Who should/could be a Bond actor?

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  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 7,969
    But... Bond is Swiss Scot? You want the next characterization of Bond to be English even though the character isn’t English?

    Not the Cinematic bond.



    Additionally, Skyfall solidifies cinematic Bond's parents as Andrew (Scottish) and Monique (Swiss).

    Except that Craig era is it's own contained story and timeline. Craig never met his wife in this universe, so it doesn't necessarily carry over.

    For instance, Blofeld is a childhood companion of Bond in this timeline, but I don't consider that that applies to the character in the old movies too.
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    But... Bond is Swiss Scot? You want the next characterization of Bond to be English even though the character isn’t English?

    Not the Cinematic bond.



    Additionally, Skyfall solidifies cinematic Bond's parents as Andrew (Scottish) and Monique (Swiss).

    Except that Craig era is it's own contained story and timeline. Craig never met his wife in this universe, so it doesn't necessarily carry over.

    For instance, Blofeld is a childhood companion of Bond in this timeline, but I don't consider that that applies to the character in the old movies too.

    Good point and even then he should be half Scottish.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Strangely enough, I think Skyfall was so successful that I think there is a good chance that part of the biography stays canonical. Even if there is a soft reboot and the actual events of the film are no longer part of the timeline for New Bond, I could see the general consensus staying that he grew up in Scotland on an estate called Skyfall and his Scottish and Swiss parents died when he was young (which has of course always been Fleming canon).
    But maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited February 2021 Posts: 7,518
    But... Bond is Swiss Scot? You want the next characterization of Bond to be English even though the character isn’t English?

    Not the Cinematic bond.



    Additionally, Skyfall solidifies cinematic Bond's parents as Andrew (Scottish) and Monique (Swiss).

    Except that Craig era is it's own contained story and timeline. Craig never met his wife in this universe, so it doesn't necessarily carry over.

    For instance, Blofeld is a childhood companion of Bond in this timeline, but I don't consider that that applies to the character in the old movies too.

    I don't really understand. In the novels, and in the films since Dr. No, Bond has been half Scottish half Swiss. What does Craig's Bond's wife have to do with anything?

    I agree that Blofeld knowing Bond in childhood is an element contained to these Craig stories, but the decades-long characteristics of Bond's heritage I would think are pretty consistent.

    There was this idea presented of "Cinematic Bond", and now Cinematic Bond is being fragmented. Where exactly are the goalposts right now?

    I was just, originally, (tongue-in-cheek) responding to a comment that said the next actor must portray "English-Gentlement" characteristics, and pointing out that, canonically, both in film and literature, quite consistently, Bond is not of English heritage. I feel like the ensuing discussion has been muddied so that certain participants can claim that they're "right" about the matter. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter at all. Let's just move on. Maybe someone here can suggest Aidan Turner as the next Bond and we can get things back on track to normalcy.

    @ImpertinentGoon I could see Skyfall (the house) becoming a part of the overall Bond canon for sure.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    Strangely enough, I think Skyfall was so successful that I think there is a good chance that part of the biography stays canonical. Even if there is a soft reboot and the actual events of the film are no longer part of the timeline for New Bond, I could see the general consensus staying that he grew up in Scotland on an estate called Skyfall and his Scottish and Swiss parents died when he was young (which has of course always been Fleming canon).
    But maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

    Yeah that's a good point, actually. I doubt any future movies will contradict that, and maybe even nod to a house called 'Skyfall'. I could happily add the idea that Fleming's Bond grew up in a house he hated that looked like that.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    mtm wrote: »
    Strangely enough, I think Skyfall was so successful that I think there is a good chance that part of the biography stays canonical. Even if there is a soft reboot and the actual events of the film are no longer part of the timeline for New Bond, I could see the general consensus staying that he grew up in Scotland on an estate called Skyfall and his Scottish and Swiss parents died when he was young (which has of course always been Fleming canon).
    But maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

    Yeah that's a good point, actually. I doubt any future movies will contradict that, and maybe even nod to a house called 'Skyfall'. I could happily add the idea that Fleming's Bond grew up in a house he hated that looked like that.

    Would be cool for sure.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Benny wrote: »
    Controversial opinion: Callum Turner is actually not a bad choice, he looks a bit young at the moment, but give it another five years.


    We keep forgetting - Bond SHOULD be a svelte Englishman with a pleasant outward demeanour, who blends in at parties.

    I guess that rules out Irishman Aidan Turner then.

    ;)

    He’s not very Irish in Poldark. He’s pretty good at an English accent.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    Can't do a Cornish one though :D
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    He was a passable hobbit.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 7,889
    He was a passable hobbit.

    That’s a short answer.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    talos7 wrote: »
    He was a passable hobbit.

    That’s a short answer.

    That is about the size of it, though.
  • BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 14,811
    suavejmf wrote: »
    Benny wrote: »
    Controversial opinion: Callum Turner is actually not a bad choice, he looks a bit young at the moment, but give it another five years.


    We keep forgetting - Bond SHOULD be a svelte Englishman with a pleasant outward demeanour, who blends in at parties.

    I guess that rules out Irishman Aidan Turner then.

    ;)

    He’s not very Irish in Poldark. He’s pretty good at an English accent.

    I'd be surprised if he doesn't get a screen test when the time comes. Age and looks wise he ticks the boxes. Not too famous, but not an unknown.
    I'm sure lots of names will come and go before we learn who will be the next James Bond.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Benny wrote: »
    Controversial opinion: Callum Turner is actually not a bad choice, he looks a bit young at the moment, but give it another five years.


    We keep forgetting - Bond SHOULD be a svelte Englishman with a pleasant outward demeanour, who blends in at parties.

    I guess that rules out Irishman Aidan Turner then.

    ;)

    He’s not very Irish in Poldark. He’s pretty good at
    mtm wrote: »
    Can't do a Cornish one though :D

    That’s true. Probably not the right image for the show though, despite that it’s obviously inaccurate.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    He was a passable hobbit.

    Talking of Hobbits...there’s are lot about a Tom Holland as Bond in the press. It’s ridiculous.

    Nick Nack, yes. Bond, no.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    suavejmf wrote: »
    He was a passable hobbit.

    Talking of Hobbits...there’s are lot about a Tom Holland as Bond in the press. It’s ridiculous.

    Nick Nack, yes. Bond, no.

    Nick Nack? He's young, he's not a midget. I don't want him to be Bond either, but that's a ridiculous thing to say.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    edited February 2021 Posts: 5,131
    suavejmf wrote: »
    He was a passable hobbit.

    Talking of Hobbits...there’s are lot about a Tom Holland as Bond in the press. It’s ridiculous.

    Nick Nack, yes. Bond, no.

    Nick Nack? He's young, he's not a midget. I don't want him to be Bond either, but that's a ridiculous thing to say.

    I was taking the p***. But at 5ft 7in...he’s a ridiculous suggestion for Bond. Very very short for a man/ actor ‘wanting’ to be Bond.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited February 2021 Posts: 7,518
    suavejmf wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    He was a passable hobbit.

    Talking of Hobbits...there’s are lot about a Tom Holland as Bond in the press. It’s ridiculous.

    Nick Nack, yes. Bond, no.

    Nick Nack? He's young, he's not a midget. I don't want him to be Bond either, but that's a ridiculous thing to say.

    I was taking the p***. But at 5ft 7in...he’s a ridiculous suggestion for Bond. Very very short for a man/ actor ‘wanting’ to be Bond.

    lol fair enough. Did he indicate that he wants to play Bond? It's fair, I want to play Bond too, despite obvious shortcomings (pardon the pun). Maybe when he's older?
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    edited February 2021 Posts: 5,131
    suavejmf wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    He was a passable hobbit.

    Talking of Hobbits...there’s are lot about a Tom Holland as Bond in the press. It’s ridiculous.

    Nick Nack, yes. Bond, no.

    Nick Nack? He's young, he's not a midget. I don't want him to be Bond either, but that's a ridiculous thing to say.

    I was taking the p***. But at 5ft 7in...he’s a ridiculous suggestion for Bond. Very very short for a man/ actor ‘wanting’ to be Bond.

    lol fair enough. Did he indicate that he wants to play Bond? It's fair, I want to play Bond too, despite obvious shortcomings (pardon the pun). Maybe when he's older?

    Apparently, according to the press...he is quoted as wanting to be Bond. When he’s older he’ll still be too short....in fact he’ll probably shrink unfortunately.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cinemablend.com/news/2563027/tom-holland-throws-his-hat-into-the-james-bond-ring-and-at-this-point-why-not.

    In the United States, as a western example, the average height for men is 5′10″ (if white and under 30, otherwise 5′9.5″), so one standard deviation below that would be 5′7″. If going by data and statistics, 5′7″ and under is considered short for men in the US.

    Holland is dreaming......
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    I still don't care how tall people are on a screen.
    I'll be interested to see how he fares in the Uncharted movie. Seems an odd way to go as Drake is supposed to have been around the block a bit, but I'll give it a go.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    mtm wrote: »
    I still don't care how tall people are on a screen.
    I'll be interested to see how he fares in the Uncharted movie. Seems an odd way to go as Drake is supposed to have been around the block a bit, but I'll give it a go.

    Well this is meant to be an origin story.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    mtm wrote: »
    I still don't care how tall people are on a screen.
    I'll be interested to see how he fares in the Uncharted movie. Seems an odd way to go as Drake is supposed to have been around the block a bit, but I'll give it a go.

    Fair play.

    But women do in general and Bond is supposed to be attractive to most women.

    That’s why Cubby and Fleming had Bond as a tall character.
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    Being tall has it's advantages though, even when it's acting.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    mtm wrote: »
    I still don't care how tall people are on a screen.
    I'll be interested to see how he fares in the Uncharted movie. Seems an odd way to go as Drake is supposed to have been around the block a bit, but I'll give it a go.

    Well this is meant to be an origin story.

    Yes, he just seems like a character who wouldn’t need one of those.
  • Posts: 14,799
    I wonder sometimes if people would consider an actor too tall for Bond.
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    Ludovico wrote: »
    I wonder sometimes if people would consider an actor too tall for Bond.

    Not someone who is more than 6'3, i would say. But can't say much about general audience preference.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 7,889
    Ludovico wrote: »
    I wonder sometimes if people would consider an actor too tall for Bond.
    I actually brought this up a while back; yes I believe an actor could be too tall. Can you picture a 6’8 James Bond? It would be a distraction.
    When it comes to height, I’ve always thought the sweet spot is somewhere between 5’10 and 6’4”, possibly 6’5”
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,861
    Imagine a 6'5" actor in a scene with Judi Dench :D
  • Aidan Turner actually played a dwarf in The Hobbit trilogy but that's me being pedantic. He was referred to 'the sexy dwarf' in the media when those films came out.

    Well, that definitely rules me out of ever being Bond (which I wanted to be years ago from about the age of 11).
    I'm 5'7 as well! 😆🙁
  • sandbagger1sandbagger1 Sussex
    Posts: 686
    I think Bond should appear to be somewhere between 6' to 6'2''. Below that makes Bond something of an underdog, whilst a 6'4'' - 6'5'' Bond runs the risk of making it look like he's successful because he has a big physical advantage. IMO, you want to hit that sweet-spot where Bond is neither physically disadvantaged nor overprivileged - it's not that you can't have a hero who isn't tall, or a hero who is overwhelmingly physically dominating, but I think that's deviating from Bond's base model and muddies the James Bond identity more than it already has been. I'd rather not do that.

    One of the things that's worked about Holland as Spider-Man is that part of the fun of Spider-Man is seeing a smaller hero take down bigger, more muscular villains. He's also supposed to be still a teenager, and Holland being on the small-side helps that look. He's actually shorter than Peter Parker is in the comics, though, and much shorter than I imagine Bond being. I know that with a bit of extra effort you can make a shorter actor look tall on screen, but I don't think he's so good that it's worth that extra effort.

    By the same token I think with someone like Chris Hemsworth in Thor-mode it would be difficult to find bad-guys who could tower over him, and I think Bond needs those kind of enemies to show that when he's physically outmatched he can be resourceful.

    I don't want to make it sound like I'm laying down the law about who Bond should be - I'm probably a lot less of a die-hard Bond fan than most here, and I've only read one of the original Fleming novels so I'm a little uninformed - but for me, Bond is not some sort of demi-god hero, he's who you could have been if only you'd have been a little taller, smarter, better looking, if you'd studied a little harder, worked out a little more, pushed yourself a bit further. He's someone who started out with an above average package of traits, and then dedicated himself to developing them. He's more Odysseus than Achilles, if you see what I mean.

  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    I think Bond should appear to be somewhere between 6' to 6'2''. Below that makes Bond something of an underdog, whilst a 6'4'' - 6'5'' Bond runs the risk of making it look like he's successful because he has a big physical advantage. IMO, you want to hit that sweet-spot where Bond is neither physically disadvantaged nor overprivileged - it's not that you can't have a hero who isn't tall, or a hero who is overwhelmingly physically dominating, but I think that's deviating from Bond's base model and muddies the James Bond identity more than it already has been. I'd rather not do that.

    One of the things that's worked about Holland as Spider-Man is that part of the fun of Spider-Man is seeing a smaller hero take down bigger, more muscular villains. He's also supposed to be still a teenager, and Holland being on the small-side helps that look. He's actually shorter than Peter Parker is in the comics, though, and much shorter than I imagine Bond being. I know that with a bit of extra effort you can make a shorter actor look tall on screen, but I don't think he's so good that it's worth that extra effort.

    By the same token I think with someone like Chris Hemsworth in Thor-mode it would be difficult to find bad-guys who could tower over him, and I think Bond needs those kind of enemies to show that when he's physically outmatched he can be resourceful.

    I don't want to make it sound like I'm laying down the law about who Bond should be - I'm probably a lot less of a die-hard Bond fan than most here, and I've only read one of the original Fleming novels so I'm a little uninformed - but for me, Bond is not some sort of demi-god hero, he's who you could have been if only you'd have been a little taller, smarter, better looking, if you'd studied a little harder, worked out a little more, pushed yourself a bit further. He's someone who started out with an above average package of traits, and then dedicated himself to developing them. He's more Odysseus than Achilles, if you see what I mean.

    Great post.
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