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George Sanders played the Saint which was Bond lite, I guess. Roger Moore said the big difference between the Saint and James Bond was Simon Templar never killed people. Bond is a gentlemanly killer for the state. Arguably the basic appeal of Bond is his paradoxical nature. Part gentleman, part killer. I don't know if Cary Grant ever played any assassin/killer roles in his career. George Sanders did play a villain in an episode of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
I reckon Cubby Broccoli wasn't too concerned about Bond having a public school vibe. Sean Connery appeared to lessen his Scottish accent when cast. I don't know if Connery had a broader Scottish accent prior to acting. Connery's Bond didn't appear to belong to any social class (neutral class?) and that gave Bond universal appeal. The cinematic Bond seems an outlier. Bond is well educated so upper class perhaps but also a paid killer. We tend to associate paid killers with lower social class (hoodlums, contract killers, mobsters etc) so Bond is an outlier. The brutal realty of Bond's job doesn't make him a public schoolboy type even if he could be argued to be that in his formative years.
It may well be something a bit lost nowadays, but the background that Fleming gave Bond is quite unusual in many ways. While certainly privileged, Bond is educated earlier on in Europe so isn't in that world of elite upper class Englishness and wouldn’t have any status within it anyway. When he is forced to enter that world in the form of Eton he’s even expelled. Again, it’s made clear he’s not technically even English and even Fettes is implied in his obituary to be less restrictive and more tailored to his interests (and of course it’s significant that it’s a Scottish boarding school). I think in that sense Fleming was pretty clearly depicting Bond as an outlier of sorts.
In a weird way the early films make Bond come across as much more educated and upper class than he actually is. There are several references to him going to Oxford to learn difficult languages. In CR of course they kind of reevaluate this when Vesper ‘reads’ Bond and implies he didn’t come from money and he has a sort of chip on his shoulder about this (the sentiment of Bond being a loner’s there, but even in the context of the Craig era she’s wrong… I suppose she’s just a bad judge of character, as evidenced by what happens with Yussuef).
A presenter on a radio station I listen to said the same thing. I'll have to check out this show. I've heard it's good. I first saw Theo James in Allegiant.
Bond, Superman, Geralt of Rivia, Sherlock Holmes, Highlander and possibly a character in the MCU. How many more characters??
Stop with Henry Cavill!
8-|
For me he's not the greatest actor. He's often pretty flat and displays limited range, plus, although he does look the part, Eon will probably consider him too old now for a multi-picture deal over the next decade or longer.
Arguably they go hand in hand. But the point still stands Fleming was consciously depicting him as that rogue/outlier. The background of where it came from/Fleming’s own life is irrelevant (same for whether it was Connery who inspired to make Bond Scottish, and I think Fleming had Scottish ancestry anyway. He also consciously made his mother European). It’s only how it comes across on the page that matters.
The MR passage is another example and is quite typical of how Fleming’s Bond doesn’t really ‘fit’ anywhere. There are also several references to him having something dark/dangerous about him, wearing a blue suit even in the hot Bahamas etc. It’s just that idea of ‘there’s something about this guy’ if that makes sense. There are also times when he becomes annoyed at things he sees as too decadent (ie. He suddenly becomes disgusted with Du Pont/the Lobster restaurant in GF) and his attitude to things money boarders on ignorance and he admits he was never left anything and wouldn’t know what to do with it if he had too much. Also you have characters every so often like Saunders - a former public school boy who still wears his old school tie - who are antagonistic towards Bond and whom he in turn seems to have no time for.
I mean, it’s not as though class is a major part of Bond, but I never got the impression it was as simple as Bond being simply an upper class toff. And as a character he’s very much a lone wolf anyway who often has very specific views on things.
I just started with Cavill again
Also Highlander has been in development hell since 2009 until i see cameras rolling i am gonna assume its not happening
Highlander does appear to be actually moving, though: director Chad Stahelski has confirmed it's his next project, Henry Cavill started training for it in January, and the production company have said it will be a 2026 release. You only wish Bond 26 had this amount of movement!
I have been fooled in the past
I knew Ewan McGregor was considered for Bond for CR. But I didnt know it was that serious.
So like our friend, ATJ, McGregor also reportedly did a screen test!
Well, colour me surprised 😮…. 😂 😂 😂….
And a very good Ben Kenobi! I really enjoy him in everything, but I was surprised that I did love him in Star Wars (films I had major issues with, but watched all three due to the ages of my kids and their fascination with this world); and I thought he was brilliant picking the role up for the tv series (and Vader was quite a bit more scary in this series than I remembered!)…
I think McGregor was perhaps the best element of the Star Wars prequels; he really nails down to essence of Alec Guinness perfectly imho. I once tried marathoning TPM through ROTJ and found that the transition from McGregor to Guinness felt almost flawless; can’t say the same for other elements however.
Ahaha that would have been my assumption too, @007ClassicBondFan !! I’d have thought McGregor would have seamlessly moved into the Guinness itineration, but yeah, I had a tough time figuring Hayden would turn into the Vader I knew (and feared) as a little kid…
And @DEKE_RIVERS , I disagree: YOU would have made a better choice.
This shows that you are only obsessed with Henry Cavill and that you know nothing about how EON chooses the actor to play James Bond.
:))
I mean, for Bond.
Btw, I really dislike that Elektra King is often considered a female main villain. She wasn't one. Same goes for Rosa Klebb. No Bond film has ever had a female main villain.
So do I…. You, @DEKE_RIVERS , would be an excellent Bond. A high IQ assassin, with three word quips, if that, moving along the corridors, in the shadows, trolling your villainous enemies…
McGregor, Law, Craig— they ain’t got nothin on you…
Yeah. Elektra King is, though. If not, she's still the closest. But I feel she's the main villain. She's the one with the money after all.
And both his spy films - with him playing a spy - bombed at the box office: The Man From Uncle, and, Argylle.
Apparently Argylle lost Apple hundreds of millions, one of the biggest flops of the 21st century (!) so Cavill is not a worthwhile asset. Had Argylle been a moderate or blockbuster hit it would have raised Cavill's market value but it flopped so his market value has dropped off a cliff. Time will tell if a studio will invest in Cavill in the rumoured Highlander reboot. My gut feeling is it won't happen, however, actors can have huge bombs and still get big roles but, fair or not, Argylle was such a huge box office flop (total world wide box office of 96 million compared to No Time To Die 774 million) I can't see Cavill having any more big film roles. And I can't see Eon casting Cavill for that reason. Not sufficient box office appeal to justify Cavill's large fee.
Cavill will want millions to commit to a three films deal plus the option of a fourth and I can't see Barbara Broccoli looking at Argylle's box office and thinking "sure, Henry, here's 60 million dollars." And that would seem the sort of figure Cavill would want. Maybe 10 million for Bond 26, 20 million for Bond 27, 25 million or more for Bond 28.
The harsh reality is Cavill isn't 'box office' to warrant such a salary. Cavill hasn't justified it.
Mcgregor was my top choice before i new craig existed…. Again i watch popcorn flicks hence why i am usually quiet in these chats i dont watch bbc dramas about 1500 scotland where a lot of these actors are from
Oh, fair enough. I love engaging flicks. Medieval stuffs as well.