Damon disses Bond (again)

[Kristatos]

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainmen ... 69216.html

Scroll down to the second half of the article. The scariest part is where he said that Steven Soderbergh was offered a Bond movie to direct. Ye gods. Soderbergh's a talented director, but I can't see him being a good fit for Bond, to put it mildly.

[stockslivevan]

Sounds like he had a bad day.

[The Sweeney]

If his comments are true, he's coming across like a bit of a tosser, but there is some truth in his comments about the character of Bond.

It's probably just taken out of context, as all journo's do.....

[stockslivevan]

Excellent reply from another forum...

Bond is an imperialist, misogynist, sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people.

Whereas Bourne is a brainwashed, amnesiac, self-preservationist who goes around destroying the landscape indicriminately and irresponsibly and killing people.

Are we experiencing some sort of attempted one-upmanship here, whereby the Bourne character somehow occupies the moral high ground? Strange, if you stop to consider just how much the Bourne character cribs from the Bond heritage. The rogue amnesiac spy motif as minted in YOLT and carried over into TMWTGG novels, for instance. Finding love only to have that cruelly taken away by the bad guys. Being a government assassin in the employ of a secret department.

The difference is, Bourne is seen to kill innocents emotionlessly at points as the backstory unfolds. One could argue that it was as a result of brain-washing or whatever, but it was still portrayed in ways intended to thrill and stimulate the audience. The Bourne character's sense of duty is fake, manufactured by his masters, whereas Bonds is ultimately part of who he is and what he does and why he does it. Bourne's activities and alliances are wholly selfish - his own survival, personal revenge against his former masters, satisfying himself as to the truth of who he is and what went on.

They are both fantasy creations, and I confess to enjoying the Bourne movies very much. Yet the genesis of Bourne resides with Bond. As to who is the most heroic, appealing and morally superior, I guess that's up to the audience to decide. If it matters.

[Kristatos]

Matt Daaaamon!



Actually, he always comes across as a bit of a tosser. I hope his words about how if they ever made a fourth Bourne film, they'd have to call it The Bourne Redundancy get thrown back at him when he's doing the inevitable publicity tour for the next Bourne film. But of course, they won't.

[stockslivevan]

I believe Greengrass once joked that the fourth film would be titled Redundancy during the premiere of the third film.

[Kristatos]

I believe Greengrass once joked that the fourth film would be titled Redundancy during the premiere of the third film.

Actually, I think you're right, Damon quoted it in his Daily Show interview, but I believe he said that it originated with Greengrass. He clearly approved of the comment, though.

[stockslivevan]

I suppose he was offered a higher salary for a fourth film.

Reminds me of the 109th Rule of Acquisition: Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.

[katied]

Matt Daaaamon!

LOL that's the first thing I think of when I hear his name

Good Will Hunting was on TV the other night.Matt Daaamon at his best,before his head disappeared up his backside

[Dr. No]

I believe Greengrass once joked that the fourth film would be titled Redundancy during the premiere of the third film.

Actually, I think you're right, Damon quoted it in his Daily Show interview, but I believe he said that it originated with Greengrass. He clearly approved of the comment, though.

Wasn't he also making big deal over the "shitty" reviews too, joking about sending them to Greengrass?

I don't like Damon. I have poor opinion of idiot actors who speak out on politics. Especially as poorly informed as Damon was (is?).
I imagin Pierce got an sympathetic ear when he talk with Damon after CR.

NO JAMES BOND

Damon met Beardon when he was working as a technical advisor on the grim Cold War spy film The Good Shepherd, in which ""Damon played a fictionalized version of legendary CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton. Damon has acted in several spy movies, including three as discarded CIA superassassin Jason Bourne, and he has developed some very strong opinions on the subject. Do not, for instance, compare that unctuous James Bond fellow to the misguided but moral Bourne.

''They could never make a James Bond movie like any of the Bourne films,'' Damon says scornfully. ``Because Bond is an imperialist, misogynist sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. He's repulsive.

``Steve [Soderbergh, who produced yet another of Damon's spy movies, Syriana] told me that years ago he was offered a Bond movie. He told them he'd do it if they gave him creative control. Absolutely not, they said. They have a formula, they stick to it, and it makes them a lot of money. They know what they're doing, and they're going to keep doing it.''

The Bourne movies haven't done too shabbily at the box office themselves, pulling in something over half a billion dollars in ticket sales among them, and another is in the works. Says Damon, who just finished an expensive and probably risky film called The Green Zone, based on a harshly critical nonfiction book about the search for WMDs in Iraq: ``When you make a $125 million Iraq movie, you kind of owe them a Bourne movie.''

Not, he hastily adds, that it's quite as chillingly calculated as that.

'Some people do it like a mathematical equation: `One for them, one for me,' '' says Damon. ``I'm less conscious of it than that. But you're always aware of how much leverage you have to do what you want to do. You want to maintain that. It helps that I like the Bourne movies. I've never felt like I'm slumming.''

"It helps that I like the Bourne movies. I've never felt like I'm slumming." Here is where i think Craig does think he is slumming. IMHO That is why he wanted to change bond in to bourne.

[stockslivevan]

Craig's response:

Craig is not prepared to directly respond to Matt Damon's description of Bond as ''an imperialist and a misogynist who kills people and sips martini's and wisecracks about it''
''I'm not going to get into an argument with a supposed quote,'' splutters Craig '' They are trying to find the bad guys, full stop. How they do it is the difference. I'm certainly not going to get into a pi**ing competition with the Bourne franchise.''.
He also declines to speculate on which fictional character would win out were Bond, Bourne and Batman to miraculously have a scrap (''Bond would get the other two to punch the sh** out of each other while he bets on both and has a martini.'')

[Gary Seven]

Matt Damon said
Because Bond is an imperialist, misogynist sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. He's repulsive.

That's rubbish. Bond is not a British "imperialist". He is a spy doing a job which normally entails fighting fantasy unambiguously evil villians who threaten the world. He is a force for good. AFAIK, he does not kill/fight against good people who threaten the British state's interests.

Bond is not a misogynist: he is akin to a Knight rescuing and protecting the heroines in the novel and movies, and opposing the evil women. Of course he is sexist, but to say he hates women?

Bond is not a sociopath: he is doing a nasty job and often shows remorse. His actions often psycologically damage him. The Craig-Bond in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace seems to be sociopath. I presume this personality trait was part of the young Bond arc.

[Dr. No]

Matt Damon said
Because Bond is an imperialist, misogynist sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. He's repulsive.

That's rubbish. Bond is not a British "imperialist". He is a spy doing a job which normally entails fighting fantasy unambiguously evil villians who threaten the world. He is a force for good. AFAIK, he does not kill/fight against good people who threaten the British state's interests.

Bond is not a misogynist: he is akin to a Knight rescuing and protecting the heroines in the novel and movies, and opposing the evil women. Of course he is sexist, but to say he hates women?

Bond is not a sociopath: he is doing a nasty job and often shows remorse. His actions often psycologically damage him. The Craig-Bond in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace seems to be sociopath. I presume this personality trait was part of the young Bond arc.

Some good points Garry. Unfortunately I think it is how alot of Holly wood including Craig and Cubby's kids see Bond.

[katied]

Some good points Garry. Unfortunately I think it is how alot of Holly wood including Craig and Cubby's kids see Bond.

Apparently Mikey (Wilson) has been reported as saying that the Bond theme and the gunbarrel are not essential to a Bond film