Classic Bond Forum

From a "The Professionals" fansite (Collins was in this 80's TV show):
A third bid for international stardom came in 1982 when auditions were being held to replace Roger Moore as James Bond (in the event, of course, Roger decided to stay in the role for another two movies). Undoubtedly Lewis would have made a fine 007 and the media not only agreed but were fully expecting him to take over the superspy mantle. But it was not to be - producer Cubby Broccoli turned Lewis down after an apparently "difficult" interview. Shortly afterwards Lewis spoke to the press:

"It would be nice to get back to the original Bond, not the character created by Sean Connery - but the one from the books. He's not over-handsome, over-tall. He's about my age and has got my attitudes... I was in [Cubby Broccoli's] office for five minutes, but it was really over for me in seconds. I have heard since that he doesn't like me. That's unfair. He's expecting another Connery to walk through the door and there are few of them around. I think he's really shut the door on me. He found me too aggressive. I knew it all - that kind of attitude. Two or three years ago that would be the case, purely because I was nervous and defensive. I felt they were playing the producer bit with fat cigars. When someone walks into their office for the most popular film job in the world, a little actor is bound to put on a few airs. If Cubby couldn't see I was being self-protective I don`t have faith in his judgement. " (Daily Star, 26th August 1982 - thanks to "GC")

It would be nice to get back to the original Bond, not the character created by Sean Connery - but the one from the books. He's not over-handsome, over-tall. He's about my age and has got my attitudes...

Not over handsome, or over-tall: he is describing Craig. Was he looking for a similar approach to Craig who is not playing Bond similar to the "one created by Sean Connery"? It all rather depends on if you feel Craig is playing the "one from the books".

Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:Not over handsome, or over-tall: he is describing Craig. Was he looking for a similar approach to Craig who is not playing Bond similar to the "one created by Sean Connery"? It all rather depends on if you feel Craig is playing the "one from the books".

Collins' character in The Professionals was fairly thuggish, so yeah, I think he'd have played a Craig-style Bond. However, from his comments, I don't think that was the issue. It sounds to me like Cubby feared another Lazenby, causing trouble on the set.

Lewis Collins from 1983 -

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvirgHJZNyc[/video]

I wouldn't call Bodie thuggish. He was somewhere in between being a ladies man and a mans man. Maybe a bit more of the latter. As for Craig, he's neither the Bond created by Connery (that's Connery) or the Bond created by Fleming (that's Dalton).

Daltonite Toothpaste wrote:I wouldn't call Bodie thuggish. He was somewhere in between being a ladies man and a mans man. Maybe a bit more of the latter. As for Craig, he's neither the Bond created by Connery (that's Connery) or the Bond created by Fleming (that's Dalton).

I think Connery's Bond was mostly created by Terence Young actually.

And Dalton was the closest to Fleming's Bond for sure, but there were some differences. Dalton was more romantic and seemed even a bit chaste. This was never the case with Fleming's Bond.

Count_Lippe wrote:

Daltonite Toothpaste wrote:I wouldn't call Bodie thuggish. He was somewhere in between being a ladies man and a mans man. Maybe a bit more of the latter. As for Craig, he's neither the Bond created by Connery (that's Connery) or the Bond created by Fleming (that's Dalton).

I think Connery's Bond was mostly created by Terence Young actually.

And Dalton was the closest to Fleming's Bond for sure, but there were some differences. Dalton was more romantic and seemed even a bit chaste. This was never the case with Fleming's Bond.

That was becuase the AIDS outbreak, but I think all in all, having only one girl worked in TLD's favour. In LTK, Bond can count both Pam & Lupe amongst his conquests.

Daltonite Toothpaste wrote:

Count_Lippe wrote:

Daltonite Toothpaste wrote:I wouldn't call Bodie thuggish. He was somewhere in between being a ladies man and a mans man. Maybe a bit more of the latter. As for Craig, he's neither the Bond created by Connery (that's Connery) or the Bond created by Fleming (that's Dalton).

I think Connery's Bond was mostly created by Terence Young actually.

And Dalton was the closest to Fleming's Bond for sure, but there were some differences. Dalton was more romantic and seemed even a bit chaste. This was never the case with Fleming's Bond.

That was becuase the AIDS outbreak, but I think all in all, having only one girl worked in TLD's favour. In LTK, Bond can count both Pam & Lupe amongst his conquests.

Yes, AIDS was the reason, but I disagree that this is different from Fleming. In the books, Bond mostly has only one love interest, and I think he genuinely loves all of them. It's only the movies that make him into a promiscuous cad.