Brosnan was saddled with some subpar movies but he was perfectly cast as Bond. IMO only Connery was better.
The James Bond Film Discussion Thread (With Bonus Lazenby!)
- Thread starter cooleddie74
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Cavill? Wooden? Never!
Your reminder of what Brosnan looked like the day they announced he was the new 007
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And talking of Brosnan, watching those audition tapes Brosnan was on another level, admittedly he had a whole lot of takes and looked like Bond, and perhaps Starr and Cavill were told to tone down the humour in the performance, they were looking for Daniel Craig at the time after all, not Pierce!
Maybe it's just me, but of the two I could see it more with Starr. I like Cavill, and wouldn't be opposed to him playing Bond now, but heck he came off a little wooden. He was quite young and inexperienced of course, what was he, 22ish? By my reckoning Starr was around 30.
I would literally kill to see Craig's audition tape! (I mean maybe not kill, maim though)
You’re both right of course, but I keep thinking of Lazenby getting his hair cut in the same barber as Cubby and buying a suit from Connery’s tailor to bolster his audition!
Right. Because if he didn't get Bond he wasn't going to be an actor. (Supply your own jokes here.)
Its pretty common for actors to grow out their hair between roles. You can always cut it shorter but if you need longer hair or a beard its way better to use your own rather than relying on the makeup team.
More George Best than George Lazenby there!
I looked and found a few more Bond auditions on YouTube
Here's someone named Roger Green auditioning for the role in 'Diamonds are Forever', after George Lazenby left after 'ONHMSS'.
Here's Rupert Friend for Casino Royale
Finally Sam Worthington for Casino Royale
The one I would really like to see is Michael Billington. He auditioned for the role of Bond five times and nearly got the role had Roger Moore retired after 'Moonraker'.
Here's someone named Roger Green auditioning for the role in 'Diamonds are Forever', after George Lazenby left after 'ONHMSS'.
Here's Rupert Friend for Casino Royale
Finally Sam Worthington for Casino Royale
The one I would really like to see is Michael Billington. He auditioned for the role of Bond five times and nearly got the role had Roger Moore retired after 'Moonraker'.
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These are great, thanks for posting. I like Green in what I see there - definite shades of Lazenby.
Friend also looks about 12 while the hair and his pallor makes him look like he’s in Interview with The Vampire. But I prefer him to Cavill or Starr.
Worthington sounds SO Australian, he is much better at American accents than at an English one. I’m reminded of the scene in Mr Inbetween where Ray and his mate roundly rule out the possibility of an Aussie James Bond.
And then there was Jai Courtney who was the bargain bin version.
Sam Worthington is the definition of generic action star. Courtney is a strange one, when he plays Australian I quite like him, when he plays American he's really bland.
I like that Friend is the only one who leans into how preposterous name Onatopp is.
May they were really auditioning young weren't they?
I like that Friend is the only one who leans into how preposterous name Onatopp is.
May they were really auditioning young weren't they?
All I can see when I watch Rupert Friend is the Grand Inquisitor from Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He did the secret agent thing, albeit an American one, very well in Homeland
Matthew Rhys gives an explanation as to why they were looking for someone younger to play Bond.
That's interesting. Obviously we don't know how many others were auditioned but at the moment what is noticeable is that Craig is the oldest of the bunch by several years*. Cavill was around 22 and Craig was nearer 35/36 which, for me at least, is the right sort of age for Bond, old enough to be a little seasoned while still having a lot of active years left in him.
*I know others around Craig's age were auditioned or at least considered.
I do worry they're going to skew too young next time, though I probably need to trust them. They've never hired a Bond I didn't like after all, but I would like a return to Bond being an experienced 00, they've done the early days thing now so we don't need to see him making his first kills and going on his early missions.
Hiring someone mid thirties gives them the possibility of getting 4 or 5 films out of him (assuming they can be arsed to put one out every three years).
*I know others around Craig's age were auditioned or at least considered.
I do worry they're going to skew too young next time, though I probably need to trust them. They've never hired a Bond I didn't like after all, but I would like a return to Bond being an experienced 00, they've done the early days thing now so we don't need to see him making his first kills and going on his early missions.
Hiring someone mid thirties gives them the possibility of getting 4 or 5 films out of him (assuming they can be arsed to put one out every three years).
We got two movies where he was "too young and too inexperienced" (that happened at pretty much the same time) and then we instantly moved right along to "You're too old and your best days are behind you."
Yeah, that’s always struck me as weird too. I remember a review of Skyfall which reckoned that Craig simultaneously looked too old and too young for the role.
Well there were 4 years between QoS and Skyfall and Craig was 44 by that point. A whole lot of adventures no doubt between the two films.
Skyfall is the outlier in the Craig era of course (which may explain why it's my favourite Craig film) in that it's the only standalone Bond film of the era (assuming you ignore Spectre retconning of Silva as a Spectre henchman of course) and I believe the only Craig film where Vesper isn't namechecked.
Given it was made for the 50th you could almost say it's intended as a more traditional Bond film.
Skyfall is the outlier in the Craig era of course (which may explain why it's my favourite Craig film) in that it's the only standalone Bond film of the era (assuming you ignore Spectre retconning of Silva as a Spectre henchman of course) and I believe the only Craig film where Vesper isn't namechecked.
Given it was made for the 50th you could almost say it's intended as a more traditional Bond film.
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