183 replies to this topic

[Kissy]

A black felix this isn

[Tinfinger]

No, Kissy, it is not a joke. This is for real. This ain't your father's James Bond. And besides, to paraphrase Blazing Saddles...if they can have a black sheriff, why not a black Felix?

Edited by Tinfinger, 17 February 2006 - 08:29 AM.

[Harmsway]

It's been done before in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and it worked excellently.

Besides, who is honestly looking for a whole lot of faithfulness in their portrayal of characters from Fleming? EON has often taken a lot of liberties with Fleming's characterizations and descriptions.

[trumanlodge89]

No, Kissy, it is not a joke. This is for real. This ain't your father's James Bond. And besides, to paraphrase Blazing Saddles...if they can have a black sheriff, why not a black Felix?

"excuse me while i whip this out...."


(sorry, its really late and im punchy)

[dinovelvet]

[quote name='Kissy' post='519318' date='17 February 2006 - 00:21']
A black felix this isn

[Kissy]

It's been done before in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and it worked excellently.

You think? The guy who played Felix in NSNA looked like football player for some reason.

[Harmsway]

It's been done before in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and it worked excellently.

You think? The guy who played Felix in NSNA looked like football player for some reason.

Bernie Casey in NSNA is my second favorite portrayal of Felix Leiter, second only to Jack Lord in DR. NO.

[smartz]

Im short why not?

i tihnk it will work well. It also portrays the CIA in a way which is reflective of the modern day. I say good job EON

Edited by smartz, 17 February 2006 - 09:19 AM.

[Skudor]

I don't care if Felix is black, white or green - it's not material. What matters is the quality of the actor and the way he portrays Leiter. This guy seems to be a very interesting choice at least.

And I agree, the NSNA Felix is one of the best-fit Felixes so far.

[Santa]

Yep, I'm with you, don't care what colour he is, and Jeffrey Wright is excellent in everything he does. If you want to stick that closely to the Fleming novels we'd have to live with scenes reminiscent of Dr Evil: (little finger in mouth)"1 meeeellion dollars!". The novels have to be updated to reflect modern society (which, believe it or not includes black people doing the same jobs as the rest of us). Sorry.

[marktmurphy]

Felix has had so many variations over the years, I don't see how it matters. He's a great actor- should be very entertaining.

[Alvin Stardust]

This is the best casting decision they've made IMO. Jeffrey Wright never puts a foot wrong in anything.

[Double-Oh Agent]

It's been done before in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and it worked excellently.

You think? The guy who played Felix in NSNA looked like football player for some reason.

That's because he was one before he became an actor. He was a defensive back in the NFL for a few years.

And I liked Bernie Casey as Felix in NSNA too (a non-EON film by the way), but I still think Leiter should be played by a White actor--just like the character of James Bond--because that's the way Fleming wrote him. I'd feel the same way if the producers decided to cast say Hilary Swank as Felicia Leiter or Catherine Zeta-Jones as Jane Bond. They may be good actors, like Jeffrey Wright, but they are not my ideas of some of Fleming's core characters.

[David Schofield]

Nothing against this Wright fellow, but methinks this was a great missed opportunity to actual cast someone who nailed FLEMING'S Leiter for the first time.

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

It's been done before in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and it worked excellently.

Yes quite.

I worry less about the fact that Felix is black than the overall poor track record this franchise has with casting Felix in general...

Not saying Wright will be bad, just that there have been more screw ups than successes concerning the character.

[CowboyFunk22]

Ive read Casino Royale and seen all the movies and still i wouldn't be able to describe felix as Fleming wanted him to be if i tried. Felix is a wild card in all the films, constantly changing and having various personalities. The only ones i care to remember are the ones that got the personalities right. His importance comes in how he supports Bond's character.

Other than that, Leiter's only qualification is that he has to be American. I think a black actor can put out the American "vibe" on screen better than a J.W Pepper or Joe Don Baker's character. As least when you compare Felix from NSNA to these characters, they ceratinly seem outclassed.

[Colonel Moon]

I dont get it
When they announced that Mads will play Le Chiffre most of You saidthat he is not looking like Le Chiffre in book.
Now we have Felix and everybody says it doesnt mater:)

I nothing against black Felix, i enjoyed NSNA:)

[Niwram]

The only thing I don't like about CR is that Felix is black!

And don't call me a racist, because that's just stupid.

I have a cousin who is black (adopted)and we're pals.

[Bon-san]

Sigh...here we go again.


How preeminent is the concept of race in our conscious and subconscious minds? Very, very much so, apparently.

I daresay there would be no thread such as this if Wentworth Miller were cast as Felix Leiter. Mr. Miller doesn't look "black", so no one would know, and there would be no controversy (until someone posted that he had African ancestry). As it is, though, Mr. Wright looks "black" enough to touch off that synapse in certain folks' systems signaling that "blackness" is evident: Beware! Race distinction alert! Take appropriate caution!

Mr. Wright seems a very fine choice. I found his performance enchanting in Basquiat. Best wishes to him in the role.

[spynovelfan]

Strange that people complain about this, but nobody ever seems to start threads on the fact that Jack Lord and everyone else who played Leiter did not have straw-blond hair, a hawkish profile and come from Texas.

Why did it not matter that Jack Lord was from the wrong part of the US and had different hair colour and facial features from Fleming's character, and yet it does matter what colour the actor's skin is? The 'unfaithful to Fleming' line holds no water.

Examine your consciences.

[Donovan]

It doesn't seem to me that any of the casting choices have anything to do with the descriptions Fleming created in the novel. A black guy playing Felix...a skinny guy playing Le Chiffre...an Italian guy playing Mathis...and a French woman playing Vesper.

At the announcement that "Casino Royale" was going to finally be produced by Eon, I had high hopes that with this being the last novel Eon was going to adapt (for the first time) they would look over their body of work and see where taking extreme liberties with some of the books made for wasted opportunities. The early Bonds were stellar, and will always be stellar, because Ian Fleming as a writer was better at creating characters and plots than Tom Mankiewicz, Christopher Wood, and now Purvis & Wade. With regards to casting imagine Auric Goldfinger or Odd Job being played by someone who weighed 180 pounds.

I guess nationalities aren't really a big deal...out of the cast, Eva Green is by far the most exciting. And obviously over the years we've had Italian actresses play Russians and Israeli actors portray Greeks to great effect.

And I suppose with the changes made to the book it's not like we're talking about something SO extreme as changing a card game to a battle between monster trucks or something. Still, I will read Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale" with the same pangs of regret that it--along with several of it's younger brothers--will never find their way to true adaptations for the big screen.

[SecretAgentFan]

Also - Jeffrey Wright does not need Bond. He

[WC]

Well I would've obviously preferred someone more similar to the literary Felix, but actually I wanted another Jack Lord type Felix. But in truth, the running joke of the series is that Felix is different in every appearance that he makes, so Jeffrey Wright should be fine, provided he actually seems like a CIA man and not some inferior sidekick who tags along. Felix is probably the one character (according to the films not the books) that could probably have different races portraying him.

I'm just glad that Leiter's back. It's about time.

[hcmv007]

Hey, Felix is not the main character, rather a supporting one. He is not Bond(Remember, it's Ian Fleming's James Bond 007). Comic fans were upset that in Smallville Pete Ross was made black when he is white in the comics, but he is a supporting character. Bernie Casey did a good job playing Felix in NSNA, and this casting truly makes this Bond Begins. I aim to see Mr. Wright in past performances to see how he will be Felix. As long as the actors playing Bond have the same qualities-white, around or just over 6 feet tall, and have a athletic build, and are from the UK-that is fine. Felix could be played by anyone, as he is a great supporting character(my favorite), but he is not the headliner, 007 is.


It is great to have Felix back!

[smartz]

I cannot believe how we are even debating this issue, Felix is a great character and to be honest the fact that Jeffrey Wright is wanting to be involved really shows that the script must be good. Jeffrey Wright is a great actor who i first encountered when i saw Shaft and he played a latino hood boss, in that he was bloody brilliant.

So big thumbs up, i would be interesting to see how him and Craig get on in The Visiting!

[Kissy]

If Fleming was still alive he would die of an Heart Attack if Felix would be played by a black actor.

People who know a little about Fleming probably know what I'm talking about.

[stromberg]

Bah! Humbug.

It was done before (even if it wasn't by Eon), and Bernie Casey was one of the few things I actually liked. I had hoped that Eon would chose ablack actor for Felix, as there is absolutely no need to make him the blond Texan of the book.

Flemmming is dead. Get over it.

[double-O-Durg]

o my word - just when i was getting excited about CR, Eon pull a stunt like this.

The most continuity-challenged character of the series just got worse

[Mister Asterix]

Personally, I’m upset that Felix isn’t a Texan. Seems they could have done that. Then again if Wright plays him as a Texan then I’m good. And Wright seems to have the ability to get the voice just right. A Texas accent is all it would take to make him the most accurate Felix to date. But actually I’m good if he doesn’t play Felix as a Texan, it’s not like any of the others played him that way. (Maybe John Terry tried and failed, hard to tell.)

It is great to have Felix back!

[DLibrasnow]

I am so happy with this bit of casting. By far the best Felix Leiter to date was Bernie Casey in Never Say Never Again so I applaud EON for finally seeing the light