Michael Caine as James Bond, on his last mission. Judging by Caine's performance in Harry Brown he could be more of an action star than he lets on.
I thin kwe debated her somewhere before as to whether any of the guys you mentioned Rush were in fact intended to be Q. This is why I don't why they didn't already have a Moneypenny. Just have a women hand a paper to M and walk away, we don't need to know anything fun and cheeky just yet. It just bugs me, as you say Cleese is too funny for the dark of Craig. They could have been laying some of these witty foundations sooner in keeping with some sort of Bondisms instead of being so depressing and dry. I don't wonder if a lot of this support casting depends on how much longer Judi Dench remains as M? Would she retire after possibly 2 more films with Craig? Should that be a future plotline? Why not Robinson as M? Any prem talk on what they are doing with the script yet?
Reminds me of an old joke I used to keep trotting out. A lot of people are really tired of me saying this, so I'll put it in spoiler code. Spoiler: Bond Have the Bond Q played by...John DeLancie.
I actually think DeLancie would be an excellent Bond Villain. Just imagine: Craig: You expect me to talk? DeLancie: (deadpan) Of course not, Mr. Bond. I expect you to DIE. Craig: Hmm. I suppose I woudn't hate to dissapoint you on that. DeLancie: Enough. (snaps fingers...snaps again--snaps again--looks frustrated)
Okay. I can't tell if this is a wise ad or not. Is it offensive because Craig is dressed up as a woman? I found Dench's narration pretty hard hitting, but I think him in drag is a miss. Ew, no pun intended! http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/03/08/daniel-craig-returns-to-james-bond-as-a-woman/
I can't be bothered to link it, as it's clearly bullshit but apparently The Sun yesterday reckoned that Bond bosses were after Anthony Hopkins to play a villain in this movie and that they hoped he would be a recurring character, a sort of modern Blofeld. Yeah, right, we believe you.
They were after him fr Goldeneye, but it's a bit late now. Javier Bardem has the gig anyway, doesn't he?
^ Apparently. And Kevin Spacey was also up for it. Hard to see a role that could potentially be played by all three of them. Though, then again, the Sean Bean role in Goldeneye was originally intended for Hopkins, as you say.
Not exactly. In the "Hopkins" draft, Hopkins was to play Bond's mentor (read: Bernard Lee's M!), who turned to villainy. Frankly, that would have been a LOT darker--perhaps too dark for a Bond film, as we knew and loved the character. Almost like Jim Phelps turning out to be the villain in Mission: Impossible, the movie....
It would also have made a lot more sense of 006's age (to remember what happened to his parents in the aftermath of WW2 he'd have to be at least in his mid-50s, which he clearly isn't!)
And the mentor/pupil angle probably would have worked a little better than the comrades one did--assuming they would've gone that route.
Do we have to have Q be an oldster? I mean, Desmond Lewellyn wasn't all that old when he began the role in the 60's, was he? If Simon Pegg weren't already playing Scotty, he'd be good.. He can do dark and comic at the same time.. Colin Firth would be great at Q.. But of course, I don't think there's a chance in hell that he'd do the role now...
^ Pegg is basically Q in the Mission: Impossible movies anyway. And Firth apparently used to really want to be Bond. Even without the Oscar, can't imagine him settling for the role of Q. But I agree that if the character re-appears he should be closer to Bond's age than he has recently been portrayed. He was more like an older brother to Connery, Lazenby or Moore. It was only with Dalton that he suddenly was an uncle/ father figure.
Pegg was in the M:I movies?? How did I miss that?.. Granted it's been a long time since I've watched any of them and can't really remember the plots of II and III...
M is played by the same actress, but she's not intended to be the same character from the Brosnan films. In those films she chastises Bond for being a relic of the Cold War, clearly indicating her character was never really part of the spy game during the cold war. In Casino Royale M specifically mentions that she misses the Cold War.
I'd like to see Colin Firth as M some day, I think he'd be great. As for Q, Pegg's too geeky (and I know Q should be geeky but maybe not that geeky!)