174 replies to this topic

[Ernst Stavro BIofeld]

I would have definitely preferred more screen time for Monica Bellucci as well. Before going in to watch SPECTRE, and attempting to tay somewhat away from spoilers, I had already assumed her time in the film would be fairly limited, but Monica having more of a role would have been nice. That shot of her in bed most assuredly left this Bond fan wanting more of her!

[seawolfnyy]

I would have definitely preferred more screen time for Monica Bellucci as well. Before going in to watch SPECTRE, and attempting to tay somewhat away from spoilers, I had already assumed her time in the film would be fairly limited, but Monica having more of a role would have been nice. That shot of her in bed most assuredly left this Bond fan wanting more of her!

Well it was widely known that Lea Seydoux was playing the main Bond girl. So it was to be assumed that Monica Bellucci wouldn't have much screen time. However, the amount she ended up getting was damn near criminal.

[Ernst Stavro BIofeld]

 

Well it was widely known that Lea Seydoux was playing the main Bond girl. So it was to be assumed that Monica Bellucci wouldn't have much screen time. However, the amount she ended up getting was damn near criminal.

 

 

There was always the idea, or hope, in the back of my mind, that Monica, as a Bond woman (as she would point out in interviews) would be sprinkled in throughout the film in order to give her a more substantial arc within the storyline of the film. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case when I finally saw the film this past Saturday night. As stated before ... it would have been nice.

[Hockey Mask]

I don't get all the Monica love. She was good but didn't need more.

[Vauxhall]

I don't get all the Monica love. She was good but didn't need more.

Agreed.

[Silva25]

Man was she woefully underused.  All that hype, all that talk about "she's the oldest Bond woman ever," and "we needed an actress of her caliber for this part."  Well, not you didn't.  Anyone could have played this role.  Honestly:

 

Spoiler

I would have been far more interesting to me if she had turned out to be Blofeld (minus the lame "daddy issues" motivations), as opposed to Christoph Waltz doing an underwhelming impersonation of himself.

Edited by Silva25, 10 November 2015 - 06:38 AM.

[SecretAgentFan]

Anyone?  Naw.

 

But I agree on this: the PR machine built up expectations for her to have a more substantial part.

[thecasinoroyale]

The fact we literally saw every single one of her scenes in the trailers! Goodness that's one under-used actress. What a shame.

[glidrose]

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Having read all the leaked materials when they got leaked, imagine my surprise and disappointment about how criminally underused MB was in both drafts.
 
As a courtesy to others on these fora I kept quiet even tho' I wanted to scream from the rooftops IT'S ONLY A GLORIFIED CAMEO.
 
Month after month reading posts speculating what role she has, what part she plays in the plot - is she a female Blofeld? Is she the sacrificial lamb? etc, etc, etc.
 
All the while these last eleven months I had a strong mental picture of every one of you spoiler-phobes sitting in the theater wondering though the bulk of the film, "When's MB coming back into the picture?" The film heads towards it's dutiful climax, and no doubt some of you are thinking "Maybe she's Blofeld." Or, "She's in cahoots with Blofeld." Or "Blofeld's captured her and Bond has to pick between the two women."
 
And I knew one thing for sure - well, no, make that two - that you'd all leave the theater thinking "WTF? That's it? Five frigging minutes?" (The other thing I was sure about was that the idiotic villain backstory would satisfy no one, but that spoiler was fairly common knowledge.)
 
Month after month I waited patiently and smiled knowingly to myself about people's expectations for this film. (Some of you thought there would be a massive airplane crash in a snowy setting and wondered how it tied into the plot. Maybe it's the pre-credit sequence!)
 
This is the benefit of spoilers - you know what to expect and so you adjust your expectations accordingly. Meandering story, a stupid beyond words villain backstory that trashes the original timeline and Fleming, no ski chase, an underdeveloped relationship that is somehow meant to be the love of Bond's life, an underused MB, a villain who almost entirely remains offscreen until the film's final quarter, and seemingly lots of screen-time spent on the MI6 gang. What happened to the good old days when the villain got more screen time than the MI6 gang? And I also had the distinct impression that Andrew Scott would be playing a role he's played one too many times. Nifty desert location, but the sequence feels shoe-horned into what passes for the plot. The so-called "Third Act" is especially underwhelming in the December draft and needs more rewrites.
 
And tho' I haven't seen the film yet, I was left being distinctly underwhelmed by Mr Hinx in the drafts - terrible name, that. Perhaps he works better onscreen.

When I do see the film I'll be able to enjoy it for what it is and not be thrown by what I expected and hoped for but isn't there. Reading the drafts I kept thinking to myself: this one has been misguided from the get-go.

On the other hand, maybe it will all play better onscreen...

[Major Tallon]

It improves with repeated viewings, Glidrose.  I saw it today for the third time (my first US viewing), and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I had on the first two.  Yes, there are flaws, some significant, but there's also a pretty satisfying movie in there.

[Professor Pi]

They missed an opportunity to have her be Irma Bunt too.  She's the source to M about her husband, knowing Bond will kill him and want to save her.  That lures Bond into SPECTRE's hands.  The 'assassins' are just show for Bond, typically expendable in SPECTRE's eyes.  After Bond 'saves' her, she shows up at the crater alongside Franz.  It comes out it was all a ruse to get Bond to do their dirty work for them, killing Sciara and The Pale King.  But she dies in the crater explosion, which really should have been a big army battle with M sending in the calvary after tracking Q's smart blood.  That makes Oberhauser enraged, seeing as how Bond has now done to him what he claims he did to Bond ala Vesper.  Ditch the childhood crap. 

 

I suppose they could salvage something like this for Monica in Bond 25.

[seawolfnyy]

I suppose they could salvage something like this for Monica in Bond 25.

I wouldn't bet on it. Monica had her 15 seconds of Bond fame (almost literally).

[jamie00007]

I don't think the quality of a role can be measured in minutes... Didn't Judy Drench once get an Oscar for eight minutes screentime or something?

The scenes with Monica were amongst the best and most memorable in the film and she really left an impression. She didn't need more minutes or a bigger role.

[Navy007Fan]

I'd like to see how much of her performance, if any, ended up on the cutting room floor.

[SecretAgentFan]

Only different takes.  The character never was in more scenes.

[dtuba]

Good, bad, I don't care , just make sure she gets lots of screentime and is not under-utilized like Benice.

 

Well, thanks for nothing, EON.

[Professor Pi]

 

Good, bad, I don't care , just make sure she gets lots of screentime and is not under-utilized like Benice.

 

Well, thanks for nothing, EON.

 

 

The people that gave us more of Teri Hatcher when we could have had Monica Bellucci.

[SecretAgentFan]

Wasn´t EON´s choice back then.  Hello, MGM...

[Mike00spy]

Her role fits the story perfectly.

[sharpshooter]

I love Monica. She's a stunning woman, and the shots of her on the bed - wow!

 

But indeed, I think her role was fine for what the movie required. I also thought she brought something to the character in the brief time she had. I bought her as a grieving widow first and foremost. But also the element of her living on borrowed time. So she decides to enjoy life and living, having a fling with her husband's killer. It's a brief section of film but I loved the atmosphere it all had.

 

I'd rather have Bellucci in a Bond movie than not. I'll take this. 

[Double-Oh Agent]

Wasn´t EON´s choice back then.  Hello, MGM...

 

Yeah that was a bummer. I like Teri Hatcher and thought she was fine in Tomorrow Never Dies, but Monica Bellucci is in a whole other category. She would have been amazing as Paris Carver. Definitely a missed opportunity. One of the great what ifs in Bond casting history.

 

Also didn't MGM insinuate themselves in the casting of The World Is Not Enough as well. According to what I heard/read, they wanted Denise Richards as Christmas Jones in the film but EON didn't. MGM also wanted Bond to surfboard while EON wanted him skiing. So MGM made EON compromise with a choice of either taking Denise Richards or having Bond snowboard. And EON chose to keep Bond on skis saying something to the effect that Bond is a skier and not a snowboarder and so we got Richards. That didn't turn out so well. I also like Richards on the whole and she does a good job of playing the bitchy, bad girl, but for whatever reason she was not up to the role in TWINE. We would have been better off with Bond snowboarding (something he would be perfectly capable of doing, see A View To A Kill) and getting someone else (I don't know, Charlize Theron perhaps) for Christmas Jones.

 

I love Monica. She's a stunning woman, and the shots of her on the bed - wow!

 

But indeed, I think her role was fine for what the movie required. I also thought she brought something to the character in the brief time she had. I bought her as a grieving widow first and foremost. But also the element of her living on borrowed time. So she decides to enjoy life and living, having a fling with her husband's killer. It's a brief section of film but I loved the atmosphere it all had.

 

I'd rather have Bellucci in a Bond movie than not. I'll take this. 

 

Totally agree with you on all counts. Bellucci is a Venus and anything we get of her is worth it (even if we wind up yearning for a lot more).

[Professor Pi]

I think one of the reasons EON wanted the skiing is for the OHMSS vibe TWINE wants to have so we believe Bond falls for Elektra because it's a callback to Tracy.  Her wardrobe in the ski scene is similar to that of Tracy's in OHMSS.

 

Better Teri Hatcher then and Monica now than vice-versa.  But I'd love to see Monica again.  Thankfully, she wasn't a sacrificial lamb.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

They missed an opportunity to have her be Irma Bunt too.  She's the source to M about her husband, knowing Bond will kill him and want to save her.  That lures Bond into SPECTRE's hands.  The 'assassins' are just show for Bond, typically expendable in SPECTRE's eyes.  After Bond 'saves' her, she shows up at the crater alongside Franz.  It comes out it was all a ruse to get Bond to do their dirty work for them, killing Sciara and The Pale King.  But she dies in the crater explosion, which really should have been a big army battle with M sending in the calvary after tracking Q's smart blood.  That makes Oberhauser enraged, seeing as how Bond has now done to him what he claims he did to Bond ala Vesper.  Ditch the childhood crap. 

 

I suppose they could salvage something like this for Monica in Bond 25.

 

That's an intriguing idea but instead of making her Irma Bunt, I'd have made Monica's character a rebooting of Fiona Volpe. She's better suited to the lovely but lethal Italian SPECTRE femme fatale character from TB than the frumpy Fraulein Bunt.

[Silva25]

 

They missed an opportunity to have her be Irma Bunt too.  She's the source to M about her husband, knowing Bond will kill him and want to save her.  That lures Bond into SPECTRE's hands.  The 'assassins' are just show for Bond, typically expendable in SPECTRE's eyes.  After Bond 'saves' her, she shows up at the crater alongside Franz.  It comes out it was all a ruse to get Bond to do their dirty work for them, killing Sciara and The Pale King.  But she dies in the crater explosion, which really should have been a big army battle with M sending in the calvary after tracking Q's smart blood.  That makes Oberhauser enraged, seeing as how Bond has now done to him what he claims he did to Bond ala Vesper.  Ditch the childhood crap. 

 

I suppose they could salvage something like this for Monica in Bond 25.

 

That's an intriguing idea but instead of making her Irma Bunt, I'd have made Monica's character a rebooting of Fiona Volpe. She's better suited to the lovely but lethal Italian SPECTRE femme fatale character from TB than the frumpy Fraulein Bunt.

 

If they're not going to make her Blofeld, then perhaps Blofeld's #2.  I remember reading somewhere (and I don't know how true this is to be fair) that an earlier version of the draft had Blofeld with a lesbian assistant who flirts with Madeleine or something.  Make her a strong second in command ala Xenia Onatopp or something like that.

And people aren't questioning the role itself.  They're questioning why you needed to waste Monica freaking Belucci in such a meaningless part.  Especially after all of the hype beforehand (boy does that look dumb in retrospect) and people saying that she should have been in a Bond film years ago.  Such a waste, it's Severine all over again, only worse.

[jamie00007]

Well I thought it was a great part and a great couple of scenes. As they say, there's no small roles, only small actors. Should they have rewritten the script just because Monica Belucci was cast (and for all we know she only did it because it was a small role) or should they have cast a lesser actress just so they don't "waste" a good actress?

Seems like such a ridiculous complaint to me.