My interesting Dalton question

[James]

(Clears throat)...drumroll...

Dalton stood down in 94 and Eon/MGM moved very quickly to get Brosnan. Did Timothy jump of his own accord or was he pushed?

[Kristatos]

I've heard conflicting accounts. From what I understand, he was signed on to do three films, but because of the legal battles that stopped production for 6 years, his contract expired before the third film was made. Cubby was keen to get him back for Goldeneye, but he didn't want to do it, so the part went to Pierce instead. But that's just one version of the story. It's hard to know who to believe, because even the participants themselves may not be entirely truthful in interviews. Dalton has said that he jumped, but if he was pushed, he might not want people to know that.

[James]

I think Cubby was loyal to Dalton but MGM wanted to cast Brosnan. They (and Dalton) were well aware that LTK's box-office was a disaster in the US. A Dalton GoldenEye might have done alright but he was definitely a Bond who appealed more to the fanbase than the general public. I suspect that Dalton was well aware of the situation and decided to quietly stand aside to save a load of hassle.

[Dr. No]

I've wondered about this..
I don't think the studios were too keen on having him back, and then there was his going around say that LTK may/would be the last Bond film. I'm too young to remember what the feeling was at the time.

Of course doing battle against on of the best Indian Jones, films featuring Connery didn't do him any favors. But it always the actor that gets the blame when a bond movie goes a bit sideways, LTK had a few things I didn't care for (Wayne Newton?!), but it wasn't Dalton. I love the Bond Q interaction and few of the other things.

One review I read attributed the films failure to Cubby letting nepotism interfere with business.

[The Sweeney]

The official statement was that Dalton didn't want to do a 3rd film.

Reading between the lines, I guess Cubby always wanted Pierce for the role, and Dalton was a substitute. Once Brosnan became availble, Dalton was dropped. This appears commercially sound too, considering the flop that LTK was (even though I personally loved it).

[Dr. No]

Dalton was a very good team player. I admire all he did for the franchises even if some hate everything he did in it. Dalton was a great spokesman and still is. It sucks to be the runner up, eveyrone knew Pierce had the role and lost because of ABC screwing things up and then Dalton who had been offered the role many times less publicly finally get his shot there was big shadow hanging over him. 2 big shadows actually.

[James]

I met several new people this week on a course and they all noticed I was browsing Bond sites when I got bored. I got chatting about James Bond several times and the interesting thing is, six out of seven, when asked, said that their favourite Bond was Roger Moore because his films were the ones they remembered with the underwater car, battle in space and Acrostar Jet etc. Only one could name the actor who played Bond in Casino Royale. I don't think any of these people would have the faintest clue who Timothy Dalton was. As far as the general public goes I sometimes think Bond is Sean Connery and Roger Moore and then 'the other lot'.

[Dr. No]

Goring up Moore's Bond had all of the images I associated with Bond. Dalton was Bond at the time, but we did know it because Moore was everywhere else.

[Kristatos]

I met several new people this week on a course and they all noticed I was browsing Bond sites when I got bored. I got chatting about James Bond several times and the interesting thing is, six out of seven, when asked, said that their favourite Bond was Roger Moore because his films were the ones they remembered with the underwater car, battle in space and Acrostar Jet etc. Only one could name the actor who played Bond in Casino Royale. I don't think any of these people would have the faintest clue who Timothy Dalton was. As far as the general public goes I sometimes think Bond is Sean Connery and Roger Moore and then 'the other lot'.

Well, I remember how surprised I was when OHMSS premiered on TV and I found that there had been another Bond besides Sean Connery and Roger Moore. I think it was about the time Moonraker came out in cinemas (in those days, it took 10 years for a new Bond film to get shown on British TV).

[Dr. No]

I met several new people this week on a course and they all noticed I was browsing Bond sites when I got bored. I got chatting about James Bond several times and the interesting thing is, six out of seven, when asked, said that their favourite Bond was Roger Moore because his films were the ones they remembered with the underwater car, battle in space and Acrostar Jet etc. Only one could name the actor who played Bond in Casino Royale. I don't think any of these people would have the faintest clue who Timothy Dalton was. As far as the general public goes I sometimes think Bond is Sean Connery and Roger Moore and then 'the other lot'.

Well, I remember how surprised I was when OHMSS premiered on TV and I found that there had been another Bond besides Sean Connery and Roger Moore. I think it was about the time Moonraker came out in cinemas (in those days, it took 10 years for a new Bond film to get shown on British TV).

Reminds me of a funny story. Around bout the time of TND I rented OHMSS. had a bunch of shiftless teenage friends over, we were probably playing GE on Nintendo. Memeory is a little hazy here

Taking a break we put in Bond movies. OHMSS never got past the intro. "This never happened to the other fellow" was met with boos and , "who the F___ is this guy?" tape was ejected and promptly returned for another .

I've watched and enjoy OHMSS since then, but it not a favorite and my wife rejects it as a possibility on movie nights.
I thibk it goes to show that an actor does make difference on how poepl feel about the movies. IF OHMSS had been SC I know we (as young punks ) would have watched it. RM or PB for that matter.

[James]

I remember the first time I watched OHMSS my Dad walked in the room and called Lazenby "The Big Fry" man. Something to do with chocolate adverts in the sixties I gather.

[The Sweeney]

I remember the first time I watched OHMSS my Dad walked in the room and called Lazenby "The Big Fry" man. Something to do with chocolate adverts in the sixties I gather.

Link to the advert here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjSquMws6xg

[James]

I've heard that Daniel Craig is going to be the new 'Small Fry Man'.

[Kristatos]

I remember the first time I watched OHMSS my Dad walked in the room and called Lazenby "The Big Fry" man. Something to do with chocolate adverts in the sixties I gather.

Link to the advert here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjSquMws6xg

I'd never seen that before. I always thought Cubby spotted him in a Milk Tray ad. Kind of hard to see what made him think "that guy should be James Bond" purely based on that brief shot of Lazenby carrying a box.

[The Sweeney]

I remember the first time I watched OHMSS my Dad walked in the room and called Lazenby "The Big Fry" man. Something to do with chocolate adverts in the sixties I gather.

Link to the advert here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjSquMws6xg

I'd never seen that before. I always thought Cubby spotted him in a Milk Tray ad. Kind of hard to see what made him think "that guy should be James Bond" purely based on that brief shot of Lazenby carrying a box.

I thought Cubby first came across him at the barbers in the Dorchester Hotel in London, having a Connery cut? Apparently Cubby said something along the lines afterwards to someone about Lazenby being an ideal look for Bond, but is probably a sucessful business man.

[James]

The OHMSS DVD suggests Lazenby blagged a screentest and found that Peter Hunt was a big advocate for him on the basis of his looks. On the documentary they have someone from United Artists admitting that were really unhappy at the time that a Bond film was going into production without Connery.

[Dr. No]

The OHMSS DVD suggests Lazenby blagged a screentest and found that Peter Hunt was a big advocate for him on the basis of his looks. On the documentary they have someone from United Artists admitting that were really unhappy at the time that a Bond film was going into production without Connery.

That goes along with the rumored UA demanding Lazenby go after OHMSS, also why they so easily agreed to Connery's 1 million dollars

[James]

Yup, and it also explains why they went for Roger Moore after Connery left again. They needed someone with a bit of name recognition and the mighty Rog had a bit of that through his Simon Templar days.