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This sums up my feelings.
I think you and @007HallY have summed his appeal nicely, completely agree. And I thought he did a great job of playing a more sophisticated type than his usual characters in The North Water, so if he worked on the accent I’m sure he’d do fine with the posh boy stuff.
This. O'Connell isn't a serious proposition. I could see him as Jason Bourne, possibly, like Renner-ish.
It doesn't matter very much to me, and I'm speaking as someone of average to tall height. I don't really care about the height of my heroes.
Easy for you to say...
Teeth are easily fixable though. I feel like a short person would have an easier time embodying a likable cheeky or cocky attitude than a tall person nowadays who’d otherwise be labeled with small d*** energy (as elderly Craig deservedly did in Skyfall and Brosnan did in GE and TWINE).
I really don't see where you're coming from at all. You think Bond needs to be short to be likeable?
I'm only 5'9'' and I was often small for my age during childhood, so I have always liked heroes like Peter Parker who are average or below average height, who look like underdogs, but... that is not Bond. I don't think you should change things you don't have to when it comes to a heroic character.
And I said Jack O'Connell hasn't got bad teeth (they're much better than mine), but there's just something about his smile that's just not smooth at all.
I just don't get why some people want a markedly different take on the character rather than just trying to refine things.
Well, Cavil is one of my top 3 candidates, the other two being Hoult, and your man Turner. I would be absolutely on board with any of those 3.
Yes, that's why I did...?
I agree. Honestly, the guy seems like a laugh (as far as I can tell anyway, one never knows what a celebrity is like when they're away from the public eye). I'm not seeing much criticism of him as a potential candidate based on his acting ability to be honest... just stuff about his height (I'm personally of the opinion his particular height isn't a deal breaker) and very vague stuff about how he comes across as a person. Not even as an actor, just as an individual...
Personally, I really don't see how his smile looks 'trashy'... Seems like a pretty good looking guy to me.
Like I was hinting at before, is it possibly a case where some people are simply seeing him as an offscreen individual - again, with his Derbyshire accent, beard and rather lively personality - rather than as an actor? An element of snobbery almost? No, he can't be Bond, he's too rough/working class/has a regional accent/is unrefined/looks like a footballer or whatever. And again, as I said before, didn't Connery and Craig have similar criticisms thrown at them? "The man looks like a balding Scottish lorry driver", "He's too blonde and craggy etc."
But like I always say, what do I know? I'm not privy to these Bond auditions and do not know who will be chosen to attend them. None of us do. O'Connell may well be able to pull off suave, put on the correct accent etc... I'll reiterate, based on his work in Unbroken and '71, I get the sense he could play the role. Honestly, I suspect he's a serious contender. Regardless, whether he gets it or not, the guy is clearly talented and has been in some well received films. The guy has a great career already without Bond, and I suspect he'll have an even better one going forward whether he is James Bond or not.
I fully agree. He kind of resembles the bloke from GoT who played Ramsay Bolton, a little bit ratty. Obviously not Bond. I have come to the conclusion a long time ago that some members on here are a 180 from myself. All good though.
@MajorDSmythe
I wholeheartedly support your preference regarding one of the candidates :D Cheerio.
Happy sunday everyone :)
You’re right that we all see it differently, but you might get it if you watched some of his films. I don’t think he looks like any other Bond we’ve had in those photos, but I don’t think any of the Bond actors really look much alike anyway. And I’m sure if I went trawling through all the old DCINB posts I could find a fair few photos of Craig before he was cast where he looks nothing like Bond. He’s a cracking actor with sex appeal and tons of screen presence, that’s good enough for me.
I think there’s a bit of that in some responses, but it’s probably more down to his relatively low profile. Most people commenting have only seen him from photos on here, and I don’t think he’s the sort of actor whose appeal comes across in photos (I also don’t think that should rule him out though, look how awkward Craig looked in some of his posters and gunbarrels). He’s not ugly, but he‘s not like a model either. He’s attractive because of his physical charm and how self assured he is, the way he moves and carries himself, rather than because he’s particularly good looking. But imo that’s a much more important quality for Bond to have than above average height or black hair or white skin or any specific facial features anyway.
You’re right though, Connery and Craig would definitely get similar criticism on here if they’d never been cast and they were just being suggested. I think all of them would for one reason or another, except maybe Dalton.
I thought his part in The North Water was sort of halfway there. He still had his natural accent, but I thought the candence of his voice felt more traditionally “well spoken”, and he convinced me that he belonged in the scenes where he was sharing drinks with posh blokes and authority figures in offices.
What did you make of The North Water too? I loved it and I thought it was a shame that it seemed to fly under the radar. Colin Farrell blew me away.
Farrell-now there s a man who could have been Bond.
Yeah he could’ve been great. Didn’t Brosnan suggest him as his successor?
I remember reading that, and coudn t quite see it at the time, but he won me over with several great performances over the years.
Yeah, Farrell was amazing as Henry Drax, truly frightening.
Maybe it's a case of people simply seeing different things then... I just don't see trashy in these particular photos of him, but perhaps I'm biased because I rather like him as an actor and think he could play Bond. I do think how this particular actor comes across offscreen does have an impact though. I'm not saying you know his economic background, but perhaps you know what accent the guy has. You might have seen clips where you can see how he carries himself, hear the kind of jokes he makes. He's a versatile actor and many of his roles have involved playing pretty un-Bondian characters such as in Skins, which you might be aware of or have seen. You can definitely see how he looks/dresses offscreen from these photos. You can get that sense he's 'unsophisticated', unshaven at times etc. Beneath playing Bond almost. Again, I do not know what you have seen of him, but if you had no idea who he was beyond those photos I posted, would you immediately say his smile was trashy? Would most people if they only saw those photos of him? I suspect they wouldn't personally, whether or not they thought he looked Bondian or not.
Regardless, why would any of this matter outside of his acting? In fact, that way of carrying himself in real life, that self confidence/cheekiness might even prove beneficial to an interpretation of Bond, possibly allowing him to outshine others. I suspect the latter qualities are the sort of thing the producers are going to be looking for in their candidates, hence why my instinct is he's a strong contender. Again, it was exactly the same thing with Connery - a raw self confidence and talent packaged into someone who Fleming described as looking like 'a balding Scottish lorry driver'. Not all his credits prior to DN always gave a sense that he was capable of playing a gentleman spy.
I think that's a pretty fair assessment and I agree. The fact that there are people who see that quality in him is pretty telling. In fact, O'Connell reminds me a bit of Tom Hardy, another interesting 'what if' actor who, arguably anyway, simply became too famous/old for the role and never had the opportunity rather than failed to get the part.
I've only seen trailers of The North Water, but it looks rather good and hope to catch it at some point. The cast certainly looks solid. Farrell's career has certainly improved over the last few years and I'm happy he's been able to get roles which allow his talent to shine through.
Anyone else other than Midget O'Connell? And no, it doesn't have to be Turner.
It was London Boulevard for me. Not a particularly good film, but he carried it with his performance. It's not just the obvious moment of him wearing a nice suit and carrying a silenced pistol throughout, either - there's an air of danger about him throughout the entire thing without any loss of dry humour or ability to deal with the ladies.
We had a good run with Craig, but the problem is that a lot of great alternatives peaked during his tenure also and are now too old.
Yeah true. I’ve really enjoyed the Craig era, but part of me is still a bit gutted that we’ll never see Elba, Hardy or Fassbender have a go.
Or Russell Crowe, another that might have been great.