James Bond 25 - Speculation and Anticipation Thread*

True. I'm really speaking of the EON Productions franchise.

 

I guess I just don't care all that much. Whoever is best for the role should get it, regardless of nationality. That's like when Jennifer Lopez played Selena, and the Mexican community was up in arms over it. Until they saw the movie and realized she did an amazing job in the role.

 

They should worry more about making a better film Craig like Brosnan were better than most of those Bond films

 

THey wag more money in front of Mr. Craig, and he'll be back. A stuntdouble would do wonders.

 

I think they have offered a load. He's just burnt out it seems.

 

'Nuff Said!

 

No reason they couldn't get an American to do a British accent. There are skillions of Brits who play Americans!

 

I think it would not be a good move. Why bother? There are plenty of UK actors to play the part and do it well. At least when they were thinking of going with John Gavin he wasn't going to have to use an accent. They were changing the character to an American and casting to support that. Dumb idea but that was the plan.

As for the skillions of Brits being cast to play Americans that has really gone overboard. It's not like there isn't a large pool of American actors who cannot many of these roles. I'm not sure why this has become a trend. I've discussed this with other actors and none of us get it. The occassional part or something that may need a very specific quality but it does seem to be a norm now. Cuts down the already low work opportunities.

 

and it would be again a different Bond, one we've never seen before.

 

I'm not arguing it's good or bad to cast an American as Bond - just saying that nationality shouldn't be an automatic disqualification.

I'm tired of the Brits/Aussies playing American because so many of them can't do the freakin' accent! Even talented actors like Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson can't pull off credible American accents - it gets really distracting/annoying, especially because many of these actors use the same American accent no matter what. Wilkinson played a Southern character in a recent movie but still used that same vaguely Mid-Atlantic accent he always uses - and Weisz opts for nasal Midwestern all the time...

 

Yeah...er, accents


I give you...Jamie Bond.

 

I think we're agreed on a lot of these points. I hear you. Lots of very bad accents out there. Also, Americans have a lot of trouble pulling off credible UK accents. Some exceptions but usually not very passable.

Whoever they cast, I hope he (or she) will be perfect for the role. A friend of mine was on the short list to play this guy (a long, long time ago) so I'm also wanting the best.

 

Yeah, I watched "Bridget Jones's Diary" the other day and was struck by how bad Zellweger's British accent was. Granted, it didn't help that all the other actors actually were British, so that made comparisons inevitable - and tougher on Renee!

 

Another funny truth about accents are the expat American actors. A lot of countries have a small crew of American actors that are cast for everything and anything "American". When I studied in London (thousands of years ago) my acting teacher was Don Fellows. He had a run for a few decades always getting many of the "American" roles. The funny thing was his American accent was slightly affected from being away from home for so long. Authentic American actor but slightly not so authentic (anymore). I'm trying to do this myself while I'm living (and starving) in the Netherlands. I luckily got a few voice over and dubbing jobs by selling my "authentic" American qualities. Crazy world.

 

Yeah, I can recall certain American actors who would turn up in a bunch of productions shot outside of the US.

Hey, John Ratzenberger showed up in a bunch of prominent late 70s/early 80s flicks because of that!

 

yeah, talk about crushed high expectations after Casino... what were they thinking!?

 

"QoS" felt like it wanted to turn Bond into Bourne. It tried to strip the franchise of pretty much everything that "makes Bond Bond".

I think the biggest symbol of that movie's failure comes from the Gemma Arterton character. In the film, she's just called "Miss Fields", but it turns out her name is "Strawberry Fields", a very "Bond Girl name".

But you wouldn't know that unless you watched the end credits. Why give her that name and not actually use it???

That's "QoS". It wants to capitalize on the Bond franchise but not actually resemble the other films...

 

I wouldn't mind Bond being more Bourne like. Don't you think that Casino does that and quiet successfully? QoS is just a bad film. Just this idiotic hotel in the desert consisting of easily flammable material is something as if it came from 80s films with Moore. Thank God Skyfall was better. Not the best but some really beautiful cinematography there. DB5 pulling up to the old mansion on the plain alone is worth the price of admission.

 

I'd watch that movie!

 

I think "Casino" offered a grittier Bond than we'd seen in a while, but I wouldn't call him "Bourne-like", really.

"CR" at least felt like "a Bond film". It incorporated some of the traditional elements - sure, it left out some, but it was also an "origin story", so we didn't expect all the usual components.

"QoS" went out of its way to avoid standard Bond tidbits.

And as you say - it was boring!

 

I haven't seen any of the Craig Bond movies, but what I first heard about Casino Royale was that it was supposed to be Bond's beginning and over the course of the movies we would eventually see Bond evolve into the Bond we are familiar with.

 

Which was true - to a degree. Bond hasn't become as "silly" and camp as it could be in the past, but they brought in more of the gadgets and other Bond-like elements.

It's not the absence of those gewgaws that makes "QoS" not seem "Bond-like" to me - it's the utter denial of the series' basics. The movie simply lacks much real connection to the Bond universe - it could be Bourne or any other character of that sort...

 

I agree. Casino Royal changed the tone at the right time. It worked.

I like to call Quantum of Solice - Quantum of S***. Wrong plot line. They should have gone in the direction discussed in the opening scenes about agents being targeted and killed. Investigation rather than blip, blip. Wrong road. Such a shame after the long wait because of MGM's problems.

 

What long wait? "QoS" came out just 2 years after "CR".

We had to wait 4 years for "Skyfall", though - and then 3 more for "SPECTRE"...

 

Ah, my memory is damaged. Too much Dutch drinks. It was "Skyfall" that was delayed. Or was it QOS? Memory failing.....

One of the films halted shooting due to MGM's financial troubles. It also halted the rest of the Blu-ray releases. Most likely Skyfall. Sorry for the memory blip.