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Good find @jake24 !!
Not sure if this has come up before but at the very end of this video theres a short clip of Dalton in a room lighting a cigarette with the lighter he is given in LTK that I dont recognise from the film. Does anyone know if this is part of a deleted scene and if there is anything more to it and also at what point in the film was the scene supposed to take place?
Also I'd recommend watching the whole video as Dalton gives such a fine understanding of the who the literary Bond is and his approach to the character.
- Trevelyan's headshot wound in the gas facility
- Deleted Xenia scenes (Xenia and Admiral, Severnaya, Sauna scene, Jungle)?
Thanks
That's probably my favorite interview Dalton ever gave, and I often share it. He wasn't a big interview man, but when he did them he gave a lot of great thoughts on Bond. I don't entirely agree with his view of Fleming's Bond (He's just as bad as they are), and I think Bond himself dispels that in the hospital during Casino Royale, but he had the kind of understanding of the character that you hope observant readers take away from those books. Of Bond playing a rough game with rough men, but having parts of himself that make him human and supportable, whether that's his distaste for violence, loyalty to nation or protective hold over women.
Yes, this is excellent. And the deleted scene should have stayed IMHO.
A Bond actor will always get points for me when the take the time to read the original books to search for how they can take the character back to that direction, as Tim and Dan are credited as doing. Dalton reportedly also carried some of the books (never heard which ones) on set as a reference between takes, and I respect that he took the thought and care to do that.
When some Bond actors don't even know the first book published, who the original character was or how many books were written, it's appreciated when the others do have that knowledge and you can see the bits of Fleming they got inspired by in their performances. Tim and Dan in particular seem to have been drawn to the acedie and humanity of Bond, as well as the grayer morality of the books in contrast to the glorified and uppity nature of the other adventures from the 70s and early 80s. And while he never got deep into the books beyond some minor reading, even Sean brought out all the main aspects of Bond you would hope to see, from his dry wit, rampant lust, hunger for danger and appreciation of the finer things to a certain hidden derision of his villains, a loyalty to his work and a survivor's sense of endurance.
There is an undeniable correlation between loyalty to Fleming and success as movies, with the top films often being spawned from that rich fountain in character, tone, structure or style. The books were a hit with the public, so of course the films that paid tribute to the source would be too.
I love it when the Bond actors are interviewed about Fleming, and they're invited to give their own impressions on the novels. I guess the only downside is that we quickly see that the actors have a better idea of Fleming and his work than the interviewer who presented the question, and what we're left with are great thoughts from Sean, Tim and Dan that have nowhere to go. I get the feeling that the interviewers above never read the books and were only pulling on what they sensed of Fleming from what they were told elsewhere or what they perceived of him as a cultural icon, and not from actual experience. Because of this, when the actors say their piece, no discussion can be had because it's a one-sided debate.
The dream would be to have Tim or one of the other actors teaching a literature course on Bond, where all the Fleming books are read and discussed over a two part course for a two term year. I couldn't sign up faster. ;)
The above interviewers aren't bad, but others are cringe-worthy in how trivial and sophomoric the questions they ask are. It's why journalism is becoming a running joke, and why entertainment journalism doesn't get respect. I miss the days when interviewers knew what they were talking about, knew the actors and their films, and asked challenging and interesting questions that actually had relevance and intellect.
Barry Norman.....
I find these days that podcasts are the best platform that allows an actor or director to get into more in depth discussions. Hopefully Craig will take part in some for Bond 25 with a host that has really done their research.
@NSGW, there's less great interviewers these days for sure, but still some good ones out there. I've liked Charlie Rose's talks with the Bond casts over the years, where they do get down to actual discussions. On talk shows (like Fallon, for example), it's almost like the movie takes a backseat for other entertainment that plays more to the audience. All that is said about the film may be the introduction to a seconds long clip and that's it so the studio is happy to have their film advertised to a wide audience for a minute. But I don't really have a problem with that because I don't ever expect talk shows during late night to be the time for serious discussions about the films the actor is doing. It's during shows like Rose's that aren't built on massive entertainment, comedy or advertising numerous brands where the discussion is allowed to really focus on the filmmaking process and everything that goes into it.
I'd love to have a film-centric interview show and do it the right way, with guests getting into the projects they worked on.
Screencap of the alternate take from the actual workprint:
The reason this was changed is because originally there was a removed scene where Bond would chase Xenia on the yacht when she tries to flee it. In the released film we only get to see Bond finding the dead body of the admiral and then cutting straight to bond jumping on the speedboat to chase Xenia to the tiger helicopter omitting the earlier chase. I don't have any footage of that scene itself however there is a rare promotional still of it when they were filming that chase scene on the yacht:
I'd love to see this!
+1
Dalton was undeniably a Fleming aficionado and one of whom had a brilliant understanding of the subtitles of the character. It's clear that of all the Bond actors, Tim had the most burning desire to be as loyal to Fleming's source material as possible. I am saddened every time I watch a video of Dalton like this because it just makes me think about what could've been.