If Blofeld were to return to the modern Bond films...who would play him well?

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  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Tokoloshe wrote:
    Has anyone considered the possiblity of Blofeld being recast as a female character?

    This isn't as crazy as it sounds, because to me the biggest problem is that the original Blofeld has been parodied to death such that any villain with that name bearing a Nehru jacket and a white cat is out of the question for a future Bond film. However just taking a random villain and naming him Blofeld without any visible connection to previous incarnations will seem rather arbitrary - for example Dominic Greene could easily have been named 'Ernst Blofeld' with no other changes to the script.

    So an interesting way to get around this would be for the character to reappear as a female head of a criminal organisation, perhaps with a link to, say, her father?

    Ernesta Blofeld. I'm not opposed to the idea of the daughter of a long forgotten uber-villain, although I'm sure you'll get a few smack-downs from various quarters for mentioning 'female' and 'Blofeld' in the same sentence.

    My reticence would be that they've never truly translated him to the screen in a way that I feel does justice to the literary incarnation. My choice would be the literary Blofeld from OHMSS, if they were to ever commit him to screen again. Or if it was deemed reasonable to feature a recurring villain, the transition from TB through YOLT. I'm talking visually here of course, the character details need some clever reworking.
  • Posts: 75
    David Bowie, miss out on Zorin, fresh start at Blofeld.

    What do you think.
  • edited June 2014 Posts: 15,106
    Did I mention Mark Addy? He might be too young and too friendly looking without a beard.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Tokoloshe wrote:
    Has anyone considered the possiblity of Blofeld being recast as a female character?

    This isn't as crazy as it sounds, because to me the biggest problem is that the original Blofeld has been parodied to death such that any villain with that name bearing a Nehru jacket and a white cat is out of the question for a future Bond film. However just taking a random villain and naming him Blofeld without any visible connection to previous incarnations will seem rather arbitrary - for example Dominic Greene could easily have been named 'Ernst Blofeld' with no other changes to the script.

    So an interesting way to get around this would be for the character to reappear as a female head of a criminal organisation, perhaps with a link to, say, her father?

    Yes I thought of that a while back, I think I mentioned it. Still hoping for Helen Mirren to play a villain in a Bond film.
  • Posts: 15,106
    I don't want a female Blofeld. I mean what's the point, that would be changing the character beyond recognition.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Ludovico wrote:
    I don't want a female Blofeld. I mean what's the point, that would be changing the character beyond recognition.

    Blofeld did have his run perhaps with Femina Blofeld we would get SPECTRE back in a new coat.
    I would not even mind QUANTUM being the renewed version with a deadly female at the wheel. With a decent actress we would get some good dynamics between DC and her with some nice sexual tension thrown in for good measure.

    It would not change the character of Blofeld but actually advance the story of SPECTRE/Blofeld.
  • Posts: 15,106
    It would not bring back with a new coat it would use the name for no reason whatsoever as the character would not be the same. How about getting back to Fleming's Blofeld for a change? That would be new.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Ludovico wrote:
    It would not bring back with a new coat it would use the name for no reason whatsoever as the character would not be the same. How about getting back to Fleming's Blofeld for a change? That would be new.

    It is not Flemings Blofeld now is it, he had some help there as was documented fairly well.

    I would not mind having the SPECTRE organisation continued in a new coat with the apperent same interests as QUANTUM it would be foolish to even deny its origin. With the spoofs they killed the bald guy with the pussy. Perhaps time for a new kind of Pussycat as for the bald part I am not suggesting anything here.
  • Posts: 15,106
    Not sure what you mean by not Fleming's Blofeld now. If they want a female mastermind fine, just don't call her Blofeld. They could do worse than go back to the source material and the original character, who was never developed faithfully in the movies. Using THIS Blofeld would be original.
  • Posts: 50
    Christopher Eccleston - Minus the northern charm.

    I would like to see Chris give it a go. A Blofeld at a similar age to 007, play mind games with him and really torment and psychologically fight Bond.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Ludovico wrote:
    Not sure what you mean by not Fleming's Blofeld now.

    Fleming wrote the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye over the period January to March 1960, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory
  • Posts: 15,106
    I love Eccleston, but Blofeld should be older than Bond.
  • Posts: 15,106
    SaintMark wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    Not sure what you mean by not Fleming's Blofeld now.

    Fleming wrote the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye over the period January to March 1960, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory

    Who wrote the novel? Who is the author? Who described Blofeld the way he was pictured in the novels TB, OHMSS YOLT?

    I don't care about the screenplay. The novels have Fleming's Blofeld.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Ludovico wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    Not sure what you mean by not Fleming's Blofeld now.

    Fleming wrote the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye over the period January to March 1960, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory

    Who wrote the novel? Who is the author? Who described Blofeld the way he was pictured in the novels TB, OHMSS YOLT?

    I don't care about the screenplay. The novels have Fleming's Blofeld.

    I think he's merely suggesting that the genesis of Blofeld/SPECTRE was a collective process, channelled into the novel by Fleming.
  • Posts: 7,653
    RC7 wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    Not sure what you mean by not Fleming's Blofeld now.

    Fleming wrote the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye over the period January to March 1960, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory

    Who wrote the novel? Who is the author? Who described Blofeld the way he was pictured in the novels TB, OHMSS YOLT?

    I don't care about the screenplay. The novels have Fleming's Blofeld.

    I think he's merely suggesting that the genesis of Blofeld/SPECTRE was a collective process, channelled into the novel by Fleming.

    Yes, and that is why I mentioned the screenplay. Even Fleming admits that the genesis was a collective process so please do not get too upset.
  • edited June 2014 Posts: 15,106
    But what matter is the finished work, the character as he stands IS Fleming's. My point is, there's a reference, a character that can be.modeled from.
  • Posts: 15,106
    Actually, it should be.modelled from Fleming's.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Ludovico wrote:
    But what matter is the finished work, the character as he stands IS Fleming's. My point is, there's a reference, a character that can be.modeled from.

    Well how amusing as we have been going a good 50 years with this 007 chap, and quite a few movies are not Flemings brainchild at all, but when there can be a change in vision or attempt it we get the good old It-is-not-as-Fleming-envisioned-argument.

    Fleming took from a screenplay and wrote a book with it, he might have written the book but was certainly borrowing a shed load, in such a way that it was the easiest part to prove in court. McClory went overboard when he wanted to obtain the rights of James Bond 007. But when it comes to Thunderball the final product was written by Fleming but the basis was not his alone.

    Blofeld is dead, long live the new Blofeld and I hope it will be a fantastic female character. Simply because the Silva character was not all that impressive.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    There is room for Blofeld to return I think. I'm not sure why he should be a she all of a sudden. Imagine Benedict Cumberbatch as Blofeld.

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSO9FlD9ABOhqjO8u8RrR8virkIBSd43cErIC0Axn3LsB9lS176cQ

    (I know, wrong kind of pussy. ;-))
  • edited June 2014 Posts: 15,106
    SaintMark wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    But what matter is the finished work, the character as he stands IS Fleming's. My point is, there's a reference, a character that can be.modeled from.

    Well how amusing as we have been going a good 50 years with this 007 chap, and quite a few movies are not Flemings brainchild at all, but when there can be a change in vision or attempt it we get the good old It-is-not-as-Fleming-envisioned-argument.

    Fleming took from a screenplay and wrote a book with it, he might have written the book but was certainly borrowing a shed load, in such a way that it was the easiest part to prove in court. McClory went overboard when he wanted to obtain the rights of James Bond 007. But when it comes to Thunderball the final product was written by Fleming but the basis was not his alone.

    Blofeld is dead, long live the new Blofeld and I hope it will be a fantastic female character. Simply because the Silva character was not all that impressive.

    A lot of movies are not Fleming's because he did not write so many books, dying before his time. It matters that one stays faithful, at least to a degree, to the spirit of its creation. Getting back to Fleming would actually be a change of vision at least when Blofeld is concerned, because the movies never adapted him properly in the first place.

    I challenge anyone to demonstrate that this was not due solely to Fleming's skills as a writer and a creator of character:

    'Blofeld's own eyes were deep black pools surrounded -totally surrounded, as Mussoloni's were- by very clear whites. The doll-like effect of this unusual symmetry was enhanced by long silken black eyelashes that should have belonged to a woman. The gaze of these soft doll's eyes was totally relaxed and rarely held any expression stronger than the mild curiosity in the object of their focus. (...)Blofeld's gaze was a microscope, the window on the world on a superbly clear brain, with a focus that had been sharpened by thirty years of danger and of keeping just one step ahead of it (...)

    The skin beneath the eyes that now slowly, mildly, surveyed his colleagues was unpouched. There was no sign of debauchery, illness, or old age on the large, white, bland face under the square, wiry black crew-cut The jawline, going on the appropriate middle-aged fat of authority, showed decision and independence. Only the mouth under a heavy, squat nose, marred what might have been the face of a philosopher or a scientist. Proud and thin, like a badly-healed wound, the compressed, dark lips, capable of only false, ugly smiles, suggested contempt, tyranny, and cruelty. But to an almost Shakespearian degree. Nothing about Blofeld was small.
    ''

    To paraphrase The Social Network, if McClory had wanted to invent Blofeld, he would have invented Blofeld. That goes for Bond, of course.

    And I cannot see what a female Blofeld can bring that is better or relevant, let alone compared to the original character.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited June 2014 Posts: 12,480
    Blofeld can be darn near anything, but not a bald guy with a white cat - because that has become a parody. The character does not have to return; I am very lukewarm about it. But EON now have the full rights to use it, so why wouldn't they from a marketing standpoint? It would add zest for Bond to have a major arch enemy. If the part is well written and played by a very good actor or actress, it would be fun.

    When I think of Silva - a character I liked a lot in Skyfall - I think Bardem brought it up to the highest level with his performance (and I credit Mendes' direction, too). Not just the words; the words in lesser actor, or one who was coached to be very over the top, would have been wrong and disappointing. I thought the balance was great in Silva's character.

    So if Blofeld returns, it can be in many various disguises. I hope they are creative with it. :)
  • Posts: 15,106
    I agree Blofeld should not be a bald guy with a white cat, but I don't think he should be anything either. He is the Moriarty of the Bond universe, let's give him a proper treatment. If you have an actress play an archvillain... let her play not Blofeld.
  • TokolosheTokoloshe Under your bed
    edited July 2014 Posts: 2,667
    Ludovico wrote:
    I agree Blofeld should not be a bald guy with a white cat, but I don't think he should be anything either. He is the Moriarty of the Bond universe, let's give him a proper treatment. If you have an actress play an archvillain... let her play not Blofeld.

    I should have made my original point more clearly, since I didn't really mean a female version of the original Blofeld villain but actually someone like his daughter.

    Picture a future Bond film having two main villains, one standard male baddie who is killed at the end of the film but also a memorably villainous woman only known by her first name, who appears to be the villain's superior in some kind of shadowy organisation. Insert repeated references to her deceased father whose work she feels she is continuing through her villainous plot, but without making it obvious. She does familiar-looking things such as bumping off failed henchmen but then survives the final showdown.

    The film appear to end in the usual pre-Craig manner of Bond clinching a girl, but then cuts to a woman walking through a cemetery. She lays a single flower on a gravestone and says that she is determined to carry on her work, as we see that she is carrying a small white cat and the name on the gravestone is BLOFELD. Cut to black.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    Since we're on the subject of a female Blofeld, an idea I do not like for the record, I'd like to present Shirley Manson as a choice. Yes, she's the singer of Garbage. She also played a strong character, Catherine Weaver
    a.k.a. the T-1001
    in the second season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It was her acting debut and already she gave a stunning performance.

    Shirley_Manson_Richard_Jones_and_Garret_Dillahunt.jpg

    I understand it may be controversial to suggest a singer for a part in a Bond film - Madonna's Verity still makes me loose my fluids unintentionally with her "tip up" joke - but Manson could be the game changer.

    Also, she has a great Scottish accent going for her. It might make for a really different type of Blofeld than the Dr. Evil parody of a parody most of us seem to fear. ;-)

    That said, please remember that I'm still generally in favour of a return of Blofeld, albeit the male version. ;-)
  • Posts: 15,106
    Tokoloshe wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    I agree Blofeld should not be a bald guy with a white cat, but I don't think he should be anything either. He is the Moriarty of the Bond universe, let's give him a proper treatment. If you have an actress play an archvillain... let her play not Blofeld.

    I should have made my original point more clearly, since I didn't really mean a female version of the original Blofeld villain but actually someone like his daughter.

    Picture a future Bond film having two main villains, one standard male baddie who is killed at the end of the film but also a memorably villainous woman only known by her first name, who appears to be the villain's superior in some kind of shadowy organisation. Insert repeated references to her deceased father whose work she feels she is continuing through her villainous plot, but without making it obvious. She does familiar-looking things such as bumping off failed henchmen but then survives the final showdown.

    The film appear to end in the usual pre-Craig manner of Bond clinching a girl, but then cuts to a woman walking through a cemetery. She lays a single flower on a gravestone and says that she is determined to carry on her work, as we see that she is carrying a small white cat and the name on the gravestone is BLOFELD. Cut to black.

    Something like this could work, although I am not keen to have Blofeld a father. I know they gave him a daughter in the novels, but this was a twisted road of the continuaions tn. So I could see it for a different Bond villain. But in any case, Blofeld would need to be established first. s

  • Posts: 15,106
    Tokoloshe wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    I agree Blofeld should not be a bald guy with a white cat, but I don't think he should be anything either. He is the Moriarty of the Bond universe, let's give him a proper treatment. If you have an actress play an archvillain... let her play not Blofeld.

    I should have made my original point more clearly, since I didn't really mean a female version of the original Blofeld villain but actually someone like his daughter.

    Picture a future Bond film having two main villains, one standard male baddie who is killed at the end of the film but also a memorably villainous woman only known by her first name, who appears to be the villain's superior in some kind of shadowy organisation. Insert repeated references to her deceased father whose work she feels she is continuing through her villainous plot, but without making it obvious. She does familiar-looking things such as bumping off failed henchmen but then survives the final showdown.

    The film appear to end in the usual pre-Craig manner of Bond clinching a girl, but then cuts to a woman walking through a cemetery. She lays a single flower on a gravestone and says that she is determined to carry on her work, as we see that she is carrying a small white cat and the name on the gravestone is BLOFELD. Cut to black.

    Something like this could work, although I am not keen to have Blofeld a father. I know they gave him a daughter in the novels, but this was a twisted road of the continuaions tn. So I could see it for a different Bond villain. But in any case, Blofeld would need to be established first. s

  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited July 2014 Posts: 14,556
    @Dimi I'm still getting around to watching the complete Terminator series (it's sitting in front of me), so I cannot comment on Manson's acting ability just yet- but that's certainly an interesting idea to have her as a villain.

    I don't like the idea of a female Blofeld, it's playing around with the character too much. Portray him as he was in the books, and then let's do something with his daughter perhaps. Someone here mentioned Ciarán Hinds for Blofeld. Every time I see him in a film, I immediately think Bond villain, and Blofeld could be a fine choice for him to play.
  • Posts: 15,106
    Hinds would have made a great Blofeld ten years ago or so, now he might be getting old. Still, he has the perfect face, very reminiscent of the novel TV Blofeld. And like Blofeld he is mixed blood, his mother being Italian and thus looks somewhat foreign.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,556
    Yeah, for a long time I thought he was Russian :))
  • Posts: 15,106
    With a name like that...

    Oh and I think I'm the one who suggested him before, with reservations due to his age.
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