Apparently, today marks the anniversary of the Crag-like Face being announced as James Bond, 13 months and two days before the release of Casino Royale. I just note this fact as an indicator of when his replacement is likely to be announced.
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"He's the one that doesn't smile" - Queen Elizabeth II on Daniel Craig
Ever since Daniel Craig ditched the 007 role after five films and made his Bond swansong in 2021's No Time To Die, rumors have been swirling over which debonair star will replace the icon. Now, an insider has revealed the British actor, 33, is extremely close to landing the role, with Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, 53, looking likely to helm the next film in the franchise. The insider said: ‘Aaron Taylor-Johnson is currently the hot favorite to step into the iconic role, he’s the first choice for Barbara Broccoli – he is the one to beat........these INSIDERS seem to know what lurks in the Broccoli mind. Sign him up before his mommy wife makes him eat his curds and whey!
Last edited by bjmdds on Mon Oct 16, 2023 12:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Kristatos wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 7:13 pm
Apparently, today marks the anniversary of the Crag-like Face being announced as James Bond, 13 months and two days before the release of Casino Royale. I just note this fact as an indicator of when his replacement is likely to be announced.
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18 LONG years ago.....and STILL counting his departure days!
Interview with Matthew Vaughn in which he talks about Bond, Kingsman, and his new spy movie Argyll, in which Henry Cavill plays a very Bond-like character:
Matthew Vaughn is pretty sure he's not directing the next James Bond movie. The former 007 hopeful spoke to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Vaughn mentioned that the higher-ups didn't really love him and that ended up being the deciding factor. "I would say I've got more chance being cast as Bond than directing Bond," Vaughn joked with the host. "Ask them. They're not keen on me." https://comicbook.com/movies/news/james ... directing/
Last edited by bjmdds on Fri Oct 20, 2023 4:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
"When you change the actor you have to reimagine the direction the film's gonna go in. When you hire an actor, you're hoping you're going to spend a decade at least with them and make four or five or six films with them," Broccoli explained to Empire. "So you have to think through, 'what is the trajectory? What is that actor going to bring? How are you going to move the series into another direction?' "It's not just flicking through Spotlight and saying, 'Oh, there's a guy who's 6'1,'" Broccoli added. "We're going to take our time. We want to get a sense of where we want to go with the series and we want to do that before we bring anybody else on. We'll start the process probably with [writers] Rob [Wade] and Neil [Purvis] and we'll see where we go!"-----Broccoli must have failed mathematics as a child! She has produced ONE Bond film since 2015, 8 years ago, with nothing on the horizon! How dumb does she think fans are to think she will bother making a film every 2 years, when it will be more like 1 film every 2 decades at this rate?!
So Purvis and Wade are back? So much for reimagining. Is this a recent interview, or one from 2005? They've already "taken their time", surely? In the business world, that's called "analysis paralysis".
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"He's the one that doesn't smile" - Queen Elizabeth II on Daniel Craig
Kristatos wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2023 5:52 am
So Purvis and Wade are back? So much for reimagining. Is this a recent interview, or one from 2005? They've already "taken their time", surely? In the business world, that's called "analysis paralysis".
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Exactly! The two blackholes of imagination return to raise the same rickety old framework they used since TWINE, then EON will bring in a battalion of other writers to write, rewrite and write again as they film (whenever that will be!).
To your point Kris, it's been two years since Dan's swan song premiered, two years before that the film was sealed in a can, what the bloody hell have they been doing all this time?! Maybe you don't have a specific actor in mind, but EON must have some sort of an inkling of what direction they intent to steer the series? I get it Babz you hate Bond, but sooner or later you got to do something if you want to keep your seat in Hollywood!
The Rouge Warrior, On Hermaphrodite's Secret Service
I get that Covid and the actors' strike have interfered with the casting process, but couldn't they have done it some time in between? Other major casting decisions were made in that time.
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"He's the one that doesn't smile" - Queen Elizabeth II on Daniel Craig
Kristatos wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2023 5:07 pm
I get that Covid and the actors' strike have interfered with the casting process, but couldn't they have done it some time in between? Other major casting decisions were made in that time.
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Precisely! I don't recall the "inability to consider the direction of your film series" to be a symptom of Covid and the writer's strike has only incapsulated the last few months. Four years is a long time to do nothing! EON is either devoid of ideas or has some iota of what their doing but won't say for some bizarre reason. I'm not talking about giving detail here, just say "yeah, we have a few things brewing, you'll know it when they come to fruition." Even if that's not not the case and they are creatively bankrupt, lie about it!
The Rouge Warrior, On Hermaphrodite's Secret Service
Favorite Bond Movie: Moonraker Goldfinger The Spy Who Loved Me
Favorite Movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Crazy For Christmas, The Empire Strikes Back, League of Gentlemen (1960's British film), Big Trouble in Little China, Police Academy 2, Carry On At Your Convenience, Commando, Halloween III: Season of the Witch,
At this point I have to wonder is it sheer laziness or are they locked in some sort of "pissing contest" with Amazon? I'm guessing both, at any rate it must be nice to take a half decade off and just count your dead father's money!
Some takeaways from this article:
It feels like a rebuttal to all the rumors churned up by interviews with the likes of Nolan et.al. "We haven't started yet," "We're reinventing for a modern world," read forget about Nolan and those "period piece" rumors.
She prattles on about the cold war, to which I ask have you ever watched any of your fathers films? Have the people you associate with? Because Cubby intentionally reduced or outright deleted Soviet involvement in in his films making them timeless.
I especially like this quote: "With Craig they “wanted to focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like”. So the "21st century hero" is a dewy eyed, weepy prat?!
The bit about the game show really has the feel of someone getting strongarmed, it's abundantly clear Babz didn't want to do it but Amazon is eager to start making money on the property. She really drills down on how she doesn't want to do television, so you know Amazon is really pushing for a streaming program, much like their "Lord of the Rings" prequel show.
The Rouge Warrior, On Hermaphrodite's Secret Service
It is quite obvious that Broccoli has NO interest whatsoever in proceeding with this franchise. Without Cr-egg as her muse, she has no passion to make another film. She MUST be bought out, and that might be her motivation all along now, to cash out with a huge pay day, but in return, her producing days would be over, and she would no longer hobknob with her fellow producers. One film in 8 years. ONE! Stick a fork in this franchise! It is DONE!
I've been doing a slow retrospective through Classic Bond over the past few months. The rules are simple: I have to watch the films in order and I have to have enough time to watch them in one sitting. I also have to watch them, no being on my phone or other device.
Lat night was "You Only Live Twice", and here are my thoughts (in no particular order):
1. There is something to be said for a 2 hour thriller/action movie. The tight editing allows for a lean and compelling viewing experience. Modern films, not just Bond, are too meandering and self-indulgent. I can remember my English lit Prof telling the class that in his view, the editor is the most important person in the publishing process as they keep the story focussed and the momentum moving forward (and lets not forget that Fleming was a very descriptive yet lean author, with most of his books getting to the point quickly)
2. With that said, YOLT is not upper tier Bond. It plays more as a greatest hits album, repeating the tropes from the previous 4, superior films
3. However, the set piece with Bond escaping from the docks and the aerial shot pulling away to show him battling successive waves of opponents is one of the great actions scenes of the series (although I remembered it as being scored with John Barry's "007", which it was not. Amazing after seeing the Bond films multiple times that even now details can be misremembered). The shows that an action scene does not have to be kinetic and frenetic to be engaging and cinematic.
4. I think that 4 films is the length of time that any actor should inhabit the role. Connery was visibly not interested in the proceedings and did not look as lean and mean as he had in Thunderball. His disinterest could stem from the fact that Bond himself is not as engaged in the action as he could be, instead turning into the button pushing caricature that critics, I think unfairly pegged his as after this film. I think if Connery had been presented with a script that was more involving and more challenging to him, he would have risen to the occasion as the professional that he was. However, I think that 4 films let the actor be comfortable with the role and allows the filmmakers to not repeat themselves as they redefine the character to reflect the actor playing him, who is himself a reflection of the current society. And if I can be indulged here, take a look at Brosnan's performance in that most maligned of Bond films, Die Another Day. Especially in the first half, he brought an anger and intensity to the role that we had not seen before and clearly seemed to be relishing pushing Bond to beyond expectations.
5. My final thought is that YOLT weaknesses become even more obvious when you compare it to its virtual remake, "The Spy Who Loved Me". There you had an engaged star and a cohesive, engaging story. It's almost as if Lewis Gilbert was able to remake the earlier film and improve on it.
6. My final, final thoughts, I don't want you to think that I didn't enjoy YOLT. Even lesser Classic Bond is still an enjoyable experience. And as a test of any good film, I look forward to watching YOLT again the future.
All that's left to say now is that "James Bond will return in "On His Majesty Secret Service", and I look forward to discussing George Lazenby's one and only essay into Bond.
Sign him up before his mommy wife makes him eat his curds and whey!
Other guests: http://www.chillertheatre.com/gt/gtc4.htm
