It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
That's the Cubby who dismissed the Moonraker novel because it had a 'piddly little rocket', and thus created Moonraker the movie?
Careful not to look at Cubby too much through rose tinted glasses. A great man, but nonetheless...
Cubby would have loved the one that made the most money. He was an astute business man within the movie world, and he lived by the old adage 'give the people what they want'.
Spot on.
He would have loved TWINE, CR & SF. I dont think he would have cared for QOS & I think he would have changed up what we know as SP
Yes, it was a bridge too far for many a James Bond fan, including myself. Still, generally I liked Spectre.
True but we know what he did before he died and that was creating a very strong and powerful franchise which upon his dead was just resurrected when most people expected the franchise to be dead and done with. And he chose to do it with Brosnan, one of his choices for the role. Even if he preferred perhaps out of loyalty to do this with Dalton but was not permitted by the studios. He ended with his run leaving the franchise in tip top shape. So I guess he knew what he was doing all along.
On the subject of his choice for Roger Moore I always was under the impression that Moore had been approached before Connery but he was engaged with another series like "the Saint" before he was approached again when Connery did his one time return.
Not so sure about Cubby and faithfullnes with Fleming, he did TSWLM & MR and OP in a sense they were as far away from Fleming as possible even if you could easily feel the Fleming in the stories.
I agree. A businessman like Cubby would not have fired Brosnan after four successful films..
Craig would not exist in Cubby's universe. The classic look of Bond is something he would not have gambled with.
And Bond films live on way beyond their box office runs. Bond box office is always up and down. Roger Moore 's second film took a lot less than LALD, yet how big was his third.
That's why I said " brought him back to a time when Bond was more pure " as in when the series began with Dr No and From Russia With Love. By the time he did the three you mentioned the series had strayed from it's origins. Casino Royale would have been a return to basics for him.
So was FYEO and in a sense AVTAK and TLD.
All 007 movies have their silly bits, it is part of the make up of the franchise.
Lol, Ok
I wasn't talking about an alternate dimension where cubby affects events that occurred. I stated if he was just looking at the films as they are now and their financial and critical results. I believe as others have stated that he would be very happy because he was an entertainer and a businessman hence SF would surely have pleased him.
But if we must look at what he might have done then I also think he took a risk with LTK - which was in keeping with the tougher 80s action thrillers ala Lethal Weapon/Die Hard (including Kamen's music). It may not have paid off but he still wasn't willing to throw out Dalton immediately after LTK. The same way he was happy to experiment with OHMSS - being faithful to the novel, giving Peter Hunt a lot of control and casting a literal unknown. I think he was willing to risk things but was always reactive to the audience reception of that risk. MR made a stack load of money and yet he was seriously thinking of recasting after it with a more down-to-earth Bond (if you'll pardon the pun). I too believe he would have stuck with Brosnan for one more after DAD, but perhaps changed the tone (post 9/11, post-Bourne.) He may not have cast Craig - but with Layer Cake and Babs and MGW's influence in his ear he may well have been talked into a gamble. It's all speculation and I'm more than happy with how things turned out. I'm sure he would be too given the box office receipts!
I agree he took a gamble with LTK and he took on board that the next film would need to go back to a more traditional story.
I absolutely agree that the Bourne films and the post-911 world worked in Craig's favour. However, if Cubby was making casting decisions - theoretically - then he would have been very partial to Clive Owen, who being a serious actor, also had the traditional image elements.
The businessman in Cubby would have been unsettled by the titanic media and fan backlash when Craig was cast. History proved different of course,with the eventual success of CR. But the media and fans were screaming the contrary.
Also, we must not forget, that many Brosnan fans were livid, so give people what they want. Broccoli would not want to upset the status quo and Brosnan was proven box office.
Plus Craig would have clashed with Cubby. I do not think he would have tolerated Craig's many idiotic public outbursts.
What Wilson did was brave and forward thinking (and of course absolutely correct), but had Cubby been a younger man and still in charge it would have been Brosnan, the films would have continued to make money, the world would have continued to spin and no one would be any the wiser.
I agree with you there.
He did try and make more “serious”-minded films but even those were a little misjudged. His attempt to ape the style of OHMSS led to the rather bland FYEO. If Cubby really dug the tone and feel of OHMSS, he wouldn’t have ditched it so readily in the 70’s and the 80’s. He wasn’t interested in “vulnerable” Bond. Also, for Cubby Bond has to look like Carey Grant, not a Northern bouncer who drinks Guinness (I don’t think he’d dig his daughter’s casting of Craig).
Cubby also put the kibosh on any creative dexterity emerging in the series – when Michael Wilson proposed some big shakeups in terms of story with TLD, Cubby’s response was “why play with a winning formula?” Though, Cubby wasn’t totally against shaking things up.
Here’s how I think it would play out:
1. Tomorrow Never Dies: Broccoli would love it. It takes the classic Bond formula and applies with the cutting-edge (for the time) production values. TND is basically a film produced by Cubby.
2. Die Another Day: This is a little bit of a shaky suggestion. But it’s big, fun, dumb and expensive escapism. I feel Cubby would appreciate it for the disposal piece of entertainment it is.
3. Goldeneye: He’d dig it. But the slightly darker and greyer feel wouldn’t work for him. Also I doubt he’d like a more vulnerable Bond. Though he’d probably love elements of it – eg; the class, glamour and Brosnan.
4. Spectre: He’d love the classical Bond elements and all the new sparkly 2015-iness of it all. But why’s it so long? Why is Blofeld his brother? So much right but also a lot wrong.
5. Casino Royale: Great attempt to update the novel and the direction is top-notch. But why is it a prequel? I also feel that Cubby would feel Daniel is hideously miscast.
6. The World Is Not Enough: He’d feel it is the lesser Brosnan. But would understand why they attempted to make a more personal and emotional film for the actor’s third film. He’d probably shrug it off.
7. Skyfall: Naval-gazing, arty and overly portentous. Shakes up the formula too much. Why is M the female lead?!? Why is Moneypenny in the field? Bond is supposed to be “the best”, why’s he fucking up? Too much crying and sadness.
8. Quantum of Solace: Incoherent and nonsensical. Why is Bond crying?
Yes, Cubby felt Bond should be a veteran. Although Craig was years older than Connery, when he began in Dr No. Craig never struck me as a young Bond.. He looked and acted very seasoned.
.
American spelling :(
Heh, not the spelling of 'favourite' just the abbreviation of Wilson's name really. ;)
I had to save your list on my computer, it's spot-on as it possibly can be.
BRAVO, you seem to get who and what Cubby was and liked. I agree 100%
It's wishful thinking he would have loved films like CR and SF or QOS.
Here are your thoughts on it again, worth bringing to the new page.
1. Tomorrow Never Dies: Broccoli would love it. It takes the classic Bond formula and applies with the cutting-edge (for the time) production values. TND is basically a film produced by Cubby.
2. Die Another Day: This is a little bit of a shaky suggestion. But it’s big, fun, dumb and expensive escapism. I feel Cubby would appreciate it for the disposal piece of entertainment it is.
3. Goldeneye: He’d dig it. But the slightly darker and greyer feel wouldn’t work for him. Also I doubt he’d like a more vulnerable Bond. Though he’d probably love elements of it – eg; the class, glamour and Brosnan.
4. Spectre: He’d love the classical Bond elements and all the new sparkly 2015-iness of it all. But why’s it so long? Why is Blofeld his brother? So much right but also a lot wrong.
5. Casino Royale: Great attempt to update the novel and the direction is top-notch. But why is it a prequel? I also feel that Cubby would feel Daniel is hideously miscast.
6. The World Is Not Enough: He’d feel it is the lesser Brosnan. But would understand why they attempted to make a more personal and emotional film for the actor’s third film. He’d probably shrug it off.
7. Skyfall: Naval-gazing, arty and overly portentous. Shakes up the formula too much. Why is M the female lead?!? Why is Moneypenny in the field? Bond is supposed to be “the best”, why’s he fucking up? Too much crying and sadness.
8. Quantum of Solace: Incoherent and nonsensical. Why is Bond crying?
The last three on that list would never have happened with Cubby, they would be something totally different, Bondian and fun.