Dalton in FYEO. Could it have worked? I say ABSOLUTELY!!

IncompetentHenchman

Everyone here seems to be of the opinion that casting Dalton in FYEO would've fixed the tonal problems of FYEO, but you are all forgetting one thing.

It was not Moore who was responsible for the tonal inconsistencies of the 80s Bond films... It was the man who directed them:

John Glen.

If you look at his entire reign over Bond you'll see that each of his movies are riddled with 'tonal inconsistencies'.

FYEO is supposed to be serious, but there are dumb moments like the hockey sequence and Margaret Thatcher. OP is supposed to be fun, but there are very dark scenes like the part with the dead bodies in the palace (though I am of the opinion that OP's blend of humour and suspense makes it unique, so I have no real problems with his direction here). As for AVTAK... well no one can quite tell what the tone is of that movie - in the start you have the Beach Boys, and by the end the brutal mine massacre, which is even cut from television broadcasts here in Australia because it is so brutal and would probably give the film a higher rating. TLD has the cello chase and the magic carpet (nearly left in the film), and LTK has the bar fight and the superfluous truck stunts at the end (the winking fish is a nonissue and never has been anything more).

Now here is the incontrovertible proof that Dalton's casting in FYEO would not have changed anything, or at least would not have eliminated the problems. FYEO stars Moore and has tonal inconsistencies. TLD and LTK star Dalton and both have dumb moments. All three are directed by Glen. Therefore if Dalton were cast in FYEO, it would still be tonally imbalanced because Glen would still be the director.

For a more balanced tone in FYEO, you need a director change, not an actor change.

And there is no problem anyway with the lead actor of FYEO, Moore's great in it, just as Dalton is great in TLD.

EDIT: Not to mention that Glen has a very strange fetish for pigeons. Lots and lots of pigeons in all of his movies. Weird, and a nonissue, but weird.

ForYourEyesOnly

IncompetentHenchman wrote: »

EDIT: Not to mention that Glen has a very strange fetish for pigeons. Lots and lots of pigeons in all of his movies. Weird, and a nonissue, but weird.

Yeah, Bond gets startled by an animal(s) in all of Glen's films.

Agreed with your post, by the way.

josiah

"Bond should be played by an actor 35, 33 years old. I'm too old. Roger's too old, too!"--Sean Connery

Connery was 52 in 1983 when he made NSNA. Personally I doubt he would have given the role another shot against a much younger and more spry experienced & classically trained actor who had won over audiences in his debut and was on his second Bond film. It's more likely that had this been the case & McClory did in fact make his Bond film that he would have gone with his other choice to reprise his Bond performance: George Lazenby (who would have been in his early to mid 40s). Personally I think the villains in FYEO and the climactic battle are better so I don't see Dalton doing anything but even better in this film in 1981. IMO the film immediately following Moonraker would have beeen an excellent time to change actors. I've always thought that 50 should be the cutoff for a Bond actor and Sir Roger was 49 when he made Moonraker. FYEO marks the moment to me where Roger Moore starts looking very noticably older than the women in his films. Granted that is the intended effect with Bond and Bibi, but it's entirely possible that Bibi and the quip from Roger about buying her an ice cream cone wouldn't even be in this movie if Roger Moore wasn't. Roger's Bond was known for being a lady's man so it makes sense that when Roger decided to return these changes would be made. Bibi adds really nothing to the story and feels very tacked on to me (like the abrupt shift in tone in the PTS with the smoke stack and Blofeld's line "I'll buy you a delicatessen! In stainless steel!!!") The PTS couldn't have started much more somber than it did and to end it with *this* before a pretty serious Bond film? Why!? That bit at the end with Margaret Thatcher seems tacked on to the script as well, but I suppose it's possible it was already there. One thing I do know is that if Dalton had made FYEO it's very unlikely that the Margaret Thatcher bit would have been used in the film. A similar scene with impersonations of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was planned for the ending of TLD but was scrapped (along with a scene that was filmed with Bond escaping on a carpet gliding over telephone wires) because the scenes just didn't fit the tone of the movie with Timothy Dalton in it. The movie would probably still have a few light moments like TLD but overall there's enough to suggest the proceedings would be more serious in tone than the film we got with Roger and the writers attempting to play to his strengths.

Things Dalton later said in interviews from his time as Bond that he wanted from Bond:

1. To go back to Fleming
2. Women that were more than simply window dressing.

I can't personally think of a single Roger Moore Bond film prior to FYEO that has these ingredients to the degree that FYEO does. If one looks at the film's opening, the camera work gives us a delayed introduction to 007. Up until this point the delayed on screen intro had only been used to signal to the audience a change in the actor playing 007. To me this is one of the most glaring things suggesting this wasn't a script originally written for Moore. Roger has said he really didn't like shooting the scene where he kicks the car off the cliff with Locque inside and didn't think it was something his Bond would do. My point in mentioning this is that Roger Moore never struck me as the kind of actor who would push hard for the series to go in a more serious direction (quite the opposite in fact: he also didn't care for the scenes in TSWLM where he

shoots Stromberg and lets Shandor fall

. I simply don't see this being an even remotely serious script without the producers asking Timothy Dalton to step into the role. Don't believe me? Check out the next Bond movie Roger Moore did: OP. It's basically a 3rd reworking of the YOLT template

(with Octopussy's band of women storming a palace instead of ninjas storming a volcano lair and an assassin using a yoyo saw from above when Bond is laying down with a woman instead of poison and a thread).

The writers once again visited the YOLT template that had worked so well for Moore's Bond with audiences (financially speaking) with both TSWLM and MR. Right aftet switching things up they return to the pattern. Why? Because this script was originally to be offered to Timothy Dalton who had passed because the prior film basically continued the established pattern of unfaithful adaptations of Fleming's material and Dalton had great affection for the novels I doubt they'd have screen tested Dalton again. Cubby had seen his debut in the Lion in Winter in '68 and was very impressed by him. Dalton was screen tested for OHMSS but he felt he was too young for the part, & also (understandably) didn't want his second time in front of moviegoing audiences to be in a role that had been made so popular by Sean Connery. This quite possibly would have been film career suicide regardless of Dalton's considerable talents. "He was also considered for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) but turned it down again, still feeling he was too young. He was considered again for the role in For Your Eyes Only (1981) when for a time it was unclear whether Roger Moore would return. However, Dalton declined at that time, as there was no script (or even first draft). Dalton was offered the role again in 1983 for Octopussy (1983), and yet again in 1985 for A View to a Kill (1985), but had to decline the role both times due to previous commitments."m.imdb.com/title/tt0093428/trivia?ref_=m_tt_trv_trv

"After viewing Flash Gordon (1980), the producers at one time wanted to cast not just Topol (Zarkov) in this film, but also Timothy Dalton (Prince Barin) as Bond and Ornella Muti (Princess Aura) as Melina, even writing the part specifically for her."
m.imdb.com/title/tt0082398/trivia?ref_=m_tt_trv_trv

TellyBlofeld

Dalton probably would have only improved the only Moore film that I think works.