Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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http://theweek.com/article/index/261349 ... -all-of-us

Timothy Dalton opens up about Penny Dreadful, leaving James Bond, and the demon in all of us
That leads, quite naturally, into a discussion of the role that Dalton is still most famous for: James Bond, who Dalton played in 1987's The Living Daylights and 1989's Licence to Kill.

Dalton waves away the idea that the fear of stagnation was a part of his relatively short tenure as 007. "That was my worry going into the James Bond franchise, certainly," he explains. "But it wasn't why I left." That doesn't mean he didn't have some concerns about the franchise: "On [Licence to Kill], I think I saw the script about two weeks before we started shooting. You know, that's not great, is it?"

Licence to Kill wasn't supposed to be his final James Bond movie; a third 007 movie, which would have starred Dalton, entered preproduction in 1990. "We had the script. They were interviewing directors. We were really rolling forward, ready to start. It was actually quite a good story, I thought," says Dalton. But a lengthy legal dispute between Eon Productions and MGM delayed the film indefinitely — and gave Dalton an out. "Because of the lawsuit, I was free of the contract," Dalton explains. "And [producer] Mr. Broccoli, who I really respected as a producer and as a friend, asked me what I was going to do when it was resolved. I said, 'Look, in all honesty, I don't think that I will continue.' He asked me for my support during that time, which of course, I gave him."

But when the lawsuit was resolved several years later, Dalton had a change of heart. "When [the next movie] did come about, it was probably four or five years later," he explains. "[Broccoli] asked if I would come back, and I said, 'Well, I've actually changed my mind a little bit. I think that I'd love to do one. Try and take the best of the two that I have done, and consolidate them into a third.' And he said, quite rightly, 'Look, Tim. You can't do one. There's no way, after a five-year gap between movies that you can come back and just do one. You'd have to plan on four or five.' And I thought, oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long. So I respectfully declined." When Goldeneye hit theaters in 1995, it was Pierce Brosnan in the starring role.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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He should have grabbed the chance instead of having a nothing career. These guys all think they are better than Bond yet it's ONLY Bond they are remembered for and Pierce embraced it.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Omega »

So he didn't like LTK .....


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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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Omega wrote:So he didn't like LTK .....
He didn't say that. He complained about not getting a script until a week or two before shooting, but he didn't criticise the finished film.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Omega »

That's not great I took to mean the movie. Interesting theme where Dalton and Brosnan are not satisfied with there time as bond. Wonder if Moore is next to complain


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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Daltonite Toothpaste »

bjmdds wrote:He should have grabbed the chance instead of having a nothing career. These guys all think they are better than Bond yet it's ONLY Bond they are remembered for and Pierce embraced it.
Brosnan embraced it? He didn't have a clue what he was doing. Rather than try and carve out his own Bond, he was to pre-ocupied about playing the same character that Connery had played years earlier.The extent of his Bond was to offer up the tie straightening, which was cheesy the first time it was done. Staggering.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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He embraced "being" Bond , and was an excellent ambassador for the franchise, vs. Cr-egg, who diminishes the role as an afterthought, although without Bond Cr-egg is an afterthought.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry »

Did the author of the article mean Dalton only saw the Livinfg Daylights script two weeks before shooting rather than Licence to Kill?
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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Watched the pilot Of Penny Dreadful(we had free Showtime last weekend.. )I give it a :up: Really good-and realy gory!
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Blowfeld »

Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:Did the author of the article mean Dalton only saw the Livinfg Daylights script two weeks before shooting rather than Licence to Kill?
He seems to say he didn't see the script until just before shooting Licence. In fairness he did mention years earlier about what he felt were problems with Licence to Kill.

Interesting that he seems to indicate he was done a little after the delays when we know it took a few years for him to be freed from his contract, also the internal memos that investors didn't want to finance another Timothy Dalton 007. I do believe him, his supporting the franchise during those years was vital to continuing when Pierce took over. In my opinion there were too many things happening in the background for any one actor to know them all.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Blowfeld »

kater23 wrote:Watched the pilot Of Penny Dreadful(we had free Showtime last weekend.. )I give it a :up: Really good-and realy gory!
Glad to hear it is done well!
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Daltonite Toothpaste »

kater23 wrote:Watched the pilot Of Penny Dreadful(we had free Showtime last weekend.. )I give it a :up: Really good-and realy gory!
Good to know. Total TV Guide has an interview with Dalton, which in the initial write up, is referred to as 'the ex 007 actor'. So he hasn't been forgotten, then. :)
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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bjmdds wrote:He should have grabbed the chance instead of having a nothing career. These guys all think they are better than Bond yet it's ONLY Bond they are remembered for and Pierce embraced it.
For my penny, I'd say the Pierce is among the smartest (maybe the smartest) since he saw the big picture that Bond could pave the way for a long career. He's done this, with a loyal fan base and some good and entertaining films. In the old days an actor could be typecast, but Pierce knows not in this era. As for Dalton's 'It would mean my whole life,' he could have been Bond for several pictures and either done films in-between Bonds or waited (his whole life?) to do other films. It's a bit of the Lazenby syndrome. Unfortunately for the Pierce he didn't have the 'perfect' conditions to shine in his Bond career. Note Goldeneye .... he started with a nice bang. In the opening scenes he was playing it a taste more 'realistically' than the Sean. IMO in the pre credits he was better than Connery. Of course, the jump into the plane was pure Moore, but excellent stuff. Solid supporting characters and actors in 005, the Bond girls, General O with 'I'm invincible' guy for comic relief. The one thing missing was a great Bondian score, of course.
If the rest of Pierce's run had been like GE, well, we don't have to verbalize it ........... :cake:
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Omega »

IMO Dalton is right when he said "that would be the rest of my life", he had a what was originally a three picture deal the time stretched for those three films to what would of been 9 almost 10 years from the day he was hired to make 3 films. They tell him if you come back you need to make 4 to 5 more I can see the oh s**t factor. IMO the Bond Actors are type cast but not like Connery was, it was easier for later Bond to get movies that were not spy related and try to prove their acting chops. And Craig god knows what he is doing I doubt he type cast by Bond, he may be type cast for being a jerk stringing productions along and quitting.
Dalton and Brosnan had the smarts to take roles during and after Bond to keeping them working in different roles that were distinctly not Bond so they might have a chance to go beyond Bond after they were not making Bond movies any more.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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Omega wrote:Dalton and Brosnan had the smarts to take roles during and after Bond to keeping them working in different roles that were distinctly not Bond so they might have a chance to go beyond Bond after they were not making Bond movies any more.
For Pierce, NM is a response to his Bond career which he felt is not what he wanted.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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FormerBondFan wrote:
Omega wrote:Dalton and Brosnan had the smarts to take roles during and after Bond to keeping them working in different roles that were distinctly not Bond so they might have a chance to go beyond Bond after they were not making Bond movies any more.
For Pierce, NM is a response to his Bond career which he felt is not what he wanted.
yes but he and Dalton have done all kinds of role besides action to prove themselves was my point and that while thought of as bond each got the chance for other roles


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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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Omega wrote:
FormerBondFan wrote:
Omega wrote:Dalton and Brosnan had the smarts to take roles during and after Bond to keeping them working in different roles that were distinctly not Bond so they might have a chance to go beyond Bond after they were not making Bond movies any more.
For Pierce, NM is a response to his Bond career which he felt is not what he wanted.
yes but he and Dalton have done all kinds of role besides action to prove themselves was my point and that while thought of as bond each got the chance for other roles


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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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BatFleck will tank FBF. It's becoming a joke of a film. Cavill will be ruined by what has been cast around him. Better off Dalton was not selected.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

Post by Daltonite Toothpaste »

Haven't the cast of Penny Dreadful signed up for 5 series/years? I recall hearing it somewhere, possibly from Mendes. So I doubt Dalton is bothered by not being cast as Alfred.
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Re: Dalton on leaving Bond and Penny Dreadful

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bjmdds wrote:He should have grabbed the chance instead of having a nothing career. These guys all think they are better than Bond yet it's ONLY Bond they are remembered for and Pierce embraced it.
You know, I've kept quiet about this - ahem - statement of yours for quite a long time, not only to defer to your seniority on this forum, but to avoid going off on an ugly rant that only breeds a poisonous atmosphere and benefits nobody in the end. But now that I've calmed down to present my case in a civilized manner, I can now declare that in all honesty, I don't believe that official statement from Mr. Dalton simply because of the old adage that You Shouldn't Believe Everything You Read.

If anything, it smells to me like a PR move by Dalton to not only continue to Save Face in the public eye by NOT digging up the dirt on a shameful event in the Bond Series' history, but preserving Old Man Cubby's Legendary Status as a Devoted Father Figure who still had the Strength and Authority to "do right" by Dalton in offering him a full continuance of such a "4 or 5 more films"-type deal for Dalton to take another bullet for the Broccoli family by "refusing". When actually, the truth was Cubby used up the last reserves of his strength on the protracted legal battles during the hiatus whose only real purpose was to Preserve the Capital Value of the OLD Bond Movies' Television Distribution Rights that were in danger of being sold off at bargain-basement rates, and NOT the right to make new Bond movies with Dalton.

Given that MGM/UA were never convinced of Dalton's box-office potential (re. the anemic promotion of LTK in particular) and even less-so after the hiatus, I'm not certain but positive that THEY wanted Dalton out and Brosnan in to restore their fortunes, which Broccoli didn't have the power to fight. Especially when the old man was in such poor health and fading faster each year production was delayed, which makes his ability to honor that "4 or 5 more films with Dalton" idea less plausible, even if he decreed that Michael G. Wilson & Babsey carry on this edict after his passing, which they couldn't have done without MGM's backing. So it was agreed on the Cover Story that Dalton "quit" for everyone to save face, much like Brian Jones "quit" the Rolling Stones in June 1969 due to "musical differences" (and given Jones's swift demise only a month later, everyone knows how bogus THAT was). At least Dalton's continued existence and low-key prospering in his own artistic endeavors makes his story somewhat more credible, though I'm still not convinced.

I'm just mystified that you couldn't read between those lines before overreacting with your denouncing Timothy Dalton of all people for thinking himself "better" than Bond as one more excuse to praise Brosnan again. And that wasn't cool.
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