streaming series. :D
How on Earth can you possibly know how much chemistry they'd have had. Just arguing for the sake of it.
It's not like Bond and Tracy even have all that much screentime together. I think I could do as well in a montage as Lazenby did!
On that logic Pat Macnee could never have sparked off against her or shared any warmth. She didn't only work with amateur actors, far from it.
When has Moore ever come off as 'cold, coy and brittle'?
He worked with a great many actors who were better than him, he was never blown off the screen because his talent was having charisma.
Good to know. His post was so strongly contrary to the general opinion that , for me it seemed to be intentionally provocative. I stand corrected.
Thank you @Birdleson
In the same way that you knew Rigg would have played well with Moore because she played well with Moore. And to your second sentence, tu quoque.
Then let's be glad you didn't. I've never felt Bond and Tracy had a shortage of screentime together.
And by what logic would Macnee the exact same actor and personality as Moore? He was a stronger actor.
When did I say opposite?
We can start with his first two Bond films...
And he was the lesser presence in The Sea Wolves, The Wild Geese, TMWTGG, and Shout at the Devil.
I simply don't think Rigg and Moore's talents and personalities would have been compatible. Roger was the first to point out his limitations as an actor. He was probably capable of somewhat more than he allowed, but there's a core truth to his comments. For me, Moore has a lot in common with David Niven--a wonderfully charming actor but not quite in the Cary Grant in one direction or comparable to Spencer Tracy in the other. That said, Roger perhaps had slightly greater range than Niven, and in his later years he could be quite avuncular. To repeat: I like Roger, but I think fans, as they are wont, might sometimes overrate his ability.
Anyway, I apologize for further blowing this thread off-topic.
Thanks for being understanding.
If it had been Moore, Eon likely would have chosen a lesser actress opposite him, as they did for most of the '60s.
I said "I think they'd have worked very well together". I don't know for sure, I didn't claim to. Compare with your statement that "He would have had zero chemistry with Diana Rigg".
I never claimed that I "knew" anything for sure, unlike yourself. So your second sentence doesn't really work. I'm merely making observations based on how he never really had any trouble creating warm screen relationships with anyone he worked with, and neither did Rigg.
Chemistry is called just that because it's rather unknowable: it just happens and can't be planned. So quite how you can pretend to know for sure that they wouldn't have had any at all is kind of counter to what the term actually means.
I'm starting to think Talos spoke too soon... ;)
They were very much on the same level, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Macnee was a decent actor, just as Moore was, and likewise had an immense amount of charm which shone out of the screen. That's why they worked so well together and worked with each other many times, neither outshining the other in any of their appearances but complimenting each other.
But what is your point about Macnee being better? That Rigg only worked well with better actors than Moore? The idea that she worked better against a worse actor than Moore as Bond has lost me slightly. Did she need someone better than Lazenby or worse or than Moore? Or better than Moore?
You suggest that "Hunt used the old tactic of placing a professional with an amateur", as if it wouldn't have worked with two professionals.
Even if that's not what you're saying, just because Hunt used that trick doesn't for a moment mean that two professionals couldn't have done it. That is pretty much the standard way of doing it.
You can if you like, but it's not something I can agree on at all. He's far from cold in those, he's as warm a presence as he ever was. Comparatively he's more comfortable with Lewis Gilbert, but we can also see from his work with Peter Hunt himself that 'cold' etc. was not a product of their collaboration.
I don't think that's true at all, but he was also playing a supporting role in most of those.
TMWTGG? That really is nonsense.
I'm glad you've phrased it as an opinion this time :)
I don't disagree, but quite how that leads to the conclusion that he couldn't have worked with Diana Rigg is unclear. They were both very experienced and talented in their own ways, and OHMSS is hardly Shakespeare. It was well-trodden ground for both of them and I see no reason to think they'd have suddenly been unable to produce the goods just because they were put together. Do I think they'd have been the best screen couple ever committed to celluloid? Of course not, but Lazenby and her aren't exactly amazing either, and if Rigg could make screen sparks with Macnee then I see no reason to think she couldn't make that work with other stars of ITV action series.
This is all so incredibly subjective anyway.
Possibly, but she wasn't the first ex-Avengers star they'd hired as the female lead so it doesn't seem impossible that they'd have wanted her anyway. And as Jordo says, they did need someone strong for Mrs James Bond.
On a message board I don't regard it as necessary to preface every opinion with "I think." Neither do you for that matter.
Macnee was also a good character actor, which can't really be said for Moore. He could also play lighter parts, which is why he works well alongside Roger.
That Rigg would have worked well either with an actor as strong as herself, or conversely with an amateur who would complement her polish with his spontaneity. But if you're pairing her with an actor who's not as strong as her and doesn't have an amateur's spontaneity and lack of self-consciousness, then her partner is liable to look lightweight and artificial and could be dominated by her. Hence Roger's unsuitability for OHMSS.
Not with any two professionals, no.
I don't see any warmth in those films, that's part of my problem with them. He's colder and stiffer than he would be under Glen or Gilbert.
In Gold it arguably is, though I still like the film, and while there's some amusement in the contrast between Moore and Lee Marvin, I could see Shout at the Devil working better with a more passionate actor than Moore.
You forgot to preface that with "I think."
I think that Sixtine in Forever and a Day comes close as well.
I haven't read the Horowitz novels yet. I'll take your word on it my friend
No she was casted because of her popularity from Avengers as Emma Peel so they would still likely to hire her had Moore been Bond at the time.
They even had no other actresses in mind to consider for the role, other than Bardot (who wanted to work with Connery), Deneuve (who rejected the role), and Bisset (again rejected the role).
And to be honest, I don't liked any of them, they wouldn't worked.
It's only Rigg who'd said yes because she wanted to star in a big time film, and my God! What a blessing she was! She made the film worked! She nailed it, she truly owned the role.
No, I don't want Deneuve, I could easily see her as a villainess a la Elektra or something like Octopussy, but not Tracy sorry.
And I don't think she's sexy, charismatic and versatile as Rigg.
If she had been cast, Tracy would not likely to be my favorite, she couldn't make Tracy iconic or popular as Diana Rigg was.
Connery and Rigg? Why not.
Moore and Rigg? Why not.
Different Bond Actors with Rigg? Why not!
Just because you could pair any actors with Rigg and it would still work, look at the dynamic between her and Savalas.
Because she's just excellent.
But a different actress? No way!
And she's even not a versatile actress to begin with, I didn't see her play some different roles.
But based on Manckiewicz' article, she wanted the role of Anya Amasova, I think she could have nailed it, no against Barbara Bach but she's only a model, what the role needs was an actress.
Sixtine is a surprisingly strong character, yes; I liked her a lot. I was slightly less keen on the slightly Solo-ish way it turned out she introduced to him to his famous foibles of martinis and Morlands cigarettes etc. but it was still a very convincing relationship.
(That's Solo the Star Wars film, not the Bond book! :) )
Yes I think you're right.
I don't blame them for looking for a European actor to start with, Tracy is supposed to be the daughter of a Corsican gangster after all!
It's quite funny that of the two major loves of Bond's lives, the Corsican one was played by an Englishwoman with inexplicable English accent, and the English one was played by a French actor, with inexplicable French accent :D
I wouldn't forgo Rigg for that, though.
I think it would have worked as long as he's engaged and as long as he have a great co-star to go with (someone like Rigg).
It also depends on the co-star, if Connery's there but his leading lady wasn't that great it wouldn't worked.
But the problem if the audiences at the time would have liked to see Connery's Bond falling in love? People knew his Bond as this playboy superman, they're not used to seeing Bond that way.
So with other actor in the role, it's easy for the audiences to accept the change in Bond's character.