Would you rather have Dalton commentaries on his films OR Craig commentary on his films?

mtm

BT3366 wrote: »

thedove wrote: »

Add in that when they were ready to start up Bond 17 Dalton said he'd only do one. Cubby famously said that with the hiatus he'd need to commit to more than one. Timothy then walked away from the role. If he had loved it and enjoyed it why only commit to one more? Why wouldn't he commit to 2-3 more?

I still wonder if that's actually true or if that was an invented excuse as I still recall a Premiere Magazine article that basically had an MGM exec saying that if Brosnan wasn't cast as Bond and Dalton out that MGM would not help finance it.

Yeah I think it's a nice PR story cooked up to make neither side look like they were at fault but to hide that basically MGM didn't want him. Eon were friendly with Dalton so I think they said it to help him save face.

FoxRox

Craig, but I’d be interested in either!

thedove

When Bond 17 was finally greenlit, Timothy Dalton was approached to return to the role of 007, but turned it down after the six-year gap. In a new interview with The Week, Dalton has now revealed the real reason he walked away from the famous tuxedo.

When asked where the fear of stagnation was a part of his relatively short tenure as 007, Dalton said: "That was my worry going into the James Bond franchise, certainly. But it wasn't why I left. On [Licence to Kill], I think I saw the script about two weeks before we started shooting. You know, that's not great, is it?"

We had the script [for this third film]. They were interviewing directors. We were really rolling forward, ready to start. It was actually quite a good story, I thought," says Dalton. "Because of the lawsuit, I was free of the contract, and [producer] Mr. Broccoli, who I really respected as a producer and as a friend, asked me what I was going to do when it was resolved. I said, 'Look, in all honesty, I don't think that I will continue.' He asked me for my support during that time, which of course, I gave him."

When the legal fog cleared, Dalton had a change of heart. "When [the next movie] did come about, it was probably four or five years later," he explains. "[Broccoli] asked if I would come back, and I said, 'Well, I've actually changed my mind a little bit. I think that I'd love to do one. Try and take the best of the two that I have done, and consolidate them into a third.' And he said, quite rightly, 'Look, Tim. You can't do one. There's no way, after a five-year gap between movies that you can come back and just do one. You'd have to plan on four or five.' And I thought, oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long. So I respectfully declined."

I don't think this is PR and invented. Dalton himself told this story in an interview. Clearly he was upset that the script for LTK was so late being finalized or arriving to him.

BT3366

thedove wrote: »

When Bond 17 was finally greenlit, Timothy Dalton was approached to return to the role of 007, but turned it down after the six-year gap. In a new interview with The Week, Dalton has now revealed the real reason he walked away from the famous tuxedo.

When asked where the fear of stagnation was a part of his relatively short tenure as 007, Dalton said: "That was my worry going into the James Bond franchise, certainly. But it wasn't why I left. On [Licence to Kill], I think I saw the script about two weeks before we started shooting. You know, that's not great, is it?"

We had the script [for this third film]. They were interviewing directors. We were really rolling forward, ready to start. It was actually quite a good story, I thought," says Dalton. "Because of the lawsuit, I was free of the contract, and [producer] Mr. Broccoli, who I really respected as a producer and as a friend, asked me what I was going to do when it was resolved. I said, 'Look, in all honesty, I don't think that I will continue.' He asked me for my support during that time, which of course, I gave him."

When the legal fog cleared, Dalton had a change of heart. "When [the next movie] did come about, it was probably four or five years later," he explains. "[Broccoli] asked if I would come back, and I said, 'Well, I've actually changed my mind a little bit. I think that I'd love to do one. Try and take the best of the two that I have done, and consolidate them into a third.' And he said, quite rightly, 'Look, Tim. You can't do one. There's no way, after a five-year gap between movies that you can come back and just do one. You'd have to plan on four or five.' And I thought, oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long. So I respectfully declined."

I don't think this is PR and invented. Dalton himself told this story in an interview. Clearly he was upset that the script for LTK was so late being finalized or arriving to him.

I'm not unconvinced here, but there's still other factors you have to wonder about. Given Dalton would've already been 49 when he was filming GE, would he really have been expected to do 4-5 more? That would've put him in Moore's late 50s age bracket by the time he fulfilled such a contract and there were complaints about Moore's age from fans. The standard contract for Brosnan was 3 with a film-by-film basis after as it was with Moore, and there was talk about Brosnan being too old as he hit 50 right after DAD. It also wasn't like Eon hadn't done 3 films with 3 different actors before. Also, wasn't Cubby ailing by the time of pre-production on GE and Barbara and MGW stepping up to take over the day-to-day operations?

DEKE_RIVERS

Both can be true. Maybe they knew he was going to decline an offer like that.

CommanderRoss

All in all, I'd love it if Dalton could do a commentary record of his films. Especially considering the above. Craig would be interesting as well, but rather a couple of years after the new guy has taken over.

007HallY

I think it’s known that MGM wanted Brosnan (although even then I know executives were worried about his leading man potential too), but it does seem like there were discussions about this at EON, with some seemingly split about whether to keep Dalton. I think the mentality of either a new start or the previous actor continuing as usual was there after the gap. But of course if it’s true Dalton had doubts about returning to Bond (which I don’t think would be a PR story - why would he say the schedule for LTK wasn’t great if it was? I think his answer would be less detailed than that if it was) then that likely would have set off those conversations about a new Bond beforehand. So I don’t think it’s fully made up either. But as is the case with these things there’s probably a lot left out or embellished.

mtm

Funnily enough I think Deke actually has a point. It may well have been a slightly half-hearted offer from Eon hoping he'd turn it down. Maybe both sides understood the situation and knew they were doing something of a dance.
It worked out for the best that the series was reinvigorated at that point.

Mendes4Lyfe

Daltonator B-)

Ludovico

mtm wrote: »

Funnily enough I think Deke actually has a point. It may well have been a slightly half-hearted offer from Eon hoping he'd turn it down. Maybe both sides understood the situation and knew they were doing something of a dance.
It worked out for the best that the series was reinvigorated at that point.

Kind of to allow him to leave with dignity. Makes sense.

mtm

Ludovico wrote: »

mtm wrote: »

Funnily enough I think Deke actually has a point. It may well have been a slightly half-hearted offer from Eon hoping he'd turn it down. Maybe both sides understood the situation and knew they were doing something of a dance.
It worked out for the best that the series was reinvigorated at that point.

Kind of to allow him to leave with dignity. Makes sense.

Yeah I feel like there was something like that going on there. Would make sense: they are genuine friends apparently.

Makes you wonder why Brosnan didn't get the same ;)