I just finished TND, and it definitely gets a perfect 10. I also have to say that I hadn't remembered just how brutally Bond dispatches both Carver and Stamper, and was kind of surprised, albeit not unpleasantly so.
When Goldeneye was made, the Cold War had been over for half a decade. Of course a middle-aged, journeyman agent was involved in it. Hell, the whole opening sequence takes place during the cold war. So even if Goldeneye was completely self-contained, M's comment was completely warranted and valid. "A long time ago" is a very imprecise cliché. It can mean a lot of different things, all dependent on a person's relative perspective. For two hardened agents of the intelligence community involved in one sortie after another, five years can seem like a "very long time." He probably didn't mean two decades. More importantly, however, Dalton Bond would have been in his mid twenties in 1969. He was probably still in Naval officer school.
CorporalClegg: In that very same conversation, Dench's old!M calls Bond a "misogynist dinosaur". As far as the ages of the individual actors go, they really have no bearing on the character's history, especially when you apply "Selective Character Aging Syndrome", or even accept the conceit that Bond is older than he appears to be physically. The films themselves demonstrate a far tighter continuity than you and a few others seem to want to acknowledge, and they certainly don't conform to the "broad strokes continuity" idea that TV Tropes thinks they do.
They really chose the wrong Python there. Almost any of the others would have been much better (except Graham). I'd say Craig Bond is a prequel rather than a reboot. Hence the return of Moneypenny and M's wood-paneled office at the end of Skyfall. Re Elba, they've been talking about this for so long it's almost as thought it's already happened. I suspect that by the time he is actually offered the role he will feel he is too old for it (or at least too old for the hardcore training the modern role requires).
The producers have acknowledged and made it clear that the Craig Era films constitute a clean-slate reboot of the franchise, so this "prequel" theory is bunk.
We have the perfect Q and I hope they keep Ben Whishaw for many years to come. I see Ewan McGregor has now tossed his hat into the ring (despite saying he wouldn't want to role many years ago) but quite frankly all the names the media keep tossing around are either too famous, too old or both! Even if we assume Daniel Craig quits now, and even if we work on the assumption that the next Bond film will come out in 2 years (despite a 3 year gap between Skyfall and Spectre and a 4 year gap between QoS and Skyfall) then the supposed front runners will be... Damian Lewis 46 which would make him the oldest actor since Roger Moore Idris Elba 45 Ditto Ewan McGregor 46 and ditto Michael Fassbender 40 Would be my choice if I'm honest but I doubt he's interested, he has a good career andprefers meaty acting roles, plus he already has a franchise with the X-Men Tom Hardy 40 I like Hardy but I actually think he's too much of a rough diamond for the part (which is a similar reason to why I don't quite see Elba as 007) plus he already has a good career and a franchise (assuming Mad Max carries on) Henry Cavill 34 Going on his performance as Napoleaon Solo he'd made a great return to a somewhat lighter, somewhat more debonair 007, and I do half suspect the producers will go down that route when Craig hangs up his PPK (another reason to exlude Elba and Hardy imo). Given he's Superman for the foreseeable future I'm not sure he'd even be considered though. Personally I think it will be someone lower profile and I'd be tempted to go down the road of either Dan Stevens or David Oyelowo though as a wildcard I'd toss in Cillian Murphy, but frankly I won't be surprised if its either someone we've never heard of, or certainly someone whose name hasn't been linked, remember both Roger and Pierce we seen more as TV actors before they took on the part, Dalton was perceived as more of a stage actor, Connery was fairly unknown and Lazenby had never acted before. Even Craig wasn't that well known before the part really.
It does tend to be a dark horse and I think anyone who's been linked with the role during Craig's tenure can probably be ruled out for that reason. Brosnan is probably the one and only time that the part has gone to someone long rumoured for it, but supposedly he only got it after they'd gone to a number of big names who'd turned it down. Given that Craig will be such a hard act to follow, it's not impossible that this time they'll opt to break with tradition and go for a big name but I still think that's unlikely. I would say that if Warner Bros' DCU doesn't take off, then Henry Cavill must be a front-runner but I'd imagine that it will take off and he'll be tied up doing Superman movies for a few years yet.
@bold Funny thing is, Henry Cavil did audition for Bond back when they were casting for Casino Royale. Losing of course to Daniel Craig (whose initials are DC, Haha). Cavil also auditioned for the role of Superman for Superman Returns. Again losing to another actor, Brandon Routh. Cavil is Superman now, and chances are he could one day play Bond. Brosnan was nearly cast as Bond in the 80's for The Living Daylights, but then Remington Steele was renewed for another season, so Brosnan was out. Brosnan then became Bond a decade later for GoldenEye. This happened to Roger Moore too. They wanted him for OHMSS, to replace Connery, but went with Lazenby instead. Lazenby didn't work out, so they brought back Connery. Then in 1971, Moore got his shot.
The thing is, given Cavill's age it's not beyond the realms of possibility for him to be the Bond after next (but maybe only if the next Bond turns out to be a 1/2 filmer like Lazenby/Dalton). If he stays as Superman though I doubt its possible, I can't see the Bond producers wanting a Bond whose also known as AN Other major franchise character. You could maybe get away with it with Hardy/Mad Max but not something like Superman. The other problem with an established name is that they'll want big money right from the off, and given that Bond actors tend to see their salary increase exponentially with each film and this might pose problems further down the line. At the end of the day I'm fairly relaxed about who they cast next. I got all het up about Daniel Craig and was proven utterly wrong so they could hire Justin Bieber and I'd at least wait until I saw him in action before complaining* * dear Bond producers please don't hire Justin Bieber...
If Cavill moves on from Superman after the Justice League duology, the second of which is scheduled to release in 2019, he'd only be 36 (born in May 1983), just a year younger than Daniel Craig was when he was cast as James Bond. Assuming Craig does one more movie (likely to be released in either 2017 or 2018), that would line up pretty well with Cavill's DC schedule. From everything I've read it seems he wants the role, and as mentioned earlier he auditioned for Casino Royale, but was determined to be too young at the time.
I'd personally like to see an American actor be given the chance to play the role of James Bond, with my Top 2 choices being Lee Pace and Matthew Morrison, both of whom are in their mid-30s right now (36 to be exact) and both of whom have experience affecting British-type accents (with Morrison having even played a Scottish character, one James M. Barrie, in the stage adaptation of Finding Neverland). BTW, I've now finished The World is Not Enough and am giving it a 9.5 and declaring it to be a better film than Goldeneye for, among other things, doing the following: * Giving the pre-Craig version of Bond his "Vesper" moment * Giving us some actual in-depth information on Judi Dench's old!M's character (which Goldeneye doesn't do) * Spotlighting Robbie Coltrane's Valentin Zukovsky (which Goldeneye doesn't do) * Giving us Robert Carlyle as a villain * Giving us two Bond Girls who, just as in Tomorrow Never Dies with Michelle Yeoh and Teri Hatcher - share equal 'screen presence' in Sophie Marceau's Elektra King and Denise Richards' Christmas Jones (whom I loved as a character because of her attitude and spunk) * Bringing back the classic interaction(s) between James and Moneypenny (absent in both Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, which makes it the only classic Bond element not to show up in the latter film) * Bringing back a ski chase sequence (I think the last one we got was in For Your Eyes Only)
I have no difficulty with the idea of an American Bond so long as they can do a passable English accent. The problem is that I'm unable to think of a single male American actor who can do so.
^ Seems a bit awkward to hire an American who'd have to fake the accent. Surely there's no shortage of real British actors wanting to do the role?
Fair's fair, if a Brit can be Superman an American can be Bond, I'd just want them to be convincing. TWINE is one of my least favourite Bond films, Goldeneye is 10 times the film, IMO. Denise Richards, the world's least convincing nuclear scientist? (though she's by far the worst Bond girl in the franchise!)
@ Mr Laser Beam I'm sure there are but it may just be that the best actor they audition happens to be American. I mean, we had Brits playing Superman, Batman and Spider-man within the last decade and there were no shortage of Americans for those roles either.
Both Lee Pace and Matthew Morrison can, as can James Marsters, although I don't think people could buy the latter in the role even though the character, as of SPECTRE, is in his mid-40s.
Quite! I disagree. Endemic to the character of Bond is that he's literally from England (with a Scottish background) who lives a British lifestyle and fights to save the world but usually on Britain's behalf. Superman is an alien who crash-landed on earth who then lives in Kansas for 25 years before becoming the character we know. Anyone can play that role. There's just something more authentic about having Bond being played by a Brit. Only American arrogance would suggest that an American "should" play the character. Just my two cents.