STOP GETTING BOND WRONG

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That was my idea. For a couple of years now, I've been saying to anyone who would listen that they should take Casino Royale and make a proper film out of it, set in the period it was orginally written. And now the New Yorker says exactly the same thing, except they specify Ang Lee as director. Only problem is that I believe there are 'contractual difficulties' that prevents Mr Broccoli et al. from filming it before.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

prevents = prevented. It's still a shit sentence, though.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Do the literary merits of Casino Royale really deserve such reverence?

― Gordon (Gordon), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

yes: it has one of the greatest opening lines evah!! plus JB nearly gets his balls cuts off!!

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"Casino Royale" is one of those great films that are so wonderful that you forget how horrible they are.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"with guns and knives - they'll have you running for yr lives!!"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Seven James Bonds at Casino Royale,
They came to save the world and win a gal at Casino Royale!
Six of them went to a heavenly spot,
The seventh one is going to a place where it’s terribly... hot.

The formula is safe with ole double-oh seven!
He’s got a redhead in his arms!
Oh, he's a lover, when you're in trouble

Have no fear, look who's here
James Bond
They've got us on the run
With guns… and knives
We’re fighting for our lives
Have no fear, Bond is here
He’s gonna to save the world at Casino Royale!

Never fear, Bond is here!

The formula is safe with ole double-oh seven!
He’s got a redhead in his arms!
Oh, he's a lover, when you're in trouble

Have no fear, look who's here
James Bond
They've got us on the run
With guns… and knives
We’re fighting for our lives
Have no fear, Bond is here
He’s gonna to save the world at Casino Royale!
James Bond... is here... so have... no fear... so have... no... fear.

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

what was the opening line?

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning."

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

B-b-but Casino Royale as a period movie completely undermines current Bond. (Well it doesn't but who cares). Whilst it has a few nice moves in it Casino Royale wouldn't work as a period piece because even its period is indeterminate - Bond is much more of a Hannay type figure in it. The character is pre-war with post war knobs on it.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

It is one of the best books- You Only Live Twice probably only just beats it- and would make a great and very tense film. I'm not totally sure about this but I don't think Broccoli ever owned the rights, because of the American 'Jimmy Bond' TV version which precedes Broccoli acquiring the rights.

― Richard Jones (scarne), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

all those sexton blake/bulldog drummond/sax rohmer types get TORTURED the whole time: what's up with that?

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, the whole thing feels like it would be a hard thing to carry off -- as filmed it would make a tense hour-long effort, I'd think, not a two-hour one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The rights were tied up with the US TV thing, and then obviously the comedy (hmm) version - worth it though for the theme of course. WHoever owns that now could remake it, but not without EON production probably sueing them for various intellectual property type things that would slow everything down (though EON would lose as they did with Warhead).

Does the world want a dull historical Bond though? And the story has little to offer Ang Lee's usual directing style - there still being nothing below the surface of Bond. LEave it as a book and make an original fil-um why doncha?

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Does the world want a dull historical Bond though? And the story has little to offer Ang Lee's usual directing style - there still being nothing below the surface of Bond. Leave it as a book and make an original fil-um why doncha?

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Casino Royale is one of those movies that you really, really want to like, but it is so poor and excruciating that you cannot. Didn't it go through like a million directors? *Checking the IMDB...* Holy heck, *five* directors...including John Huston?!

I remember, as a youngster, being somewhat confused because the Bond films and books didn't always match up. I think it's interesting that the best Bond film, Goldfinger (*taunt*, *taunt*), was the film that was closest to its corresponding book. If they cannot use the name "Casino Royale" as a film title, maybe they can do what they did with Licence to Kill and steal a plot line from another book, in that case Live and Let Die (regarding Felix Leiter getting eaten by sharks). It always amazes me when they make Bond movies that are completely fabricated and only use a Bond book/story title as a tenuous connection back to Fleming (e.g. (From) A View to a Kill, The Spy Who Loved Me, etc.) I mean, think of that poor screenwriter who was assigned to Octopussy, who had to come with a lame way to explain the title.

Fleming described Bond's intended appearance to a sketch artist, and here is the result:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1318/Bond-Draw.gif
"decisive, authoritative, ruthless, ironical, brutal, and cold." There's even a scar on his right cheek. Too bad Bond's ruthlessness and coldness don't show up so often in the films. I'd say his "coldest" moment is that scene in Dr. No where he kills that guy just to be a badass ("That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." *BLAM!*); and Bond is pretty pissed off for the entirety of Licence to Kill.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't George McDonald Fraser write Octopussy?

― Sam (chirombo), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Octopussy is a kosher Bond title tho!! I read it when I wez wee. I think it's a short story...

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

It is. Timothy Dalton still remains for me the closest to the man of the books (if you need proof, consider the sequence near the start of The Living Daylights just after the credits -- it's pretty much the entirety of the short story of the same name, and Dalton plays Bond as angry with his assignment, bitterly sardonic and practically seething with tension underneath a very smooth surface).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sorry, my memory has failed me once again. I did a web search, and the short story "Octopussy" was incorporated into the movie (though I don't remember it, having last read the story and seen the movie at least a dozen years ago). Apparently, Octopussy's father is the main character of the short story. What was my point, again?

Oh yeah. Okay, forget Octopussy. But The Spy Who Loved Me and A View to a Kill shared nothing with their corresponding books/stories except the titles, right?

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Timothy Dalton still remains for me the closest to the man of the books

For whatever reason, I just can't stand to look at his eyes.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 12 December 2002 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Fleming himself wanted Bond to be played by Patrick "The Prisoner" McGoohan.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 12 December 2002 09:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Number 6 to 007.

― Alfie (Alfie), Thursday, 12 December 2002 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

...but McGoohan turned it down, apparently unhappy about both the girls and guns aspects. They approached him a second time after Connery left to do "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - and after he had finished "The Prisoner" - but again he turned them down.

There are stories that while Orson Welles was in London to do his bit in "Casino Royale" he dropped in at Borehamwood to say hi while "The Prisoner" was being filmed and ended up having something to do with both the writing and directing of the "Once Upon A Time" episode (with McGoohan and McKern in the "embryo room"). A lot of the dialogue in the latter was influenced considerably by the semi-improvised dialogues which Welles and McGoohan (as Ahab and Starbuck respectively) undertook in Welles' '50s production of "Moby Dick Rehearsed." Some of the latter were filmed at Hackney Empire, but the films themselves have never come to light.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 12 December 2002 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that Welles story is true - my Mum was working at MGM in Borehamwood when Danger Man, 2001 and The Prisoner was being made and she remembers the very fat man being ushered in and Mad As Cheese McGooghan tipping his hat and saying "Don't mind Mr Welles ladies, he's a genius."

Top comedy in the novelization of Licence To Kill is that John Garderner was trying to write it as canon so therefore had to somehow incorporate that in the book Leiters leg had already been bitten off by a shark (and the "He disagreed with something that ate him" line being tagged nearby). Hence in the novelization Leiter is lucky to merely get his false leg bitten off...

Most of the films up to GoldenEye incorporated at least some of the plot or the characters of the Bond story it is titled after. Honourable exception is The Spy Who Loved Me - which in its first person from a womans point of view and Bond only rocking up three quarters of the way through the book is somewhat odd Bond as it is.

Bond titles unused:
The Hildebrant Rarity
Property Of A Lady
and best of all:
Quantum of Solace.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 12 December 2002 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Nowadays I think you might get a few original Fleming lines somewhere in the films. The World Is Not Enough was Bond's family motto as revealed in the novel of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There's odd bits of Die Another Day that do reference Fleming. The use of the Blades club and the sub-plot of a female undercover MI6 agent working for the villain is taken from the novel of Moonraker. Some of Miranda Frost's lines to Bond in Die Another Day: "Sex for dinner. Death for breakfast," are chapter titles in OHMSS.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Saturday, 25 January 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

As for getting Bond wrong, I thought that Die Another Day was a pretty good film. Certainly, I think it's the best of the Brosnan offerings.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Saturday, 25 January 2003 17:58 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

brosnan out, cambell in, casino royale it is. go clive owen!!

― bass braille (....), Saturday, 5 February 2005 01:40 (twenty years ago)

owen will be great if they give it to him but I don't understand why they wanted to get rid of brosnan, especially after the last movie which was so fucking great and made them a shitload of money.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 5 February 2005 03:19 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.mondemul.be/screen/roms/n64/GoldenEye%20007%20(E)%20%5B!%5D.gif

― eman (eman), Saturday, 5 February 2005 03:27 (twenty years ago)

Where is The Spy when you need him? Oh yeah, that's right, damn MI5 doesn't let him post.

― The Phantom of the Operating System (kate), Saturday, 5 February 2005 11:30 (twenty years ago)

I'd prefer Tim Roth & Tarantino for Casino, but oh well.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

you're breaking my heart

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

I'm rooting for Clive Owen too.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

clive dunn for bond

― Ed (dali), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Among the favourites to take over the coveted role are Scottish actor Dougray Scott, Oscar nominee Clive Owen and Australian star Hugh Jackman.

Owen exuded zero charm or humor in King Arthur, but maybe that's not the movie to see. I'm not familiar with Dougray Scott. Hugh Jackman is good enough that he could embody two completely different icons, so I vote for him. What about Gerard Butler? Maybe I suggest him because he reminds me of a young Sean Connery, and has a good voice.

http://www.gerardbutler.net

― Pete Scholtes, Monday, 7 February 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

I liked Dougray Scott in Enigma, but that part was as heavy as most of Clive Owen's roles, and Bond needs a touch of wit.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 7 February 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Owen would be great, and Campbell has worked with him before, so maybe that's an omen. I can't really remember 'Casino Royale' but it's quite short on incident isn't it? Certainly compared with yer average modern-day Bond. If they want to go back-to-basics, surely they should just follow the Bourne movies and trim down the fx (invisible cars and the like) without losing the action.

― Miles Finch, Monday, 7 February 2005 10:28 (twenty years ago)

What was all that about how in the book, Bond gets tied to a chair and hit on the bottom?

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 7 February 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

i feel bad for pierce brosnan. best bond since lazenby (tho i do think moore is underrated).

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 7 February 2005 10:44 (twenty years ago)

I think Eric Bana in a suit would be fucking hot. That is all.

― TOMBOT, Monday, 7 February 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

"We've replaced our regular TOMBOT with Paris Hilton; let's see if ILE can tell the difference."

― Poster's Choice (Dan Perry), Monday, 7 February 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

Timothy Dalton is clearly the best Bond and License to Kill is clearly the best Bond movie--it's got Robert Davi in it! That said, Clive Owen would own as JB.

― adam (adam), Monday, 7 February 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

adam otm except for this point of detail: 'living daylights' PWNS 'license to kill' from theme song down.

― Miles Finch, Monday, 7 February 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

how about Sid Owen instead of Clive Owen?

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Monday, 7 February 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

Clive Owen would be a terrible fucking Bond. The man appears to be terminally depressed at all times. James Bond is not a sad sack. He is a man of action. Rewatch the scene in Bourne Identity where MD takes CO down in the snow with the shotgun! He'd be horrendous. Besides, that brings up another problem, it would be impossible to watch a Owen as Bond without thinking about him getting pathetically wasted by a Boston babyface and that's just plain unacceptable.

― TOMBOT, Monday, 7 February 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

It should be Owen Wilson instead of Clive Owen.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 7 February 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

the scenes in bourne before owen is taken down though -- he's pretty fucking menacing, which is why the final confrontation works so well. he can do 'sardonic' as in 'closer' and he looks the part.

― Miles Finch, Monday, 7 February 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

how about Owen Paul. expecting him to talk is his favourite waste of time!

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Monday, 7 February 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 33 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Ice Cube?

― The last honest gentleman (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Lohan?

― The last honest gentleman (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

Ryan PhillipE is another obvious (and similar) BAD ACTOR.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Also! Haydn Christensen! Those three are cut from the same bad actor cloth.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

I sort of have some sympathy for Ryan Philippe. He's not a good actor and he looks like Timberlake but (NAMEDROP) some friends of mine in London hung out with him and said "Ryan" was a cool guy.

― The last honest gentleman (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

Haydn was good in Shattered Glass.

― The last honest gentleman (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure they're all cool in real life, but on screen they tend to shatter my easily suspended sense of disbelief.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

philippe was great in gosford park!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

dustin diamond.

― latebloomer: not just indie rock but also rap, industrial and pop. (latebloomer), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

no wait: jaleel white

― latebloomer: not just indie rock but also rap, industrial and pop. (latebloomer), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

this franchise needs shaking up.

― latebloomer: not just indie rock but also rap, industrial and pop. (latebloomer), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

not stirring.

― latebloomer: not just indie rock but also rap, industrial and pop. (latebloomer), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

From the Hollywood Reporter article.

"Their natural instinct is to do what's been done before," the source said.

I think I've found the source of the problem.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

I usally enjoy Bond films (even though the last one was centered around a giant "LASER"). I really hope they don't do some contrived and pretentious Bond Begins nonsense where they turn it into some awful American graphic novel (that said, I did like Batman Begins).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 21:59 (twenty years ago)

I am always amused (sorry, man) by how much Spencer wuvs Hollywood, so even if he's prepared to admit there might be three bad actors in there, he's sure they're nice people!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

Yeah but that's totally so they won't sue him when he rear-ends their meringue HumVees on Santa Monica Blvd.

― The last honest gentleman (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)

I live there! Just being a good neighbor!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

Also Adam, they're all Priuses (Prii) now! You've been away too long!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

Actually Spencer, I'll have you know that Toyota targeted the Bay Area as its initial market for Prius(es?), knowing that the unusual shape and eco-friendly nature of the vehicle would appeal most to your average Bay Area citizen. And thus, you could see a Prius up here way before Kirsten Dunst and Adrien Brody decided to put their names down on the waiting list.

― Gyg4x! (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I know dude, I lived there until 2001.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Also, Brody drives an H2. I don't know what Dunst drives as I've only seen her dropped off by limo.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

It's obvious that the Prius would be marketed to the Bay Area first, but celebrities have made them COOL.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

so Daniel Craig is the new Bond. Wrong? Right? I only know him from Layer Cake and he was good.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

A blonde Bond again. Interesting.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

He was a murderous priest in Elizabeth, wasn't he? I rather like him.

(again? x-post)

― Mädchen (Madchen), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

blond

I thought this looked like a bad idea and, now, I think it looks like an OK idea

wonder if they really will make the new one a more immoral/gritty bond blah blah

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

i liked the last bond movie. I really don't quite get the whole problem with Brosnan: he begged to be Bond for years, they hire him, he's GOOD, the scripts are dodgy (AS THEY ALWAYS WERE), they finally do a good one, he gets fired, he says he quit, he says he'd come back, they hire someone else....

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

Sigh. Pedanticism is so sexy.

Blond again. I mean - Roger Moore? The first Bond I saw and the one I imprinted on as an impressionable 11 year old.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

the last bond film was fucking dud.

― N_RQ, Friday, 14 October 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)

i hope they remove 80% iof the "jokes" ffrom this one

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 14 October 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

i think brosnans downfall was due to him being a bad action actor. they should written him more casino scenes

― one eye white, one eye black (FE7), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

and hire stephanie zimbalist as bond girl

― one eye white, one eye black (FE7), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

I believe the next one is going to be a kind of Bond Begins (yawning already). a la Casino Royale. At least there is already a great theme tune to it.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

Bond From Another Planet

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

Who's doing the theme tune, then?

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

Rachel Stevens unless she gets dropped next week.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

Oh my lord... I was going to joke about it being Girls Aloud but I wasn't far off.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:09 (twenty years ago)

Rachel rulz, u r all gay.

― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

Ach, I'm just jealous because it means the Bond Theme that I wrote will never get used.

Actually, I'm trying to think of bands I'd like to hear do Bond themes, but maybe that's an ILM thread. hang on, will search for it.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

The case is closed I don't negotiate with SPECTRE.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

Bond girls always get what they wanna wanna.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

I believe the next one is going to be a kind of Bond Begins (yawning already). a la Casino Royale.

the next one IS Casino Royale so that makes sense

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

Sweet Dreams My Slaughtered Ex.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

I Said Never Say Neve Again (But Here We Are)

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

(sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a Neve Campbell joke)

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

I am unable to work a Bond reference into "Funky Dory"

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

Funky Moore-y

― They're a '90s odd couple. And an odds-on choice for laughs. (blueski), Thursday, 18 September 2008 23:34 (seventeen years ago)

six years pass...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7Q5Ns6CAAA681K.jpg

― mookieproof, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 19:07 (ten years ago)

Had me going for a minute.

― how's life, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 19:15 (ten years ago)

Is is bad that my first thought was 'which ILXor wrote that?'?

― You are swimming in spaghetti. Without a paddle. (snoball), Wednesday, 14 January 2015 19:29 (ten years ago)

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