24 replies to this topic

[Kingdom Come]

Joaquin Phoenix - he has the looks [Boy does he!] well established, been in a number of BIG films - Gladiator / Signs...

[Tarl_Cabot]

No,No and No.

Hugh jackman is the guy unless an UNKNOWN arrives that is a better choice.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

anybody got a pic of phoenix? lets see him

[booyeah_]

http://us.imdb.com/N...hoenix, Joaquin

He can't be Bond. He was born in Puerto Rico, so technicially he's an American and there can be no American Bond.

[BONDFINESSE 007]

i thought he sounded familiar, river phoenix's brother, well at least he did not end up like river

[ChandlerBing]

He also played Mel Gibson's brother in Signs.

[Jaelle]

He was also the main villain in GLADIATOR. He's a fine actor but he's not Bond material AT ALL!

[ChandlerBing]

I hated him in Gladiator. Crowe didn't maim and kill him enough at the end. He didn't nearly get the ***-whooping and chewing that he deserved. I hated the ending of that movie.

[Kingdom Come]

Technically Lazenby was born in Austraila! Technically Brosnan was born in Ireland.

[ray t]

Comodus! Comodus!

o caesar....father...i'd butcher the whole world...marry my sister so that my progeny would rule for a thousand years!

if there is an actor who could play bond out of the crop that gave us GLADIATOR, it would be russel crowe, not phoenix

[Kingdom Come]

Crowe, the actor is, aledgedly too volitile...

Phoenix has the right temperament, looks, presence and is a neutral
kind of performer, which may be better suited...

My own opinion on the film, Gladiator, is so negative, it's best left alone.

[rubixcub]

Originally posted by Kingdom Come
Phoenix has the right temperament, looks, presence and is a neutral  
kind of performer, which may be better suited...

Gotta disagree. He often plays tenderhearts, dunces and weaklings- he was the lovelorn boy in Inventing the Abbotts and the wussy crybaby main villain in Gladiator and a semi-childlike brother in Signs. He's an American, speaks with an American accent, as opposed to Lazenby and Brosnan who were born and raised in British occupied and British neighboring areas respectively. Fans have discussed Phoenix as a villain, but no way is he tough enough, masculine enough, tall enough, or classically handsome enough to play Bond.

I don't really care for him as an actor, and if he were Bond that would be the end of the series right there.

I agree with Tarl Cabot: no, No, and NO!

Dave

[Tarl_Cabot]

"I hated him in Gladiator. Crowe didn't maim and kill him enough at the end. He didn't nearly get the ***-whooping and chewing that he deserved. I hated the ending of that movie."

I agree. He should have been beheaded! Maximus should have thrown his head into the stands as a last act of ****you, you sick romans watching men kill for sport/entertainment! A total loss. That movie is vastly overrated. A poor man's Braveheart. Hell I liked Rob Roy more than Gladiator. At least Rob got midevil on his enemy!

[Jaelle]

Originally posted by Tarl_Cabot
"I hated him in Gladiator. Crowe didn't maim and kill him enough at the end. He didn't nearly get the ***-whooping and chewing that he deserved. I hated the ending of that movie."
I agree. He should have been beheaded! Maximus should have thrown his head into the stands as a last act of ****you, you sick romans watching men kill for sport/entertainment! A total loss. That movie is vastly overrated. A poor man's Braveheart. Hell I liked Rob Roy more than Gladiator. At least Rob got midevil on his enemy!

I prefer Rob Roy not only to Gladiator but also to Braveheart. And Gladiator is definitely overrated (but I'm the only on the planet who thinks that Crowe is vastly overrated as an actor too so that doesn't tell you much). The best thing about Gladiator for me was the score. (Liked the Rob Roy score too). And in all those 3 movies, the only actor who comes close to being Bond-like for me is Neeson. Not that he's a particularly good Bond candidate, just that in comparison to Crowe, Gibson and Phoenix, he wins out easily.

[Tanger]

Joaquin Phoenix is a fine actor but cannot and will not be Bond. He oculd play a good middle of the road henchman though. One in the mould of Red Grant or Stamper I feel.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Neeson was reportedly a candidate in 94, comming off an oscar nod. He was suave in Schinler's list but at 6'4 I think too large a man for Bond(too old now).

[Kingdom Come]

Rubixcub, Cavan, were Brosnan was born, is/was not far from where I was born and is in the south of Ireland and was never occupied by the British. In the Bond films, Brosnan has a slight Irish twang. Lazenby has also an Austrailan twang and as for Connery he had MORE than a Scottish twang - Dalton letting his Welsh twang come out much more in LTK, as was commentated upon by many after the films release. The true Brit!! being Roger.

[Kingdom Come]

On further reflection, history tells us clearly that if a prospective Bond actor is from somewhere other than where he is supposed to be from, then he has a greater chance of becoming Bond much more so than a British actor.

[Kingdom Come]

Or even an English actor...

How about Ray Liotta - has the looks, charm, right age, can be dangerous and intense... has an excellent film track record

[rubixcub]

Originally posted by Kingdom Come
Rubixcub, Cavan, were Brosnan was born, is/was not far from where I was born and is in the south of Ireland and was never occupied by the British. In the Bond films, Brosnan has a slight Irish twang. Lazenby has also an Austrailan twang and as for Connery he had MORE than a Scottish twang - Dalton letting his Welsh twang come out much more in LTK, as was commentated upon by many after the films release. The true Brit!! being Roger.

That is why I added the qualifier of British occupied and neighboring, meaning that if an actor is not from a British-occupied/colonized area, a part or former part of the British empire, then at least he is from an area close to England. Ireland is close to England, geographically. True, Brosnan when he is being interviewed does have a natural Irish accent and Lazenby has an Australian accent, but both of their accents are close enough to British accents for them to do British accents without too much change in their natural ways of speaking. An Australian as Bond, and Irishman as Bond, that's okay- Ireland and Australia are in many minds grouped together with Britain. An American playing Bond- that's what most Bond fans definitely DON'T want. As you said, Moore was the only English Bond actor, but the rest were from areas close enough to Britain in one way or another that the audience could meet them halfway. America and Britain is too far a stretch.

Dave

[Kingdom Come]

Only geographically!

[Kingdom Come]

Interesting that this anti-American actor thing could be seen by some as racist. I don't know. As I've said, Brosnan / Lazenby / Connery, do speak with their native tongues, albeit toned down in interviews, but they also do the same in the films. To say that Australia is okay but not America is and will be, open to further debate.

[Jaelle]

There are already plenty of leading action heroes who are American speaking in American English.

If an American actor were to play Bond, I would want him to sound something like Orson Welles. He was an American but listen to the lilt, pitch and tone of his voice, and his diction. I don't want him to sound like Keanu Reeves or Leo diCaprio or Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or Nicolas Cage. It's a bias on my part, so be it. I don't want James Bond to sound like he's from Suburbia USA, or PS 39 or somesuch.

[Triton]

Originally posted by Jaelle
There are already plenty of leading action heroes who are American speaking in American English.

If an American actor were to play Bond, I would want him to sound something like Orson Welles.  He was an American but listen to the lilt, pitch and tone of his voice, and his diction.  I don't want him to sound like Keanu Reeves or Leo diCaprio or Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or Nicolas Cage.  It's a bias on my part, so be it.  I don't want James Bond to sound like he's from Suburbia USA, or PS 39 or somesuch.

I agree totally with you Jaelle. No American James Bond who sounds like he is from the suburbs, a surfer dude, or a Southern good ol' boy.

I don't think that Cubby Broccoli was totally against having an American play James Bond. Remember that John Gavin was signed to play James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever before United Artists gave Sean Connery a deal he couldn't refuse. Also remember that Adam West was sounded out for the James Bond role as well.

I think that the no Americans policy was voiced by Cubby Broccoli in response to the pressure to cast Burt Reynolds in the part of James Bond. Who could blame Cubby for not wanting to cast Burt Reynolds in the role. I think that some people thought that he could do a good job with the role because of the detective character he played in the TV series Dan August and his popularity. After Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper, I can only see Burt Reynolds as a Southern good ol' boy.

As for Joaquin Phoenix, I see him more as a villain than a hero, at his present age I think he could play a Dario like character. I can't see him acquire the necessary polish for the James Bond image though.

[Jaelle]

Originally posted by Triton
I agree totally with you Jaelle. No American James Bond who sounds like he is from the suburbs, a surfer dude, or a Southern good ol' boy.
I don't think that Cubby Broccoli was totally against having an American play James Bond. Remember that John Gavin was signed to play James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever before United Artists gave Sean Connery a deal he couldn't refuse.  Also remember that Adam West was sounded out for the James Bond role as well.
I think that the no Americans policy was voiced by Cubby Broccoli in response to the pressure to cast Burt Reynolds in the part of James Bond. Who could blame Cubby for not wanting to cast Burt Reynolds in the role.

And look at those American guys: John Gavin, Adam West. And wasn't James Brolin considered too at one point?

Gavin and West at least have speaking voices that *approximate* the deep, cultured voice I'm trying to describe (probably miserably). Brolin, however, is questionable. He has that sexy deep voice, no doubt, but his diction is rather lazy.

And I can't believe that Burt Reynolds was ever seriously considered for Bond! Kudos to Cubby! I liked Reynolds in Dan August but for Bond?? I'd take Israeli actor Oded Fehr first! *sigh* (I'll take him in any way he pleases....)