James Bond Unmasked - All 6 Bond actors interviewed

SirHenryLeeChaChing

thelordflasheart wrote:

jamesbondunmasked wrote:

Thanks, my first exposure was Goldfinger in '65. I was 7 or 8. Not sure what month it was.

One thing that I'm curious about - and SirHenry can answer this too - is how odd is it to have Bond be the man that you want to grow up to be when you're younger, then watch an actor the same age as you play the part, and then finally see someone younger than you play the part?

When I watch the early Connery films or OHMSS I can't get my head around the fact that I'm watching a man younger than me play Bond. I'm so conditioned by all the times seeing the films as a kid that I still see them as "older". Likewise, watching Craig I find it hard to believe that I'm watching someone who is my age. I can't imagine how strange it will be to see someone, say, ten years younger than me being cast as Bond.

There was a great line from a review of CR where the reviewer - who was the same age as Craig - said "For the first time since I was a kid I thought that I want to be that guy!". What's the reaction when watching a younger Bond? Wistfulness? A sense of wishing you had done those things when you were younger? Or was "being Bond" something that was a "dream" but something that you'd never get close to in the real world?

I never really gave the notion that I am now older than the current Bond actor much thought to be honest. Brosnan has 9 years on me, I've got I guess about 6 on Craig.

That said, I've tried to be like Bond as best as I can but I never wanted to pursue his line of work. I was always too much of a rebel to go into law enforcement, but at the same time I've always believed that the criminal lifestyle wasn't the right way either. However I've traveled to some exotic places, eaten quite a few gourmet meals, driven some classy automobiles, wore a tux in a casino, and bedded lots of women who could have easily been Bond girls, so I've tried to be like him as much as I could while living a normal sort of life.

Samuel001

Isn't there a strong sense of, I don't know, fulfillment, that's you've been able to follow your childhood hero for so long? Plus it's still getting made, even today. That must be wonderful in itself.

thelordflasheart

Samuel001 wrote:

Isn't there a strong sense of, I don't know, fulfillment, that's you've been able to follow your childhood hero for so long? Plus it's still getting made, even today. That must be wonderful in itself.

That is very fulfilling. I used to watch re-runs of the original Star Trek when I was a kid and when I was in high school The Next Generation was popular with mainstream audiences - how very odd that the thing that people used to make fun of me for watching was now cool!

There was a tremendous amount of satisfaction that there is a, for lack of a better word, continuity in your life to follow something. The fact that Doctor Who and Bond reached new levels of popularity in recent years was mind-boggling to me (I started watching both when I was around 12). Your own personal history of following something for long really enriches the experience of following it now IMHO.

SaintMark

Looks good, but I'll be saving my money for Roger Moore's publication Bond on Bond in November. He is still the most entertaining of the Bond actors imho.

jamesbondunmasked

Since Bond is the only ongoing movie franchise, it really serves as a unique bridge to our childhoods. That's what struck me most when interviewing the Bonds (yes, it was strange realizing I was older than Craig) and then re-watching all of the movies. It was like viewing them as a kid, as an adult, and vicariously through the eyes of each Bond, since my focus was on their portrayals. By the end, it all melded together as one continuous movie. "Both Craig and Mendes are adamant that the Bonds remain event films, family experiences, passed down from generation to generation like a ritual: the ultimate in cinematic comfort food."

BritishChap007

jamesbondunmasked wrote:

Since Bond is the only ongoing movie franchise, it really serves as a unique bridge to our childhoods. That's what struck me most when interviewing the Bonds (yes, it was strange realizing I was older than Craig) and then re-watching all of the movies. It was like viewing them as a kid, as an adult, and vicariously through the eyes of each Bond, since my focus was on their portrayals. By the end, it all melded together as one continuous movie. "Both Craig and Mendes are adamant that the Bonds remain event films, family experiences, passed down from generation to generation like a ritual: the ultimate in cinematic comfort food."

It's still just a summary of the plots of the movies. :/

jamesbondunmasked

Sorry to disappoint you, BritishChap007. I've tried to provide a little something for everyone, including the actors' insights and my own breezy analysis along with a blow by blow account of Bond's exploits.

BritishChap007

jamesbondunmasked wrote:

Sorry to disappoint you, BritishChap007. I've tried to provide a little something for everyone, including the actors' insights and my own breezy analysis along with a blow by blow account of Bond's exploits.

It's a nice idea, but I think you had to little material. I understand that you interviewed these guys only once (except in the case of Brosnan), and boy do I envy you, but there simply wasn't enough content to extend it across 22 movies.

The blow by blow is just to grating. I've seen these movies hundreds of times. I know what happens. And that's the bulk of the book. This may be good for non-hardcore fans, but the thing is that non-hardcore fans aren't likely to buy :/

I would love to read Connery's commentary on QOS or Moore on TND. It's a dream book: the Bond's commentating on each other's movies. But this simply isn't that.

Not trying to knock you or your accomplishment. It's a fantastic achievement.

jamesbondunmasked

Actually, I also interviewed Craig more than once (the CR 1:1, which I would hold up against any interview he's given about Bond, which was preceded by a CR roundtable and followed up with a QOS roundtable). Yes, it was great getting Dalton to talk about FRWL and OHMSS; and getting Craig to talk about FRWL, Goldfinger and OHMSS and speculating about redoing the books or bringing back Blofeld. I look forward to interviewing Craig about Skyfall and I'd love to get another crack at the others. So what would you or the rest of the group like to ask the actors if you had the chance?

jamesbondunmasked

An excerpt from the Dr. No chapter appears today in the LA Times Hero Complex: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/06/06/bond-james-bond-at-50-a-man-who-needs-dr-no-introduction/

jamesbondunmasked

I was thrilled that Martin Campbell bought a copy of the book Sunday after participating in a Q&A about Casino Royale at the Aero in Santa Monica with Geoff Boucher of the LA Times Hero Complex. He mentioned that his favorite film is Goldfinger and that his favorite scene in CR is the meeting on the train. He gave full credit to Paul Haggis for rescuing the script. I reintroduced myself to Campbell and we spoke about Connery and Terence Young. It got me thinking more about Connery and Craig being the two pillars of Bond and that the great challenge now is bridging the them. With the introduction of a character arc, what do you think about coming full circle back to Fleming and now classic Connery in Skyfall and beyond?

thelivingroyale

jamesbondunmasked wrote:

So what would you or the rest of the group like to ask the actors if you had the chance?

I'd like to ask Timothy Dalton how he thinks his 3rd film would've turned out.

4EverBonded

Just to say thanks for the book, I will get a copy. I'm also buying Moore's Bond on Bond when it comes out. I enjoy reading different insights into Bond.

I do envy you speaking to each of the actors! How cool and memorable that was, I'm sure.

jamesbondunmasked

For that matter, it would be fun to ask Connery what he thinks it would've been like ending with OHMSS or beginning with CR. But it's hard to get them to speculate, though I enjoyed asking Craig about remaking the books.

jamesbondunmasked

According to reports about the new Skyfall IMAX trailer, the young Q is pretty feisty, telling Bond he can accomplish more with a laptop in his pajamas in 10 minutes than 007 can in a year. Can't wait!