I touched on this notion briefly in the 'Ultimate Bond Timeline' thread (
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/194/your-ultimate-bond-timeline#Item_11) and thought it deserved more discussion...
In that thread I had mentioned that the movie 'could have' worked, provided Roger played his age, rather than acting like a 'young Bond'. Having watched Living Daylights recently- I was pleased to find only a minor few details that would have made the casting of Roger Moore impossible.
Bond in Living Daylights doesn't engage that much in age restricted physical stuff- in most of the action, he's shooting or driving. Yes the PTS would have needed tweaking, and the fight with Necros on the plane would have been laughable with an 'old man'. That dude that played Necros could probably wipe the floor with Roger in real life, lol.
As far as Bond's sex appeal, the part when he's 'picked up' by Felix's girls would have been laughable. They'd have to tone down the romance with Kara- unless they had an older actress.
But otherwise, everything Bond does in TLD could have technically been done by Moore!
I can easily picture Moore on the cello case (that's SO Roger Moore, lol) sniping at the beginning (would have been awesome, and a first for Moore, if I'm not mistaken). I hear originally, the confrontation between Bond and Gogol (in place of Pushkin) depicted the two discussing the situation over champagne; I would have loved to have seen Moore vs Gogol, in the same hard style as Dalton vs Pushkin! Even the 'final battle' with Whittaker wasn't anything Moore couldn't have handled!
To conclude, of course I'm glad we got Dalton when we did (he's my favorite) but I can't help but get a little sad when I hear Roger's dislike for generally everything about AVTAK. His last movie should have been something he's proud of (in reality, Octopussy. But it's fun to imagine)
What are your thoughts? Could a 'mature Bond' have made up for AVTAK and helped Moore end with a GREAT final movie?
I personally don't have a problem with Bond's age.... as long as he acts his age!
Comments
The pts and climax are great sequences and the growing relationship of the two leads is genuinely touching. Without all of these elements TLD would not work.
touché ;-)
In an alternate timeline, I would rather Moore finished with Octopussy- that should have been his last movie to be proud of!
Moore ending in TLD in 1987. Who'd be the new Bond in 1989? Given that Brosnan would have been done with Remington Steel, he'd have debuted in Bond 16.
Problem - Legal problems halting the franchise until 1995 = Brosnan would be the new Lazenby, doing on 1 film. No way would EON and Brosnan waited until 1995 to make a 2nd outing.
New Bond in 1995. Brosnan being done, who is going to be Bond now? Timothy Dalton? Liam Neeson? With a more serious, Fleming-esque actor, Bond #5 would have lasted longer than 2002. Let's pick Dalton... He'd have ended in 2007.
New recast... Maybe not enough time to make a new film by 2009... MGM financial issues, Bond #6 would have debuted in Bond 23, most likely Casino Royale, in 2012. Given that Daniel Craig would be 44 by then, he'd never have been even considered for a CR adaptation at that age.
Dude.... AWESOME.
While Daniel Craig would be sorely missed, it would just about be worth it to have Dalton for all those films (minus TLD & LTK)!!
I think what you said was a very educated proposition as to how things would have gone had Roger stayed- very impressive!
I think you're absolutely right- the transition from Moore to Dalton was a bit radical- but Moore to Brosnan... THEN Dalton? Much easier transition! I've always thought Brosnan was the perfect mix of Connery and Moore. How right- by 1995 the public wanted a gritty Bond and Dalton would have been much better received by the public (and like you said, stayed even longer than Brosnan)
LOVE IT!!
But yeah.... a shame that you're probably right about Craig.... but I'd have what I've wanted for years-- Timothy Dalton in GoldenEye! lol
That being said.... would Brosnan have been any good in LTK...?
Don't get me wrong I'm not one of those 'Moore bashers' and enjoyed many of his films enormously but the idea of TLD without Dalton just seems like it would be a tragic waste. Likewise I would equally hate the idea of Connery doing OHMSS.
by the time A View to a Kill came out in 1985 (I was 2 years old and have no idea...) was the public tired of Roger Moore? Did they want him for the next one? From what I gathered, it seems everyone still loved him. Did anyone here actually see it in the theatre? Was there snickering in the audience? I'm very curious to know.
While his initial 1987 reaction to Timothy Dalton was negative (he eventually warmed up to him in 1989 when LTK came out) he still said "he's better than Roger Moore."
AVTAK did not set the box office on fire despite a very popular theme song and I think part of the reason is that yourger people who were into Duran Duran, just thought Moore was too old.
I was in high school at the time and most of my friends had little interest in seeing AVTAK, fortunately I did have some friends I was able to drag to the theater with me.
But try this on for size- suppose just for a second that Moore was hired one film EARLIER- for Diamonds are Forever! The whole style of that movie is campy like a Moore film, and since we know Lazenby quit before his own movie was even out, suppose we got Moore instead of overpaying Connery to return! Could have been interesting! I've always thought (while I do love Connery and Lazenby) that it was a shame that by the time Moore was introduced, he was already, what, 46?
What do you all think of this?
And Moore could have done TLD, allowing for a few small stunt adjustments to the script and probably an older leading lady being cast. Back then, age wasn't the big issue it is today (The even-older-than-Moore George Peppard & the pushing-50 Lee Majors were the big TV action heroes of the day during the later Moore years, lest we forget, while Clint was about to come back again as Dirty Harry), coupled with the fact that a lot of the public missed the "Moore touch" when Dalton took over. Moore could have scraped through one more if he'd absolutely HAD to.