Great piece! However, I heard that Jackman has already turned down the offer of playing Bond. Possibly, the best decision for a future career that does not revolve around the Bond persona. It's often very tricky to escape.
Shelly ----Original Message Follows---- From: Joe Bonelli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Goodbye Mr. Bond and good riddance bring on the new. Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 00:01:00 -0400 Hi from Joe B. Excellent aritcle!! I like Brosnan more than you do but I really enjoyed the succint points and eveluations of each Bond in representative films. Thanks for the most interesting writing about any films I've seen in a long time Joe > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: 2005/08/19 Fri AM 10:31:54 EDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: [MOPO] Goodbye Mr. Bond and good riddance bring on the new. > > It was announced months ago that Brosnan was out. > > And thank the maker that he was finished as 007. > > Brosnan was the worst actor to have played the role. He is not and never was > a capable actor. He brought nothing new to the role. > > Sean Connery will always own the role and he brought a sardonic humour that > bridged the gap of sinister work and gadgets and women. Connery was the only > one who could kill someone and then go onto take the girl friend of the man > he'd just killed. Connery was fed up of the typecasting and also of the > producers not really giving him a fair crack of the whip. Terence Young the first > director of the Bond franchise told messrs Broccoli and Saltzman to make > Connery a partner in the Eon production company, which Connery wanted. If that > being the case Conneryu wold have had more enthusiasm with the role after his > departure time. Lets face it Connery was the first actor to command $1m for a > film in 1971. > > George Lazenby made the best 007 film. He filled massive shoes that Connery > vacated and On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the closest to Fleming's > novel. Lazenby could have had a three picture deal if he had signed the contract. > He didn't. He was told to act like Connery and it went to his head a little > and then he made some mistakes in the eys of his employers. And he recieved > advice on the scale of Decca and the Beatles and was told Bond was a product of > the 1960's and now that a new decade was around the corner, Bond was dead. > However in the great law of hindsight OHMSS had the best story, the best > locations, the best music and one of the best love songs from any film. OHMSS is > the yard stick of all the Bond films. It is unpopular with regular film > watchers because of it's down beat ending, however in the realms of spy action > films it reigns supreme. Only Connery's performance in the role of James Bond > outshines OHMSS. > > After Connery's return and then final bow for 12 years, Roger Moore took > over the mantle and following the first Roger Moore style film (Diamonds Are > Forever) the scripts were tailored for more comedy with Tom Mankiewicz at the > typewriter with Richard Maibaum. Humour was the key factor along with following > the filed. Bond lead the way in the 1960's with many imitators. Now with > Roger Moore in the lead the scriptwriters turned to inspiration from other films. > Diamonds Are Forever had it's Bullitt style car chase in Las Vegas, Live and > Let Die had a similar chase but with boats and with Shaft in the cinema's > and Dirty Harry, Roger Moore followed the field. We have a Shaft like feel to > LALD and then Bond uses a .44 Magnum. This hardly chnaged with Moore. The Man > with the Golden Gun was the Kung Fu addition to the Franchise. The Spy Who > Loved me was probably Moores best and quite fresh with the big Bond return that > was recognisable from Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. Moonraker was the > Star Wars band wagon addition, For Your Eyes Only was Moore's Fleming film. > Octopussy was the Indiana Jones copycat and A View to a Kill was the Superman > film. Moore though brought his lightweight acting and fun approach to the > role and carried the franchise with a popularity that spanned seven films. He > was probably too old to do the last film. However When Connery made his return > in the rogue Bond film Never Say Never Again, certainly Eon productions made > a better film. The Rogue film had so much potential being a remake of > Thunderball with an excellent cast except for Rowan Atkison and Kim Basinger and > miscasting of Bernie Casey a great crew, but instead of making a tough throwback > to the original 007, they made an homage to Roger Moore and Moore did it > better. > > Timothy Dalton entered the franchise with a refreshing approach to the role > and he is arguably the best actor to have portrayed James Bond with a > vulnerability and an edge that was very new. The Living Daylights was one of the > closest to Fleming's original blueprint. Bond has one girl where Moore had a > minimum of two girls to dally with and a maximum of four some old enough to be > his grand children. Dalton was serious and as the main spy in the world he took > his work seriously, killing the enemy was a dirty job he didn't like it but > he happend to do it well. In Licence to Kill the theme was Bond goes renegade > seeking revenge. This was pure Fleming. Dalton conveyed Fleming's character > with immesurable greatness. What let him down was his uncomfortable attitude > to the humour that is needed in any Bond film. After a serious bit you needed > the flippant one liner to ease the tension. Even Lazenby had one or two good > ones. > > After a long court case that Eon had with Warner Bros. over the video rights > of the Bond films, MGM UA the financiers of the films needed a rabbit out of > the hat. They were close to bankruptcy. The Bond film had to bring in money. > Cubby Broccoli wanted Dalton back to fulfill their contract and get the > fourth option film. However MGM were baulking at this, if Dalton was to come back > he would have to sign a three picture deal again. Dalton was reluctant as he > didn't want the typecasting. Also MGM were concious that Dalton had not been > popular in the US, he was too British. They wanted a household name that the > Americans would recognise. > > Enter the great pretender. Brosnan wanted to get closer to Connery but > achieved closer to Moore without the twinkle in his eye of humour. Brosnan is a > shallow actor and is not capable of playing a leading man. So the script was > tailored for set pieces and spectacular. Each of his films have actors to > bolster his performance much like Lazenby only the scripts are poor with the > missing genius of Richard Maibaum, even Christopher Wood was preferable to Purvis > and Wade. Also with the demise of Cubby Broccoli and then his widow Dana, the > owners of Eon are more interested in reaping in high box office returns than > a good story and acting ability. Look outside of 007 and Brosnan's great film > is the remake of Thomas Crown affair a role suited to Brosnan because the > Thomas Crown character is shallow and contrite. Brosnan is ineffectual as 007 > he promised so much as Bond but delivered so little. However he has become > this generations 007 and is well accepted, but he is not in the league of the > the first four actors who played 007 on the silver screen. > > Now we are waiting for the next 007, we do not know who. Names that have > been bandied about include Clive Owen who couldn't act his way out of a brown > bag. > > Daniel Craig has had his name dropped around and certainly could act the > part but does not neccessarily look the part. This would be a chalenge for him. > Goran Visnic has had a screen testing, Ioan Griffydd is supposedley in the > running. > > However the best actor to have his name connected to the possibility is Hugh > Jackman, he has the look, the ability and the twinkle in his eye. > > At the moment though it surely is a time to watch this space. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > > Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. 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