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Excellent post, dear @Univex
It's extremely difficult. An actor really needs to understand the character and take ownership of it. Brosnan was like a greatest hits Bond, and his performance screamed that he was acting. Craig is very natural and completely owns the part. When Craig came in I almost felt a little sorry for Brosnan, as his performance of the character was made to look like something out of an episode of The A-Team. Only Connery, Craig and Moore completely owned Bond. Dalton was too earnest, Brosnan was a lightweight confection, and Lazenby couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. OHMSS is still a fantastic film, by the way.
If we are talking Craig era gaps, then he too old, alas
Well it wouldn’t even get ‘put forward’ would it? Because Shaft is a cultural icon. But saying Bond should be white is immediately racist apparently! That video I posted shows how ludicrous it is to change Flemings creation/ character.
Another point is that the film credits always say/ state ‘as IAN FLEMING’S James Bond 007’.....if Bond isn’t white they need to stop that as it won’t be anymore.
IF they ever is a non-white actor to play Bond that doesn't mean the character of James Bond isn't still white. You are playing James Bond....a lighter skin multi-racial actor (think the skin tone of Vin Diesal) could still pull off playing James Bond. Remember this is acting.
Then why bother? Wouldn't it be easier just to pick an actor that is white?
Or are we saying there are no decent white actors anymore on planet earth, so the only choice left is to go for a multi-racial or black actor?
Why bother? If they person screentested is the best actor and looks the part then they should get the role regardless of thier actual race looks matter more than race.
Would it b easier to pick a white actor? Yes it would be easier...But a inferior actor shouldn't be picked just because of thier actual race.
We are not saying that there are no decent white actors on the planet anymore and we are not left with only going for a multi-racial, black actor or person of color. Im just stating that that race of the actor playing Bond doesn't mean the race of James Bond in the movie changes because it is acting. So is Lazenby's Bond Australian while Connery is Scottish while Craig's is English?
Yes it does. The character of Bond is a white male. That is not my opinion, it is a fact. Ian Fleming said so and all the films/ cartoon strips portray him as such. What you are talking about is re-inventing the character as mixed race.
Why bother? Because a none white actor doesn't look the part. Again, the character of Bond is a white male. That is not my opinion, it is a fact. Ian Fleming said so and all the films/ cartoon strips portray him as such. If you are black/ mixed race etc it is impossible to play a white character. It's like casting Colin Firth as Shaft or David Niven as The Black Panther/ Blade/ Axel Foley etc. I.E. Ridiculous.
Lazenby, Connery and Craig are all white males.
And there's where the difference between Book Bond and Film Bond come into play. Yes, Ian Fleming wrote Bond as a white male. But he doesn't decide who gets to play the 7th incarnation of Bond on the big screen. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson do. And if they want to screentest actors that aren't white, they are free to do so. If they at the end of that process come to the conclusion that the best man to play the role is a non-white actor, they are free to cast him.
BB and MGW are the ones who decide how Bond looks in the film universe. It is entirely separate from what Ian Fleming wrote. Or it has become that way.
And frankly, thank goodness for that. I doubt Fleming would've approved Bond taking orders from a female boss, or that his best buddy at the CIA was someone else than a white American. But by doing something totally different from Fleming, BB and MGW gave us two actors who redefined the roles of M and Felix Leiter. And I trust the producers of this film series to do the thing that is best for the series to move forward.
But with the character of bond the producers have always ‘gone back to Fleming’ . With the exception of Daniel’s blonde hair, which is of little consequence. Furthermore, the film series has still set the precedent of Bond being white for nearly 60 years. Would you cast Bad Boys 3 (Out next week) with Jude Law and High Grant? No.....because that would be stupid. Because the lead characters are black men.
But then I have to ask you, where do you draw the line, and why?
So it's okay for the films to deviate from the source material when it comes to Bond's hair colour. Length too, presumably. A black Bond is too far for you.
But is a female M okay? A black Felix Leiter? A black Moneypenny? Someone other than Bond being 007? If Bond marries Swann in NTTD, is it okay for her to become Mrs. Bond, and not Tracy?
What I'm trying to say, the producers have deviated from Book Bond for quite a long time now, but when is Bond not Bond anymore? The films are already not 100% true to what Fleming wrote. Why is a non-white Bond too far, but previous alterations okay?
Just because you're devoted more hours to something doesn't make someone's opinion superior to another 'fan'. It is just that, your opinion.
You're welcome to not like the idea of a black actor - and in turn, I'm welcome to disagree. There is no right answer in this debate.
I see film as a director's medium - essentially it is an art form. If the artist believes that there is a reason or point to making Bond black (i.e, a black actor is better suited to the part than any of the other candidates) then so be it. It's like Hamlet - he was conceived as a white man. But his characteristics aren't exclusive to his race - hence why a number of people have played him and reinterpreted the same text.
The same goes for Bond. he is't Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair or Frank Sinatra - he' not a really person. He's a fictional character. Therefore, its at the whim of the artist to interpret.
A Bond film is an artist/directos medium up until the point where they stray to far from what EoN want. Then they will rail them in again or fire them, like Boyle or Romer.
For the above mentioned reasons they shouldn't even audition non white actors because it's a waste of time. They would never allow white actors to audition for Black Panther or Blade. That would be ridiculous. They would also never allow black actors to audition for the next Polldark or Robin Hood, or Iron man, or Batman or Sherlock Holmes and countless others... why does Bond have to be the guinea pig to everything?
Let someone else do it first and fail miserably at it to shut people up.
That's where most people will deviate from your opinion. I am tired of repeating myself until infinitum. You seem to be some kind of free spirited man who has no issues with taking all kinds of liberties regarding Bond. Fine. Most fans, including myself, like Bond, are more at the conservative/ traditional end of the spectrum which is the literal/ literary route. All the ingredients that make Bond have made him incredibly popular and for good reason. Bond = his ingredients = Fleming's brain. Deviate too much and - yet again - he is no longer Bond, but a fantasy by 2nd generation producers. In that case I'm out, along with millions of other Bond fans.
It is acting. The actual race of the actor does not change the race of the character.
I disagree with the actor actual race changing the race of the character being played. That is why its called acting. You are playing a character. People of mixed raced and/or lighter skin tones in the past during slave times in real life passed themselves off as white in order to not be treated as slave. So if it can happen in real life why can't it happen in a movie. Im not stating that a person of color is my first choice because it is not my top choice is Aidan Turner but, a person of color is capable of portraying a white character.
I could argue all day long that the Earth is flat and it still wouldn't make me right. There are opinions and then there is bullheadedness towards facts. The facts, the depiction of the character is well written on the page. If you want to go against it, please do. In fact, there are, I hear, summits to discuss the possibility of the Earth being flat. You'd fit right in.
Not being aggressive, ok? Do take this as fun bantering :-D
Could you cast Bad Boys 4 with The Rock and Vin Diesal? Both are of mixed-raced and that would be fine same as someone of mixed-raced think a young Wentworth Miller could be cast as Bond.
This question isn't going to be answered explicitly by either of them, they are placating people with this as it has been in the news for quite sometime.
I wouldn't support it but I would be willing to see how it plays out, although the idea of Bond being a woman is utterly absurd.
I agree that the character wouldn't be the same, the temptation of a smart arse screenwriter wanting to make a statement would make it a thing and anyone thinking that it wouldn't is living in denial.
No not really because the characters are black.
Wentworth Miller is not white and is American so his CV would be filed ‘in the trash’ as Americans say.
But Bond is a white character. So the actor playing him has to be a white actor. So it’s about appearance and acting.
Exactly. +1,000,000,000.
Seconded. Create powerful new characters for Bond to face off against regardless of gender or race.
So being half-black and half-samoan The Rock should not have played Roadblock in GI Joe because the character was black?
Sorry I don’t know anything about GI Joe at all and haven’t seen the film. It’s hardly on an iconic, traditional and historic par with Bond. However, yes if the character was black in the comic or cartoon the Rock shouldn’t have played him as he isn’t black.
You do realize that by taking that approach that anyone of mixed ethnicity would only be allowed to play new character so mixed-ethinicities right? You seriously think that's the way it should be? Aidan Tuner looks like he was born to play Bond and is my top choice for Bond but he's darker than some mixed/light skinned people of color. So should Aidan not be allowed to be Bond because he has a darker skin tone than say Cillian Murphy?
🤣 It’s the same as casting a Black Bond IMO. Sir Ian Mckellan as Superfly, Colin Firth as Shaft, Sean Bean as The Black Panther.....the list is endless!