SPECTRE: In Particular, Ernst Stavro Blofeld

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  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited April 2023 Posts: 7,536
    Just watched Munich, a veritable who's-who of Bond actors. Hinds is in it as well, and reinforced my desire to see him portray Blofeld.
    I suppose this film was meant to be Spielberg's Bond film; I didn't really like it.
  • Posts: 15,044
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Ciaran Hinds as Blofeld would be genius casting. The man can act and has a physical presence like Telly Savalas had.

    He's a bit old now. At least for the physical side of the character. There is something else in his background that fitted Blofeld: he is of mixed heritage (having an Italian mother). Hinds is the great Bond villain that never was.

    Same with Sir Anthony Hopkins. Ironically, I don’t know who they could or would cast as Blofeld next. One suggestion would be Eddie Redmayne, in a few years. I’m just guessing, given EON’s recent casting trademarks.

    I like Redmayne, but it would be like Waltz light. I'd like a more brutish Blofeld, intimidating on a physical and intellectual level. Jeroen Krabbe back I'm the 80s-90s would have made a brilliant Blofeld, or a crypto Blofeld. A shame his Koskov was so poorly written.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T.
    edited April 2023 Posts: 7,014
    I saw Ciarán Hinds as the bad guy in Tomb Raider the other day. He was great. Bring him onboard as a villain, or Anthony Hopkins, and I'll be a happy customer.

    P.S.: Gerard Butler was great too in that Tomb Raider movie. First big role I've seen him in, I'd only seen him in TND before.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,544
    I think that Blofeld will be harder to cast, than to write, in the future. The character can truly improve in more ways than one. He can be done in the modern day, with a mixture of great acting and writing.
  • Posts: 15,044
    At the moment I can't think of an actor in his late 40s to mid 50s who could play Blofeld. Beyond that age, he starts being elderly and I don't think it quite works. Blofeld cannot be too young either. When he appears, he must have life experience. Tomasz Kot was rumoured to play the villain NTTD, he'd be probably the right age when filming of the next Bond movie starts (assuming for argument's sake that Blofeld is in it) and he's Polish on top of that. But my issue is that he's too good looking. Blofeld should look a bit off. He's got authority and charisma, but is not handsome.
    I kind of hope they use a bit of the background info they did not use in SP, about him bring in the French Legion. I wished they had keep that instead of the stepbrother angle. And of course as much Fleming as possible.
  • Posts: 3,946
    Besides, did Fleming seriously think Blofeld was the big bad to beat in all his books? He seemed more interested in building up SMERSH from the few novels I’ve read.

    Not necessarily the big bad to beat, but in OHMSS there's definitely a sense that Blofeld is Bond's 'white whale', and ultimately even defeating him leads to the death of Tracy. It's not a dynamic we see with any other Bond villain. He's also the only villain in the novels that gets a character arc, going from this ambitious villain to a half mad recluse with a God complex. Partly because Bond thwarts his plans.

    I mean, Fleming's later Bond novels had a lot of preoccupation with stuff like fate and death, and the idea of Bond and this man getting caught in each other's roads, with both losing what they care about along the way, is there for sure. It's not something I thought SP really got about the relationship between these two characters, even with the Oberhauser twist and Blofeld's weird 'author of all your pain' lines.
  • Posts: 15,044
    007HallY wrote: »
    Besides, did Fleming seriously think Blofeld was the big bad to beat in all his books? He seemed more interested in building up SMERSH from the few novels I’ve read.

    Not necessarily the big bad to beat, but in OHMSS there's definitely a sense that Blofeld is Bond's 'white whale', and ultimately even defeating him leads to the death of Tracy. It's not a dynamic we see with any other Bond villain. He's also the only villain in the novels that gets a character arc, going from this ambitious villain to a half mad recluse with a God complex. Partly because Bond thwarts his plans.

    I mean, Fleming's later Bond novels had a lot of preoccupation with stuff like fate and death, and the idea of Bond and this man getting caught in each other's roads, with both losing what they care about along the way, is there for sure. It's not something I thought SP really got about the relationship between these two characters, even with the Oberhauser twist and Blofeld's weird 'author of all your pain' lines.

    It always been obvious to me that Blofeld was Bond's Moriarty. Fittingly, they meet for the first time in Switzerland.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited April 2023 Posts: 3,136
    Indeed, so. This is why I'm in two minds about whether I'd prefer Blofeld to sit out the next guy's run, though. With the option to fall back on recurring villains, they'll do just that. Whereas if Blofeld's not there, they'll have to work a bit harder to create new antagonists who're worthy of Bond villain status. After Blofeld was in 40% of Dan's films, that could only stir things up a bit, no? On the other hand, you actually do want to see Bond go up against Blofeld and SPECTRE. Hence the indecision!
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited April 2023 Posts: 4,544
    https://www.filmbuffonline.com/FBOLNewsreel/wordpress/2011/09/22/will-007-fight-blofeld-in-bond-23/

    As much as his choices were unique, he’s right: Bond should always fight Blofeld. The threat of Blofeld should always be there. It’s the equivalent of Lex Luthor for Superman, James Moriarty for Sherlock Holmes or SPECTRE itself being a Green Goblin for Spider-Man. It does feel right to me. EON (or a continuation novel author) should just better plan it out better.
  • Posts: 15,044
    Venutius wrote: »
    Indeed, so. This is why I'm in two minds about whether I'd prefer Blofeld to sit out the next guy's run, though. With the option to fall back on recurring villains, they'll do just that. Whereas if Blofeld's not there, they'll have to work a bit harder to create new antagonists who're worthy of Bond villain status. After Blofeld was in 40% of Dan's films, that could only stir things up a bit, no? On the other hand, you actually do want to see Bond go up against Blofeld and SPECTRE. Hence the indecision!

    My suggestion: they take the approach of the early Connery (1-4) and Lazenby. Blofeld is subtly introduced, but he is not seen. They might not even need to do the hands stroking cat thing. Just have him mentioned by his henchmen. And take a cue from the Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett, I think they introduced Moriarty really well. For a while, Bond must be a nuisance for Blofeld and Blofeld an almost imperceptible presence for Bond and MI6. A ghost, so to speak.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited April 2023 Posts: 3,136
    Yeah, I like the sound of that approach. If they're going to do it, that would work for me.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,224
    It's a pendulum.

    In the Moore era, they couldn't use SPECTRE for obvious reasons, and there was a sameness to the megalomaniacal villain du jour.

    With CR and QoS, there started to be a continuity with Mr. White, and it was exciting and fresh. This is not to say that SP/NTTD expanded upon that continuity with complete success...but the continuity *did* feel good at the beginning of Craig's run.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,575
    Ludovico wrote: »
    At the moment I can't think of an actor in his late 40s to mid 50s who could play Blofeld. Beyond that age, he starts being elderly and I don't think it quite works. Blofeld cannot be too young either. When he appears, he must have life experience. Tomasz Kot was rumoured to play the villain NTTD, he'd be probably the right age when filming of the next Bond movie starts (assuming for argument's sake that Blofeld is in it) and he's Polish on top of that. But my issue is that he's too good looking. Blofeld should look a bit off. He's got authority and charisma, but is not handsome.
    I kind of hope they use a bit of the background info they did not use in SP, about him bring in the French Legion. I wished they had keep that instead of the stepbrother angle. And of course as much Fleming as possible.

    Oscar Isaac. He's 44 now. Close enough.

    His portrayal of Nathan in Ex Machina was very Bond-villain-esque (if there isn't such a word, maybe I just created it). I think Isaac could play Blofeld or any villain you would want to create. He's exceptional.

    oscarisaacexmachina.jpg
  • Posts: 15,044
    Not sure. I'd rather not have an American actor, or if we must have one, he needs to be "foreign" looking, if that makes sense (Telly Savalas did). I thought Mark Addy might have played a decent Blofeld (as per the novel TB appearance), although his face without a beard might look too soft.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,347
    Christopher Heyerdahl could be a good Blofeld or at least an interesting Bond villain. He played a great villain on Hell On Wheels where his character took on different appearances in a Blofeld-esque manner.
    qHYyE7e.png
  • Posts: 15,044
    Murdock wrote: »
    Christopher Heyerdahl could be a good Blofeld or at least an interesting Bond villain. He played a great villain on Hell On Wheels where his character took on different appearances in a Blofeld-esque manner.
    qHYyE7e.png

    If nothing else he's got the right face to be a Bond villain. Physically he could look like OHMSS Blofeld (I'm always referring to the novels).
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited May 2023 Posts: 4,544
    I'm thinking more and more that Tom Hiddleston would make for a decent Blofeld. He's young enough to be a recurring character, and he could pull off the physical and business side of Blofeld. It all depends on his Loki future. I still like Peter Sarsgaard, and as @TripAces said above that Oscar Isaac would be great as well. Maybe some of the popular candidates for Bond could work for Blofeld.

    Also to all future versions of Blofeld: no name changes, personal connections to Bond or any MI6 characters, or hidden pasts. As for connection to other villains, make them SPECTRE villains, only. We don't need to see certain other villains, like Goldfinger or Scaramanga be members, though. Other than building SPECTRE for a business purpose, there shouldn't be much personal vendettas other than more or less for business. Basically, don't do what EON did with Spectre in the last 2 films. Charlie Higson had some unique opinions on both movies. He should write a modern day Blofeld novel! If he writes his new backstory, don't make it too personal!
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited September 2023 Posts: 4,544
    https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Cypher_007

    With the Blofeld and SPECTRE legal rights being fully settled a thought came to me. Could this be the sign (along with Dynamite Comics' Agent of Spectre) that they will be used more often now? It seems that they are honoring Bond's villain history. Why not use his archenemy, on a regular basis as a constant threat? It's time that they got fixed up, and proved that they can be a modern threat, in any media.
  • Posts: 1,895
    Who should play Blofeld and who was successful as Blofeld is, of course, subjective. I am neither a film director nor casting director, so my opinions as a Bond film fan are essentially meaningless. But, I do know what I like. Who I didn't like as Blofeld were Donald Pleasance, Charles Gray, and Christoph Waltz . All good actors in other projects, but not engaging Blofelds. DP was too wired. CG felt better suited for a Monty Python sketch, and CW lacks any sense of menace below the surface. I've mentioned before that Telly Savalas was off the wall choice, but he actually works with an interesting combination of charm and threat.

    Any number of actors could play Blofeld. But it's finding that right balance. For me, a good villain is one you're oddly attracted to and want to see more of. I didn't miss CW when he wasn't on screen. He simply was not interesting to watch.

    I'm in no hurry for Blofeld to return. I like the idea of Bond taking on an enemy he defeats, instead of just destroying his lair and waiting to meet his nemesis again.






  • Posts: 60
    I would like for the next movie to have another antagonist and during the adventure the SPECTRE name and/or Blofeld is mentioned. Perhaps as doing a deal with the antagonist or selling arms. And Bond/MI6 don't know of them. Build the character an organisation up. Perhaps in the follow up we see video or photos of someone meeting him with only a view from behind/obscured and MI6 admitting they don't know who he is. Or that he's Ernst Stavro Blofeld but they don't have much on him. Don't know his whereabouts. Before he's finally revealed and SPECTRE become the main antagonist.

    As for who to play him, I love the Werner Herzog suggestion. And I think Stellan Skarsgård would have been great. But I agree they are too old now. And Blofeld needs to be portrayed by a younger actor. Definitely menancing. But just as physical as Bond.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,544
    I would like for the next movie to have another antagonist and during the adventure the SPECTRE name and/or Blofeld is mentioned. Perhaps as doing a deal with the antagonist or selling arms. And Bond/MI6 don't know of them. Build the character an organisation up. Perhaps in the follow up we see video or photos of someone meeting him with only a view from behind/obscured and MI6 admitting they don't know who he is. Or that he's Ernst Stavro Blofeld but they don't have much on him. Don't know his whereabouts. Before he's finally revealed and SPECTRE become the main antagonist.

    As for who to play him, I love the Werner Herzog suggestion. And I think Stellan Skarsgård would have been great. But I agree they are too old now. And Blofeld needs to be portrayed by a younger actor. Definitely menancing. But just as physical as Bond.

    Awesome ideas! We need a physical Blofeld again. Some interesting names, but as you said, they are a bit old to start now. Same with my earlier suggestion of Peter Sarsgaard. However, it’ll be just as hard to cast Blofeld as much as Bond the next time around. Just no code names or family relationships, EON!
  • Posts: 60
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    I would like for the next movie to have another antagonist and during the adventure the SPECTRE name and/or Blofeld is mentioned. Perhaps as doing a deal with the antagonist or selling arms. And Bond/MI6 don't know of them. Build the character an organisation up. Perhaps in the follow up we see video or photos of someone meeting him with only a view from behind/obscured and MI6 admitting they don't know who he is. Or that he's Ernst Stavro Blofeld but they don't have much on him. Don't know his whereabouts. Before he's finally revealed and SPECTRE become the main antagonist.

    As for who to play him, I love the Werner Herzog suggestion. And I think Stellan Skarsgård would have been great. But I agree they are too old now. And Blofeld needs to be portrayed by a younger actor. Definitely menancing. But just as physical as Bond.

    Awesome ideas! We need a physical Blofeld again. Some interesting names, but as you said, they are a bit old to start now. Same with my earlier suggestion of Peter Sarsgaard. However, it’ll be just as hard to cast Blofeld as much as Bond the next time around. Just no code names or family relationships, EON!

    I agree, I actually like Waltz. I just didn't like the backstory. But I do think Blofeld needs to be physically able to match Bond. They obviously have time, especially if he is mentioned and not seen. But the casting is key. I do think Blofeld and SPECTRE are important to Bond. So even if they aren't the main antagonist, it would be nice to sprinkle them into the background so we know at any time a mission could feature them.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited September 2023 Posts: 4,544
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    I would like for the next movie to have another antagonist and during the adventure the SPECTRE name and/or Blofeld is mentioned. Perhaps as doing a deal with the antagonist or selling arms. And Bond/MI6 don't know of them. Build the character an organisation up. Perhaps in the follow up we see video or photos of someone meeting him with only a view from behind/obscured and MI6 admitting they don't know who he is. Or that he's Ernst Stavro Blofeld but they don't have much on him. Don't know his whereabouts. Before he's finally revealed and SPECTRE become the main antagonist.

    As for who to play him, I love the Werner Herzog suggestion. And I think Stellan Skarsgård would have been great. But I agree they are too old now. And Blofeld needs to be portrayed by a younger actor. Definitely menancing. But just as physical as Bond.

    Awesome ideas! We need a physical Blofeld again. Some interesting names, but as you said, they are a bit old to start now. Same with my earlier suggestion of Peter Sarsgaard. However, it’ll be just as hard to cast Blofeld as much as Bond the next time around. Just no code names or family relationships, EON!

    I agree, I actually like Waltz. I just didn't like the backstory. But I do think Blofeld needs to be physically able to match Bond. They obviously have time, especially if he is mentioned and not seen. But the casting is key. I do think Blofeld and SPECTRE are important to Bond. So even if they aren't the main antagonist, it would be nice to sprinkle them into the background so we know at any time a mission could feature them.

    Yes I agree with all of your statements. I think that Alec Trevelyan could be a similar character arc for the future as well.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited November 2023 Posts: 4,544


    A day late, but worth mentioning. Hopefully, EON can better plan Blofeld out for next time. IFP should use him in a book again as well.
  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 681
    Savalas was the best Blofeld in terms of performance and physicality, but I'll always prefer Pleasance's camp take on the character. He didn't have many lines in YOLT but he makes every one of them memorable.
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