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BECOMING BOND - new documentary feature on the other other fellow, George Lazenby

CatchingBulletsCatchingBullets facebook.com/catchingbullets
edited March 2017 in News Posts: 292
BECOMING BOND (2017)

This article was originally posted here.

“Is it a good story?”
“It depends if you like those kind of stories.”



A brand new documentary for 2017 has one James Bond very much in its crosshairs. BECOMING BOND promises a unique and very quirk-filled documentary look at the very stranger-than-fiction true story of George Lazenby, an Australian model car mechanic who eventually landed the role of James Bond in 1969’s ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. With very little acting experience under his belt, he was then purportedly offered the next six Bond films and a $1 million signing bonus. He turned it down.

"Is there romance?"
"Yes."

Directed and written by Josh Greenbaum, BECOMING BOND takes the audience back to Australia, a childhood and eventual parking lot where an unknown man called George worked his way up, became a model and eventually landed the part of the world’s most famous secret agent. The story doesn’t end there – though his time as 007 very much did.

BECOMING BOND looks at the duality of one of the most controversial choices in screen casting history in a Bond film that audiences and the Bond fan community have long cited as the best 007 movie ever made.

A fresh mix of real-life footage, interviews new and old with a unique dramatized thread throughout, BECOMING BOND promises to be a quirky and fresh take on the rise and fall of a movie legend.

Jane Seymour (LIVE AND LET DIE, 1973) appears as Lazenby’s English agent Maggie Abbott, Josh Lawson as Lazenby, Jeff Garlin (THE GOLDBERGS) as Harry Saltzman, Dana Carvey as Johnny Carson, Adamo Palladino as Peter Hunt and George Lazenby as himself.

“How can I remember it if it wasn’t true?”

Josh Greenbaum is an Emmy Award-winning director in film, TV, and commercials. A graduate of Oxford and Cornell Universities, his feature documentary The Short Game won the Audience Award at SXSW and was acquired by Netflix to launch their Originals film division. He received his MFA in film from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Director: Josh Greenbaum
Producer: Rafael Marmor, Christopher Leggett, Josh Greenbaum
Screenwriter: Josh Greenbaum
Cinematographer: John Rutland
Editor: Billy McMillin
Production Designer: Caity Birmingham
Music: John Piscitello
Principal Cast: George Lazenby, Josh Lawson, Kassandra Clementi, Jeff Garlin, Jake Johnson, Jane Seymour, Dana Carvey
Additional Credits: Line Producer: Kourtney Gleason, Casting By: Angela Demo, C.S.A., Associate Editor: Terry Yates
(Further information : SXSW / Hulu)

BECOMING BOND is available on Hulu (US) from May 20th 2017.
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Comments

  • tanaka123tanaka123
    Posts: 4,325
    Any chance that this will be available in the UK at some point @CatchingBullets ?
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,347
    Excellent, looking very much forward to it!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    It seems super interesting. I'd be interested to see if the director had sets remade of OHMSS to reenact shooting of parts of it for the feature.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,347
    Whatever you think of Lazenby's performance as Bond in OHMSS, the guy is pretty funny and entertaining. Like Everything or Nothing, this should be out on DVD/BR by Christmas.
  • patbpatb
    Posts: 4,617
    That looks like great fun, George still has a twinkle in his eye :-) Jane Seymour is a nice addition.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Looks good.
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,526
    Have to say I would quite like to see this! :-bd
  • CatchingBulletsCatchingBullets facebook.com/catchingbullets
    edited March 2017 Posts: 292
    tanaka123 wrote: »
    Any chance that this will be available in the UK at some point @CatchingBullets ?

    It is May 20th for Hulu in America and when details come my way regarding a British and European release I will no doubt pass it all on.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,254
    Thank you, @CatchingBullets! I'd love to watch this documentary.
  • SeanCraigSeanCraig Germany
    Posts: 732
    I hope I can see this somewhere (not in the US). Does anybody know it can be seen in Europe, too?!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I don't have Hulu, so I wouldn't know, but does that service differ from region to region, at least in regards to what is available on it, as with Netflix?
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited March 2017 Posts: 13,999
    So.... what, this is like that The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers film? I like George as Bond, but i'll have to wait for this to get a physical release (if it gets one...).
  • mattjoesmattjoes Pay more attention to your chef
    Posts: 7,057
    Honestly, Lazenby's story seems fairly interesting.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited March 2017 Posts: 28,694
    @mattjoes, I actually think George has the best before Bond (and after, really) story that any of the other actors by a long margin. I'm surprised a film of this kind hasn't been made before.

    His life story leading up to Bond is the very definition of life being "stranger than fiction." An Australian model and car mechanic with zero acting experience bullshits his way past some of the fiercest producers in cinema history and ends up being cast as the most iconic British film character ever after one of the most famous actors of the period relinquished the role. He acts in just one film, a film that just so happens to marry off the lascivious protagonist, who ends up losing the woman he had vowed to life happily ever after with. His entire life thereafter was one of regret, making him wonder what would have happened if he was the Bond of the 70s and beyond.

    George has the distinction of basically having the worst job in cinema history by trying to take on Bond after the world had only ever known the character to be Sean Connery. His placement in OHMSS and how the movies changed entirely from DAF onward put him square in the middle of a transition from the vintage Bond that was and the wacky Bond that came after, a fascinating crossroads.

    If the movie addresses even a little bit of this, I'll be impressed. He truly has a compelling story and personally has faced a lot of demons that he's managed to plow through quite admirably beyond his connections to the Bond role. He went from a very arrogant young lad with stars of fame in his eyes to a man who owns up to his past and realizes quite lucidly where he went wrong along the way. In short, he's reached enlightenment and still remains a big Bond ambassador.
  • CatchingBulletsCatchingBullets facebook.com/catchingbullets
    Posts: 292
    Early word and reaction from its first screening in Austin this weekend has been VERY good. It is playing in Philadelphia in April too - at the Cinedelphia Film Festival.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    zQcg8mE.jpg
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,333
    I'm loving the look of that poster George is holding, @ggl007, even though I can only see one third of it. Are there any full shots of that poster?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @bondsum, the full poster will probably be revealed as a promotional piece for the film once it's near release, but for now there's these shots that give a smaller look at it when George and the director were promoting it at an event:

    http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/actor-george-lazenby-filmmaker-josh-greenbaum-and-actor-josh-lawson-picture-id652336950

    http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/actor-george-lazenby-attends-the-premiere-of-becoming-bond-during-picture-id652336622
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,333
    Thanks, @0Brady, for the full image of the poster. I must add that I'm super-hyped for this documentary and I can not (even though I must) wait to see it.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    Thanks, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Not easy to find the poster. I have a lot of interest in this film, too!
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,333
    Found this first review of Becoming Bond...

    austinchronicle.com/daily/sxsw/2017-03-12/sxsw-film-review-becoming-bond/
  • CraterGunsCraterGuns
    Posts: 618
    Short, amusing interview piece with Lazenby posted this morning at the U.S. politics & pop culture site The Daily Beast:
    thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/13/the-naughtiest-bond-a-glimpse-into-george-lazenby-s-dirty-mind.html
  • marketto007marketto007 Brazil
    Posts: 3,277
    Some pics from SXSW and the official banner.

    http://imgur.com/gallery/KkdQb
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    edited March 2017 Posts: 2,545
    "Well, Becoming Bond is far more than the low-key entertainment I expected: it’s out and out brilliant."

    Full review: Under the Radar
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,343
    Looking forward to seeing this. :)
  • Crazysoul95Crazysoul95
    Posts: 3,336
    Dosen't Lazenby also have a documentary coming out this year?

    This Never Happened to the Other Fella (2017)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3728210/?ref_=wl_li_tt

    Anybody knows about the progress on it?
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    Crazysoul95 wrote: »
    Dosen't Lazenby also have a documentary coming out this year?

    This Never Happened to the Other Fella (2017)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3728210/?ref_=wl_li_tt

    Anybody knows about the progress on it?
    In one of the interviews posted before, he says: "I had a documentary being made seven years ago in Australia that’s not finished yet, so I want to see something in my lifetime, and just see what it does."

    Perhaps he is referring to that one...
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    This sounds like great TV.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    One Audience Award for Becoming Bond: https://www.sxsw.com/festivals/film-awards/
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,545
    SXSW: Josh Lawson, Director Josh Greenbaum and Australia’s own 007 George Lazenby talk Becoming Bond
    iris.theaureview.com/sxsw-josh-lawson-director-josh-greenbaum-and-australias-own-007-george-lazenby-talk-becoming-bond/
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