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If Bond Actors Were To Play Other Spies...

ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
edited April 2016 in General Discussion Posts: 15,423
We do have a few threads about who should be or should've been Bond in this forums, yet here's the thing that actually has been toyed in my mind. @Thunderfinger's "Which Bond Would You Rather..." played an inspiration in the thought, so for fun I decided to make this post reserved for the purpose of casting any of the actors who played James Bond in the role of other famous spies and/or secret agents.

P.S. Apologies if this duplicates onto a similarly existing thread. If it does, feel free to close this down, mods.

Now, here goes my list at a first hand try:

Sean Connery - Bulldog Drummond
George Lazenby - Matt Helm
Roger Moore - Derek Flint
Timothy Dalton - John Drake
Pierce Brosnan - John Steed (or) John Mannering (The Baron)
Daniel Craig - Harry Palmer
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Comments

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    I'd have Brosnan do Flint, but otherwise I agree!
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    chrisisall wrote: »
    I'd have Brosnan do Flint, but otherwise I agree!
    Brosnan would be terrific as Flint. Then again, the man would be terrific as any other sophisticated Super Spy.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I have heard of all of these characters but don't know anything about any of them except John Steed, who I think Moore would be perfect for, and Harry Palmer, who I think best suits Craig also.

    PS: A thought also came to mind about Tom Hiddleston - who could do a fantastic job as Steed in a reboot imho.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    I also thought of Moore as Steed at some point, but the man would definitely break the rule of behaving gentlemanly and romance any woman he sees at some early point at a rendezvous. :))

    And I agree, Harry Palmer truly fits Craig like a glove. I also thought of him as Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer, as well.

    Brosnan would make hell of a Simon Templar, too. But, if I were to nominate, I'd vote John Mannering for him, the eponymous Baron (ITC television series based on series of books).

    Dalton is extremely suitable for John Drake. @bondjames, if you haven't seen any of the Danger Man episodes, you should. The best spy television series ever made. Dalton is awfully similar to Patrick McGoohan in his act.

    You know? Connery in his 50s would've made a great Flint, too. That one scene when he stands between women in bikinis in Never Say Never Again felt a lot like the atmospheric Our Man Flint.

    Lazenby is totally Matt Helm.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited April 2016 Posts: 17,801
    Well, DAF practically is a Flint film!
    I mean that in a good way. :D
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Well, DAF practically is a Flint film!
    I mean that in a good way. :D
    Yes, definitely it is! Does that also make Die Another Day a Flint film? We know Moonraker is in a way a remake of In Like Flint. ;)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Well, DAF practically is a Flint film!
    I mean that in a good way. :D
    Yes, definitely it is! Does that also make Die Another Day a Flint film?
    Nah, Broz plays it too straight, too Bondian, even in an otherwise Flint-ish production.

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    chrisisall wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Well, DAF practically is a Flint film!
    I mean that in a good way. :D
    Yes, definitely it is! Does that also make Die Another Day a Flint film?
    Nah, Broz plays it too straight, too Bondian, even in an otherwise Flint-ish production.
    The man can rarely make a mistake. ;)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited April 2016 Posts: 17,801
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    The man can rarely make a mistake. ;)
    SHHHHH! Don't say that so loud! The haters might notice & flock down to feast like there's no Tomorrow Never Dies!

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    chrisisall wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    The man can rarely make a mistake. ;)
    SHHHHH! Don't say that so loud! The haters might notice & flock down to feast like there's no Tomorrow Never Dies!
    Ever had the feeling of being watched? ;)
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    @ClarkDevlin, thanks, I will check out Danger Man. All I know about that show is an ad I saw once somewhere. "I am not a number....I am a free man!". Loved McGoohan in Columbo, so why not.

    I bought the entire The Baron tv show for my dad, so should get it back from him and have a watch.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited April 2016 Posts: 15,423
    bondjames wrote: »
    @ClarkDevlin, thanks, I will check out Danger Man. All I know about that show is an ad I saw once somewhere. "I am not a number....I am a free man!". Loved McGoohan in Columbo, so why not.

    I bought the entire The Baron tv show for my dad, so should get it back from him and have a watch.
    The quote you mentioned is actually from The Prisoner, but no worries since some do believe it is a follow up to Danger Man. ;)

    I think you'll love The Baron, @bondjames. If you do love The Saint, the former is just like that. Only that in the books, The Baron/John Mannering is a burglar/theif-turned-antiques dealer and is English, whereas in the show his criminal past is discarded and he's turned into an American.

    And by the way, @chrisisall, which of the Bond actors do you think would be best to play Sterling Archer? ;)
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    Posts: 3,000
    I think any of the Bond actors would make a better Ethan Hunt than Tom Cruise does (I'm definitely not a Cruise or Mission Impossible fan).
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Sean Connery would get my vote for Rollin Hand (original IMF member).
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Bump!

    Come on, chaps. I thought this thread would've been interesting for the Bond fans.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    Pierce Brosnan as Michael Westen ('Burn Notice').
    Daniel Craig as John Reese ('Person of Interest').
    Timothy Dalton as Christopher Foyle ('Foyle's War').
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Brosnan as Michael Westen... Now, that is hell of a casting, @DaltonCraig007!
    And I actually could see Craig playing Reese!
  • GerardGerard
    edited April 2016 Posts: 5,994
    Craig as Matt Helm. He would bring the seriousness of the books to the character.

    For the life of me, I can't see which one of them could play Modesty Blaise, but Sir Roger could have been a good Willy Garvin.

    And if we could cast french spies, I could see Craig as SAS, and Sir Sean as OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin got that right).
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Quite a casting, @Gerard!

    And indeed, I've always imagined Steve McQueen in the role of the literary Matt Helm (not the film version immortalized by Dean Martin), and with Craig bearing some resemblance to McQueen, I can see him donning the role.

    Sadly, I'm not familiar with SAS (other than the Special Air Service of Britain), and of course, OSS 117 of the 1960s was tailored after Connery's Bond. Frederick Stafford who played the character in two of the 60s film series played it like he was playing Connery as Bond as required by film director Andre Hunebelle. And obviously the spoof by Dujardin that came decades later on replicated the style remarkably!

    As for Willy Garvin, I think I'd go for Lazenby for that since the character is a bit depressed in the books. I can see Lazenby being a playboy in that vein.

    Now, for Moore, he would've made a fascinating George Smiley in the 1990s. Wouldn't you say?
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    Posts: 3,000
    DaltonCraig007 wrote: »
    Pierce Brosnan as Michael Westen ('Burn Notice').

    Ooooh...I like that idea!
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited April 2016 Posts: 7,134
    Although Dikkie is brilliant in it, I'd love to see Timothy Dalton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited April 2016 Posts: 15,423
    If there's another film adaptation of it, no doubt Dalton should be the one in the leading role.

    @GoldenGun, and since The Spy Who Came In From The Cold essentially exists in the George Smiley universe (where he's one of the minor characters in the book), we could have Moore appearing as Smiley.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Knock Knock!
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    Posts: 3,000
    I'd like to see Brosnan do a parody of Craig's "dark, serious, gritty" Bond.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited April 2016 Posts: 15,423
    Love your casting so far, @Birdleson. And I do believe Connery would've made a decent Alec Leamas, and Roger would've been terrific in a role originally played by the great Cary Grant. Had there been a remake of Notorious, Roger would've been our man for it.

    And after he retires from the Bond role, Craig should definitely do a Harry Palmer film. Suggestively, Horse Under Water that was to go under production as Caine's fourth, yet it was cancelled due to Billion Dollar Brain's poor box office performance.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    You're not missing much, @Birdleson. Billion Dollar Brain is only slightly better than Funeral In Berlin. The only Harry Palmer film worth watching is The Ipcress File. Now, that one is hell of a spy thriller.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    You're not missing much, @Birdleson. Billion Dollar Brain is only slightly better than Funeral In Berlin. The only Harry Palmer film worth watching is The Ipcress File. Now, that one is hell of a spy thriller.

    I agree. I'd rate The Ipcress File in the same league as the better Bond films, while Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain would rank somewhere near the bottom.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    You're not missing much, @Birdleson. Billion Dollar Brain is only slightly better than Funeral In Berlin. The only Harry Palmer film worth watching is The Ipcress File. Now, that one is hell of a spy thriller.

    I agree. I'd rate The Ipcress File in the same league as the better Bond films, while Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain would rank somewhere near the bottom.
    Oh definitely! What's even more appealing about The Ipcress File is that it also has the traits of a Film Noir. And it's done all too well!
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    That is the problem with Funeral In Berlin. And like its successor, it hardly makes sense. All the same scenes rehashed altogether.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    I remember Billion Dollar Brain having no sense at all. It makes DAF look like Shakespeare.
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