Renny Harlin Wouldn't Direct GOLDENEYE with Timothy Dalton

[Blowfeld]

Imagine it's late in the year of 1993 and Renny Harlin has come off back to back blockbusters hits with "Die Hard 2" and "Cliffhanger." He of course has his pick of films, and would go on to pass up on directing Keanu Reeves in a little known movie called, "Speed." Which I haven't seen, but I believe is about Richard Pryor's drug addiction.

But at some point during this period he was also offered the job to helm "Goldeneye." Now we know that film was finally made in 1995 after a six year hiatus. It was the first one to introduce Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. It also broke new ground by putting Judi Dench in the role of M, becoming the first female to take on the head of the MI6.

So, originally Dalton was to come back for the 17th Bond film, but disputes between the Broccoli family and MGM over the direction of the franchise put the film to a halt. "Goldeneye" was written with Dalton in mind, and the script was shopped around to directors like Renny Harlin.

During a Q&A session in June he goes into details about why he passed on the project at the time.

"Actually, to be honest, what happened at that point was I was interested in doing the Bond movie, but there was an actor in it that I didn't believe in. And I'm not going to say that his name is Timothy Dalton. I just didn't think that he made a good Bond."

"I said that you had to recast and come up with a new actor for it. And they refused and said 'he's great', and I was like 'he is not James Bond'. So that was why I walked away from that job."

Now, Timothy takes quite a lot of flack from Bond fans, but most of them aren't familiar with the books. Ian Flemings version of Bond is much more accurately portrayed in Timothy Dalton's take on the role. Most fans just weren't accustomed to a Bond that was much more serious. He seemed to emotionally suffer with each kill, and drank to forget his pains, and not to have a jolly good time. I just don't think the audience at that time was ready for a Bond that felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Even the villains were much more grounded in reality, and he wasn't going up against over-the-top evil doers like Roger Moore faced in such Bond films as "Moonraker."
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... G4KStgZg3E[/video]

[Kristatos]

Thank goodness. His comments show how little he understands Bond, and Goldeneye directed by Harlin would have been just another generic action movie.

[Omega]

Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger Sucked. Out of all the die hard movies i will not watch 2 again, 1 and 3 were the best Die hard 4 Live free or die hard (unrated) is watchable. Glad this guy didn't direct GE.

[Dr. No]

Pierce being bond for GE was exciting it was what drove a lot of us (people in my generation) to go. Dalton coming back would not have got us excited.

[Mazer Rackham]

Nobody was going to have anything to do with Timothy Dalton reprising the Bond role. Nobody. If Cubby wanted him back he would have needed to finance the film himself because that was the only way Dalton could comeback. License to Kill was disastrous by 1994 it was not only considered the worst Bond movie ever made by the public it was also a big loss in the studios book. The only way investors would get behind GoldenEye was to have Pierce Brosnan -mentioned by name, take over the role. If it were to fail Bond was done, actually most people do no know if Tomorrow Never Dies had failed to deliver Bond production would once again shut its doors (TND- the name alone was a sign the wonder twins were menially deficient.) Many people were very nervous about TND. They knew while making it could be the last Bond adventure for a very long time.

Renny Harlin was right, Dalton was not Bond, not to anybody's mind back then. It is a fluke of history he and Lazenby are as remembered fondly as they are today. Dalton was humorless and uncompelling as Bond. He had changed the character to fit what he (Dalton) thought was worthy of a serious actor like himself. It left a sour taste in everyones mouth at the time. It also showed how poorly the franchise was being managed and a lot of fingers were pointed to MGW who had too much to do with the script. A lot of people analyzing the franchise thought nepotism was killing the series, later to be proven absolutely correct.

Cubby had chosen a Bond, a Bond people were ready for, he still got his day but Dalton seemed a usurper to many. I wonder why Cubby didn't put more muscle behind it to help break Brozza contract. Then again Cubby kind of screwed up let his choice be publicly known before all options had expired.

[bjmdds]

Correct Q. I remember that weekend in the theatre that only $8.7 million was the opening total and the critics rated it a "B+", not an A, which was unheard of then. July 14–16 1987---4th place---$8,774,776 I never liked Dalton at all. I watch his 2 Bond films, but not with the gusto of the other Bonds. I welcomed his firing. I remember Dalton on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson saying he would "never do a film where a plane came out of a horse's arse", referring to OP. Pierce should have been Bond for 8 films starting in 1985 and it was quite unfortunate he only made 4. FBF, you were born between Dalton's 2 films. Look where we have come now.

[bjmdds]

Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation
Rank Title (click to view) Studio Adjusted Gross Unadjusted Gross Release
1 Thunderball UA $585,684,000 $63,595,658 12/21/65
2 Goldfinger UA $519,129,000 $51,081,062 12/22/64
3 You Only Live Twice UA $281,128,200 $43,084,787 6/13/67
4 Moonraker MGM $219,327,700 $70,308,099 6/29/79
5 Die Another Day MGM $215,983,000 $160,942,139 11/22/02
6 Tomorrow Never Dies MGM $210,714,500 $125,304,276 12/19/97
7 From Russia, with Love UA $208,772,800 $24,796,765 4/8/64
8 Diamonds Are Forever UA $207,943,700 $43,819,547 12/17/71
9 Casino Royale Sony $199,106,600 $167,445,960 11/17/06
10 The World Is Not Enough MGM $194,605,300 $126,943,684 11/19/99
11 GoldenEye MGM $191,082,900 $106,429,941 11/17/95
12 Quantum of Solace Sony $183,610,700 $168,368,427 11/14/08
13 Octopussy MGM $168,764,100 $67,893,619 6/10/83
14 The Spy Who Loved Me UA $164,460,500 $46,838,673 7/13/77
15 Live and Let Die UA $156,502,000 $35,377,836 6/27/73
16 For Your Eyes Only MGM $154,382,800 $54,812,802 6/26/81
17 Dr. No UA $148,005,700 $16,067,035 5/8/63
18 Never Say Never Again WB $137,790,200 $55,432,841 10/7/83
19 On Her Majesty's Secret Service UA $125,580,500 $22,774,493 12/18/69
20 A View to a Kill MGM $111,005,000 $50,327,960 5/24/85
21 The Living Daylights UA $102,502,700 $51,185,897 7/31/87
22 The Man with the Golden Gun UA $87,813,200 $20,972,000 12/18/74
23 License to Kill UA $68,373,500 $34,667,015 7/14/89

[Thunderpussy]

I think if the producers had of given P Brosnan the kind of input, they're giving D Craig
They would of had some great Bond films, It was a part he was Born to play.

[bjmdds]

Correctamundo ThunderP and he embraced it.

[carl stromberg]

Correct Q. I remember that weekend in the theatre that only $8.7 million was the opening total and the critics rated it a "B+", not an A, which was unheard of then. July 14–16 1987---4th place---$8,774,776 I never liked Dalton at all. I watch his 2 Bond films, but not with the gusto of the other Bonds. I welcomed his firing. I remember Dalton on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson saying he would "never do a film where a plane came out of a horse's arse", referring to OP. Pierce should have been Bond for 8 films starting in 1985 and it was quite unfortunate he only made 4. FBF, you were born between Dalton's 2 films. Look where we have come now.

Why were you not such a big fan of Dalton? Did you think he was a bit dull?

[bjmdds]

Very boring for me and he also is a mumbler. I don't like his look or his attitude on Bond films. There was no fun for me in his films. I wanted Brosnan in 1987 and was disappointed when they did not let him out of his Remington Steele contract. Pierce would have bee the longest running Bond ever IF he was allowed to do TLD, or even AVTAK. Moneypenny would have to have been recast in that instance.

[English Agent]

Poor old Tim dalton, really didnt click with American audiences in particular.

LTK was blown away in the summer of 1989 in the US when it was up against Batman, Indie Jones and LW2.

His dark, dour portrayal of Bond was not what the US audience appeared to want....they much preferred the buddy buddy relationship of Gibson and Glover in LW2.

[English Agent]

Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation
Rank Title (click to view) Studio Adjusted Gross Unadjusted Gross Release
1 Thunderball UA $585,684,000 $63,595,658 12/21/65
2 Goldfinger UA $519,129,000 $51,081,062 12/22/64
3 You Only Live Twice UA $281,128,200 $43,084,787 6/13/67
4 Moonraker MGM $219,327,700 $70,308,099 6/29/79
5 Die Another Day MGM $215,983,000 $160,942,139 11/22/02
6 Tomorrow Never Dies MGM $210,714,500 $125,304,276 12/19/97
7 From Russia, with Love UA $208,772,800 $24,796,765 4/8/64
8 Diamonds Are Forever UA $207,943,700 $43,819,547 12/17/71
9 Casino Royale Sony $199,106,600 $167,445,960 11/17/06
10 The World Is Not Enough MGM $194,605,300 $126,943,684 11/19/99
11 GoldenEye MGM $191,082,900 $106,429,941 11/17/95
12 Quantum of Solace Sony $183,610,700 $168,368,427 11/14/08
13 Octopussy MGM $168,764,100 $67,893,619 6/10/83
14 The Spy Who Loved Me UA $164,460,500 $46,838,673 7/13/77
15 Live and Let Die UA $156,502,000 $35,377,836 6/27/73
16 For Your Eyes Only MGM $154,382,800 $54,812,802 6/26/81
17 Dr. No UA $148,005,700 $16,067,035 5/8/63
18 Never Say Never Again WB $137,790,200 $55,432,841 10/7/83
19 On Her Majesty's Secret Service UA $125,580,500 $22,774,493 12/18/69
20 A View to a Kill MGM $111,005,000 $50,327,960 5/24/85
21 The Living Daylights UA $102,502,700 $51,185,897 7/31/87
22 The Man with the Golden Gun UA $87,813,200 $20,972,000 12/18/74
23 License to Kill UA $68,373,500 $34,667,015 7/14/89

Didnt TND do well.....considering it was launched the same day as Titanic?

[The Sweeney]

I really liked Dalton as Bond. He definitely is the closest incarnation to the Bond that Fleming wrote about, even if he lacks the on-screen persona and charisma of a Connery, Moore or Brozza.

LTK didn't really hit the mark with audiences in 1989. Not sure why really, as the film is very much a product of that era - drug barons, violence, Kamen soundtrack. It feels like a Lethal Weapon or Miami Vice movie, yet the script is very much like something Fleming would write.

Marketing is often to blame. The posters didn't go overboard selling LTK as a Bond film, from what I remember.

[FormerBondFan]

I read something on LTK from the debunked site Bond Smells A Rat, and it said that elements of Bond were omitted, leaving us that we're watching a Dirty Harry movie than Bond.

[bjmdds]

People then were turned off by his quitting MI 6 and going rogue. They felt there was no escapism in it at all and it was just another drug cartel film.

[Kristatos]

People then were turned off by his quitting MI 6 and going rogue. They felt there was no escapism in it at all and it was just another drug cartel film.

And yet, it was probably Desmond Llewellyn's finest hour. Yes, it was darker and more violent than most Bond films, but I'd say all the Bond elements were present and correct. Even the Bond one liners weren't entirely absent.

[mcbride007]

I loved Timothy Dalton and he was very charming in The Living Daylights.

[Dr. No]

Dalton was too serious for the times he had mote fun in other movies like the Rocketeer

[bjmdds]

The Rocketeer was a direct rip off of Commander Cody.