Whose idea was it to cast Brosnan as Bond?

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  • Posts: 11,425
    Most of the female Bond fans I know preferred Brozza to Craig.
  • Posts: 1,052
    Other than the 5 million reasons Moore did AVTAK, i assume that Brosnan was doing Reminton Steele in 1985 and Dalton had other work commitments?

    I think it's well known that MGM wanted a Bond movie every 2 years and waiting for a new actor to be available was just not an option at that time.
  • Posts: 11,425
    Other than the 5 million reasons Moore did AVTAK, i assume that Brosnan was doing Reminton Steele in 1985 and Dalton had other work commitments?

    I think it's well known that MGM wanted a Bond movie every 2 years and waiting for a new actor to be available was just not an option at that time.

    Were MGM involved at that time?

  • Posts: 1,052
    I think it was MGM or maybe it was United Artists, but I know the money men wanted a film every two years on the dot at that time as they weren't making much profit from the other films they were making at that time.
  • 002002
    Posts: 581
    Getafix wrote:
    Finally, back to Bond discussions

    I too question the rebooting of the series, was it really necessary, OK there may have been some life taken out of it by then but to start from scratch at that point in time seems a bit questionable, it's like this is Bond starting out, here's where it all began, well what about the other 20 or so adventures before that then, do we just put them in the trash on our way through the door. I don't have a problem with Dench staying on and new Bond at the time it's more than anything what they did with it. I don't think people hated Brosnan as Bond, sure there may have been some disagreements and all but there was no malice intended on his behalf. He can look back on four outings in the part that any of us would give our right arms for, maybe he wasn't pleased about how it turned out in the end but life is full of disappointments and letdowns

    I think the reboot concept is overdone. I don't think it was the producers intention to suggest that we're starting from scratch. They had the rights to Casino Royale and they wanted to stay reasonably faithful to the story and that dictated basically that there should be a new, younger Bond. Continuity across Bond movies has never been particularly important to the franchise. Does Connery in DAF make any concession to the fact he's just supposed to have lost his wife? Not really. So I say don't see CR as a 'reboot' but as just an earlier chapter in Bond's life that happens to have been told later in the series - a flashback, as it were.

    Except as most people know that Casino Royale wasnt Bond's First Adventure (it was his first appearence in Novel form but by the events of the book he was already in MI6 for a while)

    The Reboot concept all started with Batman Begins and frankly its the sign of hollywood really losing originality and unfourtunately to stay "Modern" Babs and MGM jumped on the ban wagon- it feels unnesseary i mean if thats the case why didnt they reboot after AVTAK? no they continued on and it still worked... Really Judi Dench is the only connection to classic Bond and when she leaves- The Bond movies wont be Bond Movies especially with Craig in the role..

    Connery did show moments of sadness towards Tracy's Death (the line exchange with Moneypenny- you could see on his face after she mentions a diamond ring and he shruged it off as a defence mechanism

    and if Casino Royale was an early chapter in Bond's Life shouldnt it be set in The 1950/Early 60's instead of 2006? unless you believe that the whole concept of James Bond and 007 being codenames for agents taking over...
  • edited February 2012 Posts: 11,425
    No I don't go in for the nonsense about different people being JB. But I don't see the big deal with telling an earlier chapter in the story. Frankly, most of the films could be placed in any order and it wouldn't make a lot of difference in terms of narrative sense. The idea that there is a central overarching narrative was never particularly important to Bond. By your logic, Bond should be played by an 80 year old. How do you explain Bond suddenly becoming younger in TLD...? If you start applying this kind of logic the whole Bond universe comes tumbling down.

    Frankly I don't think any of this narrative continuity stuff matters as much as you're making out. I don't think the producers were trying to sweep away the past with CR - far from it. I myself and many others had absolutely no problem with the idea that CR is simply telling an earlier chapter in Bond's career. And if you want to play the card of literary authenticity then there is barely a film in the series that completely adheres to the books.
  • LudsLuds MIA
    Posts: 1,986
    Getafix wrote:
    Poor old Brossa. He was definitely given duff material to work with.

    Bad actors can't make good material come off well on screen any better, so giving bad material to Brosnan at least didn't waste a proper script.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    The whole idea that The Brozzer can't act is a nonsense to me. He may not be the best actor to have played Bond, but in The Matador he's brilliant. Not only is he bold and takes risks, surprises you and clearly came up with certain things in certain scenes through improvisation, he also totally creates a character that's unique - a rare thing to see in cinema that only a decent actor can do...
  • Posts: 11,189
    There's no doubt Brosnan has improved acting-wise as he's got older and being cast as Bond helped enormously. Last week I re- watched Live Wire on Youtube, a cheesey 1992 TV movie where he plays an FBI bomb disposal expert. He was pretty bad in it BUT he was charming and had a little mischevous twinkle in his eye.

    Brosnan seems to fluctuate between being good and being not so good depending on the film he's in.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    BAIN123 wrote:
    Brosnan seems to fluctuate between being good and being not so good depending on the film he's in.

    In all fairness, practically every screen actor there's ever been has done that... ;)
  • Posts: 11,189
    There are some actors (perhaps not many) that are always good. Meryl Streep and Susan Sarandon for example - Pierce has starred alongside both.
  • Posts: 1,052
    I wouldn't say Brosnan was a bad actor, he has done well in more challenging roles, of course usually he would play a version of himself, the same as Connery and Moore but I think these two are more commanding on screen.
  • Posts: 1,490
    For me Brosnan's best work is as Thomas Crown and also in The Matador (where his over acting actually suits the character.)

    He tends to emote, and this weakness really ruined many of his Bond performances. I cringe when watching the scene in TWINE in which he confronts Electra in her bedroom. "They knew JUST where to hurt me..." he whines as he clamps his fist tight and tries to glare at Electra.... TERRIBLE acting - And Apted should have re-directed Brosnan and steered him away from the melodrama.
  • Posts: 11,189
    The thing is I can imagine Apted saying to Brosnan "ok, you're really angry and I want you to show it. I want you to mock Electra and tell her you know whats going on"
  • Posts: 1,490
    BAIN123 wrote:
    The thing is I can imagine Apted saying to Brosnan "ok, you're really angry and I want you to show it. I want you to mock Electra and tell her you know whats going on"

    Yes, I've always felt that Apted just didn't understand Bond as a character and, combined with Brosnan's over-playing, the more intimate scenes in TWINE ended up being more like daytime soap opera.

  • Posts: 11,425
    I have enjoyed a number of Brozza's performances in several films. He's definitely got better with age although he is still capable of a bad day at the office.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    The scene in question, I would argue is perhaps the worst acted by the actor playing Bond, in the entire series. It's just dreadful. All that hand waving - yuk!

    Here it is:

  • Scenes like that make be realize how much Dalton could have made TWINE a success.

    lol I'm starting to sound like a broken record, aren't i? :-))
  • Posts: 11,425
    Blimey, I'd forgotten just how bad he was.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I know I'm a Brosnan defender but that is bad. At least its only a fairly brief scene.
  • "I don't know what you're talking about"
    "Ooooooooooohhhhhhhh Ithinkyoudo......."
  • Posts: 11,189
    I think after the "knew exactly where to hurt me" bit he calms down.
  • People berating Brosnan in his best Bond release :(

    Every Bond actor has had scene, or indeed scenes where they may look back and think 'I wish I hadn't done that', or changed something, and while Brosnan is no exception I do feel all together TWINE was his Bond pinnacle, he was almost the epitome sometimes of cool, suave and debonair secret agent. So what if he made one or two bad scenes, they've all done it, no Bond actor has been flawless or immaculate, there will always be areas for error. I'll never understand why some think Brosnan failed in this release or indeed why the film itself gets castigated by so many, it's one of the last true great 007 adventures, even if it was spoiled somewhat by (poor) choice of casting members
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    Scenes like that make be realize how much Dalton could have made TWINE a success.

    lol I'm starting to sound like a broken record, aren't i? :-))

    Unfortunately, if Timbo had still been Bond by that point, for right or wrong, nobody would've bothered to go and see the film... ;)

  • Brosnan isn't one of the greatest actors, but give the right material he surely can deliver.
    The only thing that was really wrong with the Brosnan area, is that they decided on a release date and tried to figure out what the story/script would be along the way...
    Sadly that same trend did run QoS into the ground..
  • Posts: 11,425
    People berating Brosnan in his best Bond release :(

    Every Bond actor has had scene, or indeed scenes where they may look back and think 'I wish I hadn't done that', or changed something, and while Brosnan is no exception I do feel all together TWINE was his Bond pinnacle, he was almost the epitome sometimes of cool, suave and debonair secret agent. So what if he made one or two bad scenes, they've all done it, no Bond actor has been flawless or immaculate, there will always be areas for error. I'll never understand why some think Brosnan failed in this release or indeed why the film itself gets castigated by so many, it's one of the last true great 007 adventures, even if it was spoiled somewhat by (poor) choice of casting members

    'One of the last great 007 adventures?!' You're 'avin' a larf!

    TWINE sucked from start til finish. Dull, dull and duller.
  • Posts: 1,092
    Brozza's Irish brogue comes out strong in that scene. It was hard for him to hide it.
  • Yeah.... it`s not like Connery ever sounded Scottish, or Dalton Welsh.
    Terrible. Just terrible. ;)
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