Mel Gibson and James Bond

ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
edited April 2014 in Actors Posts: 2,539
Very interesting interview that I had never seen. Gibson on Bond around 1988...



Thanks to @Breogan in www.archivo007.com
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Comments

  • Posts: 11,189
    James Bond was a "blunt instrument", Mel Gibson is a Lethal Weapon :D
  • Posts: 19,339
    I havent got any sound on this damn work pc...what did he say exactly ?
  • edited April 2014 Posts: 11,189
    He said that he turned down the role of Bond because it didn't interest him. When they referenced Timothy Dalton and his attempts to take the character deeper Mel said he felt too much damage had been done to Bond over the years to take the character seriously.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Thanks for that @BAIN123 ....so he was actually offered the role ? ..i just thought is was a possible option only...interesting.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Yeah he was offered it twice apparently.
  • Posts: 14,836
    I like Mel Gibson more than I should/he deserves, but I'm glad he didn't get the role. I never thought he was right for it.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Hmmm im not sure he would have been any good at it,and he is a bit of a short-arse.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    I like how the interviewer said that they were going to tone down the violence for LTK. He was just a bit off on that one. I'm also glad that Gibson wasn't Bond. I've liked him in other roles but I can't see him as 007.
  • edited April 2014 Posts: 6,396
    M: "Effective immediately, your Licence to Kill is revoked and I require you to hand over your (lethal) weapon.....now!"

    Bond:
    giphy.gif
  • edited April 2014 Posts: 11,189
    I remember someone posted a Barry Norman interview in 1983 with Sean Connery. In it Connery suggests Mel as a possible successor due to him being young and fresh faced.

    Also, as South Park pointed out Mel has a thing for getting tortured in his films. To be honest I'm surprised he didn't jump at the chance to star in Casino Royale :))
  • Posts: 14,836
    An alcoholic, puritan, antisemite catholic as Bond. I just cannot see it.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited April 2014 Posts: 17,810
    I remember seeing a slightly more recent interview with Mel Gibson on TV where he said that someone had once made in a poster in a magazine or newspaper where all the then Bonds were in a line photographically and he was at the end, noticeably shorter than the rest with the title or caption "The Incredible Shrinking Bond". And that was way before Craig and his so-called "height issues" in the press.
  • edited April 2014 Posts: 19,339
    Dragonpol wrote:
    I remember seeing a slightly more recent interview with Mel Gibson on TV where he said that someone had once made in a poster in a magazine or newspaper where all the then Bonds were in a line photographically and he was at the end, noticeably shorter than the rest with the title or caption "The Incredible Shrinking Bond". And that was way before Craig and his so-called "height issues" in the press.

    You mean this :

    The Incredible Shrinking Bond

    In April 1992, before Pierce Brosnan was chosen as the fifth Bond actor, Mel Gibson was a candidate for the role. As such, The Globe published this humorous image showing how Bond was shrinking over the years.


    shrinkingbond.jpg

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,810
    barryt007 wrote:
    Dragonpol wrote:
    I remember seeing a slightly more recent interview with Mel Gibson on TV where he said that someone had once made in a poster in a magazine or newspaper where all the then Bonds were in a line photographically and he was at the end, noticeably shorter than the rest with the title or caption "The Incredible Shrinking Bond". And that was way before Craig and his so-called "height issues" in the press.

    You mean this :

    The Incredible Shrinking Bond

    In April 1992, before Pierce Brosnan was chosen as the fifth Bond actor, Mel Gibson was a candidate for the role. As such, The Globe published this humorous image showing how Bond was shrinking over the years.


    shrinkingbond.jpg

    Yes! I thought it was up to Timothy Dalton as Bond that he was referring to though the interview was some time in the 90s or 00s. Great to finally see it, though. Thanks, @barryt007!
  • edited April 2014 Posts: 19,339
    My pleasure !
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    edited April 2014 Posts: 2,539
    M: "Effective immediately, your Licence to Kill is revoked and I require you to hand over your (lethal) weapon.....now!"

    Bond:
    giphy.gif

    :-))
    I think that's what he is thinking when he says "a man with a licence to kill, I'd rather..." and stops talking... laughing!

    Martin Riggs, a man of peace, no doubt...
  • Posts: 1,548
    Glad he didn't get it, nasty piece of work.
  • Posts: 14,836
    The franchise would have been vulnerable to everyone of his antics and controversies.
  • Posts: 2,483
    The franchise managed to survive Daniel Craig wearing a dress. But I suppose that's not very controversial in this day and age. Progress.
  • Posts: 14,836
    The franchise managed to survive Daniel Craig wearing a dress. But I suppose that's not very controversial in this day and age. Progress.

    So did Mel Gibson, actually. A man wearing a dress, especially an actor, is hardly controversial (and I wonder if it ever was controversial for an actor, at any time). But Mel Gibson's bursts of antisemitism would not have gone down well, had he had any during his time as Bond.

    I like the guy as a director, sometimes as an actor too, but as a person far less. For a while I thought his antisemitism was like his alcoholism: he knew it was wrong, but fell for it sometimes. Now I am not so sure.
  • Posts: 2,483
    Ludovico wrote:
    The franchise managed to survive Daniel Craig wearing a dress. But I suppose that's not very controversial in this day and age. Progress.

    So did Mel Gibson, actually. A man wearing a dress, especially an actor, is hardly controversial (and I wonder if it ever was controversial for an actor, at any time). But Mel Gibson's bursts of antisemitism would not have gone down well, had he had any during his time as Bond.

    I like the guy as a director, sometimes as an actor too, but as a person far less. For a while I thought his antisemitism was like his alcoholism: he knew it was wrong, but fell for it sometimes. Now I am not so sure.

    Wearing a dress because you are being paid millions to do so in a film is one thing; wearing one gratis in a so-called "public service announcement" is something else entirely.

    Regarding Gibson's judeophobia--the proper term--I hardly view that as a disqualifier for any job except working for the Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Personally, I'm a judeophile, but I believe Gibson has the right to hate anybody he wants and without incurring invidious sanction. Relatedly, it is hardly clear that his judeophobia would have damaged Bond's box office one bit. On the other hand, I do believe his shortness and functionally American identity would have been disqualifiers.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,331
    I don't see Gibson as Bond but I wish he could have been Pierce's last Bond villain.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,557
    I think Gibson would like a part in a Bond film nowadays, even a small one. I wouldn't mind. ;-)
  • Posts: 7,653
    Ludovico wrote:
    The franchise managed to survive Daniel Craig wearing a dress. But I suppose that's not very controversial in this day and age. Progress.

    So did Mel Gibson, actually. A man wearing a dress, especially an actor, is hardly controversial (and I wonder if it ever was controversial for an actor, at any time). But Mel Gibson's bursts of antisemitism would not have gone down well, had he had any during his time as Bond.

    I like the guy as a director, sometimes as an actor too, but as a person far less. For a while I thought his antisemitism was like his alcoholism: he knew it was wrong, but fell for it sometimes. Now I am not so sure.

    Wearing a dress because you are being paid millions to do so in a film is one thing; wearing one gratis in a so-called "public service announcement" is something else entirely.

    Regarding Gibson's judeophobia--the proper term--I hardly view that as a disqualifier for any job except working for the Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Personally, I'm a judeophile, but I believe Gibson has the right to hate anybody he wants and without incurring invidious sanction. Relatedly, it is hardly clear that his judeophobia would have damaged Bond's box office one bit. On the other hand, I do believe his shortness and functionally American identity would have been disqualifiers.

    I agree with your assesment of Mel Gibsons persona, and would not have him as 007 simply because I might lack the vision of seeing him as James Bond. Even Craig looked more 007 than Gibson ever would.

    I do enjoy the Lethal weapon series and some of Gibsons darker thrillers.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,331
    I enjoyed his performance in The Beaver. Even though I disliked a good bit of the movie. It's like Tom Cruise. Sure they live controversial lives but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy their performances. They are human beings. Just like us.
  • Posts: 14,836
    Ludovico wrote:
    The franchise managed to survive Daniel Craig wearing a dress. But I suppose that's not very controversial in this day and age. Progress.

    So did Mel Gibson, actually. A man wearing a dress, especially an actor, is hardly controversial (and I wonder if it ever was controversial for an actor, at any time). But Mel Gibson's bursts of antisemitism would not have gone down well, had he had any during his time as Bond.

    I like the guy as a director, sometimes as an actor too, but as a person far less. For a while I thought his antisemitism was like his alcoholism: he knew it was wrong, but fell for it sometimes. Now I am not so sure.

    Wearing a dress because you are being paid millions to do so in a film is one thing; wearing one gratis in a so-called "public service announcement" is something else entirely.

    Regarding Gibson's judeophobia--the proper term--I hardly view that as a disqualifier for any job except working for the Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Personally, I'm a judeophile, but I believe Gibson has the right to hate anybody he wants and without incurring invidious sanction. Relatedly, it is hardly clear that his judeophobia would have damaged Bond's box office one bit. On the other hand, I do believe his shortness and functionally American identity would have been disqualifiers.

    Oh he can believe and say whatever he wants, it may still have been deemed risky. Not that he has not been a successful director in spite of his antisemitism/judeophobia, but his successful movies were often controversial movies.

    That said I agree with his shortness and functional American identity.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    edited April 2014 Posts: 45,489
    Gibson could have been an excellent Bond. See "The Years of Living Dangerously" (1982) directed by Peter Weir if you do not believe it.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 7,981
    Gibson could have been an excellent Bond. See "The Years of Living Dangerously" (1982) directed by Peter Weir if you do not believe it.
    I agree 100%; He could have made a great, young, starting his career as a 00 agent. He had looks, charm and intensity. As far as his height, or lack there of, it's the movies; he would have stood tall on the screen.

  • talos7 wrote:
    Gibson could have been an excellent Bond. See "The Years of Living Dangerously" (1982) directed by Peter Weir if you do not believe it.
    I agree 100%; He could have made a great, young, starting his career as a 00 agent. He had looks, charm and intensity. As far as his height, or lack there of, it's the movies; he would have stood tall on the screen.

    He would have made the role original again, could have stayed with the character for longer. He had good reason to believe the character had lost his serious edge. It was tough for Dalton too although he has become more appreciated over the years.
  • Posts: 14,836
    What he said about the character however is very dismissive. If only for this I'm glad he never played it.
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