537 replies to this topic

[bryonalston]

I think that if Visnjic was cast as Bond already, or was being seriously considered, EoN released the list of Visnjic alongside three other crappy choices to warm up fans to the idea. Of course there have been mixed reactions, but it seems like there are a long list of good reasons as to why Visnjic would make a good Bond, and only two main reasons as to why he wouldn't (His supposedly strong accent and him not being British.) In this case, the former definitely outweighs the latter, and nobody have brought up any genuinely good reasons as to why Visnjic would be absolute poison for the series. If EoN's people were going through this site right now, I think that they would cast Visnjic, only because the negative things that have been brought up about him are minimal things that the fans can/will get over eventually. While Visnjic might not be the perfect choice, there is no genuine reason as to why he shouldn't land the role. They could have jumped on Clive Owen's boat before it sailed, but now it's long gone. They shouldn't make the same mistake twice by missing Goran's.

EON, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, CAST GORAN VISNJIC NOW!!!

[return of the saint]

Just my opinion, but I feel that Bond has always been played best by actors who largely play a version of Bond as if they were Bond (if you get my meaning). That is to say the most successful Bond actors are those who generally only play one character in almost all of their (Bond and non-Bond) films, and that one character is essentially an extension of themselves. i.e. No great acting required

[Pussycat]

[quote name='return of the saint' date='28 July 2005 - 10:26']Just my opinion, but I feel that Bond has always been played best by actors who largely play a version of Bond as if they were Bond (if you get my meaning).  That is to say the most successful Bond actors are those who generally only play one character in almost all of their (Bond and non-Bond) films, and that one character is essentially an extension of themselves.  i.e. No great acting required

[SecretAgentFan]

[quote name='return of the saint' date='28 July 2005 - 10:26']Just my opinion, but I feel that Bond has always been played best by actors who largely play a version of Bond as if they were Bond (if you get my meaning).  That is to say the most successful Bond actors are those who generally only play one character in almost all of their (Bond and non-Bond) films, and that one character is essentially an extension of themselves.  i.e. No great acting required

[fatima]

If it was being sugested that an Australian actor play James Bond everybody would be up in arms about him not being British, that is if it hadn't already happened, 36 years ago, without the world as we know it coming to an end.

[bryonalston]

I still think that the whole thing about "being James Bond full time" is absurd. Sean Connery sure as hell wasn't James Bond before he got the role, and Roger Moore seemed so experienced in the role because not only was his Bond a slight variation on Simon Templar, but he had two previous Bond's to model his after. He knew what would work with the audience and what wouldn't work. Dalton didn't lead a Bondesque life in his free time either. He was a Shakespeare actor who gives off the aura of Bond being dark and very private, both of which Dalton is. However, the reason why he wasn't the suave gentleman that Bond should be onscreen is because he wasn't overtly that way offscreen. Pierce Brosnan, like Moore, has played a Bondesque character on RS, and his Bond was only a thinly disguised version of Remington Steele.

For you to even suggest that acting isn't important in the role, that the actor has to be James Bond, let me ask you this: Was Anthony Hopkins ACTING when he was playing Hannibal Lecter, or does he go around plotting who he's going to kill and eat everyday? In the novels, Hannibal was a Lithuanian man, yet Hopkins seemed to portray him as being British. Is that ACTING or just "naturally fitting into the role?"

Is Hilary Swank a crossdressing, trailer trash boxing champion in real life? No, she ACTED her way into both of her Oscars.

Do you get my point? No good actor portrays all of their best characters as thinly veiled versions of themselves. Goran Visnjic is a much better actor than Pierce Brosnan, and unlike all of the other Bonds, actually has CREDENTIALS, SKILLS, and HOBBIES that Bond would have. A few pages back there is a long list of them. Now if a British person had the same list of credentials, then everyone would be jumping all over them, but if they're not British, it's the 8th Deadly Sin to even consider them. You should rethink the "overt snobbery" of the UK and whether or not that's a good trait to have. Visnjic is a far better candidate than some of the Brits that have been mentioned, and it just kills you, doesn't it?

[bryonalston]

I still think that the whole thing about "being James Bond full time" is absurd. Sean Connery sure as hell wasn't James Bond before he got the role, and Roger Moore seemed so experienced in the role because not only was his Bond a slight variation on Simon Templar, but he had two previous Bond's to model his after. He knew what would work with the audience and what wouldn't work. Dalton didn't lead a Bondesque life in his free time either. He was a Shakespeare actor who gives off the aura of Bond being dark and very private, both of which Dalton is. However, the reason why he wasn't the suave gentleman that Bond should be onscreen is because he wasn't overtly that way offscreen. Pierce Brosnan, like Moore, has played a Bondesque character on RS, and his Bond was only a thinly disguised version of Remington Steele.

For you to even suggest that acting isn't important in the role, that the actor has to be James Bond, let me ask you this: Was Anthony Hopkins ACTING when he was playing Hannibal Lecter, or does he go around plotting who he's going to kill and eat everyday? In the novels, Hannibal was a Lithuanian man, yet Hopkins seemed to portray him as being British. Is that ACTING or just "naturally fitting into the role?"

Is Hilary Swank a crossdressing, trailer trash boxing champion in real life? No, she ACTED her way into both of her Oscars.

Do you get my point? No good actor portrays all of their best characters as thinly veiled versions of themselves. Goran Visnjic is a much better actor than Pierce Brosnan, and unlike all of the other Bonds, actually has CREDENTIALS, SKILLS, and HOBBIES that Bond would have. A few pages back there is a long list of them. Now if a British person had the same list of credentials, then everyone would be jumping all over them, but if they're not British, it's the 8th Deadly Sin to even consider them. You should rethink the "overt snobbery" of the UK and whether or not that's a good trait to have. Visnjic is a far better candidate than some of the Brits that have been mentioned, and it just kills you, doesn't it?

[Pussycat]

Visnjic is a far better candidate than some of the Brits that have been mentioned, and it just kills you, doesn't it?

I'm afraid not everyone sees Visnjic as you do.

As for skills of the actor being suited for Bond....may I present British Adrian Paul? He's probably racked up more hours on film performing action scenes than any other candidate mentioned. He is also a real life athlete and martial artist of considerable talent who looks fantastic in a tux and can heat up the screen in a love scene.

Visnjic doesn't appeal to everybody, just as Adrian Paul doesn't appeal to a few posters on this site. It happens.

[Bon-san]

Do you get my point? No good actor portrays all of their best characters as thinly veiled versions of themselves.

These guys made some fairly decent careers out of doing just that:

Sean Connery, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, George Clooney, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart. I could go on.

[Skudor]

I just watched Elektra. What a pile of ####. After watching it I've gone very cool on the idea of GV as Bond - I'm far from convinced that he could pull off the accent.

[bryonalston]

He didn't have much to work with on Elektra anyways, so you shouldn't discredit him just based on that movie. I think his performance in ER is a much better and more appropriate vehicle to judge Visnjic's acting qualities on/with.

[Spoon]

You should rethink the "overt snobbery" of the UK and whether or not that's a good trait to have. Visnjic is a far better candidate than some of the Brits that have been mentioned, and it just kills you, doesn't it?

You should rethink how you argue if you want anyone to listen to you

[Skudor]

He didn't have much to work with on Elektra anyways, so you shouldn't discredit him just based on that movie. I think his performance in ER is a much better and more appropriate vehicle to judge Visnjic's acting qualities on/with.

I have yet to see him do anything where he gets rid of enough of the accent to convince me he could do Bond. I wouldn't doubt his acting ability - he was just unfortunate enough to have a fairly small part in a very poor movie.

[Slaezenger]

If it was being sugested that an Australian actor play James Bond everybody would be up in arms about him not being British, that is if it hadn't already happened, 36 years ago, without the world as we know it coming to an end.

...OHMSS bombed at the BO & is painful to watch today. His voice and delivery was all wrong & imo ruined what would have been a decent film.

[JCH]

If it was being sugested that an Australian actor play James Bond everybody would be up in arms about him not being British, that is if it hadn't already happened, 36 years ago, without the world as we know it coming to an end.

...OHMSS bombed at the BO & is painful to watch today. His voice and delivery was all wrong & imo ruined what would have been a decent film.

I never thought OHMSS was painful to watch. I think it was a very good movie. But it is a little awkward. It's like watching an acotr fill in for someone instead of actually being in that role. When I watch it, I half expect Connery to show up somewhere along the way and resume the role as if he was absent from filming for a couple of days but they had to press on with his understudy.

[Bondian]

How can you say that a classic like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is "painful to watch!".

Have you been watching any of the latest EON Bond's lately?.

[tdalton]

How can you say that a classic like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is "painful to watch!".

Have you been watching any of the latest EON Bond's lately?. 

My thoughts exactly. I'd rather put in any of the classics, no matter how many times I've seen them, rather than watch any of the Brosnan films, except perhaps for TWINE.

[Slaezenger]

[quote name='tdalton' date='29 July 2005 - 02:22'][quote name='Bondian' date='28 July 2005 - 22:14']How can you say that a classic like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is "painful to watch!".

Have you been watching any of the latest EON Bond's lately?.

[Bondian]

Hey Slaezenger.

It strikes me odd how a good Bond fan could ever Pooh-Pooh a classic like you have.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a turning point in the series of James Bond films. OK, We all know Bond gets all luvvy-duvvy in this one, but that's not how you should assess this movie. It Is a down-to-earth no nonesense movie. OK, it has it's faults, but they do not come from Lazenby.

Lazenby did a fine job in this very tricky movie.

Cheers,


Ian

How
...Comparing OHMSS to recent films is another issue.  But watching OHMSS )_is_ painful.  The lead just wasn't up to the job, and I groan everytime he opens his mouth.  He was outclassed by everyone and everything around him, including the score.  I can't watch that film without arriving at the inevitable "What the hell were they thinking?!"  It bombed at the BO and for good reason.  The fact that some have to look way back to 1969 for shreds of a decent Bond suggests how far afield the series has gone.

[JCH]

[quote name='Bondian' date='28 July 2005 - 21:43']Hey Slaezenger.

It strikes me odd how a good Bond fan could ever Pooh-Pooh a classic like you have. 

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a turning point in the series of James Bond films. OK, We all know Bond gets all luvvy-duvvy in this one, but that's not how you should assess this movie. It Is a down-to-earth no nonesense movie. OK, it has it's faults, but they do not come from Lazenby.

Lazenby did a fine job in this very tricky movie.

Cheers,


Ian
[quote name='Slaezenger' date='28 July 2005 - 22:14']How
...Comparing OHMSS to recent films is another issue.

[Skudor]

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is conistently one of my top five Bond films, and usually my top favourite. I know what JCH is saying with regard to Lazenby - his acting isn't all that great and sometimes the way he talks makes me cringe. But it's the films almost only flaw, and GL does a good enough job most of the time to deserve forgiveness. Had he done more Bond films, perhaps these irritating flaws would have grown on me, who knows.

I hope EON manage to make a movie that is as good as OHMSS when it comes to putting Casino Royale together.

[Loomis]

I hope EON manage to make a movie that is as good as OHMSS when it comes to putting Casino Royale together.

Not asking for much there, Skudor.

[Skudor]

I hope EON manage to make a movie that is as good as OHMSS when it comes to putting Casino Royale together.

Not asking for much there, Skudor.

No, not much. Just the apparently impossible .

[bryonalston]

I hope EON manage to make a movie that is as good as OHMSS when it comes to putting Casino Royale together.

Not asking for much there, Skudor.

No, not much. Just the apparently impossible .

I think even though OHMSS was a great movie, certain parts of it look cheaply done (like the dubbing, certain parts of the dialogue, the special F/X and backscreen projection, and the editing and sound effects during the fighting scenes can get a little annoying sometimes. If CR can get all of their technical details right (somewhere along the lines of GE and TND) then in should be fine. Also, certain parts of OHMSS, while good and important to the story, tend to run a little slow.

[Loeffelholz]

Technical issues aside, I think OHMSS will continue to look better through history's rear-view mirror...particularly if we continue down the path of digital para-sailing on glacial tidal waves...

...and the surfer is a Croat...

[fatima]

If it was being sugested that an Australian actor play James Bond everybody would be up in arms about him not being British, that is if it hadn't already happened, 36 years ago, without the world as we know it coming to an end.

...OHMSS bombed at the BO & is painful to watch today. His voice and delivery was all wrong & imo ruined what would have been a decent film.

I just checked on the next Bond thread and Hugh Jackman (an Australian) is leading the vote, which I think he has since it began. So the majority of readers of this forum want an Australian to play a British spy, but many bulk at the idea of a Croatian playing a British spy

Surely an actors attributes and suitability for the role (looks, acting ability, personality, athleticism, humour, charisma etc) are more important than where they were born????

[bryonalston]

I think that poll is a bit outdated, and since people can't change their votes, those results are slightly inaccurate.

BTW, I do agree on your point about "Why and Australian actor and not a Croatian?" It seems a bit absurd, but oh well, you can't win them all.

[Pussycat]

If it was being sugested that an Australian actor play James Bond everybody would be up in arms about him not being British, that is if it hadn't already happened, 36 years ago, without the world as we know it coming to an end.

...OHMSS bombed at the BO & is painful to watch today. His voice and delivery was all wrong & imo ruined what would have been a decent film.

I just checked on the next Bond thread and Hugh Jackman (an Australian) is leading the vote, which I think he has since it began. So the majority of readers of this forum want an Australian to play a British spy, but many bulk at the idea of a Croatian playing a British spy

Surely an actors attributes and suitability for the role (looks, acting ability, personality, athleticism, humour, charisma etc) are more important than where they were born????

Well some of us were never keen on the Australian playing 007 either. That list of other things...ability, personality, athleticism, charisma, looks, humor can all be found in a certain Brit with initials AP, so the need to search other "islands" seemed hardly necessary.

[bryonalston]

[quote name='Pussycat' date='30 July 2005 - 11:51']
[/quote]
Well some of us were never keen on the Australian playing 007 either. That list of other things...ability, personality, athleticism, charisma, looks, humor can all be found in a certain Brit with initials AP, so the need to search other "islands" seemed hardly necessary.

[/quote]

Another actor who is about 13 years younger possesses the talent, right AGE, looks, athleticism, Bond-esque hobbies, charisma, is a well known TV actor (like Moore and Brosnan,) has a much more current fanbase than AP, (who is half eastern-European BTW, but no-one seems to bring that up,) will bring a much-needed freshness to the series which is a little stale after sticking to the same formula for so long. EoN should take a risk and now is the perfect time. This actor has the initials GV.

Edited by bryonalston, 30 July 2005 - 08:14 PM.

[Martin Mystery]

Snap out of it. Goran is not the new James Bond.

MM