Originally posted by Bondpurist
An AMERICAN? no way Jose! James Bond is BRITISH and British he should stay. I have never heard an American actor put on a decent English accent - anyway, it's a matter of pride - we don't want a yank nicking the part of James Bond - he's one of the few film roles that is a British stronghold. The yanks should stick to 'Die hard' and 'Rambo' and all that rubbish.
James Bond is British?
Sean Connery - Scottish
George Lazenby - Austrailian
Roger Moore - English (I'll give you that one)
Timothy Dalton - Welsh
Pierce Brosnan - Irish
Your beloved Clive Owen is Scottish if I'm not mistaken. Atleast, I thought I heard he was.
I'll put it this way. James Bond is an acting job. Acting is acting is acting is also acting.
Sure, American MOVIE STARS may not have convencing accents, but to hell with movie stars. There are plenty of American ACTORS who could pull one off if they had to.
And what is all this about a 'British' accent. There's no such thing as a 'British' accent. I may be from Kentucky (well, atleast me mum's Irish) but I know (from being in the UK a few times) that England has MANY accents. It's just like America. I'm sorry to shock you, Bondpurist, but we don't all sound like John Wayne.
Also, I'm quite offended by the 'Rambo' statement. I'm an actor (well, someday), and I'm into film. I'm not into 'Rambo'. We Yanks aren't all gun totting, cowboy hat wearing, hooting, beer-drinking, football watching (the Amuricin kynd), truck driving... ya know what I mean. Some of us are actually enlightened individuals.
Ya know, most of my favorite actors and actresses are British. No joke.
But if you think the biggest factor in someone playing James Bond is that they are British, that's hilarious. Brosnan's an Irishman, and I know my history when it comes to England's dealing with Ireland, yet not too many Brits seem to be offended.
Look, acting is acting. Bond films are their own thing, seperate from Ian Fleming's concept. That makes the idea of being a Bond 'purist' as ridiculous as using sailships is the Royal Navy. Of course, Bondpurist does give the illusion of being trendy and enlightened.
So, if an actor from Amuricah was good enough to be Bond, so be it. I mean, it's never gonna come down to that anyway, there are more than enough talented people elsewhere.
And this thing about Bond being about British pride? C'mon, there are better things to be proud of. A lot of them only work to reenforce certain stereotypes of British behavour, such as being snobbish, using the word 'rubbish' and thinking you've insulted someone, or calling Americans yanks.
