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

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  • Posts: 15,106
    I think the actor needs to be old enough to look like a seasoned terrorist/spy at the top of his game who had time to build a first class criminal organization, yet young enough to be a credible physical threat if he needs to get his hands dirty. Ideally early 50s I'd say.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,960
    You could even stretch into the 60's. Liam Neeson is over 60 and he has a very scary, physically threatening demeanor about him.
  • Posts: 15,106
    Creasy47 wrote:
    You could even stretch into the 60's. Liam Neeson is over 60 and he has a very scary, physically threatening demeanor about him.
    Maybe, but that would be a stretch and risky if you want a returning actor for Blofeld.
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 172
    Another actor I would love see be a Bond Villain is Clive Russell. Not Blofeld but again he may be a fine choice.

    [img][http://carlproctorphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/Clive-Russell-landscape-1-360x294.jpg/img][/img]
  • Posts: 1,394
    Jesse Eisenberg ;)
  • Posts: 15,106
    Stephen Dillane could do well, as a OHMSS (novel) looking Blofeld. But I have reservations: he is balding for one and he is very British. He plays well thuggish characters, but Blofeld is far more than this, and he should also look, sound and act foreign, something I am not quite convinced Dillane could do. That and he will be busy with Game of Thrones.
  • What about Jack Gleeson?????





    (I'm sorry)
  • Posts: 15,106
    What about Jack Gleeson?????





    (I'm sorry)

    Give him 25 more years and he'll make a great Bond villain. But he said he will quit acting after G of T.
  • Ludovico wrote:
    Give him 25 more years and he'll make a great Bond villain. But he said he will quit acting after G of T.
    well, given that most of the entire world wants to kill him, maybe he's wise to do so!
  • Posts: 15,106
    Ludovico wrote:
    Give him 25 more years and he'll make a great Bond villain. But he said he will quit acting after G of T.
    well, given that most of the entire world wants to kill him, maybe he's wise to do so!

    He is supposed to be a really nice guy in person.
  • Ludovico wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    Give him 25 more years and he'll make a great Bond villain. But he said he will quit acting after G of T.
    well, given that most of the entire world wants to kill him, maybe he's wise to do so!

    He is supposed to be a really nice guy in person.

    He was in Batman Begins as a little boy who Katie Holmes rescues on the island when the Scarecrow sends the fear gas through the sewers

  • Posts: 96
    Michael McElhatton

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  • Posts: 15,106
    Is everybody watching Game of Thrones and is everybody like me could see a few of them in a Bond movie? They already have four actors who were in one, at least. I have the same reservations with Dillane and McElathon: they are balding. I guess as long as they have shaved heads. They both could look like the novel OHMSS' Blofeld.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    John Travolta! :))
  • Posts: 15,106
    John Voigt is too old. And, I suspect, senile.
  • Posts: 55
    Benedict Cumberbatch is the obvious choice.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Cucumberbatch would be awesome as an unseen Blofeld, like they did in the 60s, but a reprisal of that would be a little unimaginative,
  • Posts: 55
    His name is Cumberbatch. Why does everyone get it wrong ?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I think his ancestors were the ones who got it wrong.
  • Posts: 15,106
    christmas wrote:
    Benedict Cumberbatch is the obvious choice.

    He is not. Far too young and him playing another villain would be uninspired. Beside his Khan was far from convincing.
  • Posts: 6
    I think Kevin Spacey or Anthony Hopkins would be a great Blofeld
    o-kevin-spacey-interested-in-playing-lex-luthor-in-superman-man-of-steel.jpg

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  • johanb7 wrote:
    I think Kevin Spacey or Anthony Hopkins would be a great Blofeld
    o-kevin-spacey-interested-in-playing-lex-luthor-in-superman-man-of-steel.jpg

    MV5BMTg5ODk1NTc5Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjAwOTI4._V1_SY317_CR6,0,214,317_.jpg
    Completely agree on Anthony Hopkins.

  • Posts: 15,106
    johanb7 wrote:
    I think Kevin Spacey or Anthony Hopkins would be a great Blofeld
    o-kevin-spacey-interested-in-playing-lex-luthor-in-superman-man-of-steel.jpg

    MV5BMTg5ODk1NTc5Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjAwOTI4._V1_SY317_CR6,0,214,317_.jpg

    Why, why, WHY a bald Blofeld?
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 15,106
    When we suggest actors, let's not forger how Blofeld is described in the novel TB:

    "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
    .''

    I don't think we can find any actor like this, of course not, but it gives us some kind of framework to work on.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Here's an artist rendition on how Blofeld looked in each novel.
    blofelds.jpg
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited March 2014 Posts: 13,978
    That artist impression of Blofeld looks like the 3-way lovechild of Des Lynam, Bruce Forsyth & Peter Stringfellow.
  • Posts: 15,106
    Murdock wrote:
    Here's an artist rendition on how Blofeld looked in each novel.
    blofelds.jpg

    The first one is somewhat faithful, the other two, not so much. Blofeld looked far more malevolent than in any of these, especially the middle one. In OHMSS, he looks a bit vampiric. In the novels, Blofeld's eyes gave him his presence. I think maybe we should start with the eyes of the actor to start pondering on him as Blofeld, and not his alledged baldness. Defining the character by his baldness is beyond ridiculous: it is inaccurate with the source material, it is shallow, it says nothing about Blofeld. Can an actor convey menace simply by looking at someone? Can he look like a leader of men? Can his eyes express superior intelligence and ruthlessness? Then we take the other traits: can the mouth be cruel, how does the actor move, etc. And something else: Blofeld is experienced, so he has to look mature enough. He has been working in the espionage and terrorism business for 30 years. So the actor must be old enough to show this, yet be young and strong enough to be able to take Bond mano a mano.
  • This is another suggestion that sort of falls into the "bald" camp, due to a lot of his photos and roles, but the actor isn't naturally bald, and could have hair if a new take on a cinematic Blofeld called for it. I'm talking about Bulgarian actor Hristo Shopov, probably best-known internationally for playing Pontius Pilate in THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST back in 2004. He's currently 50 years of age, speaks English, looks tough/seasoned, and has a reasonable body of acting work stretching back more than two decades.

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    Here's some clips of him, acting in English, thanks to his own (or his people's) efforts to get show-reels out there, haha:





    The only thing is, I haven't been able to find out his height from the usual online sources... although Craig is only 5' 10, so I doubt there would be much disparity there.

    I also like the previously-mentioned ideas of Ciarán Hinds (although, at 61, if they plan to use him multiple times, they'd better hurry up!) or Yigal Naor as Blofeld.
  • edited March 2014 Posts: 15,106
    Ciaran Hinds would have been perfect about ten years ago. This guy Shopov might be able to do it too, he does have something of Blofeld in the eyes, albeit he is not quite as physically imposing. Oh and he should keep his hair, not only to avoid association with the parody that is Dr. Evil, but because he actually looks more menacing.
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