Is EON actually interested in doing anything that isn't Bond-related? I hope this business with the purchase of MGM is resolved quickly; I really like Daniel Craig as Bond, and don't want a repeat of the '89-'95 hiatus where they dragged it on so long that Timothy Dalton finally said he was no longer interested.
Also I wish they'd hurry up in getting the rest of the existing Bond films to Blu-Ray. There seems to have been a snag about that.
I second that. EON was Harry Salzman and Albert Broccoli's baby. They're both dead now, so there really isn't anything else for EON to do but Bond. There's no indication of Barbara Broccoli having interests in other projects, and certainly the Bond films have been lucrative enough on their own that there really hasn't been a need for EON to do anything but Bond, certainly not after Call Me Bwana stunk up the room back in the day. The only exception would be, perhaps, if they ever did a film based on Fleming's Diamond Smugglers book which, aside from a travel guide called Thrilling Cities, was just about the only non-Bond material he ever published. Agreed. The last 2 Bonds were among the most successful in the franchise history, and a lot of people will lose out if the series gets put on hold, especially considering Quantum was part 2 of a planned trilogy - I'd like to see the story completed. They don't need to, obviously. There aren't that many titles left that would be considered commercial enough. Property of a Lady is a title that was first mentioned as a potential for Dalton's never-produced third Bond. It certainly has the best chances. The others are The Hildebrand Rarity (zzz...), Risico (not too bad though I bet folks will have trouble saying it), and 007 in New York, which is simply unacceptable as a film title. According to a biography of Fleming, he was considering "My Enemy's Enemy" as the title of a future Bond novel or story before his death. That one's not bad. I think EON needs to face facts that unless they decide to start remaking the Connery and Moore Bonds, if they want to keep connection to the literary Bond they need to start looking beyond Fleming and start adapting (or at least using the titles of) the Bonds written by John Gardner, Raymond Benson, and Kingsley Amis, as well as the Sebestian Faulks Bond novel of a few years ago. Alex
The Dalton saga was a little more complicated than that. The 'Dalton Quits' story was essentially a way of letting him keep his dignity. They were only able to get the franchise back off the ground by letting him go. The hiatus was in part caused by Cubby Broccoli's loyalty to the actor and his view that Dalton was a fine 007; had he agreed to studio pressure to replace him, the series would have been back onscreen earlier. Admittedly Dalton's casting firing wasn't the only obstacle to the Bond series being onscreen between 1989-95, but it was one of them. Only when Cubby died and his less sentimental/ loyal relatives took over was poor Tim let go.
^Cubby lived to see GoldenEye released (he died in June 1996), but by that point he was only a "consulting producer" on the series. I'm not surprised Dalton was let go; he didn't really connect with the audience the way Connery, Moore, Brosnan, and Craig did.
I liked both of Dalton's films, but then I'm also one of those weird people who wonders if the series wouldn't have been quite so silly in the 1970s if Lazenby had ignored bad advice and signed the seven-film contract EON was offering him.
^ I've long held the suspicion that had Lazenby done more films, he'd be considered the best Bond. Connery really did become too big for the role. I don't think Lazenby would've had that problem. And his character was so much more believable. Plus, as you said, he didn't have the cartoon image of his successors. As far as the next one, I think some time off will probably be a good thing.
I would love to see Colonel Sun filmed but it'd probably be too awkward to adapt now - the politics would need adaption and the M-being-kidnapped has been done (far inferiorly) comparitively recently in TWINE. A couple of the Gardner books would work well but I hope they don't go anywhere near the Benson books, which are pretty ropey for the most part. The Faulks novel was fun, but a complete Bond pastiche which I don't think would go down too well on screen. Put me down as another who counts The Living Daylights among his favourite Bond films.
Aren't we forgetting that Pierce Brosnan was cast as Bond in The Living Daylights, but the fine folks at Remington Steele wouldn't let him go. Imagine if Brosnan was in TLD, and LTK. I bet there wouldn't have been a 5 year delay. As much as I loved Timothy Dalton as Bond, Brosnan would have kept the series alive for another 10 years after Moore.
Brosnan was only cast because Dalton was comitted to Brenda Starr. When they couldn't get Brosnan they basically held back production so Dalton could do it, he finished one film on the friday and started the other on the sunday (or soemthing like that) I'd love to have seen Dalton in Goldeneye. TLD is one of my favourites too. First 007 I saw at the cinema. Great Bond, great Bond girl, great action scenes (the pre-title sequence and the fight hanging out of the plane) great soundtrack. Shame Whittiker was a bit of a lame villain, but Koskov was great (as was Necros)
^ I think the story about Dalton 'really' being their first choice ahead of Brosnan is more Eon spin. I remember at the time it was very clear that he was the second choice, Brosnan had been the front-runner for some years. Dalton's casting was quite a surprise, he was a much less recognisable name and even when the BBC announced it, they referred to Brosnan and his reasons for being unable to take it.