It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
No actor was Sean Connery and the series survived.
The actor has to be different from Craig. If you look for a clone of Craig you are DOA.
In a funny sort of way that could mean less pressure on the actor you'd think: if Bond himself was truly not relevant anymore then it's less the fault of the guy playing him than the core concept of the character which he's just being paid to read the lines of.
I don't want to say there was no pressure on him because of course there was, and he proved a massive hit in the role, but as SecretAgentMan says, I'd say that coming after the generally perceived failure of Dalton to catch fire he perhaps had a slightly more favourable playing field than any of the others. The gap also probably helped him as folks remembered Bond as they liked him growing up rather than perhaps the Bond of the previous movie; and GE definitely aimed for that nostalgia I think by rebooting the whole thing.
I think it's sort of water off a duck's back by now. They know the press print a load of old rubbish about them, but I guess all publicity is good publicity, and all it proves it that people want to read about Bond.
The thing I can imagine might get up their nose a bit is when other professionals use Bond to promote themselves, as with the Steve McQueen rumour the other day. Seems very likely someone in his camp decided to get some publicity for his new movie by saying he was perhaps up for the Bond directing job, and if that's not true I could imagine that the Brocs would be a little disappointed by a fellow professional using them in that way; certainly I think any actor who does so probably gets themselves crossed off the list pronto (hi Sam Heughan).
Strongly disagree. Only Lazenby had the task that Bond #7 will have. Connery defined the role and Craig re-defined it. The others only inhabited it.
Being different from Craig is not that hard.
A tall and handsome actor, someone who can have female fans under 30 years old...
Each Bond actor redefined the role in some way; that’s how the series has survived so long. It’s inaccurate to say Craig was the only one who redefined it when the likes of Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan were doing it decades before.
Following Craig will be tough, but not the impossible task so many make it out to be, and this isn’t even remotely similar to the situation that occurred in the late 60’s.
Yeah both of you and @SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ have a point. Perhaps in the eyes of the MGM/UA executives, the same ones who refused to start production on GE with Dalton in the role, Brosnan was the safest bet they could go for but still wasn’t quite a box office star. Then again neither was Connery, Moore, Dalton, or Craig before they became Bond so it kind proves that track record doesn’t matter much. If you find a good actor and give him a good script, they’ll do wonders.
I think you're right that Brosnan was the safest choice at the time, and absolutely the right one too. They also didn't really want a full box office star: I think Kleeman has said they weren't really looking at names like Mel Gibson even though they were mentioned in the press, as they needed someone not tied to any other film series.
two and a half hours later
After posting my comment, I decided to watch YOLT again. I quite disagree. Connery does not come across as bored.
So it's hard to really tell if he was bored or not in his subsequent Bond films or maybe he was more laid-back in his subsequent Bond films. Also, it could be that laid-back and carefree style of his, that makes people call him the best Bond ever.
I think that laid-back style actually made him more confident. I imagine Diana Rigg would have lost it a bit, if he was Bond in OHMSS.
I think he does. Particularly at the end when meeting Blofeld. He looks like he’s just heard Donald Trump has been re elected. I share that sentiment!
I'll go with 80% power. The script doesn't give him much to work with. Other than the title song, there's really nothing that stands out as memorable. Nothing iconic. The red head is such a poor followup to Fiona, my attention turns to TB rather than the film I am watching. There were so many missed opportunities to be a better film. Not a good followup to TB. We had to wait for OHMSS to see a better Bond film.
A Bond film is always entertaining, even those I think are weak. For me the mark of a good Bond film is those memorable scenes and those iconic moments you remember about a particular film. Nothing in YOLT does that for me. But I also feel the same way about DAF.
I disagree that there's nothing memorable; the SPECTRE volcano lair is arguably the most iconic setpiece of the whole series. But a lot of the film does feel a bit like going through the motions; like Roald Dahl said, a lot of the story is based off the basic premise of Dr. NO.
Yes, I get it's fiction. You accept the story on its terms. You don't think about things like that. But for me YOLT is the first Bond film that moves from barely believable to completely preposterous and unbelievable. The more grounded films always work better for me.
They were liquidated as a precaution.
I'd also like to say that DP's Blofeld is also fairly memorable with the little screen time that he has. Even if Dr. Evil is the main reason in pop culture as to why he is. Also, as for the missed opportunities, you aren't wrong in more ways than one. Remember, the original editor's 3 hour cut was poorly received. Causing the producers to basically plead with Hunt to reedit it. I'm happy that we got the film we got. At the same time, I wish we could have gotten a more faithful YOLT adaptation immediately after OHMSS. Namely Richard Maibaum writing and Peter Hunt directing. I feel that the lessons that EON learned between The Blofeld Trilogy and the Daniel Craig arc are clear. EON will be more careful with continuity and connecting stories together.
I wonder what would have happened in CR if they had gotten the Spectre rights back first.
And I also wonder if, after DAD, someone at Eon (MGW himself?) pushed hard to get the rights to CR and TB back, all under one roof. These were the two missing pieces of Bond IP, and whoever did it did Cubby and Harry proud.
Yes, if EON had the rights to Spectre when CR was made, Craig's timeline would truly be different. As you said, Cubby and Harry would be proud, having the full Bond rights back.
That’s ok, I’m glad that they got their reward. I’m sure Bond is on their radar, for sure.
Has anyone found video of the montage of well-wishers that followed Craig's intro? (Pierce, Lea, Javier, etc.) -- would love to see that as well if it's available.