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Chalk it up to a run by fruiting
Dalton made the publicity rounds but he'd never be seen as having the personality of a Moore or Brosnan even and that may have contributed somewhat to people not taking to him. Bond fatigue and the rise of brawnier action heroes, as someone else mentioned, also had to factor in.
I'm glad Pierce didn't star in Daylights to be honest because it's one of my favourite movies and Dalton is superb in the role and his tougher edge was much needed at this point during the franchise. Plus when Brosnan did eventually take the role in Goldeneye he was perfect and made that film what it was.
On a separate note I hate the way Brosnan shares throwback pictures from his original screen-test, it shows little in the way of class. It's not like he wasn't Bond later on, he should be past his bitterness over Daylights
Lets not debate the actor per se. Lets talk about what an American James Bond? What impact would it have had on the series to have an American actor play the role? Would the series have continued? Why do you think they were looking at Americans to play the British spy? Maybe it wasn't a big deal, after all we'd had a Scot and a Aussie playing Bond, would an American actor been able to pull it off?
I am still trying to get my head around Burt Reynolds playing Bond. Course it was a rumour he was ever considered. But wow I am not sure that would have been a wise choice.
Had he played the part and the film had a less than expected box office, I believe today we'd view the Bond films as an era long past. It took the Roger films and constant keeping up with the times to survive.
Had the film been a hit, then the 70's Bond simply would have been different. The films would be tailored around Gavin's strengths and personality.
I think they'd still be current. A MOONRAKER with Gavin might still see Bond going into space. Perhaps the film would have more of the tone of a thriller, though.
I think DIAMONDS might have had more or less the same tone with Gavin though.
They were generally looking for a box office draw for the US market. Even looked at Clint Eastwood.
What's more surprising is that they were still considering it a decade later, when they screen tested Brolin for OP.
I think it would have changed the franchise quite a bit. Personally, I think it would have caused more damage than good.
Nowadays, the fact that Bond is a British icon is a big part of the promotion, both for Bond and the UK tourism. That wouldn't be the case had Bond became an American. It also means that they wouldn't consider an Ameican Bond today.
A question I've always had was why they didn't go back to the actors who tested with Lazenby in that famous Life Magazine story such as John Richardson and the others whose names elude me at the moment. If they were being considered three years prior then why not in '71?
I agree, I could see him in Roger Moore films. Maybe even as Felix Leiter!
Adam West is DECADENT!
Were any of those actors actually tested though? Or were their names just mentioned to draw attention to Bond? Who actually was tested after Lazenby's departure, aside from Gavin?
Wow! Who was the guy playing Bond there? Not John Gavin.
Update: Roger Green.
@thedove fair enough mate. I just thought it was a bit poor of him, because he has enough great pictures of him as Bond from his movies, rather than to post a low quality pic from a screentest. But each to their own
I hadn't seen it either until a few weeks ago. Never heard of him. I knew Imogen Hassall from The Persuaders and the Carry On movies.
There is no pics or video of any of the Eastwood, Reynolds, West gang screen testing for the role. We are going on the word of articles and such which I suppose is a dodgy game. I would be curious to know whether they were expected to put on the British accent or just be American.
We do know that Gavin was contracted to play Bond. When David Picker got involved he quickly did a full court press to get Connery back. Whether that was because he saw the screen test of Gavin, or if he just felt that Cubby and Harry weren't going to dare ask Connery back. Lets face it asking him back would have meant swallowing some pride.
Found this on YouTube. The guy took footage of Gavin from a 1968 French film and dubbed it a bit. Not sure he could have done the role justice but it's interesting:
The 1968 film is “OSS 117 Murder for Sale.” Interestingly, Luciana Paluzzi (TB) and Curd Jürgens (TSWLM) are also credited. On balance, I think that the future US Ambassador to Mexico would have been a poor choice to play Bond. A fair actor, his acting career, however, was in decline by 1971.
The perception at UA was that the franchise couldn’t afford a 2nd straight “mediocre” box-office result. Hence, they wanted to bring back Connery (a sure thing, in their opinion).
Also interesting that nearly a decade before, the UA execs were saying to keep trying when Eon wanted Connery. So you never know.
The biggest “what if” of the 60s always seems to be Connery in OHMSS, but I also wonder how Moore would have fared well in it, and if he was more easily accepted than Lazenby in ‘69. Diana Rigg commented she wish she had either Connery or Moore to act with.
Some early prints of GF showed that the next Bond adventure was going to be OHMSS. They even had scouted some locations when GF was filming in Switzerland. This would have meant OHMSS being filmed in 1965 with Connery fresh off GF success and in great shape thanks to The Hill.
So Mi6. What if Mclory hadn't approached Cubby and Saltzman with his proposal of TB. What if they had gone ahead with the filming of OHMSS in 1965 as planned. What would this film look like? Would a 1965 Connery been right for the role? Would Peter Hunt had still directed? Or would we get a Terrence Young OHMSS? What would a different director and actor have done to the story?
What if Cubby and Saltzman had produced OHMSS after GF instead of TB?