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<<< Talk about fortuitous timing. Earlier today at a press conference, Eon Productions officially announced the 23rd James Bond film, "Skyfall," as well as its full cast list: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Albert Finney, and Ralph Fiennes. A few hours later, I happened to be chatting with Fiennes about "Coriolanus," his fascinating debut as a film director. As a huge Bond fan, I had to use the last few minutes of our interview to hear what he had to say about the film, which goes into production next week.
"If you're a Bond fan," Fiennes told me when I confessed my 007 obsession, "then you'll be happy. I can tell you that John Logan has written a fantastic screenplay and [director] Sam Mendes is a class act. They're doing something quite special I think. I think they're going to be great for Bond."
Fiennes is a Academy Award nominated actor, but is he a Bond fan? "I love the Bond books particularly," he said. "I like the books even more than the films. I like the darkness of the books. But I've also enjoyed all the films." Fiennes also told me he vividly remembers the first Bond he ever saw: 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with George Lazenby.
Darkness is a word you hear a lot in relation to Craig's Bond films, but I'd read some speculation that Mendes' take on the character may be even darker than the one in "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace." So I asked Fiennes if he thought that Mendes and Logan were bringing some of the "darkness" he loves from the books to "Skyfall."
"No, for me the books' darkness comes from their period nature," he replied. "I always wished they'd done a Bond set in 1955 in the Cold War like a Graham Greene novel. But no, this is just a great piece of screenwriting and the human drama at the center of this is quite affecting. And it's full of amazing stunts and action sequences."
Will he get to join in on the stunts and action sequences? Fiennes took a long pause. "I can't answer that question," he said. "I don't get laid, that's for sure." That might be a clue, or it might not be -- typically Bond's the guy who gets laid in James Bond films; that's why they're called James Bond films.
If I can put on my fan hat for a moment, here's my totally unsubstantiated speculation. Bardem is confirmed as the main villain of "Skyfall" and there have been some hints that he might be playing the new version of Ernst Blofeld, Bond's arch-nemesis from all the old Sean Connery films. But it took three movies to see Blofeld's face onscreen during the original run of Connery Bonds; in "From Russia With Love" and "Thunderball" he was just the mysterious evil mastermind lurking in the shadows stroking a cat. I have a hunch Bardem works as a lieutenant for Blofeld, who's played by Fiennes. I mean come on: who'd be a better Blofeld than Lord Voldemort? Nobody I can think of.
We'll see if my guess is right on November 9, 2012 when "Skyfall" hits theaters. In the meantime, look for more of my interview with Fiennes about "Coriolanus" closer to its release on December 2. It's not Bond, but it's a very interesting movie. >>>
Ralph could be M...
Guillermo Viñales y Moncayo ("gee-err-moe vin-yah-lez ee mon-kay-oh")
The reason why I think this is a good name is because it is not pronouced the same way as it is written. That's something that I've noticed with Bond villains - they use unusual letter combinations ("Trevalyan"), hard and harsh sounds ("Stromberg"), repeated letters with different sounds ("Kananga"), or, on the rare occasion, names with no dominant syllabic sounds ("Le Chiffre") to make for a weak name.
However, I find the notion that Bardem will be playing a character named Damien Joel Ristori to be far-fetched. EON deliberately made a point of not naming Bardem's character - so why would they leave a piece of paper with his name on it lying around where anyone with a telephoto lens could spot it?
rights just don't go away once someone has died obviously.
Though to be honest, I'd rather he played an ally. Surely even he must get tired of always playing the villain. Especially after playing he who shall not be named.
"it is unknown what will happen to the rights to the characters of Blofeld and members of his organisation post McClory's death."
from what i can gather, in 1999 SONY reached a deal with MGM out of court - in which SONY would agree to give up any rights they had to anything James Bond, in order to attain the Spider-man franchise off MGM.... so whatever deal that was struck between McClory and SONY at that point in regards to the Blofeld character, was ultimately sacrificed to get Spider-man.... McClory offered to sell the rights in 2002 - but as of 2006, upon his death, no further news of the rights to Blofeld and SPECTRE have gone anywhere...
unless a deal was reached with SONY between 2008 and now, i find Blofeld being a part of this film highly unlikely.. any news that big containing the rights to Blofeld would have most certainly crossed over the wire here at MI6.. so far, there has been nothing.
How Blofeld can fit in?
There might be a legal difference in using the likeness from a previous film for video game purposes - than using the character itself all together... which makes you think - is Charles Gray really the most recognized Blofeld? - the description even on the website doesn't match.. all it says, is that he can change appearences... so something is a miss..... because then, why dont they edit out the name of character and organization in all the films then?.... see what i am getting at..
I believe any new property trying to use the name Blofeld or SPECTRE has to be approved by the McClory Estate first..... and in GE:RL, having the character Blofeld was not a selling point in the game, nor was he centrally related to the plot - he's just a multiplayer character... - who knows what the exact legality of it is...... all i know, is that if some deal between the McClory estate and EON had been made, I think we would've heard it by now...
besides that, why introduce Blofeld in this movie that has no connection to the other 2?.. are they going to reveal him then kill him off quickly before we go back to QUANTUM?,, doubtful..... this is Dan's Goldfinger.
I agree that it's likely Daniel Craig's Goldfinger. And I don't think Blofeld is likely to appear. (I think Mendes' coyness is more likely to give us Q and/or Moneypenny.)
That being said, I can envision a scenario where the movie builds up to an "I'm Blofeld" reveal, kind of like Unbreakable as well as mirroring the end of CR.
And I suppose the next film could be about Blofeld and QUANTUM. It would be interesting if they revisited the unused Anthony Burgess The Spy Who Loved Me idea of terrorists storming SPECTRE and taking it over...except this time it would be Blofeld taking over QUANTUM.
My answers to my own questions: Yes, yes, YES :p !
Ernst Stavro Blofeld would need to be updated for 2012. So, as a part of that update, why not tweak his name - to, say "Ernesto Santos Blofeld"? Spanish naming traditions mean that a child has a given name and two surnames. In this case, "Santos" is the father's name, and "Blofeld" is the mother's. So, instead of being a Greek Pole, Blofeld would be a Spanish Pole.
Javier Bardem as Ernesto Santos Blofeld. You heard it here first, folks.
"Ernesto" is the Spanish form of "Ernest", which is the closest name that I could find to "Ernst".
"Santos" is a common Spanish surname. As I explained, under Spanish naming traditions, the father's surname comes first. It was also the closest Spanish name that I could find to "Stavro" (or "Stavros"). The character would be known as "Ernesto Santos" for most of the film.
"Blofeld" is given by Fleming as a Polish surname. Blofeld himself was a Greek Pole - why can't he be rewritten to be a Spanish Pole? If a child had a Spanish father and a Polish mother, then "Ernesto Santos Blofeld" (or "Ernesto Santos y Blofeld"; the "y" means "and"). Well, you're not going to get it. Large parts of Blofeld's character in the novels hinge on his actions during World War II, since he always aligned himself with whichever side he thought was going to win at any give time. That's not possible today.
Ralph is what? 6'1. He's pretty thin too...Picture him wearing a gray suit.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=ralph+fiennes+balding&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1R2GGLL_enUS396&biw=1280&bih=490&tbm=isch&tbnid=3Qulwrr_A5HApM:&imgrefurl=http://www.celebitchy.com/29192/ralph_fiennes_has_oedipal_issues/&docid=KPMs_bpcJz2YbM&imgurl=http://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/wenn2201401.jpg&w=3000&h=3813&ei=ZZK5TtXEIsSusQKU5KHfCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=551&vpy=116&dur=2212&hovh=253&hovw=199&tx=150&ty=171&sig=108620759581281015157&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=117&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0