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No room for May in all this rebooting?
TheWizardOfIce
'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
Its just struck me that perhaps EON missed a trick by not introducing May during all this SF nostalgic trip back to Bonds ancestral home.
Instead of inventing the character of Kincaide (whom I would be surprised to see return in the next film anyway) from scratch why not have May being the person who watches over Skyfall instead? The character is hard as nails anyway so I could see her brandishing a shotgun during the final firefight.
Then we could have a swift scene where Bond says 'well as youve nowhere to live I'm in need of a housekeeper' (or, as I cant really see where it would fit nicely after Ms death, at the start of the next film have Bond doing his press up routine and then coming down to some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and Tiptree Little Scarlet served up by May).
I'm not desperate for it because shes a pretty superfluous character but I'm all for getting more Fleming on screen and dont get me wrong I loved Finneys Kincaide.
The only thing is I'm really struggling to think of an actress who could pull it off. Basically the character and script would be virtually the same as Kincaide but obviously a woman. I'm sure theres someone out there who could nail it but all I can think of is Maggie Smith. Any thoughts?
Also I have a few reservations that pairing Bond with not one but two old women in a massive shoot out might be stretching credibility.
Or what about have her as Kincaides wife and have him get killed in the house and she takes M down the tunnel?
Instead of inventing the character of Kincaide (whom I would be surprised to see return in the next film anyway) from scratch why not have May being the person who watches over Skyfall instead? The character is hard as nails anyway so I could see her brandishing a shotgun during the final firefight.
Then we could have a swift scene where Bond says 'well as youve nowhere to live I'm in need of a housekeeper' (or, as I cant really see where it would fit nicely after Ms death, at the start of the next film have Bond doing his press up routine and then coming down to some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and Tiptree Little Scarlet served up by May).
I'm not desperate for it because shes a pretty superfluous character but I'm all for getting more Fleming on screen and dont get me wrong I loved Finneys Kincaide.
The only thing is I'm really struggling to think of an actress who could pull it off. Basically the character and script would be virtually the same as Kincaide but obviously a woman. I'm sure theres someone out there who could nail it but all I can think of is Maggie Smith. Any thoughts?
Also I have a few reservations that pairing Bond with not one but two old women in a massive shoot out might be stretching credibility.
Or what about have her as Kincaides wife and have him get killed in the house and she takes M down the tunnel?
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Comments
I understand your point about May replacing Kincaid and it could have been an interesting way for her to be introduced. However, that would have eliminated the "parental" concept at Skyfall which I think was a fairly obvious part of the script.
Bond likes to do things "the old fashioned way". :)
I've always wanted to see May. A scene in his flat off the Kings Road serving him breakfast would be great. We haven't even seen Bond's pad since LALD. I would like her to be a white Scott too. This isn't a racial thing but they've already changed Felix and Penny to black people which I don't mind but another would be too much. It's about staying physically faithful to the character too. Some, perhaps humourous dialogue where she mentions how it was quite a task to look after Bond after his parents demise and still is, would be good too. Or is this supposed to have been Kincade's role now? No, Kincade and May could have both been present during Bond's childhood. Charlie Higson invented Uncle Max.
If May had have actually replaced Kincade then nobody could have been accused of shoehorning in characters. If she was there aswell as Kincade then okay, this would have been shoehorning. I'm not sure if it would have been appropriate to have had May there instead of Kincade though. He had experience with guns and it wouldn't really have seemed realistic to have May, an elderly lady in this role. Two old ladies and Bond would have probably seemed a bit unreal too.
Just to go off topic slightly, is it just me or did anyone else think that Moneypenny's and M's new traditional office in Skyfall were a bit on the small side? Maybe this is in keeping with contemporary offices but I miss the bigger offices of the old days. M's new office is now in the vein of the old school ones which isn't entirely realistic anyway in this day and age. I love that they've returned to this decor and I hope it stays like this. I hope Fiennes will stay on as M too for a good few films. I would have thought that Eon would have had him sign a contract for a few films as M is an important, recurring character, but who knows.
Old woman with shotgun sounds fine though! One of my all-time favorite characters is the granny with the machine gun in GF ;;) .
Yeah, true but introducing May wouldn't make much of a difference. Having Ponsonby though would be overkill.
Too bad Bond's DB5 in Goldfinger didn't shoot tranquilizer darts. He could have taken down that annoying old biddy in a humane way and escaped GF's thugs. :)
I actually would have a bit more fun when they show Bond at his desk again and in that scene introduce Leolia.
Errr... you talking about Loelia Ponsonby??
Doubt he is mate, couldn't possibly have misspelt a name like that.
A short scene with May in his flat wouldn't take up too much time. SF had scenes cut thus creating plot holes because alot of the movie not only focused on Bond but the development of M's and Moneypenny's character too. Then again the plot revolved around M. SF didn't seem like almost 2 and a half hours at all to me. There's still room to cut down on the action. Didn't Mendes say in an interview that Eon stipulated that there only has to be three action scenes in a Bond film? There was more than three in SF.
"Could be a cool counterpoint if Bond´s interior is as avantgarde as it was in LALD!"
I always thought that the decor of Bond's flat in LALD was typical contemporary 70's style. Well, atleast the kitchen.
As for the Bentley, in Fleming´s novels Bond had a variety of cars , and thought of getting a new one.
It is conceivable for a bachelor living a busy professional life that requires him to travel a lot to have a housekeeper. In fact, I know some rented houses and flats in the UK have cleaning ladies coming every week or so to keep the places clean and tidy.
I would personally love to see May and I think she'll fit the time perfectly.But in Skyfall she would have been out of place.
For Loelia or Helena, I would love Mischa Barton to play as that character, she's young and she's a very promising actress and she has expressed interest to be a Bond girl.
Completely agree. A love interest knocking about maybe but an old Scottish housekeeper? Not a good idea IMO.