"James Bond 23" officially slated for 2012!

[Admiral_Young]

^ Nope. Michael Fassbender!! Hardy can be the next Bond villain. The stubble makes him look distinguished in my opinion and of course Brosnan had a full blown beard after his torture session at the start of "Die Another Day".

[Samurai8472]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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^ Nope. Michael Fassbender!! Hardy can be the next Bond villain. The stubble makes him look distinguished in my opinion and of course Brosnan had a full blown beard after his torture session at the start of "Die Another Day".

Which he quickly shaved or had removed between takes

IMO he wore a fake beard.

[Kai "the spy"]

Yeah, it was a fake one. If I remember correctly, he said so in the audio commentary.

And my vote for next Bond goes to Jamie Bamber.

[Starkers]

Fassbender for me (always assuming he learns to keep his natural accent in check- I swear in every film I see him in he's brilliant then just goes Irish for no readily apparent reason- just to stress I'm not saying his Irish accent is a bad thing, it's the consistency of the performance that worries me) The notion of Hardy appeals, though he might be a touch too seedy for Bond.

Fassbender's Bond vs Hardy's villain in a 006/007 Goldeneye kind of way would be a mouthwatering prospect.

Not that I really want Craig to go anywhere just yet. I do wonder about the stubble, will he have it the whole film?

[Captaindemotion]

^ You're quite right about Fassbender's accent. The weird thing is that in the movie Hunger, he did a pitch-perfect Belfast accent, which is a lot more different than his own Kerry accent and difficult to perfect than non-Irish readers might imagine. Of course, Brosnan's irish accent frequently came through his 007 performance too and as for Connery... Well, nuff shaid!

I think Hardy has more of the physicality that Bond may require than Fass does. Although they're only about 6 months apart in age, I also think Hardy looks a lot younger than Michael, so by the time Craig leaves, he'd (TH) probably look closer to the right age than MF.

Having said all of that, a Hardy Bond might be more in the vein of Craig, so it's likely that Eon will cast someone different next time out, just like Craig differed from Brosnan, Dalton differed from Moore, Moore differed from Connery etc. (IMHO, Brosnan and Dalton were the most alike back-to-back Bonds)
Like you, I'm quite happy for Craig to remain there for some time yet.

[Captaindemotion]

Not yet quite official but fairly reliable:

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/ben-wh...d-film-skyfall

Skyfall, the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise, has cast Ben Whishaw as MI6 gadget master Q, according to various reports hitting the web today.

It will be the character's first appearance in the franchise since 2002's Die Another Day, where he was played by John Cleese.
Prior to that, Q was played by Desmond Llewelyn, who owned the role for an impressive 36 years.
Q is the character who supplies Bond with all of his nifty hi-tech gadgets and espionage equipment in the movies.
Traditionally, the actor playing Q has been older than James Bond, but that's set to change here (Whishaw's 31, Craig's 43).
Craig is appearing as 007 for the third time in Skyfall.
Ben Whishaw has already acted opposite Craig, in 2004 ganster Brit-flick Layer Cake.
And, not that we're saying we told you so or anything, but we did have our money on Whishaw playing Q:

It is indeed going to be odd to see Q younger than Bond - he was like an older brother to Connery's 007 and could have been Dalton or Brosnan's father (Cleese was again probably like an older brother to Brosnan in age). But when you think about it, it makes sense to have a maker of gadgets a young whizzkid. Any time you go into a tech shop, there's some kid who knows it all inside out and makes you feel about 93. It could be an interesting twist on the Bond-Q dynamic, to have Q scoffing at Bond for being a silly old fart, who doesn't know his Ipad from his Ipod.

[Warped9]

^^ Why do we have to have such a cliched dynamic? Why can't we just have too professionals interacting with each other? Is this perhaps just the first step in the Bond films getting silly again and eventually stupid? I hope not.

[Captaindemotion]

^ Who said we 'have to'? This was just a possibility I raised. I could be way off the mark. Anyway, there's such a thing as a happy medium - a bit of banter, without making it silly.

I note that I should have said 'could be' rather than 'will be' an interesting dynamic, so I've amended my previous post.

[Warped9]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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^ Who said we 'have to'? This was just a possibility I raised. I could be way off the mark. Anyway, there's such a thing as a happy medium - a bit of banter, without making it silly.

I note that I should have said 'could be' rather than 'will be' an interesting dynamic, so I've amended my previous post.

True, you didn't actually say it would be like that. I've liked the overall tone of the Craig Bonds and I hope they stay the course in this.

[Captaindemotion]

^ Don't forget, there has been humour between Bond and M in both Craig movies, without them turning into Moonraker; any office banter between 007 and Q could be done just in keeping with that tone.

[Warped9]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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^ Don't forget, there has been humour between Bond and M in both Craig movies, without them turning into Moonraker; any office banter between 007 and Q could be done just in keeping with that tone.

True.

[JacksonArcher]

This is exciting news! I'm glad Q is coming back.

The interactions between 007 and Q were always one of my favorite aspects of the James Bond movies. As Captaindemotion so elegantly said, I doubt we're going to see the franchise suddenly become silly and campy again just because of the inclusion of Q.

I am sure Sam Mendes and the writers have found an inventive and creatively exciting way to implement Q that isn't in such an overtly comical fashion. The Craig Bond films have always had little tidbits of humor sprinkled throughout them, and I am sure the same will be the case with Skyfall. I am really interested to see how Daniel Craig's Bond plays off of this new, younger Q and what exactly that dynamic is going to be. Another reason to look forward to Skyfall.

P.S. I just re-watched both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace last night, and I am really in the mood for another Craig Bond movie. Skyfall can't get here quicker enough.

[Admiral_Young]

I'm excited for this news. Can't say I'm familiar with the actor chosen but that's okay. I'm sure he'll be fine.

[Captaindemotion]

^ He recently played the lead in a UK tv show called The Hour, where he played opposite a one-time Bond contender Dominic West. He was very good in it.

[JacksonArcher]

Whishaw has also previously worked with Daniel Craig in the gangster film Layer Cake directed by Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class).