After Craig, I find it fairly pointless to judge simply by pictures of the actors. There were few, if any, pictures of Daniel Craig that screamed “This guy could be Bond” and the first half of his tenure is one of the best stretches of Bond films we ever got.
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When you think back over the history, we’ve never had a Bond actor who just flat did a bad job. At the end of the day they’re all professionals and they figure it out once they get the role. My stumping for Cole is based 30% on his look, 70% on what I saw from him in the Ipcress File.
So we already stopped looking for a man now, are we? They look like from the Mickey Mouse club…
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Don´t get me wrong here, I really like Jesse Eisenberg as an actor for example, but is that enough for saying: oh, he is such a good actor, he could be Felix Leiter…
Wait a minute, Bailey is that guy from the last Jurassic Park movie, right? He was there a kind of nerd, so I don’t realy have a good image of him he could be Bond, if I am honest than Rubert Fiend who was also in that movie looks more like James Bond than Bailey.
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I think Elordi looks okay with a sense of playboy arrogance, but I can’t get past his 6’5 height.
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If Amazon were to look at the latest Jurassic movie, then they should look no further than Rupert Friend. Best choice, hands down, of the actors that even remotely fit into the broad criteria necessary for the role.
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I’m aware. It just doesn’t change the fact that I still think he’s far and away the best choice that they could make.
It is, though, almost certain that the next Bond will be either in his late 20s or early 30s. What will be interesting to see is how the choice is received compared to how Craig was initially received. I very much doubt we’ll get someone cast in the part that can come close to measuring up to Craig, but at the same time, I don’t foresee as big of a firestorm around the choice either. Given the state of affairs in the franchise since Bond walked into M’s office at the end of Skyfall, I get the feeling that, much like Friend’s chances of landing the part, the ship has somewhat sailed for the franchise as a whole as well.
None of these younger names scream James Bond to me. Jacob Elordi looks about the best, but like sharpshooter, I can’t get over his 6’5" height. That is just too tall. 6’3" is about the max, I think, and 5’10 is about the shortest.
Still, despite all the rumors to the contrary, I still hold out (faint) hope that Henry Cavill will be cast as Bond #7. All these rumors could be just news to stir up interest. Of course, it’s just as likely or even more likely that the rumors are true. However, with all things considered–looks, age, ability, charisma, box office, fans’ preference for the role, and odds to get butts in seats–I think Cavill’s the best choice.
I don’t have a favourite right now. I do think they’ll go with someone young and relatively unknown. Casting is still way off and a lot can change in the meantime, so I’m not too concerned at the moment.
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Elordi is „hot“ right now, and his turn in del Toro‘s „Frankenstein“ will bolster his recognition status as an acting talent. His agents will make sure that he stays in the Bond conversation, but he won’t sign on even if he were offered the part, simply because he will want to stay available for a multitude of parts.
I‘m sure they will choose a newcomer. Easier to manage, less money to pay for.
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So far Bond’s height on screen runs from:
Tallest = 6’2’’ Connery and Dalton
Shortest 5’10’’ Craig
In the novels Bond’s height is listed as 6’ so we have 2 inches either way. Personally a 6’5’’ actor as Bond wouldn’t really bother me. When I think of disparity between actor and character height I think of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. But everyone’s milage may vary.
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I’d say the height is secondary - as long as it doesn’t interfere with what we see on the screen i.e. Bond can look tall but shouldn’t come across as a basketball player. That would probably disturb the illusion. Does Elordi come across that way? I haven’t seen him in anything - consciously - so far. Cruise as Reacher didn’t worry me, the character is purely wishful thinking anyway, a fantasy like Superman. Jackman as Wolverine, is he really shorter than Wolverine is supposed to be? I never knew.
EDIT: I looked Wolverine up, 5.3. Can’t say that I’d notice from the drawings.
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“The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself.”
Wolverine was initially introduced as an opponent for the Hulk, so anyone without monstrous proportions was going to look small.
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Agreed, but here is where the conflict may lie. Bond doing “not nice” things occurs as the result of his being a state agent/assassin. Sleeping with/seducing women usually appears to be tangential to the mission, which then brings Bond’s character as a person, and not just his obligations as a state actor, into play. Because Bond can do “not nice” things as a state agent does not mean that such license allows him to do “not nice” things outside of his state duties.
But every action taken during the mission has a different relationship to that mission.
Agreed. But when a character is being presented as a hero, having cruelty as one of the acceptable edges of his personality may be harder to do in our present moment.
I think that regarding abuse of women as collateral damage is not going to get much of an audience today.
Again, does that approach justify cruel behavior toward woman (except if they are wielding a weapon against Bond)?
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With all the talk about whether Bond’s a nice guy, just wanted to toss in that I watched TMWTGG on Amazon to see the 4K treatment and while it looks wonderful, Bond himself comes off as the worst person on Earth. With every year that goes by, his actions and attitudes in this film seem more repulsive. You know it’s a problem when the nominal “villain” is more likable than the “hero.”
For a long time, I assumed this was because they still hadn’t found their footing with Roger at this point and things Sean could’ve gotten away with, Roger could not. But I’m starting to think this wasn’t a gradual progression from 1962 but rather a “pocket” of reptilian behavior during the Mankiewiecz years. I know he just did a first draft of GG, but I feel like his fingerprints are all over this film, and they are greasy, nasty fingerprints indeed.
I was distracted and at the end of the film, TSWLM started on autoplay, which was a godsend. By the end of the PTS, I was feeling better.
Which is to say, I guess, Bond should be a bit of a bastard, but not an out and out slimeball.
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Fully agreed. The moment he enjoys cruelty, justifying it with „hey, I‘m on a mission“, he would become insufferable.
But has he done that so far? Even the macho-dick-iness of the early years always was for his own private pleasure (and, I hope, for the woman‘s, too, since we are always told that „every woman wants to be with him“).
I see what you’re getting at here, and maybe we can agree on this: when he needs to get into the inner circle of the villain or even attain information, he will manipulate man or woman. As the myth goes, his sexual charisma just makes it easier to have someone like Corinne quickly succumb to his charms. And of course he enjoys that. But who wouldn‘t?
I disagree. Sadly, real cruelty and cynical brutality have become so much more of a „funny joke/prank/coolness“ that the absence of social shaming allows for all the debased instincts of mass audiences to come to the surface.
It should not but it probably would.
As for Bond: is he ever portrayed as an abuser? Even the Andrea scene is not about Bond abusing her (Scaramanga is the abuser here, she is so desperately trying to flee him that she sends that bullet to the Secret Service!), but Bond fearing for his own life if he allows Scaramanga‘s lover to lure him into a situation he will get killed in.
It does not in my mind, but see above: I think he is always protecting himself or the… um… world.
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I think Guy Hamilton is most responsible here for the reptilian behavior here. It is in DAF as well, but Connery plays it differently. Lewis Gilbert will transform Moore Bond in the next film.
Exactly. It is Bond’s private pursuit of pleasure, and hopefully others involved have some fun as well.
Agreed. I think Moore Bond was best at embodying the myth of Bond’s sexual charisma.
You are probably correct, and I am being optimistic.
His treatment of Severine in SF (I know we have been over this territory many times).
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We have. I still don’t see it as abuse because Severine like Andrea wants Bond to relieve her of her abuser. And she also pays with a bullet through her head. The fact that she was a victim/survivor of human trafficking cannot, IMO, characterize her whole life at this point.
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I’d say Bond’s treatment of Pat Fearing, blackmailing her into sex to keep her job, is a much stronger case of Bond as predatory exploiter and abuser. It’s almost textbook Weinstein (and most other lowly rapist predator cases).
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