The James Bond Film Discussion Thread (With Bonus Lazenby!)

[Starkers]

Some very random thoughts:

Unless there’s a huge u-turn on the age ranges that were being discussed even before Amazon bought out Eon, I don’t see Cillian Murphy or Tom Hardy as Bond but given that the last 3 films featured Oscar winners as the main baddie, Cillian has to surely be a contender for that role.

Interesting that we’re looking at a 3 year wait or so but there is no talk (yet) of standalone movies, prequels, spinoffs or a 007 expanded universe. Instead, we have an a-list director and accomplished writer, for whom Amazon are apparently content to wait. Frustrating in one way but good that they’re willing to do it properly, rather than just get something, anything, into the studio. “Will people remember that it was on time or that it was good?”, as GRRM asks? Though given the wait, I think it’s not inconceivable that they will announce some kind placeholder Bond stuff.

While not a spy or espionage thriller, I remember really enjoying Eastern Promises, which Knight wrote and would like to see something equally twisty-turny and raw for his Bond movie.

Yes, Amazon are taking their time and hiring good people. It's reassuring.

I think they could have rushed casting, and I imagine plenty of screenwriters could have written something fast. Hire a director like Guy Ritchie and they could have got something out quick, and it might have been perfectly enjoyable, but it might also have been rubbish!

But the reverse also applies of course. Plenty have films have had all the right people behind the camera but haven't come out right. It still amazes me that the same people who made Skyfall made Spectre!!

 

[cardinal biggles]

Maybe there will even be a return to “ James Bond will return in [title of next movie]” in the end credits.

Unless they're going to start planning things way in advance, I doubt it. They haven't done that since A View to a Kill, mostly because by then they'd pretty much run out of Fleming titles to use.

 

[SithHappens]

Maybe there will even be a return to “ James Bond will return one day” in the end credits.

ftfy

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Since I don't want to derail the Reboot thread any further regarding OHMSS and whether or not Connery would have worked in that particular film, I'll ask the question here - if the producers had gotten Moore instead of Lazenby for the role, would he have been able to pull off the vulnerability required when Tracy is murdered at the end of the film?
I think Moore could have pulled it off. He showed in TSWLM and FYEO when Tracy is mentioned/grave shown that her death impacted him, even though he wasn't the one who stared in OHMSS.
In fact, had Moore stared in OHMSS, then continued into DAF, the opening sequence where Bond is looking for Tracy's killers would have carried more weight than with Connery; because I can't picture Connery going on a ruthless rampage to avenge her death.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Since I don't want to derail the Reboot thread any further regarding OHMSS and whether or not Connery would have worked in that particular film, I'll ask the question here - if the producers had gotten Moore instead of Lazenby for the role, would he have been able to pull off the vulnerability required when Tracey is murdered at the end of the film?
I think Moore could have pulled it off. He showed in TSWLM and FYEO when Tracey is mentioned/grave shown that her death impacted him, even though he wasn't the one who stared in OHMSS.
In fact, had Moore stared in OHMSS, then continued into DAF, the opening sequence where Bond is looking for Tracey's killers would have carried more weight than with Connery; because I can't picture Connery going on a ruthless rampage to avenge her death.

Moore could probably have done vulnerable but Lazenby was the most physically robust and impressive Bond in the action scenes before Craig, so I wouldn’t swap!

 

[cooleddie74]

Connery couldn't have handled the more tender romance and one-on-one emotional connection scenes in OHMSS. He was a better actor than Lazenby, but better acting chops doesn't always result in the superior performer being better or even believable in a particular film or scene. Lazenby's presence and physical gravitas were needed to make falling in love with Tracy believable, and as much as I like Sean Connery, romance and tender love scenes weren't his strong suit.

 

[MarcKyle1964]

I liked Lazenby, wished he'd done starred in the Bond movies up to '80 or so - but moonraker is my favorite one, then the spy who loved me. Drax's Bond you persist in living comment is wonderful dry humor. I wonder how well Lazenby would have played the role in them?

I did like the Jaws redemption arc, Lois Chiles and Caroline Munro.

 

[MarcKyle1964]

serenity now... serenity now....!!!

Insanity later

 

[cooleddie74]

"I feel VIGOROUS!!"

 

[Captaindemotion]

I liked Lazenby, wished he'd done starred in the Bond movies up to '80 or so - but moonraker is my favorite one, then the spy who loved me. Drax's Bond you persist in living comment is wonderful dry humor. I wonder Lazenby would have played the role in them?

I did like the Jaws redemption arc, Lois Chiles and Caroline Munro.

Obviously we all know that Lazenby famously walked away after OHMSS but could’ve done DAF if his agent hadn’t been an idiot. But I recently read (maybe in this thread?) that even after DAF, Cubby was willing to rehire him for LALD, but he remained uninterested (and director Guy Hamilton was against the move). It’s definitely an interesting “what if?”, when you bear in mind that by the mid-80s he would still only have been in his mid-40s.

 

[Starkers]

And you'd hope he would have only got better as an actor and grown into the role.

I'm assuming DAF would have been very different had Lazenby done it.

There's a whole heap of what if?s going on here, but I wonder if the 70s needed Moore's lighter, campier touch for the franchise to thrive?

That said it is odd that we think of the 1970s as a campy disco era in general when Hollywood was putting out some very serious, downright grim at times, films!

 

[Captaindemotion]

And you'd hope he would have only got better as an actor and grown into the role.

I'm assuming DAF would have been very different had Lazenby done it.

There's a whole heap of what if?s going on here, but I wonder if the 70s needed Moore's lighter, campier touch for the franchise to thrive?

That said it is odd that we think of the 1970s as a campy disco era in general when Hollywood was putting out some very serious, downright grim at times, films!

When comparing Connery and Moore and their respective eras, I often recall that in the 1960s, the biggest American stars were Newman and then McQueen. Both could do playful and humorous but mostly tended to be serious. Whereas in the 1970s, it was Burt Reynolds. Who of course did gritty very well in Deliverance, but tended to coast on his smirk and charm, a bit like Roger. So I do think that Bond reflected a trend generally with that casting and tone.

 

[Starkers]

I can definitely see why they considered Reynolds, but you have to think of his Bond as Deliverance Reynolds, not Smokey and the Bandit Reynolds!

DAF is very much a Moore era Bond film without Moore!

 

[Captaindemotion]

I can definitely see why they considered Reynolds, but you have to think of his Bond as Deliverance Reynolds, not Smokey and the Bandit Reynolds!

DAF is very much a Moore era Bond film without Moore!

I think Newman and McQueen were considered for 007 at some stage too, though how seriously this was I don’t know.

Was it Burt who told them that Bond should be played by a Brit?

But yeah, if he could’ve done the accent, which I tend to doubt, TBH, Burt could’ve been pretty convincing.

Agreed on DAF - I’ve always thought that you can picture Moore in it and Connery in LALD, they’re both on the cusp that way.

 

[Starkers]

I think Reynolds did say that.

Am I right in thinking that if they had gone with James Brolin his Bond would've actually been American? Not sure how that'd work, would 007 suddenly work for the CIA instead of MI6?

 

[Tallguy]

Moore could probably have done vulnerable but Lazenby was the most physically robust and impressive Bond in the action scenes before Craig, so I wouldn’t swap!

And you'd hope he would have only got better as an actor and grown into the role.

The scene where Bond is on the run, hiding at the ice rink, LOSING, and just looking beaten and miserable is the best scene in the movie and one of the best scenes in the series. And Lazenby nailed it. (As did, I expect, Peter Hunt.)

 

[Captaindemotion]

I think Reynolds did say that.

Am I right in thinking that if they had gone with James Brolin his Bond would've actually been American? Not sure how that'd work, would 007 suddenly work for the CIA instead of MI6?

I didn’t know that - I always assumed that had they cast JB (er, the other one), they’d have given him a dialect or accent coach.

Bond as an American would’ve been odd all right (and I suppose this, rather than Casino Royale, would’ve been the first out & out reboot in the series.

It would also have been odd in that Brolin, decent actor that he is, wasn’t really box office gold the way that Reynolds or Newman were when they were approached. I could’ve understood had they tried Harrison Ford or the like, but I wouldn’t have thought that Brolin would’ve put many more bums on seats than most of the British actors in contention at that time. Though I suppose maybe they just figured that having an American hero full stop would’ve increased the series’ appeal at the all-important American box office. Though it would clearly have made it less distinctive.

 

[Set Harth]

I can definitely see why they considered Reynolds, but you have to think of his Bond as Deliverance Reynolds, not Smokey and the Bandit Reynolds!

Where does Boogie Nights Reynolds fit into this

 

[Captaindemotion]

Where does Boogie Nights Reynolds fit into this

He played John Mason in The Rock

 

[Starkers]

The scene where Bond is on the run, hiding at the ice rink, LOSING, and just looking beaten and miserable is the best scene in the movie and one of the best scenes in the series. And Lazenby nailed it. (As did, I expect, Peter Hunt.)

Oh yes that scene is amazing. And of course then a pair of skates appear and the camera pans up to Diana Rigg and my heart always skips a beat...

I didn’t know that - I always assumed that had they cast JB (er, the other one), they’d have given him a dialect or accent coach.

Bond as an American would’ve been odd all right (and I suppose this, rather than Casino Royale, would’ve been the first out & out reboot in the series.

It would also have been odd in that Brolin, decent actor that he is, wasn’t really box office gold the way that Reynolds or Newman were when they were approached. I could’ve understood had they tried Harrison Ford or the like, but I wouldn’t have thought that Brolin would’ve put many more bums on seats than most of the British actors in contention at that time. Though I suppose maybe they just figured that having an American hero full stop would’ve increased the series’ appeal at the all-important American box office. Though it would clearly have made it less distinctive.

According to this link Brolin would have used a mid Atlantic accent, so effectively an American with British sensibilities.

https://screenrant.com/american-james-bond-accent-james-brolin/

This link also seems to suggest they'd hoped people would have seen past his accent

http://www.007magazine.co.uk/search/search_for_bond3b.htm

I think Brolin has great screen presence and the physicality for Bond. He's one of those actors I'm always surprised isn't a bigger star than he was. I'm really glad he wasn't Bond though.

Where does Boogie Nights Reynolds fit into this

I'm ashamed to say I've never seen it so hard to say.