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Tanner....important ? not important ? wasted ?
Tanner,one of Bond's best friends (not in the films though.)
In the Craig era Villiers was almost a scared attempt to test the response to Tanner returning....Michael Kitchen was a revelation as him in GE & TWINE but then gone,after the Brosnan tenure.
Rory Kinnear was brought in with QOS and basically has been awful,which is,once again,a waste of a good actor who we know has a better range.
Should Kitchen be brought back and Kinnear disposed ,with the new 007 ?
Should Tanner be got rid off altogether ,and another bit of Fleming gone ?
What do you think peeps ?
For me personally,Kitchen still looks great,and could come back.
In the Craig era Villiers was almost a scared attempt to test the response to Tanner returning....Michael Kitchen was a revelation as him in GE & TWINE but then gone,after the Brosnan tenure.
Rory Kinnear was brought in with QOS and basically has been awful,which is,once again,a waste of a good actor who we know has a better range.
Should Kitchen be brought back and Kinnear disposed ,with the new 007 ?
Should Tanner be got rid off altogether ,and another bit of Fleming gone ?
What do you think peeps ?
For me personally,Kitchen still looks great,and could come back.
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Comments
Of course it's not meant to be a role that's the focus of attention, but the way he is presented to us in the Craig era just makes you wonder if the role is worth including. I guess it's probably unlikely for Kitchen to return, but it would be great. Brilliant actor.
The scene in SP, where Tanner wants to give him a hand after leaving the boat, is very strange.
Liked their chat in GE.
Nice fact: Tanners first appearance in the Movies was already in TMWTGG.
That would be interesting. Love her in the books.
I say wait until DC is done though. It can be a nice recurring character for the next 007 (with a more humorous portrayal in mind) to bounce off of. Like Q, Felix and Moneypenny.
I shudder at the thought of Tanner being out in the field any more than he was in SP. Now Felix, I'm all in - he needs to return more often, and be given much more to do.
Easy. Not essential, but remains a great opportunity to add to the film.
I stil don't mind if there created scene that Tanner Jr is kild at his house and be very clear that Quantum did it with Q ear thing from QOS find on his body. There can even make it more intresting that send him earlier ear thing and he think he whas messages from his college to made clear we know you are a talker/trater.
In my Bond 21 with Brosnan 5th movie, Kitchen Tanner have died at his house by mystrious shadow in pretitles and turn out Falco kilt him. But since Brosnan not get his fifth Moneypenny and Charles are settled in Australia with there daughter (Eve) and Tanner Jr father past a way by choose.
Felix is wasted, but i hope he will return.
As much as I like Michael Kitchen in the role, I think he's bit old for that role now.
(Maybe a future M down the track though???)
I'd like a recast of the role, with a much more confident Tanner in place. Someone who looks like he can organise things. Maybe a scene with Bond and Tanner playing a round of golf, discussing work in a casual manner.
Rory Kinnear is a nice enough chap, and not a terrible actor. But he's not Bill Tanner I'm afraid.
Mentioned that in a discussion with @barryt007 in the Bond...Comments while you watch.... thread. Think he'd make a really good M. Can easily imagine a scene with Kitchen M having to deal with other high-ranking government officials at the MI6 building or at Blades (or similar)!
I like GE Kitchen the best. I believe he wasn't available for TND, which gave us Robinson as a replacement. And then with TWINE we get to cast bloating with both Tanner and Robinson, and that trend has infected the Craig era, with a whole host of side characters at MI6.
Do we really need anyone other than M? Give us Q and Moneypenny if they must.
I know the Moore era used the Defense Minister in addition to M but the beauty of those characters is that they were just cameos. Less is more.
He's just an another anonymous Mi6 hanger-on, nothing distinguishing about him. I'm surprised so many thought Kitchen was memorable as I've always thought opposite. Robinson on the other hand is a guy I can see going into the field or being useful as in the VR sequence in DAD.
The difference between the books and films is there's more room for character exploration in the novels and not so in the films, thus Tanner becomes just another guy in the office in the series. Maybe if they'd added a scene with Bond and Tanner having a drink or interacting, like they're trying to do with Moneypenny then it may change it but till that happens I won't buy it.
Actually I preferred the Brosnan era regulars in general to be honest. I liked Dench more than Fiennes, and Brosnan Dench a lot more than Craig era Dench because I never liked the surrogate mum angle. I preferred Brosnan and Dench, very business like and terse but with a mutual respect there. Naomi Harris is a brilliant actress but she just doesn't work for me as Moneypenny, don't know if it's her or the direction or what but she doesn't seem to have much chemistry with Craig at all to me. Samantha Bond meanwhile had great chemistry with Pierce even when the dialogue was horrific. I think Robinson is way better than any Tanner, and I think Kitchen was better than Kinnear too. Wishaw is brilliant. I hope he plays Q until he's as old as Desmond was, and he's better than Cleese (I do like Cleese as Q in DAD but Wishaw just owns it imo). But you can't beat the original and even though Desmond was probably too old at this point I still really like his scenes with Brosnan because you can tell that he's loving getting to have a scene with Q.
So overall, even though they now go for prestigious actors for even the most minor roles and have beefed up their screentime, I actually preferred the MI6 crew in the Brosnan films.
I think he's alright but feels a bit pointless with Robinson there. I wish they'd just cast Colin Salmon as Tanner in GE and merged them into one character. No point having both really.
To answer @barryt007's question--yes, I'd love for Kitchen to return, but let's not forget that he's pushing 70... A younger Tanner, more like a peer of the next Bond, could work too, provided that they know what to do with the character. Tanner mustn't merely "be there"; he ought to bring something to the game that Bond cannot.
In other words, someone needs to dig up his or her Fleming and start compiling material to then remould it into an interesting but never overused supporting character.
Rory Kinnear is actually an actor of greater range in my opinion. His turn as the PM in the first Black Mirror episode is actually heart breaking, and whether he takes on heavy drama or comedy (Count Arthur Strong) he is always on the mark. He is employable because he will never be a star, will never stand out, he will always be the Everyman.
On film Kinnear's Tanner isn't Bond's best friend in the service, regardless of Fleming's work. He is M's sidekick, a stuffed shirt, the true bean counter of MI6 who would probably love to be as Gung Ho as Bond, but can never break away from sticking rigidly to his duty. He is the flip side of Bond. They respect each other but neither would really want to step into the other's shoes. I actually like his performance.
His Tanner is incredibly dull, but that's the point.
:)) Ah well. I just think he is dull as Tanner because that’s the character he plays.
See? That's part of the reason I don't like reading any of the continuation novels.
Same. I stopped halfway through For Secret Services three years ago and I have no interest in reading more of Gardner's.
Same here.
I'm not sure why EON has tried to include the character since GE if they never bothered to give him a personality. They might as well try to bring in Loelia Ponsonby and have her played as much of blank slate.
It's all quite odd, because Rory Kinnear has proven to be a good actor in a lot of other non-Bond productions. I recall Sam Mendes saying in the SKYFALL commentary that he hoped to make more use of Kinnear. I guess he couldn't work that out with SPECTRE.
I would really Loelia Ponsonby to be in the movies one day. You make it a Moneypenny rivalry as a starting subplot.