Geez! How can I have forgotten Needful Things? He was amazing in that.
Max Von Sydow has Passed
- Thread starter marillion
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He was born to play Ming, and he was perfect in The Exorcist, but I also thought he was outstanding in Three Days of the Condor.
RIP, Great One!
RIP, Great One!
Probably disrespectful but I like to think he's taking the long walk first before he gets where he's going.
RIP Brewmeister Smith.
RIP Brewmeister Smith.
I love this.
I just read this morning he turned down playing DR. NO.
Guess he preferred the Stallone flick.
To be fair, those were 33 years apart. It's not like he turned down Dr. No to do Judge Dredd.
Wiseman did a great job as Dr. No. The role should have went to a Chinese or Hong Kong actor, but Von Sydow would have been a very bad match for it. Years later he did one of the creepier mob boss portrayals I've ever seen, as Manny Weisbord in Crime Story. It's a pity NSNA is the "other" Bond movie, but it got Von Sydow the best casting he would have received in the series.
Having seen the raw footage in BTS, it was shot poorly and took too long to make sense without drastic cuts. They probably couldn't make it work, as those cuts would have been mid-take, with no alternate angles.
If they'd been able to do it well, it would have paved the way for Queen Taramis ruling the same country in the next film rather effectively. A throwaway line about eliminating Osric's daughter so Taramis could have the throne would have been all they needed.
IIRC, Max himself said the death scenes didn't really work as well as they'd planned and so were cut from the final version. Along with a number of other deleted scenes that would have clarified certain things, like the scene where Valeria is actually introduced properly to Conan and Subotai at the tower. Sandahl Bergman was never pleased with that introduction being cut. There were also some early plans to have her as another gladiator when Conan was in the pits, which perhaps explains why she becomes an ally at the tower. And why, after Conan kills Rexor at the mounds, he does the gladiator salute after Valeria's spirit saves him.