James Bond could come to Australia, if actor Daniel Craig has his way

shadowonthesun

Nevertheless, I still feel that your approach to Bond is untenable, impractical and largely impossible. I honestly think you've fundamentally misinterpreted not only Bond, but storytelling in general. However, I am trying to understand your point of view. Tell me, if you do not value plot in Bond films, what do you value in other, non-Bond films?

DaltonCraig007

I value plot in most films I see as very important. Only for Bond films do I think that plot is unimportant. But it doesn't stop me from enjoying non-Bond films with good plot.

I live in Australia and I would have to agree with the other Australians. We don't have anything unique or worthwhile to offer to the film. To me, a Bond film set in Australia would seem very out of place. I would much rather see him go back to the US where there is a far greater diversity in scenery and a much greater opportunity for a good plot. Also of he came to Australia the film would star local actors... who can't act.

thelivingroyale

shadowonthesun said:

Samuel001 said:
Please. Do. Not. Start. Another. Fight.

Thank you.

I'm not looking to. I'm just pointing out that there is no reason for Bond to come to Australia. We don't have anything that would fit a Bond film, unless you want something totally generic like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, with Bond coming to Australia for scenes that could take place in any other country in the world

I don't see why bond couldn't travel to australia. Maybe bond could get stranded in the outback or stop an assasination then have a fight on the roof of the sydney opera house???, or scuba dive at the great barrier reef???. And for scenes that can happen in any country, well if they can happen in any country, why not australia then???

thelivingroyale

and how about kylie minouge as a bond girl???

actonsteve

shadowonthesun said:
It's funny you should say you don't care about the plot, because without a plot, none of the things that you do care about could be put into the film. In fact, I'm pretty sure that your ideal Bond film is practically unfilmable. If by whatever miracle EON managed to pull it off, I think you would be the only one to enjoy it.

Or you would have DAD...

DaltonCraig007

actonsteve said:

shadowonthesun said:
It's funny you should say you don't care about the plot, because without a plot, none of the things that you do care about could be put into the film. In fact, I'm pretty sure that your ideal Bond film is practically unfilmable. If by whatever miracle EON managed to pull it off, I think you would be the only one to enjoy it.

Or you would have DAD...

DAD is a great film, a well-deserved top 10 outing for me... A very Flemingesque performance from Brosnan. DAD is a like a massive middle-finger directed at the horrible film TWINE was. DAD was a return to basic - fun, spectacle, entertainement.

Samuel001

DaltonCraig007 said:
I value plot in most films I see as very important. Only for Bond films do I think that plot is unimportant. But it doesn't stop me from enjoying non-Bond films with good plot.

Why have such opposing views though on Bond vs non-Bond?

I'm certain even Fleming knew when writing his novels, plot was important. As has already been said, without the plot, nothing much else in a film, or anything else for that matter, would exist. It bides the whole thing together and allows for characters, gadgets and other situations to happen.

actonsteve

DaltonCraig007 said:
[

DAD is a great film, a well-deserved top 10 outing for me...

=))

DaltonCraig007

actonsteve said:

DaltonCraig007 said:
[

DAD is a great film, a well-deserved top 10 outing for me...

=))

Just my humble opinion. It is not a written rule that DAD cannot be loved by anyone, or that CR cannot be hated by anyone. How boring would this website be if everyone had the same opinions on Bond.

RogueAgent

alot of people have written there is nothing for Bond there? All it needs is a lead in the storyline which i am sure they are more than capable of doing.

I would love to see Bond in Australia and New Zealand!

thelivingroyale

DaltonCraig007 said:

actonsteve said:

DaltonCraig007 said:
[

DAD is a great film, a well-deserved top 10 outing for me...

=))

Just my humble opinion. It is not a written rule that DAD cannot be loved by anyone, or that CR cannot be hated by anyone. How boring would this website be if everyone had the same opinions on Bond.

DAD would be in my top 10 if they had re-written the whole iceland and finale sequence. It was going great up until then, then it went downhill. Now its bottom of my list. But I see why you like it.

Baltimore_007

Samuel001 said:
Craig is keen to make a film Down Under and likes the idea of finally bringing agent 007 to Australia.

Despite his globe-trotting exploits, the fictional MI6 spy has never travelled to the wide brown land in the 50 years since first hitting screens in Dr No.

"I would love to shoot in Australia. That is just me," Craig said. "Whether Bond goes there or not, I could not tell you, but I personally would love to shoot in Australia."

Australia is not without its connections to 007 - NSW-born George Lazenby played Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969.

Craig is busy filming his third Bond film Skyfall, the 23rd in the franchise. start of production.

Spanish star Javier Bardem will play the chief villain.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/movies/you-bewdy-james-bond/story-e6frf9h6-1226235956716

Notice how Mr Craig states that 'it is just me' that has this intention and whether Bond goes there or not 'I would love to shoot there', i.e. Craig is really saying an all expenses paid trip to film some antipodean Bond adventures would be mighty fine so long as he's in the role but wouldn't seem too keen on the idea if it was anyone else playing the 007 role

I wrote loads more about this yesterday but was unable to continue and the remainder of the work was not saved so I won't duplicate but just mentioned that it's an even bet Bond would be featured in Sydney, it's seems the most obvious outcome, while three quarters of the continent resides in the South East corner there are other areas to explore such as Alice Springs, Darwin and Perth for instance. You can see it now that if they ever went ahead with this is would no doubt feature Bond/Craig having some climatic struggle with some nemesis on or around the Opera House

I welcome a Bond in Australia type adventure, a type of Mission Impossible II remake from what I can remember, but please no Moore type nonsense of wrestling crocodiles and Paul Hogan cameos or rescuing Koala bears from trees, we don't need it

timmer

FromCanadaWithLove said:
I'd love to see Bond come to Canada. There is a lot happening here, with Chinese espionage and all.

Yes Bond is due to come to Canada. Canada has a rich tradtion with the Fleming novels, especially TSWLM, and with Fleming himself.
In TSWLM, Viv Michel is French Canadian and Bond was battling enemies in Toronto, before he hopped in his car and commenced his journey south to Washington. There have been several Canadian nods in the films; most recently Canadian actress Stana Kanic playing Canadian agent, Corrine, in QoS, but movie-Bond has never actually seen action in this vital Commonwealth country.
Bring Bond to Canada! Very soon! We even have a Pinewoods Studio branch in Toronto. Daniel Craig is also very familiar with the city, having shot Dream House here.
And as this local blogger details, Fleming has a strong WWII connection to the city, and the famous "Quiet Canadian," spymaster, William Stephenson, code-name Intrepid.
Toronto's St. James-Bond United Church, that Fleming was quite possibly aware of, was only recently merged with another church.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/parker/general/bond-st-james-bond/

"Fleming also worked closely with William Stephenson, the Canadian entrepreneur who became Intrepid — the key operative co-ordinating British-Canadian-American secret war efforts. Toronto was a communications centre for Stephenson and he helped establish Camp X, the super-secret training facility for undercover agents, on a farm between Whitby and Oshawa (now known as Intrepid Park).
Fleming spent some time in Toronto during the war. He was checking out Camp X to pick up anything his special commando unit could add to its repertoire, but he was also monitoring other secret activities going on in Toronto during his stay in 1942."

"As Fleming explained, he wanted his hero’s name to be a plain, ordinary British moniker so he was a point of stability as fantastic occurrences swirled around him.
Let’s assume that the ornithologist was the primary source for James Bond, but the little church in Toronto was a subliminal reinforcement.
Because….
St. James-Bond United Church was located at 1066 Avenue Rd., just north of Eglinton.
Also just north of Eglinton on Avenue Rd. you will still see red-brick military buildings that seem rather quaint. The buildings still standing are only part of a military complex that, when it was built during World War II, housed a secret scientific complex that was cutting-edge."

The blogger does take some liberties though. He asserts that several movie-scenes have been shot in Canada, although the only one that I am aware of, is the opening ski sequence to TSWLM.
He later gets DN mixed up with FRWL when discussing Bond-actor auditions, but his notes on Fleming in Toronto and the James Bond church are at least interesting.
We also have a Bond Street downtown, and a large "Quantum"-named mid-town condo complex.
Bond should be right at home.

Virage

Okay my location ideas.

Aussie
[//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Amp_tower_center_point_tower_sydney.jpg
Centerpoint eye tower, Sydney.

Darling Harbour, Sydney

Conservatorium of Music, Sydney.

Luna Park, Sydney.

NZ

Te Papa Tongarewa ( The National Musseam of NZ), Wellington

Wellington Airport, Wellington

Skytower, Auckland

Milford Sound, Milford

Samuel001

Baltimore_007 said:

Samuel001 said:
Craig is keen to make a film Down Under and likes the idea of finally bringing agent 007 to Australia.

Despite his globe-trotting exploits, the fictional MI6 spy has never travelled to the wide brown land in the 50 years since first hitting screens in Dr No.

"I would love to shoot in Australia. That is just me," Craig said. "Whether Bond goes there or not, I could not tell you, but I personally would love to shoot in Australia."

Australia is not without its connections to 007 - NSW-born George Lazenby played Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969.

Craig is busy filming his third Bond film Skyfall, the 23rd in the franchise. start of production.

Spanish star Javier Bardem will play the chief villain.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/movies/you-bewdy-james-bond/story-e6frf9h6-1226235956716

Notice how Mr Craig states that 'it is just me' that has this intention and whether Bond goes there or not 'I would love to shoot there', i.e. Craig is really saying an all expenses paid trip to film some antipodean Bond adventures would be mighty fine so long as he's in the role but wouldn't seem too keen on the idea if it was anyone else playing the 007 role

To me it says Craig would love to film in Australia in a Bond or non Bond film as he loves the country, 'it's just him' something he personally would like to do. As for anyone else playing Bond doing it, I doubt he really cares. I have no idea where you've got that idea from, maybe reading too far into it?

DiscoVolante

Kind of weird that Bond has never gone there. Australia and Sweden for Bond 24, fine with me :)

JWESTBROOK

DiscoVolante said:
Kind of weird that Bond has never gone there. Australia and Sweden for Bond 24, fine with me :)

:>

thelivingroyale

Virage said:
Okay my location ideas.

Aussie
[//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Amp_tower_center_point_tower_sydney.jpg
Centerpoint eye tower, Sydney.

Darling Harbour, Sydney

Conservatorium of Music, Sydney.

Luna Park, Sydney.

NZ

Te Papa Tongarewa ( The National Musseam of NZ), Wellington
Image soon
Wellington Airport, Wellington

Skytower, Auckland

Milford Sound, Milford

bond should go to australia for bond 24

echo

Ehh, Australia isn't that exotic. It's basically California with a different accent.

actonsteve

timmer said:

FromCanadaWithLove said:
I'd love to see Bond come to Canada.
e.

Do they still do log rolls in Canada? I seem to remember them floating huge amounts of timber down rivers in the Yukon. That could be a good place for a fight, trying to keep upright on moving logs.

As for Australia? I have been there and enjoyed it but I dunno there are still many more exotic cities then Sydney and Melbourne.

Char35t

log floating is very destructive....and take many decades to centuries to fix.

What about Darwin? the Reef? Perth? then there are the Land Trains, Tasamina, AFL/Rugby, MINING, ALL THE KNOWN minerals in the world can be found there. News flash to you Aussies, Aussieland (Bills Food) is Exotic to Americans and move of the rest of the world.

So lets say Quantum are hiding in AUS? Like you said its "plain jane" vanilla not much happens there....which would be perfect if you want to stay clear of the pain. HQ in AUS or NZ would be a great idea in a mining complex. Then you have the shipping, military, secret, test, haarp bases. Isnt the US building a base in Aus to protect against china?

What about Kangroo Island? The MASSIVE lakes of Torrens, Gairdner and Erye that are north of Spencer Gulf?

shadowonthesun

Char35t said:
HQ in AUS or NZ would be a great idea in a mining complex. Then you have the shipping, military, secret, test, haarp bases.

But that's generic stuff - a secret base, or a mineral mine could reasonably be anywhere else in the world.

Think of it this way: if something could be moved from a nominated country (like Australia) to Greenland with a minimum of fuss, then it's generic. If it could happen anywhere else in the world with equal ease, then Bond would only be coming to Australia for the sake of the location.

Char35t said:
Isnt the US building a base in Aus to protect against china?

No. There is no "protecting against China" because China is our biggest trading partner. The United States is increasing its troop presence in Australia for the security of the region, but it has nothing to do with protecting against China or any other country.

Char35t said:
What about Kangroo Island? The MASSIVE lakes of Torrens, Gairdner and Erye that are north of Spencer Gulf?

But there is nothing to connect them to Bond. There is no reason in Australia for Bond to visit those locations other than to visit those countries.

For example, this is Bagan, an ancient city in Myanmar. For years, the country was controlled by a military junta. But the junta disbanded in 2010, and the country is in the process of introducing democracy. This could be used in a Bond film: a villain uses Bagan as a base because he enjoys the protection of the junta. So long as he is there, he is untouchable. But when the junta disbands, his protection is gone. He is now fair game for anyone who comes looking for him. Bond could visit Bagan in pursuit of him, or perhaps an associate that the villain hid there.

Australia, on the other hand, doesn't have anything like that.

Bounine

"Besides, I suspect this story came from a journalist asking him about Bond coming to Australia during promotions for TINTIN or DRAGON TATTOO, and Craig was just being diplomatic about it."

I can't help but thinks this too.

I don't want to sound negative toward Australia and NZ but it isn't exotic and would't particularly offer an aethetcally pleasing backdrop to a Bond film unless they were shooting out in the desert and this has already been done recently in QOS. City wise, the urban landscape is plain and offers nothing particularly interesting to look at and the same goes for New Zealand. If they were to shoot downunder then I think NZ would be better as atleast in the rural areas the landscape is more diverse - mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and a bit of desert. Urban wise though...boring! There are many American cities out there that could double for Australian and New Zealand towns and they wouldn't have to spend as much of their budget on getting there.

shadowonthesun

Bounine said:
I can't help but thinks this too.

The current Bond actor is usually very positive towards Australia when asked. I seem to recall tht Brosnan was constantly questioned about it, and he always said he would love to do a Bond film here. It never happened, though.

Bounine said:
City wise, the urban landscape is plain and offers nothing particularly interesting to look at

Sydney on New Year's Eve would be interesting, since it's the first major city to welcome the New Year. Aucklandites will no doubt disagree with that sentiment, but Sydney's fireworks display is usually one of the most spectacular in the world:

There's usually half a dozen barges in the harbour used as fireworks platforms, and the harbour itself is usually crowded with boats.

The only problem with shooting New Year's Eve fireworks is that shooting would only get about half an hour of filming time on one night of the year. And maybe ten minutes at nine o'clock for the family-friendly show. It would also be very difficult to control drunk crowds - a chase on jet-skis between the boats in the middle of the fireworks display would look spectacular, but it would be impossible to control all the boats at any one time. And all it would take it one drunken party to get in the way and the whole thing could very well be a disaster.

Bounine

Oh yes, the opera house would make one interesting landmark with the fireworks. Fireworks wise though, Eon could buy their own fireworks and let them off where they wanted in any harbour during any evening and pretend it's new years if they wanted a new year's scene.

actonsteve

shadowonthesun said:

Sydney on New Year's Eve would be interesting, since it's the first major city to welcome the New Year. Aucklandites will no doubt disagree with that sentiment, but Sydney's fireworks display is usually one of the most spectacular in the world:

r.

I am going to get shot for this but they do reckon the London NYE fireworks beat Sydneys this year (and may be even last years)

Theres a hat tip to James Bond in there as well..

As they are currently shooting Skyfall in London at the moment I think they missed a trick not having Craig move through the South Bank while the fireworks were going off.

thelivingroyale

shadowonthesun said:

Char35t said:
HQ in AUS or NZ would be a great idea in a mining complex. Then you have the shipping, military, secret, test, haarp bases.

But that's generic stuff - a secret base, or a mineral mine could reasonably be anywhere else in the world.

Think of it this way: if something could be moved from a nominated country (like Australia) to Greenland with a minimum of fuss, then it's generic. If it could happen anywhere else in the world with equal ease, then Bond would only be coming to Australia for the sake of the location.

Char35t said:
Isnt the US building a base in Aus to protect against china?

No. There is no "protecting against China" because China is our biggest trading partner. The United States is increasing its troop presence in Australia for the security of the region, but it has nothing to do with protecting against China or any other country.

Char35t said:
What about Kangroo Island? The MASSIVE lakes of Torrens, Gairdner and Erye that are north of Spencer Gulf?

But there is nothing to connect them to Bond. There is no reason in Australia for Bond to visit those locations other than to visit those countries.

For example, this is Bagan, an ancient city in Myanmar. For years, the country was controlled by a military junta. But the junta disbanded in 2010, and the country is in the process of introducing democracy. This could be used in a Bond film: a villain uses Bagan as a base because he enjoys the protection of the junta. So long as he is there, he is untouchable. But when the junta disbands, his protection is gone. He is now fair game for anyone who comes looking for him. Bond could visit Bagan in pursuit of him, or perhaps an associate that the villain hid there.

Australia, on the other hand, doesn't have anything like that.

Like I already said, australia has a ton of locations that would make great scenes. Imagine if the villian captured bond, then shot him in the leg and left him to die in the outback. Or bond is investigating a dead double 0 and, aftger following clues, scuba dives and finds the body hidden in the great barrier reef. @Virage showed some great buildings in his post, imagine bond tracking a bad guy to that airport then they end up fighting on top of that massive tower. And for the scenes that can take place anywhere, well they can take place in australia then. Kylie minouge can be an aussi bond girl.

RogueAgent

As likeable as kylie is? No thanks! Look what happened with Madonna! And that was only a brief cameo! :)) But very happy to see 007 go down under!

thelivingroyale

RogueAgent said:
As likeable as kylie is? No thanks! Look what happened with Madonna! And that was only a brief cameo! :)) But very happy to see 007 go down under!

difference is, kylie is actually an ok actress :) but yeah I really want to see bond in australia

Categories

In this Discussion

Announcements