Gatsby77 Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I like Dalton as well. And "The Living Daylights" was the best book-to-screen adaption. Granted, the entire short story took only about three minutes of screen time in the film, but the entire story was there & complete. It would have been great to see an in-his-prime Dalton in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, as that's probably my favorite of the books. If Connery had played the role rather than Lazenby, hands down it'd be considered the best Bond film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEnglandGothic Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Fleming wanted Cary Grant for the role and Hiddleston is the most like Grant in the current crowd. Maybe he'll work out. I thought Fleming wanted David Niven for the role -- one of the original film producers is on record as saying Fleming even wrote Casino Royale with Niven in mind. They were both at the top of Fleming's list in the beginning, though the snobbish Fleming eventually warmed up to Connery's portrayal so much that he made the literary Bond half-Scottish. In Casino Royale (the first novel), Bond is described as looking like Hoagy Carmichael with a scar on his cheek. He's also variously described in the books as being cold and ruthless, with a cruel smile - when I think of that, I envision something close to how they portrayed Bond in the '60s comic strip (regardless of what Fleming himself might have thought). Among the cinematic 007s, I think Timothy Dalton came closest in both looks and portrayal - no surprise, since he studied the novels and purposely modeled his Bond on what he read. There are several moments in The Living Daylights where he is stone cold ruthless, cruel and world weary as if leaping out of one of Fleming's books. I'd like to see that again. Like Craig, I think Hiddleston is a fine actor, but wrong for the part. I'm sure the producers are drooling over the prospect of a younger, sexier Bond, but I get this feeling that they and the general movie-going public would be happy to see anyone who's good-looking, fit, has a British accent and can sell tickets play the role, whereas I really would like to see them find someone who fits the nuances of the part. James Bond should be James Bond, not just some generic British secret agent (which is really what Craig's Bond was). Cary Grant played the best Bond role to date. Eva Marie Saint (the best Bond girl.) James Mason (the best villain.) and Martin Landeau (as the most complicated henchman ever.) Everything in this 1959 movie I'm talking about, from the score to the set pieces trump every Bond since (Loved Goldfinger and Skyfall though.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 I like Dalton as well. And "The Living Daylights" was the best book-to-screen adaption. Granted, the entire short story took only about three minutes of screen time in the film, but the entire story was there & complete. Anyone laboring under the impression that Dalton was not a great Bond or that somehow Craig's Bond was the most Fleming-esque (TOTALLY ****ING ABSURD - someone just made that claim again to me the other week ) needs to read The Living Daylights and then watch the Bratislava sequence that follows the opening credits in the film. That IS James Bond, Agent 007 as Ian Fleming envisioned him - no one would confuse Dalton's Bond for Jason Bourne or The Night Manager. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEnglandGothic Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 I like Dalton as well. And "The Living Daylights" was the best book-to-screen adaption. Granted, the entire short story took only about three minutes of screen time in the film, but the entire story was there & complete. Anyone laboring under the impression that Dalton was not a great Bond or that somehow Craig's Bond was the most Fleming-esque (TOTALLY ****ING ABSURD - someone just made that claim again to me the other week ) needs to read The Living Daylights and then watch the Bratislava sequence that follows the opening credits in the film. That IS James Bond, Agent 007 as Ian Fleming envisioned him - no one would confuse Dalton's Bond for Jason Bourne or The Night Manager. :doh: Well... Have you anything else to declare then? Maybe a cello? I still have the special edition CD soundtrack, that I listen to in city traffic. One of the best scores as well ever in a Bond film (Barry?), especially considering David Arnold's "work" in the Brosnan ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 So I didn't realize something until Sam Mendes mentions her name. When it comes to the Bond franchise, fans are always eager to fan-cast their favourite actors in the role, and this round has been no exception. Michael Fassbender, Henry Cavill, and Idris Elba have all been regular contenders in the minds of fans, but according to Mendes, fans' wishes play no part whatsoever in the casting a new Bond. “It’s not a democracy,” he said. “Barbara Broccoli decides who is going to be the next Bond - end of story! I can guarantee whatever happens with it, it will not be what you expect,” he added. “That’s what she has been brilliant at, and that’s how it’ll survive.” The person that selects the next Bond is a 'Barbara Broccoli'. But who is this, as I never noticed her name before now? Barbara Broccoli wiki Broccoli is the daughter of the James Bond producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and actress Dana Wilson Broccoli (née Natol). In 1995, Cubby Broccoli handed over control of Eon Productions, the production company responsible for the James Bond series of films, to Barbara and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson; they continue to run the company as of 2015. Broccoli started in the Bond franchise at the age of 17, working in the publicity department of The Spy Who Loved Me. Six years later, she became an assistant director on 1983's Octopussy. Soon after, she worked her way up further to become an associate producer of the film The Living Daylights in 1987. However, her most notable role has been as a producer of the Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. She has been involved a very long time in the creative process. So if anyone has a feel for who James Bond should be in the way of actor selection, it sounds like it is in the right hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tv horror Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I would like them to cast an unknown actor with no baggage and I have to agree he must be charming and deadly at the flick of a switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdoginohio Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Maybe a break from Bond. How about a Moneypenny adventure? What does she do while 007 is away? Also, I'm thinking I might like Emily Blunt as Bond more than Gillian Anderson. Is Elizabeth Hurley too old? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tv horror Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Oh behave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 ... Is Elizabeth Hurley too old? Yes and can't act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Baru Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Fleming wanted Cary Grant for the role and Hiddleston is the most like Grant in the current crowd. Maybe he'll work out. I thought Fleming wanted David Niven for the role -- one of the original film producers is on record as saying Fleming even wrote Casino Royale with Niven in mind. They were both at the top of Fleming's list in the beginning, though the snobbish Fleming eventually warmed up to Connery's portrayal so much that he made the literary Bond half-Scottish. In Casino Royale (the first novel), Bond is described as looking like Hoagy Carmichael with a scar on his cheek. He's also variously described in the books as being cold and ruthless, with a cruel smile - when I think of that, I envision something close to how they portrayed Bond in the '60s comic strip (regardless of what Fleming himself might have thought). Among the cinematic 007s, I think Timothy Dalton came closest in both looks and portrayal - no surprise, since he studied the novels and purposely modeled his Bond on what he read. There are several moments in The Living Daylights where he is stone cold ruthless, cruel and world weary as if leaping out of one of Fleming's books. I'd like to see that again. Like Craig, I think Hiddleston is a fine actor, but wrong for the part. I'm sure the producers are drooling over the prospect of a younger, sexier Bond, but I get this feeling that they and the general movie-going public would be happy to see anyone who's good-looking, fit, has a British accent and can sell tickets play the role, whereas I really would like to see them find someone who fits the nuances of the part. James Bond should be James Bond, not just some generic British secret agent (which is really what Craig's Bond was). Hiddleston is the correct age for Bond. He's 35 which in the Fleming books Bond is in his mid 30's. to early 40's. The 00 section has a mandatory retirement age of 45. (I am not saying I think he should be Bond. I don't think I'd go and see a Bond movie he was in). The first Craig movie was great as it was a reset that showed how Bond makes his bones in the 00 section and it showed that he made mistakes. He wasn't the refined scalpel we got with Connery, Moore, or Lazenby. On a side note, Bond's success in the books seems to play off skill and luck. Good fortune seems to side with Bond when he's in a sticky situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Well... Have you anything else to declare then? Maybe a cello? :yeahok: The James Bond films should have some light, fantastic and eccentric elements to them. We don't need invisible Astons or Pierce Brosnan cracking jokes at every moment, but neither do we need the series to be a depressing Bourne rip-off either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chezmtghut Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Maybe a break from Bond. How about a Moneypenny adventure? What does she do while 007 is away? Also, I'm thinking I might like Emily Blunt as Bond more than Gillian Anderson. Is Elizabeth Hurley too old? I think it would be interesting to see a female James Bond & a male Moneypenny. I can see Martin Freeman playing Moneypenny & Gillian Anderson as 007. It would certainly bring something new to the franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Hiddleston is the correct age for Bond. He's 35 which in the Fleming books Bond is in his mid 30's. to early 40's. The 00 section has a mandatory retirement age of 45. (I am not saying I think he should be Bond. I don't think I'd go and see a Bond movie he was in). The first Craig movie was great as it was a reset that showed how Bond makes his bones in the 00 section and it showed that he made mistakes. He wasn't the refined scalpel we got with Connery, Moore, or Lazenby. I wouldn't rule out the right 35-year old playing the part, but I just don't think Hiddleston is the right guy (at least not yet). In any case, there's the literary Bond and the cinematic Bond, and I think audiences have come to expect a slightly older version for the latter. Look at the sketch of Bond that Fleming had commissioned to give to the Daily Express newspaper for the JB comic strip (see below) - I don't know what age he's supposed to be, but I don't know any mid-30 somethings who look like that. Which undoubtedly means that the next thing the producers will try to freshen up the series is to cast a younger Bond. :doh: I think Craig was initially fine as kind of an "Ultimate universe" version of James Bond, and I was willing to cut him an extra length of slack for Casino Royale being that, as you said, it was supposed to be Bond's first mission as a 00 and that he wasn't yet the finished article (and the film was very, very good regardless). The problem is, though, that the subsequent films' stories built on each other without a lot of time passing in-between and Craig's Bond never became the finished article. Even in the end, he remained more like a bouncer at a nightclub in Liverpool to me than the suave Bond, James Bond I have come to know over the decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 I think it would be interesting to see a female James Bond & a male Moneypenny. I can see Martin Freeman playing Moneypenny & Gillian Anderson as 007. It would certainly bring something new to the franchise. Yep, it certainly would bring something new to the franchise - it's demise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted May 31, 2016 Author Share Posted May 31, 2016 I think it would be interesting to see a female James Bond & a male Moneypenny. I can see Martin Freeman playing Moneypenny & Gillian Anderson as 007. It would certainly bring something new to the franchise. Yep, it certainly would bring something new to the franchise - it's demise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 That's a great picture. He looks like a cross between Timothy Dalton and Peter Cushing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Baru Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 That's a great picture. He looks like a cross between Timothy Dalton and Peter Cushing. Like Peter Cushing from those bad vampire movies with Christopher Lee. The receding hair line is harsh in that drawing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatsby77 Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I can't remember if she's still alive but in the books 008 was a woman. Given that precedent, it's far easier for me to swallow a female Bond-type than a lot of the other PC reboots we've seen lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 That's a great picture. He looks like a cross between Timothy Dalton and Peter Cushing. Like Peter Cushing from those bad vampire movies with Christopher Lee. The receding hair line is harsh in that drawing. Looks like Peter Cushing with Christopher Lee's hair from those outstanding cinematic masterpieces, you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delekkerste Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 I can't remember if she's still alive but in the books 008 was a woman. Given that precedent, it's far easier for me to swallow a female Bond-type than a lot of the other PC reboots we've seen lately. As far as I can see/recall, the only time 008 was alluded to being a woman was in the 1980s James Bond role-playing game (which I fondly remember from my youth!) In both the books and films, 008 is a man. All 5 of the 00s agents referenced in the Fleming novels were male. There were female 00s added in other media later on (the 45 year old mandatory retirement age was unofficially scrapped as well by later authors). Also, different agents have been assigned the same 00 number, thus contradicting this notion that James Bond has always been the codename for whoever is assigned the 007 number. So, I would have a hard time accepting a female 007 - if they want to make a female 00 a key supporting character or even give her a spin-off movie, I'd support that wholeheartedly, but James Bond 007 is a defined, established character and not just a number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
