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Lewis Collins: 007 ,Who Dares Wins & Professionals appreciation/discussion.

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  • patbpatb
    Posts: 4,617
    Another way of looking at it, if you look at Layer Cake as the type of role that was required to get noticed, I can see Collins doing a great job in Layer Cake, to be fsair though, at the time, they were looking for a very different type of Bond that the Criag version of Bond
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,007
    Would loved to have seen if Collins could handle the 'quieter talky' moments of being 007. Because physically he would have walked it. Good presence and tough in action scenes, as demonstrated in Who Dares Wins.

    Alas we'll never know.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    I think he would have handled it ok,there are quite a few 'talky' scenes in 'Who Dares Wins' that he handles with very well.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    My The Professionals Collection

    full.jpg
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,216
    I know very little about Collins but based on his look and what I say of him in the above interview, I think he could have pulled it off very nicely.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    He would have done @talos7 ...he would have put the toughness back into Bond.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    A member of your family met him @Clarkdevlin ?
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    barryt007 wrote: »
    A member of your family met him @Clarkdevlin ?
    Yes, @barryt007. My uncle did during the '90s and he did say Lewis was a very nice bloke. Had a Professionals still autographed for him even.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Lewis Collins was a missed opportunity
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,044
    Wasn't he seen as "too aggressive"? Probably be welcomed now.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    He would have been perfect for the time ,especially when you see him in 'Who Dares Wins'.
    Yep,Cubby thought he was too aggressive,but wasn't Lazenby the same ?

    Lazenby got away with it because he followed Connery,Collins didn't because he would have been following Moore.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    He may also have been too much of a shock to the cinema audience raised on
    Affable Roger. As after all LTK was a shock to many, although a favourite of mine.
  • ColonelSunColonelSun
    Posts: 1,493
    I met Lewis Collins once when he popped into our cutting rooms when we were working on the TV movie of Frankenstein. He was very friendly and, because the editor had cut several of the Moore Bonds, he spoke about "blowing his chance" when he went to meet Cubby in Pinewood Mansion. He laughed, admitting that he swaggered into the office in his biker's jacket and jeans and thought he had the part. Big mistake. But he was really good natured about it as he openly recounted the story to us. Soon after that he packed in acting and moved to LA and started a computer business, which was very successful.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    I've always thought that Lewis Collins was a missed Bond opportunity in the 80's. Be it in FYEO or even my beloved OP. I think he would've been a very good successor to Moore's Bond. Better I feel than the transition of Moore to Dalton. Lewis Collins had a more playful and similar comedic tone to Rogers that I think would've eased audiences better than Dalton did. Although he wasn't well known in the US market, I think he could've won them over. Especially if he had debuted in a film like FYEO.
    From imdb... He was considered for James Bond in the 1980s, but Albert R. Broccoli turned him down, thinking he was "too thuggish". I wonder then, what Cubby would've made of Daniel Craig.
    Very sad to learn of his passing at a relatively young age. A potentially great Bond we never got.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I think Collins also passed the SAS training course ?
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    I think Collins also passed the SAS training course ?
    Yes, he did. But, he was rejected because he already was a known face across the globe via 'Bodie'.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    I think Collins also passed the SAS training course ?
    He did indeed,hence why he was so convincing in 'Who Dares Wins',a brilliant film.
    Great little story there @ColonelSun.

    And yes Benster,Collins had a cheeky smile and could deliver brilliant one-liners and would have been perfect to follow Sir Roger than the stiff,nervous Dalton.

    Personally I think re Craig and Cubby,i have a sneaky feeling that Cubby wouldn't have liked him at first.

    And as for Lewis dying so early,its a tragic waste of a great actor in general,and a Bond that should have been.
    You only have to look at him as Bodie in the Professionals and Peter Skellen in Who Dares Wins to see that.

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Peter Skellen is the domestic threats intelligence officer equivalent of James Bond. @barryt007, and that theme tune by Roy Budd was... how we Americans put it? "Friggin' Cool!" It's a shame that Budd himself passed away too soon, as well. He could've easily replaced Barry as the Bond film composer. Anyone who heard his other scores would think that.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Fully agree @barryt007 when you read of some of the actors considered for Bond in the
    Past, You can sort of see why they didn't get it but not using Collins was a mistake. He
    Really did have it all. Great timing for Comedy, the cheeky grin and the ability to throw
    A convincing punch !
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    Peter Skellen is the domestic threats intelligence officer equivalent of James Bond. @barryt007, and that theme tune by Roy Budd was... how we Americans put it? "Friggin' Cool!" It's a shame that Budd himself passed away too soon, as well. He could've easily replaced Barry as the Bond film composer. Anyone who heard his other scores would think that.

    Spot on !!
    Roy Budd would have been perfect to make a Bond score..everything about WDW is perfect,a great,patriotic film,and Lewis is brilliant in it.

  • barryt007barryt007
    edited March 2017 Posts: 19,339
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    Fully agree @barryt007 when you read of some of the actors considered for Bond in the
    Past, You can sort of see why they didn't get it but not using Collins was a mistake. He
    Really did have it all. Great timing for Comedy, the cheeky grin and the ability to throw
    A convincing punch !

    A big mistake,the perfect match...part Connery,part Moore.

    Everything Brosnan tried and failed to pull off.

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    barryt007 wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    Peter Skellen is the domestic threats intelligence officer equivalent of James Bond. @barryt007, and that theme tune by Roy Budd was... how we Americans put it? "Friggin' Cool!" It's a shame that Budd himself passed away too soon, as well. He could've easily replaced Barry as the Bond film composer. Anyone who heard his other scores would think that.

    Spot on !!
    Roy Budd would have been perfect to make a Bond score..everything about WDW is perfect,a great,patriotic film,and Lewis is brilliant in it.
    Definitely. A few more reasons to love the film. That climactic attack on the embassy just gives you a chill on the spine with Budd's music attached to it. Heroes take no crap from misled and misguided bad guys. ;)
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    barryt007 wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    Peter Skellen is the domestic threats intelligence officer equivalent of James Bond. @barryt007, and that theme tune by Roy Budd was... how we Americans put it? "Friggin' Cool!" It's a shame that Budd himself passed away too soon, as well. He could've easily replaced Barry as the Bond film composer. Anyone who heard his other scores would think that.

    Spot on !!
    Roy Budd would have been perfect to make a Bond score..everything about WDW is perfect,a great,patriotic film,and Lewis is brilliant in it.
    Definitely. A few more reasons to love the film. That climactic attack on the embassy just gives you a chill on the spine with Budd's music attached to it. Heroes take no crap from misled and misguided bad guys. ;)

    Exactly...I actually watched the Iranian Embassy attack by the SAS live on TV round my grandparents house when it happened,which is of course what the film is loosely based on..a very proud moment to be British.

  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    Nobody does it better than the SAS.
    Really liked Skellens use of morse code in WDW.
    Something simple but effective that could easily be applied to a Bond film.
  • barryt007barryt007
    edited March 2017 Posts: 19,339
    The mirror and light trick from the bathroom,yes very clever,and very effective.

    I just changed the thread title @Benny to make it more of a general topic and moved it from 'Bond Movies' into 'Actors' instead.
  • Mathis1Mathis1
    Posts: 7,430
    Delighted to see some love for composer Roy Budd. He did some great scores, The Wild Geese, Fear is the Key, and of course the sublime Get Carter! And a mention for Kidnapped, which has a beautiful theme!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    He really should have been grabbed for Bond,even as a back up to Barry (not me) or at least for TSWLM and FYEO...
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Didn't Lewis also appear in one of the unofficial sequel to The Wild Geese by a German-Italian production? Something called Code Name: Wild Geese or something?
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    Didn't Lewis also appear in one of the unofficial sequel to The Wild Geese by a German-Italian production? Something called Code Name: Wild Geese or something?

    Yes that's the one...but I've never seen it.

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    It was a very poor film, but I'm sure it paid a
    Few bills.
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