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
I agree, but the problem is finding an actor who can rival if not surpass the charm, elegance, and menace Christopher Lee brought to the role.
How about a book that serves as a direct sequel to the LALD movie version. Baron Samedi can be the main villain and the book would have many surprising revelations touching upon death and dying that would also help form Bond's vision on the topic as it's a major part of his job?
I like it. Baron Samedi would have to possibly live at the end, though. To live into the Goldeneye 007 secret mission. Maybe Andrea Anders could tie into the story as well. As for Scaramanga coming back, I support it, but Lee's performance would be tough to follow. Same with my villains. Goldfinger and Trevelyan deserve to come back, but they are tough acts to follow.
The novel should be able to blur the lines between what is real and what is metaphorical when it comes to Baron Samedi. But it must closely follow the events of the LALD film and perhaps it can begin with Bond waking up and coming back to his train cabin to find Solitaire dead with a bloody card in her mouth of The Fool.
The novel would spend time delving into the concept of how he feels about her fate at such a young age and the trauma she experienced. Bond would reflect on how this particular death relates to the unique concept of professionalism in his field. He reflect on others being double 0 dispatched by him and how it's not supposed to be personal. Baron Samedi would be like a ghost who lingers in his nightmares. There'd be instances where you question if Bond really fights him or if it's just in his head. In the end, Baron Samedi would escape again or should I say....laugh at Bond while also alongside another villain he's see in the future. The book needs to have an entirely bleak outlook for Bond. It needs to emphasize the stress and uncertainty in his profession for it to work. It can't follow the light heartedness of the 70s Bond as you'd see in later films.
I thought of him immediately. With his Khan slicked black hair. White suit and black tie. The gold Rolex King Midas. The Gun, absolutely the same gun. Yeah, I can see that.
https://e1.pxfuel.com/desktop-wallpaper/744/750/desktop-wallpaper-oh-khan-you-little-bad-boy-benedict-cumberbatch-khan.jpg
This sounds more and more awesome. I'm interested to hear more!
Nice pick…
Oh yes, nice suggestion. Well done.
Not to minimize his role but he'd also be an interesting Felix.
If Blofeld was to return I would think the best way to reinvent the character is to make him more like Fleming's Blofeld from the books, Particularly Thunderball's Blofeld.
Blofeld’s a tricky character to get right. In the books he gets what can essentially be described as a character arc, going from an ambitious, intelligent criminal with a villainous empire, to a half mad recluse with a God complex. His physical transformations are kind of notable in this sense. By YOLT he’s not stealing bombs or holding the world to ransom, but is instead living in a castle with a garden which people use to kill themselves, essentially claiming himself to be a sort of Napeleon because of his failed past endeavours. It’s actually a bit sad when you think about it.
Of course, this partly spurred on by the fact that Bond thwarts his plans twice, but the reason he’s such a notable villain in the books is that to Bond, Blofeld is his ‘white whale’. In OHMSS his obsession with tracking him down causes our hero to become burned out, and obviously finding/defeating him by the end of the novel leads to Tracy’s death. Even getting revenge in YOLT leads to the consequence of him getting amnesia.
To do Blofeld justice onscreen, there needs to be that personal element, this idea that these are two men whose paths cross in life altering ways, both essentially destroying each other in some way. Otherwise he’s just any other Bond villain. They had that with the Craig era Blofeld. While there was no Tracy, we know Blofeld headed the organisation responsible for Vesper’s death, so they could have leaned on that and adapted the broad ideas of Fleming’s Blofeld. Instead they bizarrely crafted an elaborate backstory in which the two men knew each other as kids, which I guess is correct in theory, but lacks that more personal edge which really made the novel version of this relationship so impactful.
If anything, Blofeld was severely underused in the Craig era, more of an afterthought than anything else.
The way I see it, Blofeld is still the Joker and Darth Vader of the Bond series. I understand that many people are displeased with how he was written/portrayed in SP -- I'm not a fan of the foster brother thing either -- but that story is over. What I like about Blofeld is that he's a villain of wits, not of muscles (in most versions); he's a lurker in the shadows, not a public figure; and as written by Fleming, he's eloquent, charming, almost a shapeshifting force of evil and possibly Bond's most dangerous foe (though that's difficult to determine). He can easily be remodeled to fit the modern times, and yet played and written completely differently than in SP.
Since DAF, EON's Blofeld has just peaked over the fence for a quick hello, while Gotham City has fought 4 different live-action Jokers in fewer films between then and now. I'm not ready yet to say that I've had enough of Blofeld or seen too much of him in recent times. I haven't, to be honest. I'm still hungry for a delicious comeback of a potentially awesome character that got Bond-blocked by McClory's lawyers way back when. In 2015, I wanted Ernst Stavro Blofeld to finally reappear in the Bond universe, and no matter how much I liked SP, I didn't get anything close to what I wanted. The Waltz Blofeld is more squandered potential than overstayed welcome for the character, IMO. Hence, if they decide to wipe that slate clean and bring back Blofeld, true to menacing form, I'll be more than happy.
I've always been convinced the fandom and very likely this forum are responsible for the Spectre-Quantum retcon and return of Mr White, and Waltz casting as Brofeld. It had been pitched in the Bond 23 production thread even before Skyfall iirc!
Possible, I’ve heard they read the forums. They’re worse than florists, ya know? ;)
Wasn't that all to do with the rights to SPECTRE coming back to Eon after McClory had them for so long? Presumably Quantum would have been SPECTRE in QoS if they'd had the rights at that time.
I think they probably have to be careful about ideas out there in the world- if it ever looked like they pinched one from a forum or whatever they'd potentially open themselves up to legal troubles, so I'm not sure how they deal with that. That would be more specific story ideas though I guess, so I imagine they never go near fan fic or anything like that in case it unwittingly influences anything.
Blofeld is the Lex Luthor of James Bond. Much like the Joker after The Dark Knight. I feel the best way to reintroduce the character is too bring in another character: Irma Bunt. She could be Blofeld’s Harley Quinn. She deserves another try on the screen. If Alec Trevelyan is reintroduced, EON should avoid GE and TDK: Slowly have Alec become a villain over a movie or two. Arguably, Alec Trevelyan should be Bond’s Harvey Dent.
https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2023/9/26/lluj1u172l3gwejmovm5wcaf3fftqu
Further interesting nuggets from the article:
- EON/Amazon want Nolan to make 2-3 films
- EON would prefer a modern day setting
My thoughts:
- the first half of the big rumour from the article (Nolan wanting to adapt Fleming novels faithfully) sounds less credible to me than the second half (Nolan wanting a periode setting)
- if this rumour is true, it sounds like even though EON would prefer a modern day setting, they are on board with the period piece idea
- so would Nolan want to go back to the 50s setting of the earlier novels or the 60s setting of the Connery films (and the later Fleming novels)?
- on a less significant note, what would all this mean for the product placement? I would certainly more than welcome a huge reduction of the product placement in this next era.
I don't think I'd care either way really. I guess a female Blofeld could be okay.
To be honest I'm not that enthusiastic about the character on his own anyway. I'm not that wild about renta-villains like Moriarty or the Master or the Joker even etc. who can be parachuted into pretty much any story to turn out to be the baddie- I like a baddie who is actually tailored to the story being told. I prefer a Carver (for example) who is actually tied to the concept of the film. The idea of An Evil Organisation who are behind anything and everything that you want them to be isn't really all that fascinating to me.
I guess in that way the makers of Spectre were trying to make Blofeld a bit more interesting by giving him childhood links to Bond, but if I'm honest I don't care if he never comes back.
I still could see Nolan going after Blofeld, in particular given his love for OHMSS and TSWLM (which originally had Blofeld as a villain, with Stromberg being a Blofeld clone). Maybe even doing a multiple Bond villains in one movie, as well. Also, for sure with Nolan in charge, Bond will remain in the cinema releases.
I feel that way about Lex Luthor and Superman (and more and more General Zod, honestly). Smallville gave them childhood connections, which is kind of scrapping the bottom of the barrel, more and more, in the different media stories. I'd say Brainiac as well, but more for video games.
Honestly, as I said in the other thread I doubt it’s 100% true. I just don’t see why EON would do that and not only give up product placement but also ‘de-modernise’ their franchise.