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Waltz has played such an iconic role in Basterds (still one of the greatest performances ever), that of course he would have had a hard time following that one up.
But not even during the meeting with all them luxury cars he "scared" me.
He wasn't given much to work with.
Is there actually any info on this? 60.000$ a year? I am aware that this is a fictional world, but the MI6 affords Aston Martins for Bond to crash and the man himself can’t even afford a Range Rover without a lease? Why doesn’t he just become a commercial flight pilot and make double that? He’s pretty good with planes
I feel the Waltz criticisms have been exaggerated.
I think Mendes and Waltz deliberately made the decision to have a more restrained and subdued villain. In the previous film, Bardem played a much more flamboyant baddie and I think Mendes wanted to do the opposite of that.
Interestingly, Waltz is known for playing flamboyant villains. In many respects, the part of Silva is more in his wheelhouse. Bardem is more known for playing restrained and menacing villains.
So it’s commendable that Mendes tried to experiment and mix it up. In the case of Bardem it worked. With Waltz it didn’t. Though I feel the more cold and sociopathic Blofeld works well in the scene where he demonstrates his psychological theory between Bond and Madeleine: “Out of horror comes beauty”.
Let's at least leave whether he was a good or bad part of SP out of this thread. Thanks.
I think EON just like going to Italy!
Who wouldn't?
Whenever Purvis and Wade suggest a scene set in Italy it just gets green-lit immediately.
Agreed. I don't recall Waltz's performance being a main criticism at the time; it's gained momentum as people keep "piling on." It went from bland to bad to really bad to the "worst" in a couple of years.
Ooops. Duly noted.
I suspect it has something to do with the drought. The great benefit of a new director coming in, is that we will hopefully see a unique take on the “Bond villain”.
In other news....Ana De Armas has returned to Spain to film “Wasp Network”. It has a very starry cast, so I’m unsure how large a role she plays.
I believe they are shooting in Jamaica for three weeks with the principal cast. She could return later.
I agree with much of what u are saying (God, we are in agreement!!!). I do think Waltz brought quite a low keep creepy vibe to the role, and I wonder if, after Blofeld has been incarcerated for nearly 5 years (if he indeed appears) what mental state he will be in. I could see Waltz playing him unhinged, seething with hate towards Bond, and therefore we see a far more vicious side to the man than we saw in SP.
Am I wrong in recalling that there was tension between Waltz and Mendes?
I tend to blame the director and material more than the actor; Waltz is capable of much stronger work .
Typical British gutter press - think the Sun published it first which says it all :)
I think Craig is the best Bond and a good actor, but his acting in that scene is terrible.
Venice, Matera, Rome, Lake Como, Siena etc etc. are all quite unique places, so I honestly don't see any "repetition". That is because Italy's cultural richness is so brilliant and diverse that is quite incomparable. Plus, in Italy movie production companies can take advantage of big financial incentives. Then of course the food is good. ;)
BTW there is still a chance that the ancient town of Matera will double for another country, like it did a lot of times before.
Not tension so much, but if I remember correctly Waltz claimed he wasn’t given much in the way of direction.
If I had to guess, Madeleine has a small role in B25. Too many other characters to introduce and develop.
I think Charles Gray's Blofeld could kick Waltz' Blofeld's a$$.
TBH I think Truman-Lodge or Boris could whip Waltz' Blofeld.
Well said. And that corridor scene is the worst scene in the entire film, IMO. Bland is not enough to describe it. It is cringeworthy.
Maybe Mendes thought he could just rely on the 2 times Oscar winning actor to come up with the goods on his own. I don't think it's the worst performance and Waltz got shackled with that bloody backstory, whereas Bardem got something much juicier.
I think Mendes needs to accept quite a bit of the responsibility, Craig all so gave his most lacklustre performance of the series. Fiennes wasn't much better and only Wishaw seemed to shine.
I think it comes down to Sam should have never returned, he was a one shot Bond director.
https://pagesix.com/2019/04/25/theres-already-trouble-in-paradise-on-new-james-bond-set/
I didn't think the acting was that bad, sounds fine to me, although Craig's posture - when they're looking at the monitor - looks a tad self-conscious, like he's trying to be too stoical and it come over stiff. I think Craig's all-time worst bit of dialogue is at the end of Skyfall when he says for a second time: "with pleasure." Sounds almost robotic. I've never seen a Bond actor more stiff than that. I reckon 'never acted before' George Lazenby would have said that line better.
If there were a print copy of this it would be best suited on the bottom of my birds cage.
I cringe at the "weeping blood" line in CR. Not only was it corny as hell, but so was DC's delivery of it. (And I say this loving DC and loving CR.)
I was always lead to believe that Craig being slightly off during that scene was due to the injury. He does have a slight awkwardness to his walk when they walk through the computer hall.
Huge tangent here (and I don't mean to derail the thread) but I always thought to myself there was a missed opportunity to include it in Skyfall. Now that film (IMO) balances perfectly on fan service so this may have been going too far, but I would have loved to try the ice lake confrontation at the end like this:
Not really a
(Silva shoot at Bond's feet, Bond stops, dialogue plays out the same -- Silva talks running around, jumping, mother's calling, etc.)
Bond (mockingly):
After all this, you expect me to talk?
(Silva hesitates. And then Bond just bursts out laughing. Like Casino Royale torture scene laughing. Mocking. Basically ridiculing this villain who just simply won't shut up. Then Silva joins in. Tentatively. Not really sure why they're laughing. But now they're both laughing. In this ridiculous circumstance. And Silva's loving how weird it is, because he's weird like that).
(And then mid-laugh, Bond pulls the rifle-spin move and the scene plays out identically. Including Silva's reaction. But as he walks away --)
Silva:
No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
....I know, I know. Cheesy fan fiction garbage. But I'd love to see that take.
It looks as though filming is going strong in Jamaica.