The future of James Bond

Sleepy · 15-11-2022 04:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119873305#Comment_119873305

I'll freely admit that Dalton was always my favourite Bond. He's the only one I ever really found believable as a killer and always found it telling that Brosnan's only good Bond movie (Goldeneye) was origianlly written for Dalton.

At 76 you couldn't have him brawling in Bathrooms like Craig's Bond but there'd be nothing stopping him still being capable with a sniper rifle, using spycraft, being able to drive like a bat out of hell and as @Homelander points out, he's aged very well, you could still have him seducing women (which would in it's own right be an interesting departure if you used actresses that were age appropriate (plenty of glamourous actresses in their 50's that could still make good Bond Girls: Michelle Pfeiffer, Naomi Watts, Sharon Stone, Rachel Weisz, Helena Bonham Carter etc.)

I doubt it'll ever be done but if you like the idea of this kind of spy movie you might enjoy The Worricker Trilogy with Bill Nighy as an ageing MI5 officer. They're more political espionage than "super spy". I think they're still on Netflix ("Page Eight", "Salting The Battlefield" and "Turks & Caicos").

pixelburp · 15-11-2022 04:48PM

They should cast Dalton as the new M; that'd be a fun bit of casting and would get the Canon Police in absolute knots trying to work out if that M was/is James Bond as well. Failing that, the same idea only cast Brosnon.

Muller1991 · 15-11-2022 04:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119877865#Comment_119877865

That would be fantastic ! I think they wanted to do something along the lines of this with Skyfall IIRC the role of Kincade (Albert Finney ) was written with Sean Connery in mind for the part.

j2 · 15-11-2022 04:58PM

A good shout I heard recently, albeit a bit from left field, would be for Zendaya to take on the role. She has the acting chops and it would take Bond in an interesting new direction. Equally, I could easily see somebody like Daisey Ridley in the role in future years.

pixelburp · 15-11-2022 05:05PM

I have zero issue with a black man taking the mantle of Bond and that fellow from Bridgerton has read like a good shout, given Idris Elba is too old (and seems too disinterested) ... but casting a woman would be tricky, and that's putting it mildy. Zendaya? Uh, she's an excellent actor, but by no account gives off the kind of physical presence you'd want for a spy who could handle herself.

If you absolutely, 100% had to cast a female James Bond then one would have to look towards your Charlize Therons and the like - someone who not only has precedent in the action genre but at least looks like she could handle herself.

Eclectic Econometrics · 15-11-2022 05:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119668810#Comment_119668810

If Damian Lewis was 41 instead of 51 I think he would be a shoo-in. To be honest, at 51 I still like him more than 90% of the names being put forward.

silliussoddius · 15-11-2022 06:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119877936#Comment_119877936

I think that the actor isn't the problem, but more the tone/direction. The Craig moves went the Bond Begins/Bourne gritty route, so where do the new films go? We have always come to expect gadgets, stunts, evil villains and birds from Bond. More of it will be just stale and a deviation won't be Bond.

Throw a wad of cash at the above idea of Dalton's Bond in the vein of The Dark Knight Returns or give it a cyanide pill. I think Dalton is also Christopher Nolan's favourite Bond.

nigeldaniel · 15-11-2022 06:17PM

I have an inking the next Bond will be a Yankee. The franchise is looking to put as many bums on seats in the USA as they can possibly manage. No real telling who that might be. An action man for sure as it has been going that way for a long time now. Someone with a lean and tough face. think Jason Bourne but in his late 20s.

wilkie2006 · 15-11-2022 06:41PM

With Henry Cavill leaving his Witcher role (which he appears to be a great fan of and loved), I think it's very likely that he's been offered - and accepted - Bond.

Having played Napolean Solo in the 60s-set "The Man from U.N.K.L.E", could we see Cavill as a Cold War-era Bond?

Agent Coulson · 15-11-2022 07:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119878284#Comment_119878284

He left it as he is returning to DC to be Superman again.

FunLover18 · 15-11-2022 09:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119878152#Comment_119878152

I think the grittiness went out the window after QoS, they remained dark and more sombre but the action definitely became more clean, don't get me wrong some of the action in those movies is spectacular but it's not gritty eg the car chase in Spectre, the silhouette fight in Skyfall. Also the actual plots of Craig's later movie are (under the dark and sombre surface) are as camp and ridiculous as the Moore era. I can maybe see them owning that a little more and stripping back the "dark" veneer which is where I think Jean-Page would do well.

buried · 15-11-2022 09:21PM

Best way for this franchise, story-wise, is to go back into the past. Actually utilize the Fleming Books and re-boot his vision of the true James Bond with modern cinematography. Why not? Hollywood is re-booting everything else. Hollywood should grow a brain and also a pair of balls and re-boot these films as close as possible to Flemings original vision and timeline. Make it as politically incorrect as possible. Could save mainstream cinema as we know it.

JP Liz V1 · 16-11-2022 02:40AM

I'm sorry but James Bond has to be male somethings cannot change, seductive, charm, ladies, action, violence, choice of drink and car etc.,

If you want a female spy film I'm sure someone could write one

I've seen names like Richard Madden, Jack O'Connell, Sebastian Stan, Miles Teller and James Norton rumoured also

Whomever does take over, tough job following Craig even though Casino Royale was his best imho

Harry Styles or Luke Evans could be a singing Bond 😁

MrStuffins · 16-11-2022 01:15PM

My issue with Page taking the role is not the colour of his skin, it's that whenever i've seen him in something.......... he's just not very good!

saabsaab · 16-11-2022 01:36PM

What about an Irish actor. I could see Ardal O'Hanlon (Despite the Fr Ted) being a good option. Or Michael Fassbender as a more conventional choice.

Muller1991 · 16-11-2022 02:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881260#Comment_119881260

Seriously ? Ardal O'Hanlon ?

Fassbender is probably on the wrong side of 40 now, He would be my preffered choice though.

Maybe jack O'Connell or Alex Pettyfer would be decent choices.

eagle eye · 16-11-2022 02:58PM

I think it's time we had anything but a white man in the role. I don't care if he's mixed race or where his family came from. I think he should be British.

They changed the dynamic long ago that James Bond is one person. It's now the name of the selected agent so he can be any colour or creed.

pixelburp · 16-11-2022 03:01PM

Zendaya and Ardal O'Hanlon?

Man I'll be glad when the casting's done - if only so we get past this really weird phase of the spitballing.

Muller1991 · 16-11-2022 03:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881596#Comment_119881596

WHo or what said its the name of the selected agent ?

James Bond will always be James Bond .... 007 on the other hand is assigned to the person who has the code i.e Lashana Lynch's character in No Time To Die.

MrStuffins · 16-11-2022 03:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881596#Comment_119881596

So you haven't seen Skyfall?

Tony EH · 16-11-2022 04:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119880001#Comment_119880001

Strangely enough, I could actually see Harry Styles in the role. Sans singing of course.

Tony EH · 16-11-2022 04:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119878861#Comment_119878861

The main problem with the Craig Bond's is that they pivoted back to Bond cliches, when they should have continued in the direction they were going with 'Casino Royale' and (the absurdly named) 'Quantum of Solace'.

martingriff · 16-11-2022 04:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119877910#Comment_119877910

If they want to do a female Bond" they will go down the route of a CIA one as in the one Craig met in the last movie Paloma.

saabsaab · 16-11-2022 05:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881607#Comment_119881607

Just saw his age, too old now but he could have been a contender..

Tony EH · 16-11-2022 05:35PM

Dougal as a shout for James Bond has to be one of the funniest things I've heard in ages.

silliussoddius · 16-11-2022 08:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881937#Comment_119881937

I'd rather see Harry Enfield.

FunLover18 · 16-11-2022 08:11PM

If they want to go the female route they should just do what they did in NTTD and have a female 007 but they specifically said "James Bond will return" at the end of that film.

pixelburp · 16-11-2022 08:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882935#Comment_119882935

Problem is, and remains, James Bond as a universe isn't interesting or unique enough to shoulder spin-offs. The character is the reason people tune in - not the specifics of the world around him. IMO obviously but James Bond without James Bond isn't much of a hook. We kinda saw that in a smaller fashion with the Bourne series: they tried a sequel without Jason Bourne and audiences went meh, where's Jason?

cuttingtimber22 · 16-11-2022 08:21PM

Colin Farrell as 007 and Brendan Gleason as M.

Agent Coulson · 16-11-2022 08:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881462#Comment_119881462

Alex Pettyfer is actually a very good wild card shout.

The future of James Bond

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