Who would you rather see as Old Man Bond?

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Since we’ve been having fervent discussions about Old Man Bond over here, almost as if the movie has already been confirmed. This begs the question: who should play the part?

  • Pierce Brosnan – Suave and stylish, but hardened by regret and carrying darker, more ruthless edges beneath his polished charm.

  • Timothy Dalton – Gritty, intense, and could bring a forgotten spy angle.

  • Daniel Craig – More bruised and broken than ever, but still deadly.

Who do you think would fit best? Or would you pick someone else entirely?

I’m on camp Brosnan.

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I would imagine any momentum behind an “Old Man Bond” project would have to be driven by Brosnan’s involvement. Amazon would want to pick someone who’d draw in viewers, and Brosnan is still “recent” enough for audiences to remember and care about. Dalton arguably never won over a huge audience the first time and there are probably fewer people who have even seen his previous entries.

Meanwhile everyone’s already seen Daniel Craig play “Old Man Bond” for 3 films in a row, and after the events of NTTD, he’s more like “Disassembled and Scattered About Bond” which would make for a pretty static plot.

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Brosnan would be the only one who could draw in an audience - maybe.

Personally, i would consider the hunger for Old Man Bond existing only in a handful of hardcore Bond fans - and only those who grew up on Brosnan as Bond.

So… too few for Amazon.

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Goran Višnjić, your time has come!

No, put me down for Brosnan. I do actually think that could work.

Re. Craig: even if he’d somehow found a way to avoid being disassembled and scattered, he still has a rather nasty case of the nanobots.

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Spies-Mark-Millar/dp/1534322124/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=RGI41WA7DAFU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DnxmXamsYTbMV866fx1HfDMhJmm7ZspsARNPXxXRfllgewD3Xuy4H8CwmHql3HIHus5vcfgFK06IaGy8iBbcdhm37cZ90bPRrIiUFeHxXc6QH9dt1e_Rgl7h3tsA0zV4fhq8Es99jk4FVlnkRoYofV5vdFKl8oqIltbZSuSAABkL-LseWgAw1bHlescaAvABlDeT0tTfzdjvvmrvsTmQDw.ctnESFb97cbpFX4UGdJnmHrEgRzKnb05Q9MyuUeD23o&dib_tag=se&keywords=king+of+spies&qid=1741284938&sprefix=king+of+spies%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

If they did an adaptation of this with Brosnan, it would pretty much the same thing.

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But what does “Old Man Bond” actually entail? A guy with a gray beard? (a la Broz in his upcoming Guy Ritchie film). I’d offer we’ve already seen a pretty good effort - Sir Rog in FYEO plays a Bond of his age, offering in typically understated fashion, the sense of a man who has come to terms with who he is, with no more “change” to come.

We’ve had countless SCs in any film from Outland onwards, so you could use one of those as your basis. But without having a go at Broz, what is it about his interpretation of the character that would lead us to wanting an “old” Bond. I suspect that Bond is still going to be engaging in the same kind of cringe-inducing dialogue that peppered TND and what exactly is the point of that? Or are we looking for the faux-brooding Bond included in that same film?

Just me I know, but I don’t really get the point of “Old Man Bond.”

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I think there’s definitely a story to tell about an old James Bond who realises that a lifetime of living-for-today has resulted in him not having a wife or family and that the organisation he’s served for so long can readily dismiss him even now - as it does when, say, an old, reliable informant of his is disbelieved by the current MI6 and that he must do something about it himself.

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We pretty much already had an Old Man Bond with Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again and Roger Moore at the end of his tenure. His Bond was older in For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, but I don’t get an “Old Man” vibe from him there like I do in A View To A Kill. In that, he really is Old Man Bond.

But to answer the post’s question, I don’t think it’s likely we get an Old Man Bond effort, but with Amazon now controlling things, I wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility. It would have to be as a limited run streaming show rather than a one-shot film in large part so it doesn’t compete with film Bond while also boosting Amazon’s streaming numbers. But for Old Man Bond to likely have any chance of success, they’d have to cast a previous 007 actor.

George Lazenby would have been good 10 years ago (maybe even five), but he’s now retired. And while never really “old” during his tenure, we are told, nevertheless in Daniel Craig’s last three films, that he IS old and past his prime. Regardless, at this point in time, I can never see Craig returning to the Bond role even if we could ignore his death in No Time To Die–and besides, as I said, he’s really not that old now anyway.

That leaves Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan is the easy choice and probably the most willing to return. But as he basically said, what’s the point? Been there done that. He might have jumped at the opportunity 10 years ago, but he’s moved on now. But he would easily have the best chance at success.

Dalton, on the other hand, I wouldn’t be so willing to dismiss due to his “lack of popularity”. Like Brosnan, he still looks pretty good. Also, while he wasn’t as popular as Brosnan, Dalton has done things to keep his profile up since his 007 tenure and he’s always entertaining from The Rocketeer, Hot Fuzz, and Chuck to Penny Dreadful, Doom Patrol, and 1923. And there would also be the curiosity factor of the old Bond actor coming back. I could see it being a modest success and people and critics enjoying it. But, having said that, without the Broccolis involved, I can’t see him doing it, even if he would be really good in it.

So it’s Brosnan or nothing because I just can’t see a new actor taking up the “Old Man Bond mantle” and it being a success.

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And here I once again recommend the film Brosnan did the Old Man Bond already brillantly (unfortunately it went under the radar despite direction by Philipp Noyce): FAST CHARLIE.

image

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Plus, it’s not as if there was a shortage of ‘old agent’ stuff out there…

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There’s only so many ways to go with Old Man Bond, but you’d imagine it would be something like this…

An older, wiser, sadder Bond has managed to beat the odds and make it to retirement, taking himself totally off the grid to live a quiet life with his scars, regrets and difficult memories but achieving a sort of peace in his solitude before one day being tracked down and reactivated to deal with a threat only he can handle. With some reluctance, he gets back into the game and proves he’s still got what it takes – despite the skepticism of the younger generation of agents – before finally going out in a blaze of glory while saving the world one last time.

In other words, we’ve already seen it with NTTD.

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Amis supposedly had an idea to have an older 70ish Bond vacationing in Swiss but not skiing. There he’s approached by the daughter of a US senator whose father has been abducted by KGB General Moriarvsky. At the end Bond and Moriarvsky fight it out in the mountains and fall into a waterfall.

Glidrose - at the time - forbade him to ever write this. But I can’t help it would have been fun.

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Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate would have had opinions.

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Fast Charlie is a solid film. There was action, a compelling story and some nice dry humour, and the female lead was strong too. She was resourceful and stoic.

I assumed The Misfits would be Pierce’s last lead role, so glad he’s got to do more.

I wish November Man had been better. As a producer, he has to take some responsibility for that. He could have made two or three of those.

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Dalton hasn’t had a leading role in decades. Brosnan is the only choice.

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The only two things I would find very interesting with old man Bond are: Pearson´s authorised Biography or the Cussler novel, I think it was Night Probe, Bond outsmarting Dirk Pitt…

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Brosnan for the biography and Dalton for the other novel, I would feel like 14 again…

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Is Michale Caine still available? :wink:

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Ah yes. Brian Shaw was Bond’s alias in that. Reading Night Probe, you could almost hear a soft padding sound as Cussler tiptoed around copyright infringement.

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Brosnan is the only one that could pull it off and attract an audience. Dalton is too old and would not draw much of an audience to the project.

Either way, the project would never work as anything other than fan service for Bond fans who grew up with Brosnan and are looking for a nostalgia fix.

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