I don't have any problem with a protean James Bond. But I believe Daniel Craig, however talented he may be, as a physical specimen is as off the mark as Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan ever were. That's not a bad thing. Movies freely interpret characters from novels all the time, and actors are free to bring new slants to familiar heroes. But let's not wet ourselves by imagining that Craig is an echt representation of Ian Fleming's overworked icon.
Start with the fact that the James Bond of the novels was decidedly not ripped or rugged. In Thunderball Fleming sends him to a health spa because the "flabby arms of civilization" have taken their toll on his physique. That's not just a plot device, although it serves as one. Bond drinks too much, smokes too much, and is unlikely to be found doing 200 push-ups off a chair every morning. His kind of recreation is the sort you can do in a dinner jacket at a gambling table.
In Casino Royale the novel, Fleming describes Bond as looking like Hoagy Carmichael, with a "comma of hair" falling over his brow (note to Dana Stevens: we would call that a side-part). The picture of Carmichael I just linked to is arguably rugged enough, perhaps, to be confusable with Daniel Craig's Bond, but you really need to see film of Carmichael to get the real image in your mind. Try the Bacall/Bogart picture To Have and Have Not if you have a chance. There you'll see a rather slender, smallish man who looks a lot more like Edward Fox than he does Daniel Craig (or Sean Connery, or Pierce Brosnan, or Timothy Dalton).
The important thing to remember is this: James Bond was not a lithe, "pantherlike" superhero. He was, in the words of Anthony Burgess, a "globetrotting clubman," who looked more comfortable at a dinner table than in a gym. In just about every novel Fleming took pains to emphasize this fact, juxtaposing him with a variety of dominating physical specimens: Oddjob, Donovan Grant, Scaramanga, the 7-foot-tall Dr. No. In each case he won by cunning and guile, not brute force. He was a good shot, true, and he was lucky, but his victories were due more to what the British would call "pluck" than they were to any physical preeminence. In the tradition of British heroism, he was a gentleman who, by dint of breeding, bearing and a stiff upper lip (and, truth be told, conniving and subterfuge when necessary), somehow managed to muddle through to victory.
Dana Stevens says that the point of casting Craig was to "subvert the Bond brand." That's kind of sad, because the Bond brand, as has been represented in film thus far, has never been anything but a subversion.
"Those were the days when we still associated Bond with suave, old school actors such as Sean Connery and Roger Moore,"
"Daniel didn't have a hint of suave about him," - Patsy Palmer
Favorite Bond Movie: Octopussy From Russia With Love The Living Daylights On Her Majestys Secret Service Doctor No .... Ah heck all of them
Favorite Movies: Lawrence Of Arabia, Forrest Gump, Jaws, The Shawshank Redemption, Vertigo, The Odd Couple, Zoolander, Cool Hand Luke, The Great Escape...many more.
Location: Well here obviously. At the moment of course
Did you enjoy the Edward Fox reference, Nashters? He and Bond are inextricably linked.
I agree that it's fine for Eon to update Bond for 2006. But he is not like the James Bond I imagine in the Fleming novels.
I didn't like Craig's unsublte tough man approach to Bond. But as people have said, maybe he was doing this to play his young Bond, and he will approach the character differently in Bond 22.
Blowfeld wrote:
Dana Stevens says that the point of casting Craig was to "subvert the Bond brand."
You know, I always had a sneaking suspicion that CR was trying to win over a new Bond audience by giving a two-fingered salute to long-term fans. This quote seems to affirm that.
"He's the one that doesn't smile" - Queen Elizabeth II on Daniel Craig
BOND sells, NOT CRAIG
The reboot is a risky area, did Eon need to do it? NO. Did this confuse alot of people? YES.
The Bond character will always be anchored in the values of the 60s
Favorite Movies: Bullitt, The Long Good Friday, The Towering Inferno, Jaws, Rocky, Superman the Movie, McVicar, Goodfellas, Get Carter, Three Days of the Condor, Butch & Sundance, The Sting, All the Presidents Men
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,
I'm looking forward to when Craig retires. His successor will be called the "best Bond since Connery" and everyone - including those Bond fans who supported him - will be attacking him. I think that's how it works.
Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:I'm looking forward to when Craig retires. His successor will be called the "best Bond since Connery" and everyone - including those Bond fans who supported him - will be attacking him. I think that's how it works.
Perhaps true if Craig becomes inconsistent and the films suck, kind of like how the films after Brosnan's GoldenEye (which also had as much praise as CR) were very mediocre and DAD was a bad ending for Brosnan's era.
But if Craig leaves very good films in his belt and retires, with a new actor is on the way, fans might say "Will he be just as good as Craig?"
Favorite Movies: Bullitt, The Long Good Friday, The Towering Inferno, Jaws, Rocky, Superman the Movie, McVicar, Goodfellas, Get Carter, Three Days of the Condor, Butch & Sundance, The Sting, All the Presidents Men
Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:I'm looking forward to when Craig retires. His successor will be called the "best Bond since Connery" and everyone - including those Bond fans who supported him - will be attacking him. I think that's how it works.
Perhaps true if Craig becomes inconsistent and the films suck, kind of like how the films after Brosnan's GoldenEye (which also had as much praise as CR) were very mediocre and DAD was a bad ending for Brosnan's era.
But if Craig leaves very good films in his belt and retires, with a new actor is on the way, fans might say "Will he be just as good as Craig?"
stockslivevan wrote: But if Craig leaves very good films in his belt and retires, with a new actor is on the way, fans might say "Will he be just as good as Craig?"
I thought I was an optomist. I'm glad you put 'but' at the start of that sentence.
“I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the s--- out of me,” Bond Hardman Daniel Craig.
I'm looking forward to when Craig retires. His successor will be called the "best Bond since Connery" and everyone - including those Bond fans who supported him - will be attacking him. I think that's how it works.
The tradition is: the new Bond is 'the best since Connery' and the previous actor cops a bit of flak. It happened with Dalton, Brosnan, and Craig. I'm sure the next actor will get the same treatment.
stockslivevan wrote: But if Craig leaves very good films in his belt and retires, with a new actor is on the way, fans might say "Will he be just as good as Craig?"
I thought I was an optomist. I'm glad you put 'but' at the start of that sentence.
You never know Skywalker. I am optomistic about Bond 22, but I'm pretty sure everyone was about Tomorrow Never Dies 10 years ago. You can never be too careful, because there is the possibility of Craig having a weak film (IMO) since almost every Bond had their own weak films except for Dalton and Lazenby.
stockslivevan wrote: You never know Skywalker. I am optomistic about Bond 22, but I'm pretty sure everyone was about Tomorrow Never Dies 10 years ago. You can never be too careful, because there is the possibility of Craig having a weak film (IMO) since almost every Bond had their own weak films except for Dalton and Lazenby.
Your right about Moore, Connery and Brosnan. With regards to TD and GL, they were not deemed popular or successful in their portrayals with 'Joe public', but their films where pretty solid which carried their individual performances IMO.
“I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the s--- out of me,” Bond Hardman Daniel Craig.
stockslivevan wrote: You never know Skywalker. I am optomistic about Bond 22, but I'm pretty sure everyone was about Tomorrow Never Dies 10 years ago. You can never be too careful, because there is the possibility of Craig having a weak film (IMO) since almost every Bond had their own weak films except for Dalton and Lazenby.
Your right about Moore, Connery and Brosnan. With regards to TD and GL, they were not deemed popular or successful in their portrayals with 'Joe public', but their films where pretty solid which carried their individual performances IMO.
Dalton and Lazenby had the least films its not a testament to their ability more to some fans reinterpretation of them.Lazenby and Dalton still have low public approval, hell they sell their movies bundled with the others to help move them.
LTK is too Miami Vice for me.
Connery and Brosnan were the most popular with the general public here (in the US) Moore has his fans too.
Dr. No wrote:
Dalton and Lazenby had the least films its not a testament to their ability more to some fans reinterpretation of them.Lazenby and Dalton still have low public approval, hell they sell their movies bundled with the others to help move them.
LTK is too Miami Vice for me.
Connery and Brosnan were the most popular with the general public here (in the US) Moore has his fans too.
Moore's rating is quite low here in the UK, which suprised me when I first started posting on Bond forums.
“I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the s--- out of me,” Bond Hardman Daniel Craig.
Dr. No wrote:
Dalton and Lazenby had the least films its not a testament to their ability more to some fans reinterpretation of them.Lazenby and Dalton still have low public approval, hell they sell their movies bundled with the others to help move them.
LTK is too Miami Vice for me.
Connery and Brosnan were the most popular with the general public here (in the US) Moore has his fans too.
Moore's rating is quite low here in the UK, which suprised me when I first started posting on Bond forums.
A good friend calls Sir Rog "Bond's Bond" a high complement.
Dr. No wrote:
Dalton and Lazenby had the least films its not a testament to their ability more to some fans reinterpretation of them.Lazenby and Dalton still have low public approval, hell they sell their movies bundled with the others to help move them.
LTK is too Miami Vice for me.
Connery and Brosnan were the most popular with the general public here (in the US) Moore has his fans too.
Moore's rating is quite low here in the UK, which suprised me when I first started posting on Bond forums.
A good friend calls Sir Rog "Bond's Bond" a high complement.
Sounds like a good friend to have.
“I'd like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that and scaring the s--- out of me,” Bond Hardman Daniel Craig.
Favorite Bond Movie: Octopussy From Russia With Love The Living Daylights On Her Majestys Secret Service Doctor No .... Ah heck all of them
Favorite Movies: Lawrence Of Arabia, Forrest Gump, Jaws, The Shawshank Redemption, Vertigo, The Odd Couple, Zoolander, Cool Hand Luke, The Great Escape...many more.
Location: Well here obviously. At the moment of course
its not a testament to their ability more to some fans reinterpretation of them.Lazenby and Dalton still have low public approval, hell they sell their movies bundled with the others to help move them.