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SPECTRE: So who's going to play Ernst?
As I read before on this site: <<Rather interestingly, during the talk last night screenplay writer John Logan was reminded by an audience member of a quote that he said some ten years ago that, in his opinion, “Bond should always fight Blofeld”. When pressed on this he gave a wry smile and said “Bond should always fight Blofeld!”.
So can we safely say that this hint is not a rumour? And that the chance is actually very high that dear Ernst Stavro Blofeld will return?. And the big question: Who will play Ernst? Albert Finney? or Ralph Fiennes?
So can we safely say that this hint is not a rumour? And that the chance is actually very high that dear Ernst Stavro Blofeld will return?. And the big question: Who will play Ernst? Albert Finney? or Ralph Fiennes?
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Comments
It was reported Albert Finney is playing a senior civil servant.
If Bond encounters Blofeld there could be a fight and that wouldn't look so good with Craig vs Finney. The guy is in his 70s and has suffered from cancer.
Craig vs Fiennes seems a much more credible scenario although it's possible Fiennes has a small role and Bardem has more of the screentime? In the early Bond films Blofeld was rarely seen and the screenwriters may want to replicate that in Skyfall.
Fiennes is supposedly playing a "darkly complex" character, and for me that is not necessarily a villain. We will be finding out soon, I guess.
EDIT: Found it: http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=9242
Says nothing of villain but then again, no official reports on who he's playing!
EON must have a few spies on these boards and throw in these vague, mysterious bits of news just for the sake of our discussions. ;;)
Also.....I said last year and this year.......that Bond should have its own ´The Joker from Batman played by Heath Ledger´ again. Bond villains used to be iconic in the 1960´s and 70´s. But since then Bond villains were by no means iconic. I mean, who is more iconic. Heath Ledger´s The Joker? Or Mads Mikkelsen´s Le Chiffre.
So I have a gut feeling that the Bond producers picked this up. They don´t want to give Ralph Fiennes a character like the badly written Gustav Graves or Renard. Ralph Fiennes perhaps want to outshine Bond in every aspect. So that ´dark, complex character´ could be a re-invention of Blofeld.
I think since Kevin McGlory has passed away and ever since Sony Pictures obtained the rights to the names SPECTRE and Blofeld, it is now much easier for EON to re-use those names again. And I think EON must have been thinking "YEAH no legal problems anymore. Let´s re-invent Blofeld and SPECTRE. Or let´s use Blofeld for QUANTUM!"
All completely invalidated by Babs' and MGW's comments at the press conference that SKYFALL has nothing to do with CR, QOS or any used or unused Fleming content. It's a completely original story.
So, yes. Bond films are made for a general audience. So the ideas for a new Bond film come from those who really know every detail about Bond. They are fans.....and especially three fans: Babs, Michael and Daniel
TWINE: Bond: "The World Is Not Enough....family motto!" or Elektra: "Have....have you ever lost a loved one Mr Bond?. Bond: ".....silence".
And sometimes you should take remarks by Babs and Michael not that easily for granted. It´s also a way of toning down rumours. Also, there was also the following remark during the press conference:
"When the panel is asked if the reason why three character names have not been revealed it is because fans would recognise them, the audience is told the question is well phrased and hint that is exactly the reason."
So that gives you a good impression about how vital Bond fans actually are........Otherwise they would have said: "We do not want to give too many hints to the general audience."
And while they did indeed suggest that the names were not revealed because fans might recognise them, that does not automatically mean that Blofeld is one of those three. I can think of at least six male characters from the series that fans would recognise other than Blofeld: Miles Messervy, Frederick Grey, Major Boothroyd/Q, Marc-Ange Draco, Ali Kerim Bey, Anatol Gogol and Rene Mathis (QOS implies 'Mathis' is a cover name).
When I say trademark I am of course just thinking of YOLT as the film that started it all. That's how I always picture Blofeld.
I love those. I love guessing. And I would invite you to place a bet with me ;-). You wanna?
"You won’t reveal Fiennes, Finney and Whishaw’s character names, is this because Bond fans will recognise them?
Mendes: “They might do. On the other hand they might not.”"
I've been thinking of Mendes' answer since then and I think this might hint that these are characters that might be recognised by some fans, but not all, which takes me to these two options:
A. Unused characters from the books that only book-Bond fans would recognize, similarly to what happened with Mathis in CR and QoS (still don't understand why they killed him).
B. Characters whose names are only familiar to some Bond fans eg. Miles Messervy, Major Boothroyd (Q).
I'd like to hear your opinions about this.
<< Fleming details Blofeld's background in the novel Thunderball, though none of his past is ever revealed in the Bond films. According to the novel, Blofeld was born on 28 May 1908 (which is also Ian Fleming's birthday) to a Polish father and a Greek mother in Gdynia, Poland (then Germany). After World War I, he became a Polish national. Blofeld attended the University of Warsaw where he studied economics and political history, and then the Warsaw University of Technology to study engineering and radionics. He then took a communication position at the Polish Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, and used his position for buying and selling stocks at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.[1]
Foreseeing World War II, Blofeld made copies of top-secret wires and sold them to Nazi Germany. Before the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he destroyed all records of his existence then moved to Turkey, where he worked for the Turkish radio and set up an intelligence organisation. During the war, he sold information to both sides. After the defeat of Erwin Rommel, he decided to back the Allied war effort, and was awarded numerous medals by the Allied powers after the war's end. Blofeld then temporarily moved to South America before founding SPECTRE.
Blofeld is described physically as a massive man, weighing roughly 20 stone (280 lb; 130 kg), has a black crew-cut hair, black eyes (similar to those of Benito Mussolini's), heavy eyelashes, a thin mouth and long pointed hands and feet. He has violet-scented breath from chewing flavoured cachous (breath mints). Blofeld's lifestyle is read as accordingly in one chapter in Thunderball: "For the rest, he didn't smoke or drink and he had never been known to sleep with a member of either sex. He didn't even eat very much."
In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) Bond learns that Blofeld has radically altered his appearance—he is now tall and thin; has reduced his weight to 12 stone (170 lb; 76 kg); sports long silver hair, an infection on his nose, and no earlobes; and wears dark green tinted contact lenses. He is hiding in Switzerland in the guise of the Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, and Bond defeats his plans to destroy Britain's agricultural economy.
In You Only Live Twice published in 1964, Blofeld returns and is found by Bond to be in hiding in Japan under the alias Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. In this appearance he is still thin but has a gold-capped tooth, a fully healed nose, and a drooping grey mustache. Bond describes Blofeld on their confrontation as being "a big man, perhaps six foot three (190 cm), and powerfully built". Bond strangles him to death at the end of the novel. In both On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, he is aided in his schemes by Irma Bunt, who is clearly his lover in the latter and posing as Shatterhand's wife. Bond incapacitates her in their Japanese castle base before it blows up, killing Bunt. The final mention of Blofeld prior to his death in You Only Live Twice is in the beginning of the next book, The Man with the Golden Gun, published in 1965. >>
So Blofeld changed his look numerous times. I could see Ralph Fiennes playing the OHMSS-Blofeld: Thin, grey hair with full-eye covering darkgreen contact lenses. And perhaps Chinese actress Tang Wei could actually play an Irma Bunt-like character....being Blofeld´s closest sidekick.
Why the long summary? I really would love Blofeld to return. Because Sony Pictures is owning Kevin McGlory´s rights to the name and character of Blofeld, I think it would be perfect to re-introduce him again in a modern way. Bond indeed should always fight Blofeld, as John Logan already mentioned. And Blofeld could be made more threatening, so he won´t become a stereotypical Austin Powers villain. Let Blofeld be a disgusting man who abuses females with a wip. Something like that.
And again, I know nothing is certain yet. And maybe Blofeld won´t even be IN ´SkyFall´. But, I love to fantasize. Because the road to November 2012 has now finally kicked off. And let us get excited by it. Rumour or nu rumour, gossip or no gossip, official or not official. Let us dream about the best Bond film currently being made :-).
Its looks like the days of interesting names ie Zorin, Largo, Drax are over.
I don't mind the names and sure the suggested name could work.
What your thoughts for a name for Javier Bardem's baddie?
Mr Javier