Who should/could be a Bond actor?

mtm

Did anybody else apart from Craig actually do a proper screentest, do we know?

DEKE_RIVERS

mtm wrote: »

DEKE_RIVERS wrote: »

M_Blaise wrote: »

Luckily we got a guy who did an amazing job instead.

Yes, but they killed him in the last movie. We can't count on him.

You don't have to now, he's not doing anymore. Luckily he was great while he was in them.

Never say never again....until they kill you ;)

007HallY

mtm wrote: »

Did anybody else apart from Craig actually do a proper screentest, do we know?

I presume Cavill got to that stage based on his GE reading. Alex O'Loughlin talked about going to London and doing proper screen-tests with costumes. I think Goran Visnjic did too I believe but was rejected because he couldn't do the accent. The latter two may or may not have done those early line readings though (Craig didn't).

Probably a fair few did proper screen-tests. But some may have only been on a list (I think David Tennant talked about discovering years later that he was supposedly on some sort of 'shortlist' for Bond, but had no idea).

EDIT: had a quick look online when looking up stuff for this post and found this archived from September 2005, a month before Craig was cast! It's quite funny in hindsight all the doom and gloom with the film supposedly in crisis. Some panicking that a Moneypenny hasn't been cast yet is quite funny too. Same for Campbell supposedly wanting a 'complete unknown'! It's an interesting insight into the run up to Craig's casting though, and for fans there was obviously a clear sense he was being considered, even though there's a lot of ignorance about everything in hindsight. https://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/25092-more-screentests-planned-for-new-007/

Some things never change ;) It's funny knowing just how wrong we can be though and what information we actually get. Here are my favourite quotes:

I'm beginning to think that Craig isn't going to get the part, aside from him, reportedly, being under very serious consideration again. The series, IMO, can't handle two radical changes to the formula that his casting would bring. First of all, CR is a film about one of Bond's early missions, but is set in modern times. The second shock would be the casting of Craig himself. Honestly, I don't think that the film, or perhaps even the franchise, can survive two major shocks to its system that CR starring Daniel Craig would bring.

Craig WILL NOT be Bond.

There are reason's why he should be - acting ability, presence - but these are far, far outwayed by the reason's very articulately put forward by previous posters here.

Add to that that EON are not going to take a chance with somebody possessing those shortcomings and the case is closed.

Craig WILL NOT be Bond... and anyone who thinks he has a good chance don't know their cinematic - or otherwise, I might add - Bond.

Moviehole.net has a new report on "Casino Royale" and the fiasco of casting the Bond role. Based on this report, I'd say that the project status is still at "development hell."

Oh and here's what some supposedly thought of the rumoured final candidates (including Craig), if we're worrying about the lack of good options for Bond now:

These guys are in a heap of trouble. You would think actors would be jumping over each other to want to play Bond. Judging by the names thrown out on this site, there's quite a few people who could reasonably do it. So, why weren't they asked? Really, what is the problem here? Are the producers burned out? If they don't know what to do with Bond, then they need to step aside. Personally, I feel their departure is looooooong overdue. They are the Berman and Braga of James Bond.

So the MKKBB article seems much more on the ball and accurate and it is the MKKBB article(which is the basis for this thread) that states we are getting more screentests in September and that the search for Bond goes on and goes wider.

Which to me is great news because it means that the "final 3 or 4" did not impress enough and therefore we are not stuck with any of them as Bond. No Goran!

Personally, I doubt the film will be pushed back. Part of me is starting to wish it would - the apparent casting fiasco is reason enough - just so we get the right actor for Casino Royale and beyond. None of the names being tossed around as "serious contenders" impress me.

And as a final one to round it off, for anyone disappointed by a lack of information on this Bond film or convinced they'll be disappointed, just know these things have always been a source of existential worry/gloom for fans, and often the subject of long posts. Here's some poor chap in a tizzy a month before CR's official press conference, and a matter of months before it started shooting.

I think they had four years to decide every thing. First, they used to do a movie every two years, then came Brosnan and for DAD two years became three years. After DAD they probably decided for CR to come out for 2005, but different troubles bring them to a 2006 exit, so they have another year to do everything, but now it seems nothing has been done. Last march Michael Wilson announced officially that CR will hit theatres on november 2006. A lot of actors were screentested but at the moment nobody can dress the part. I don't think there's nobody in the world who wouldn't take the part. We don't have a bad guy who will face 007, no moneypenny (Is it so hard to find a gracious 30 years old girl, at least all over UK?), we don't know if Cleese is still on the movie or not, no main title song and singer at all, no hench man, no femme fatale. We only have Judi Dench, The director Campbell, and what else? A new Fiat Panda and probably also a script to be polished, but as Wade said, it's over a year and half they had it, and, why they decide do polish it at 12 weeks from the start, and not a little bit earlier. I think that a good planning is the only thing to do, to have good movie, but as we can see, it doesn't seem our case. This veil of mistery, doesn't intrigue me anymore. As Tom Jones sang in TB: "He acts while other man just talk", but it's not what they seem to do.
Every day I open my PC and enter the site, I hope to find something new, but after Haggis, no news at all. No new secondary actors, nothing. And it is very disappointing.
Maybe it's part of the game the chiefs are playing to let our expectancy grow and grow, but this game it's boring me a lot.

As for the final four, none of them will make me jump of happiness.

I don't think it's a good think an unknown for the part.

I don't want a mega star for the part. But some one who could be a good 007, and most of the actor we have on the list could do it, and not necessary they are so known, but at least you can recognize them once you see them.

That's why I'm disappointed. Can anybody blame me for that?

DEKE_RIVERS

Luckily Amazon seems less opaque than EON.

007HallY

Honestly, I think it's just fans being fans ;) We love to speculate and voice opinions about the ins and outs of all this - who'd make a good Bond, what we'll get from a new film etc. Before a point the production just isn’t going to release certain information though, and it's not going to satisfy the poor boy I quoted above who claimed to look for updates every day.

I don't happen to think any of those users are stupid incidentally, funny as some of those quotes are. They're just talking about something they don't have first hand knowledge of, and often they're reacting to tabloid rumours or things that turn out to be half true or simplified. They're talking about a film they have no real concept of either. Add to that all their worries, frustrations, and preferences for this franchise, and this is the sort of dialogue we get - people confidently claiming stuff which turns out to be comically wrong, or outright worrying about something beyond their control, and that which they don’t have a full understanding of anyway. It'll be exactly the same this time round. Many of us will fret over who are reported to be candidates for the role, or worry about a lack of information coming out about the script. Hell, that's already what's happened! Some things never change!

FrankXavier

DEKE_RIVERS wrote: »

Luckily Amazon seems less opaque than EON.

They are more in the shadows. That's where we must do battle.