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Toby Stephens.

doubleonothingdoubleonothing Los Angeles
edited November 2011 in Actors Posts: 864
I was lucky enough to meet Toby last night during a set visit to his latest film where he plays a Bond-like character.

I was particularly struck by just how Bondian he looked during his scenes and thought what a missed opportunity it has been to not have him play Bond. A role he won't get now after playing Gustav Graves in DAD.

What do people think of Stephens? I rather like him, certainly after his reading at the Fleming centenary and even more after meeting him in person.

Comments

  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited November 2011 Posts: 13,355
    His audiobooks, well they aren't even that, the two adaptions of Dr. No and Goldfinger for BBC Radio 4 in which he plays Bond are great, but if you had him as Bond you'd wouldn't have had Craig.

    With so many great actors out there sometimes it is sadly a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other, such is this one in my opinion.

    I hope you had a great time meeting Mr. Stephens @doubleonothing! Did you get a chance to ask him any Bond related questions at all?
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    Cool beans, dubster - how'd you manage to wangle that? ;)
    doubleonothing wrote:
    What do people think of Stephens? I rather like him, certainly after his reading at the Fleming centenary and even more after meeting him in person.

    Indeed, I'd always thought highly of him - thanks to catching some of his work on TV - before he was cast in DAD, so wasn't afraid of what he might do with the Gustav Graves role. Unfortunately, of course, he clearly was encouraged by Lee Tamhori to chew as much scenery as humanly possible in that - but, obviously, there's many things wrong with that flick, of which Graves is just one.

    And then, seeing and hearing him at that centenary event, ike you I was certainly impressed by him once more.

    As Bond, though? Well, I'm not sure. He's certainly a handsome feller, but better cast as a Bond villain methinks. His darkly handsome look is less craggy-cruel like Craig, more sort of unnerving-cruel; perfect for a villian. Plus, he was excellent in the Beeb's Cambridge Spies a few years back in which he played a very flawed, pretty much totally buggered up agent, which I feel he's better suited to along the spy-lines than 007...

  • SAMSAM
    Posts: 107
    Though I believe Die Another Day was a complete disgrace to the franchise ... one person that I don't blame is Toby Stephens.

    He gave a reasonable performance (considering) and I have seen him in numerous productions. A decent actor.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited December 2011 Posts: 24,184
    I like his voice work in that cool radio play of GF. :) And as for that bad film Severance, Toby's the only enjoyable element in it.

    A little jealous of you, Dublo. ;-)
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    St_George wrote:
    CUnfortunately, of course, he clearly was encouraged by Lee Tamhori to chew as much scenery as humanly possible in that -

    I always wondered why an actor of Stephens calibre could do such a dreadful performance as he did in DAD.

    Someone had to have ordered him to play it like Alan B'Stard/Jeffry Archer/pantomine baddie. I have never seen such OTT sneerig since I watched an Alan Rickman film.

    I sometimes think Lee Tamahori was a saboteur sent by Matt Damon/Jason Bourne franchise. (joke)

  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited December 2011 Posts: 11,189
    "Oh look, parachutes for the both of us...woops not anymore"

    "You see Mr Bond...you can't kill my dreams...but my dreams can kill you. Time to taste destiny"

    You might as well be watching an episode of Batman from the 60s.

    He must have been told to ham it up by the director.

    He was at the Ian Fleming 100th anniversary celebration at the Barbican in 2008. Read the description Ian Fleming gave of Bond in From Russia With Love.
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    Outside of Die Another Day I haven't really seen any of his work, but am guessing his other projects must be of a higher caliber than his Bond work, saying that, it's not his fault the film was a failure, but he did what he could and despite being a bit bland and offering little in the way of genuine threat I enjoyed his character especially the sword fight with Brosnan, could be one of the most forgettable Bond villains of recent times but by the same token I usually enjoy his role in the movie, he is a fun character
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    I thought Stephens was amazing in the Poirot mystery 'Five Little Pigs'. I love his line 'So back to HQ...'. So yes I do think Stephens is a wonderful actor.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    I always thought he would have made a great Bond
    ...but you can't win them all.
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