We Have All The Time In The World: OHMSS Turning 50

Makes me wonder if EON will pick a more established star like Moore and Brosnan were for the next gig.

 

Predicting the next Bond is a mug’s game. Dalton wasn’t really on most people’s radar until the whole Remington Steele debacle nixed it for Pierce. Next time out, everyone thought they’d go for a big name to make up for the fact that the series seemed like old hat. And apparently they did, but none really wanted it, so Pierce was back in the frame. After DAD, I remember all the talk being of Eric Bana, Heath Ledger and Julian McMahon, until late in the day when some ludicrous speculation began to dwell on a blond-haired blue-eyed Liverpudlian called Daniel Craig (as if, right?!).

I do think the franchise is again at the stage where they don’t need a name actor, Bond is his own draw, but who knows?

 

At one time Clive Owen would have been the most ideal pick had Craig retired after just one or two films. My Mom always thought he'd have made a great James Bond. Now, though? Who knows who'd be the best as well as most recognizable choice?

 

Henry Cavill seems pretty well-suited but perhaps he’s too obvious. And as someone else joked, what would the tag line be - “you didn’t much care for him as Superman, you didn’t go to see him as The Man From UNCLE, but you’ll love him as James Bond”?!

Further down the pecking order, the likes of Aidan Turner, James Norton and Richard Madden have all been mooted.

 

I really liked The Man From UNCLE. It's a real shame it never got a sequel.

 

I liked it too, though even Cavill couldn’t replicate Robert Vaughn’s charm. I like period spy dramas but I suspect that its under-performing at the box office put paid to any ideas Eon might have had of doing a 60s-set Bond film (in the unlikely event that they had them in the first place).

 

The best spy film of 2015 IMHO, certainly I enjoyed it more than Spectre or Rogue Nation, lovely cast, wonderful period setting and just a deft lightness of touch, people slag Guy Richie off but that film made me think he should do a Bond. The only thing it lacked was the theme tune.

Anyway, going back to Roger...

Moore and physicality is an odd one. There are some decent fight scenes, especially early on, I hadn't really noticed before how good the fight in Saida's dressing room is in TMWTGG. Any kind of scrappy brawl and Rog looks ok, making him try and do karate on the other hand tends to look silly (not always in a bad way) but then I suspect it would do with Connery. He can be exceptionally cold blooded, which as has been said, is all the worse because he's so innately likeable. His "I certainly wouldn't have before" to Rosie, his casual flick of the tie in TSWLM, kicking the car off the cliff in FYEO. For the record however if you want to see how brutal Rog can really be I recommend The Wild Geese, in his opening scene he makes a gangster eat a bag if strychnine laced heroin then blithely leaves him to his agonising death. (He's great all round in TWG, though it does help having Richards Harris and Burton either side of him as it makes him look positively boyish.)

I will always argue he's a better actor than he's given credit for, take his subtle wince when XXX mentions he was married, or his wearying "there usually is" to the priest in FYEO (seriously though, is that priest in on it? why's he so sus?)

And of course it was Rog who finally got revenge for Tracy.

 

Amasova: "Many lady friends. But married only once. Wife killed..."

Bond: "Alright...you've made your point."

Amasova: "Sensitive, Mr. Bond?"

Bond: "About certain things, yes."

 

I thought he did a decent job, trying to replicate Vaughn's charm would be about as easy as replicating Roger's, they're actors from another era. I will say that I thought Armie Hammer was better, he really grew into that role as he went along and it was a surprisingly subtle performance. Plus it's the film that introduced me to Alicia Vikander and Elizibeth Debicki, either of whom would make a top draw Bond girl.

Re Craig's replacement. I'd like Cavill, if only because he wouldn't be a like for like replacement, more of a Brosnan Bond which might bit be a bad thing. I love the idea of Aidan Turner who'd be Dalton like, but right now I'd maybe go with Madden, not based on GOT or The Bodyguard, but on Rocketman and the way he played record producer John Reid, he's incredibly masculine and downright predatory in the way Connery was, imposing and frankly intimidating.

If I had complete creative control though? I'd offer Cillian Murphy a finite three picture deal with the intention of him being replaced by John Boyega at the end of that time (Boyega's handsome, can genuinely act, has the physicality and more importantly buckets load of charm. He's just too damn young at the moment! I mean I know he's Lazenby's age but men looked older back then). Id' really love to see Murphy's take on 007 as well, but doubt he'd want to do 5 or 6 films, and is possibly too old to do 5 or 6 as well, especially with the huge gaps we have now.

 

I just had a look at George’s twitter account @lazenbyofficial (I think he only recently joined). He seems to be enjoying life.

 

I'm definitely going to follow him! Thanks for letting us know about his account!

 

Just three more days until the anniversary!

 

Happy 50th Birthday to OHMSS!

 

So, do you think that they may have been trying to emphasise the fact that there was something different about this Bond, with that trailer? I’m not sure that the 200 or so mentions of the words “different” and “difference” really hammered the message home, TBH

 

I guess it still beats the Diamonds Are Forever trailer that talks about getting back "to what great movies are all about." The distance to which the producers went to try to make audiences forget about the previous (and far, far superior) film was pretty awkward and kinda sad.

 

I’m getting a similar vibe from the cast of Rise of Skywalker, actually, though I won’t know for a few hours if it’s superior to The Last Jedi or not!

 

Ditto!

 

It holds up.