The SEAN CONNERY Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films

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  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,154


    The above link is a good interview with Sir Sean with one of his relations from 2007, Sean discusses leaving the movie business and turning down coming out of retirement to do Indy 4. (I posted this interview previously from a different source).

    That is an illuminating interview. Seen it before, but fun to see it again. That is a great, loving smile he gives at the end.

    I did post it on here before though the video was blocked when I scrolled back through the thread. Sir Sean had cemented his Legacy and then some, I don't blame him from walking away from Hollywood.
  • JWPepperJWPepper You sit on it, but you can't take it with you.
    Posts: 512


    The above link is a good interview with Sir Sean with one of his relations from 2007, Sean discusses leaving the movie business and turning down coming out of retirement to do Indy 4. (I posted this interview previously from a different source).

    That is an illuminating interview. Seen it before, but fun to see it again. That is a great, loving smile he gives at the end.

    It's very clear what damage The League of Extraordinary Gentleman has done. He had rows with the director and producers. It was a very troubled production.
    What a horrible interviewer, by the way. She asks the same question four times.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited August 2020 Posts: 25,154
    The interviewer is Sean's wife's Grand Daughter I think. On an extended version of the interview She asks Sean should I call you Grandpa

    micheline-roquebrunes-family-stephanie-and-eve-anna-renouvin-at-sean-picture-id168454594?s=612x612
  • JWPepperJWPepper You sit on it, but you can't take it with you.
    Posts: 512
    The interviewer is Sean's wife's Grand Daughter I think. On an extended version of the interview She asks Sean should I call you Grandpa

    micheline-roquebrunes-family-stephanie-and-eve-anna-renouvin-at-sean-picture-id168454594?s=612x612

    Didn't know that. Thanks! Thats why Sean was in a good mood.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    No wonder she pestered him with the same question. Darn kids! ;)

    Thanks for bringing that video up! It’s a shame having to deal with incompetent executives/directors is what drove him away. He could have been extra selective of who he worked with in the 2000s, but by his 70s he probably thought it was a good time to cash in his chips. The only real active people his age are so few now like Clint Eastwood, who also turned 90 this year.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,154
    Stéphanie Renouvin is her name, this is a great photo appears to be around the time of the 2007 interview...

    b40e2a44b140b7096b62b0635a1afc79.gif

  • Posts: 1,917
    Although it was nearly 31 years ago, which doesn't seem that long ago, Sir Sean was making news and the cover of People Magazine as the Sexiest Man Alive at nearly age 60 and it seems like that was the start of the now common phrase (fill in the blank) is the new as in his case 60 was the new 40. Any veteran members recall that cover and story?

    Also, a neat bit of trivia, I discovered on the This Day page that 2 other Bond series legends share an Aug. 25 birthday - title designer Maurice Binder (1925) and John Stears (1934). The stars were aligned on that date when it came to talent coming together to make the Bond series great.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,423
    Wow, he really likes yellow shirts! :D
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    When I mentioned at work last week that Sean Connery turned 90, the reaction was "What? Is he still alive?"
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,154
    When I mentioned at work last week that Sean Connery turned 90, the reaction was "What? Is he still alive?"

    positively-shocking.jpg
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    I do think he missed out on the indie film movement of the 2000s, where he would have used his clout to do more interesting projects instead of doing gigs like LGX. But at 73, I totally get that retirement looked very appealing.
  • Posts: 1,917
    I do think he missed out on the indie film movement of the 2000s, where he would have used his clout to do more interesting projects instead of doing gigs like LGX. But at 73, I totally get that retirement looked very appealing.

    He did do the ensemble Playing by Heart. Makes you wonder if he was more interested in a paycheck by that point anyway.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited September 2020 Posts: 16,423
    I do think he missed out on the indie film movement of the 2000s, where he would have used his clout to do more interesting projects instead of doing gigs like LGX. But at 73, I totally get that retirement looked very appealing.

    Yeah absolutely: if you were a millionaire several times over and you lived in the Bahamas, what would you do? Sit around on a set in Prague with a wig on and get angry with some young director?
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    Looking at his salary for that film he only got a paycheck for $60,000, the lowest of his career since DR. NO. So he was at least open to doing smaller pictures. Contrast that with his 17m paycheck off of LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. To the very end he was still a very high in demand actor.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,423
    Yeah I've never seen Playing By Heart: I'm sure it was only a couple of days work for him. I've heard it's not all that great though. I did enjoy the Barry score though.

    I watched the Russia House for the first time last week: I realised I'd never actually seen it. Not one of his best, but again the score was absolutely outstanding.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Yeah, @mtm The Russia House score is just too gorgeous. A clear indication of what a Jerry Goldsmith Bond score would have sounded like.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    Goldsmith said he was once offered to score a Bond film but turned it down because he felt a British composer was more suited for Bond than he was. Never mentioned what film he was offered to do. Would have liked for him to take a stab at Bond because he’s by far my favorite film composer.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Goldsmith said he was once offered to score a Bond film but turned it down because he felt a British composer was more suited for Bond than he was. Never mentioned what film he was offered to do. Would have liked for him to take a stab at Bond because he’s by far my favorite film composer.

    Oh! For real? Wow! What a Score that would have been! Yeah, I would have also liked to hear a Goldsmith Bond score. He's so consistent and can score any genre. I like all of his scores, I don't skip a track when listening to them. Maybe he was just being modest by saying a Bond score suits a British Composer more, coz he knows he's so good and part of what is called the "Big Four'' of late 20th century film Composers. The other 3 are Henry Mancini, John Williams and John Barry himself!
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,154
    I watched the Russia House at the cinema I was a dedicated Connery film fan in my youth, and still am often revisit his films and discover a few I have not seen.
  • My top 10 Connery films (outside of Bond) -

    1. The Untouchables
    2. The Man Who Would be King
    3. The Offence (easily his best performance)
    4. The Rock
    5. Entrapment
    6. The Russia House
    7. Outland
    8. The Great Train Robbery
    9. Robin and Marion
    10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

    Other great films worth mentioning, where he only has a smaller role -

    1. Highlander
    2. Time Bandits
    3. A Bridge Too Far

    What a legend. The only man worth looking up to.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,423
    Goldsmith said he was once offered to score a Bond film but turned it down because he felt a British composer was more suited for Bond than he was.

    Aargh, that's a punch to the gut! :)
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Would have been interesting to see Connery play Gandalf, if he didn't turn it down.
  • DeathToSpies84DeathToSpies84 Newton-le-Willows, England
    Posts: 257
    Away from Bond, Connery was excellent in The Rock. He and Nicolas Cage are the odd couple, but they make it work in absolute spades. It’s the most underrated action movie of the 90’s.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Away from Bond, Connery was excellent in The Rock. He and Nicolas Cage are the odd couple, but they make it work in absolute spades. It’s the most underrated action movie of the 90’s.

    Indeed. And one of the few Michael Bay films with some positive reviews. Oh! And Zimmer's Score....Epic!
  • Posts: 1,917
    The Rock was great in 1996 and still a hell of a ride. As much as I like Face/Off, The Rock is Cage's best action film and he and Connery are a great team.

    Connery gets to do it all in this film: action, tough guy, humor. About the only thing he doesn't get to do is kiss the girl, but that's okay. Rather than a forced romance with a former girlfriend or something, he gets time with his daughter and that makes up for that.

    If you haven't seen it, Welcome to The Rock.
  • DoctorNoDoctorNo USA-Maryland
    Posts: 755
    My top 10 Connery films (outside of Bond) -

    1. The Untouchables
    2. The Man Who Would be King
    3. The Offence (easily his best performance)
    4. The Rock
    5. Entrapment
    6. The Russia House
    7. Outland
    8. The Great Train Robbery
    9. Robin and Marion
    10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

    Other great films worth mentioning, where he only has a smaller role -

    1. Highlander
    2. Time Bandits
    3. A Bridge Too Far

    What a legend. The only man worth looking up to.

    No Hunt For Red October?



  • DeathToSpies84DeathToSpies84 Newton-le-Willows, England
    Posts: 257
    GadgetMan wrote: »
    Away from Bond, Connery was excellent in The Rock. He and Nicolas Cage are the odd couple, but they make it work in absolute spades. It’s the most underrated action movie of the 90’s.

    Indeed. And one of the few Michael Bay films with some positive reviews. Oh! And Zimmer's Score....Epic!

    Bay’s last good film before he went downhill. And Zimmer’s score was stirring, especially the opening credits with Ed Harris’s character laying flowers at the grave of his wife in the pouring rain. His speech gets me misty-eyed sometimes.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,423
    There's also a wonderfully sweary outtake with Sean having trouble with a lift button :)
  • DeathToSpies84DeathToSpies84 Newton-le-Willows, England
    Posts: 257
    mtm wrote: »
    There's also a wonderfully sweary outtake with Sean having trouble with a lift button :)

    For me, it’s his "losers always whine about their best" and "I don’t quite see how you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million." lines that are his best delivered.
  • Posts: 2,918
    Some of Connery's lesser known flops are of interest too. A year or two ago I watched an HD copy of Wrong is Right (1982, aka The Man with the Deadly Lens). Not one of Connery's best films, but full of interesting material: Connery plays a hotshot TV news reporter who gets involved in a middle-eastern terrorist conspiracy. The film is overambitious and occasionally scatterbrained, but the satire is surprisingly prescient and Connery has fun stretching his usual image--especially in the final shots.

    Joe Dante is a fan too:
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