No, just no. I'm so glad they didn't go with Connery as Kincade. That said I did have a crazy idea before NTTD came out when we didn't quite know what the hell it was about, mainly based on this line from Safin. I somehow contrived in my head that this meant Safin had found way to copy a person's memories. I wondered if Craig's Bond would die but because his memories had been copied M would be able to stick them in another guy's head, so he would be Bond, just in a new body! It's batshit I know, it would have made Moonraker and DAD look like Casino Royal (2006). what can I say, there was a pandemic on and we did have a long time to ponder about NTTD.
Barbara has apparently said that they haven’t begun casting yet https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/james-bond-producer-007-casting-000129-20230219
God you really get the feeling that they're just not that into it any more don't you? It seems to have become a bit of a chore for Barbara and Michael these days. Maybe I'm being unfair and I'm sure it is a huge amount of effort pulling a film together and they're entitled to a break but we're almost 18 months past NTTD coming out now and you kinda feel like they don't even have a plan to create a plan! I still suspect Barbara is texting Daniel Craig every week saying "Are you sure you don't want to come back? We could lift the start of The Man with the Golden Gun novel and have you just swan into M's office and try and kill him, it'll be great." What do we reckon, 2025 at the earliest for Bond 26?
I think they have to tread very carefully at this point. Because Bond died, they basically have to start from scratch. But at the same time, they don't want to just rehash what they did with Craig's first movie where he was new to the 00s. They have a clean slate to reboot the franchise and as such, they have a lot to take into consideration. My hope is that they will cast someone relatively unknown and that they plop him down mid-career like they did with Connery's first movie. Unfortunately that means an all new cast of characters. While I love Judi Dench as M, I always felt it kind of weird that she carried over. Had Craig's Bond already been in the service for a while, it wouldn't have been so weird, but to have her as M at the start of his career just seemed off. I dunno.. Now I'm rambling.
It doesn't really matter for me whether it's 50 or 347 years. After THUNDERBALL and CASINO ROYALE '06, how higher could it possibly go? We fear ''The End'' in movies more than we arguably do in real-life now.
I love it so much, it's almost a miracle it was the highest grossing Bond after inflation. My friend and I saw it three or so years ago at a repertory house. When it was all over, I asked him ''Wasn't Leslie Nielsen great?''
The worst of the first five Connery films is You Only Live Twice and I'll die on that hill. That being said YOLT has the most beautiful soundtrack of any of Sean's seven Bond films including the unofficial Never Say Never Again.
That I can go with. Pardon my ellipses. It's probably heresy of me to say so, but DR. NO's low-budget and quickly defeated main villain distance it for me. YOLT at least shares the GOLFINGER-THUNDERBALL level of cinematography and its music is vastly more dynamic then DR. NO's. For me, Bonds three through five fit quite well together as an unofficial trilogy.
There's just something about Dr. No. I didn't used to like it that much but over the years it's become comfort viewing. It's one of the movies I put on when I'm feeling really low.
Dr. No is in my Top 6 or 7 depending on my mood when I'm watching it. It's so low-key it's almost like a documentary film crew followed Bond on the Jamaica mission.
I actually quite like YOLT, to be honest. Probably my favorite of the Connery era. I know Dr. No and Goldfinger get most of the popular vote, but FRWL are probably my favorite. If I had to rank all of the movies together, I'm not sure I could.
Connery was on a roll. Then DAF happened. Well, it was a good run, Sean. And at least you got to put more than $1.25 million in 1971 dollars into a Scottish educational fund.
See, I take exactly the opposite approach. They should treat everyone like Judy Dench's M. If you are doing good in the roll, just carry on regardless, like with the original Q and Moneypenny (thought that was all the "same" Bond).
I'm fine with Wishaw as Q but they do need to make him feel more like he has a fun love-hate relationship with Bond and up the verbal sparring.
Much as I liked the Fiennes-Harris-Wishaw-Kinnear supporting cast and would’ve been fine with them hanging around had this been a reboot-lite or loose continuity, the way Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn etc did, I think that the ending of NTTD requires a whole new cast for the next movie.
Michael G. Wilson is in his 80s now. How long will he keep doing this? Is he setting up his son David as his replacement? I mean, even Barbara Broccoli at 61 could already think about retirement. Just think about this, the Bond series is getting close to going as long without Cubby as it went on with him.