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Think you're being a bit too dismissive of Dalton.
I believe he was always on Cubbys wishlist and was indeed considered for FYEO and OP!
Much as I Iike Collins and a big The Professionals fan (And Who Dares Wins) There s no way I would have chose him over Dalton!
Though if Collins did take over from Moore in 81 we may still have got Tims portrayal!
Talking of auditions for the I thought Sam Neil was good but it wasn't a action scene.
Oliver Tobias was a surprise always thought he would have made a great Solomon Kane.
Like you I would have liked to have seen a screentest, but I guess he never made it that far. With the Broccoli's, it seems to be a case of whether one gels with them personally first. I wonder if Cubby really wanted Connery back for DAF, or whether MGM were chiefly responsible for that. If they were, then we were lucky imho. Similarly with Brosnan for GE (although Dalton has grown on me over the years, I think Pierce was necessary for 1995).
My pleasure as well re this thread i made,i've always been a Lewis Collins fan.
And yes,Pierce and GE and Campbell saved the series for sure.
It does appear that Oliver Tobias came closer to stepping into the shoes of 007 than perhaps Collins did, at least securing a screentest. Not that I believe that Cubby, now sole producer of Bond, was entertaining anyone else other than Roger Moore by the late Seventies. Dalton was supposedly on Cubby’s radar, all though I wonder how serious this really was. Up until then, Dalton had refused all offers of a screentest, claiming he didn’t like the direction the movies had gone in. He even turned down the OHMSS one, telling his agent he wasn’t interested. There was never a screentest and never a firm offer from the producers. His name was just one on a list of 500 possible candidates, which was whittled down to the final seven that appeared in Life magazine, after the biggest casting call in movie history. Dalton appears to have reignited interest after appearing in Flash Gordon, as it was Michael Billington that was Cubby’s own preference to takeover Moore if he decided to not return for MR or FYEO.
After auditioning for the role of "James Bond": It would be nice to get back to the original Bond, not the character created by Sean Connery - but the one from the books. He's not over-handsome, over-tall. He's about my age and has got my attitudes... I was in Albert R. Broccoli's office for five minutes, but it was really over for me in seconds. I have heard since that he doesn't like me. That's unfair. He's expecting another Connery to walk through the door and there are few of them around. I think he's really shut the door on me. He found me too aggressive. I knew it all -- that kind of attitude. Two or three years ago that would be the case, purely because I was nervous and defensive. I felt they were playing the producer bit with fat cigars. When someone walks into their office for the most popular film job in the world, a little actor is bound to put on a few airs. If Cubby couldn't see I was being self-protective, I don't have faith in his judgment.
I had no idea that Michael Billington was under consideration either. XXX's beau certainly had the Bond look (my father once mistook him for Lazzer when we saw TSWLM together), but I'm happy Moore returned.
RE: the Gavin/Cubby scenaro, while DAF isn't Sean's best performance as Bond, the film has its charms. If Gavin had been cast, we probably wouldn't have had Rog's time in the role. That would have been a shame, at least for me.
That's a very honest and heartfelt summary of his impression of the meeting. Great read.
Roger Moore is one of kind for me, you cannot say the same about Lewis Collins.
I think Lewis Collins had potential as a more gritty Bond, I'd rate him above many of the names mentioned in the 1980s, but Collins, like all the other names up for the role, would have to rely on Moore wanting too much money and Cubby and the studio saying "no." It must have been a near impossible task for any actor to expect to replace Moore. Moore could play a waiting game and the likes of Collins, Brolin etc could try out for the part, but Moore must have had great confidence he would be back in the role. If you look at it from that perspective, it's not surprising Moore made seven films in a row.
Another actor who had potential was Ian Ogilvy. He played the Saint in the 1970s. I'd rate Ogilvy and Collins as interesting 'what if' Bond candidates. :) Ogilvy closer to the Moore style, Collins offering a different take on Bond, perhaps.
Certain shots of Pierce in his Bond films remind me a bit of Ogilvy as The Saint. I always thought by the late '80's Ogilvy might have made a decent Bond. There was a Diet Coke commercial with Ogilvy as a Bondian character very similar to the Brosnan Diet Coke commercials. Gave an indication what he might have been like in the role.
We’ll never know whether Collins had the staying power in the role @SaintMark, just like we would never know whether John Gavin would’ve killed the franchise stone dead had he been cast in DAF. Of course Roger Moore did phenomenally well with LALD, the big promotional push made sure of that. It was TMWTGG that almost curtailed his tenure with its poor box office. UA wanted to replace him with a different actor, but Cubby fought hard to give Moore one last chance.
Also, using an actor’s career success beyond their initial Bond audition after they failed to land the role isn’t necessarily a good indicator, or projection, of how they would have faired as Bond, either. After all, Pierce Brosnan was struggling in made-for-TV limbo trash until GE came along, and he was much younger than Collins and was fortunate enough to have already been embraced as an Anglo-American by the adopted country he was living in. Some actors just don’t get that extra lucky break that propels them upwards and onwards. It would also be interesting to see where Moore’s career would’ve gone had he not secured the role of 007. I’m sure Lew Grade would’ve found another TV project for the extremely out-of-shape actor. I say out-of-shape because I’m not entirely convinced Moore himself would have put himself through such a rigorous exercise regime had it not been for Saltzman telling him to lose the flab, unlike Grade who took on a chubby Moore for The Persuaders role.
Thats why i think Collins' Bond would have worked compared to Daltons' ,as he was well known and established as a tough CI5 operative,and loved by the public.
I think had Cubby wanted a Moore-type actor in the same mould to succeed Roger, then Ogilvy would’ve made a fine Bond, certainly better than James Brolin.
My own personal choices would have been Collins and Tobias in that order. I always thought Tobias looked like a more rugged Pierce Brosnan.
I think he was a Craig/Brosnan Bond mix,would have been perfect.
Get well soon Bazza!
You should watch Who Dares Wins too as a bonus!
Get well soon buddy!
Just for you... though I preferred his shorter haircut in the Professionals...
Even as a kid of 11 when FYEO was possibly his chance I wished it would happen.
This just proves what a fantastic 007 Lewis would have made.
And I agree,if Harry Saltzman was there he would have been Bond.
What a missed opportunity x makes Dalton look like a luvvie theatre actor (which he is ) !!!!!
He had the whole package,and his fight scenes make Lazenby look like a schoolboy.
I was so upset when he didn’t get the role and Dalton came along.
He was tailor made to be 007 and I will always mention and champion him to people about what things could have been with Lewis in the role.
I certainly would have taken him over Brosnan..But not Dalton!