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Should Daniel Craig's 007 Smoke In Future Films?


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Poll: Should Daniel Craig's 007 Smoke In Future Films?

Should Daniel Craig's 007 Smoke In Future Films?

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#31 Santa

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Posted 06 October 2006 - 06:48 PM

Only if he's smoking in bed. :)



Why? Does it make you feel inadequate? :P

#32 Daddy Bond

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Posted 06 October 2006 - 06:52 PM

Only if he's smoking in bed. :)



He is. :P


:P

#33 AgentZ

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Posted 06 October 2006 - 07:15 PM

Bond is cool. Cool people smoke. Therefore, Bond should smoke.

Just kidding! I thought he should smoke in CR, but if they didn't let him then, I don't think he should in the future. Would look out of place.

#34 Scottlee

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Posted 07 October 2006 - 11:18 AM

A big yes from me. It's part of his character.

#35 icecold

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Posted 07 October 2006 - 01:45 PM

I want him to smoke. It's quite literally the mental image I get of Bond 9 times out 10 that doesn't involve an action sequence: 007 sitting in the dark of a hotel room, tie undone, puffing away on a cigarette with a bottle of vodka on the table next to him, or sitting in his office staring out the window at the rain with a fag in hand. It's just a part of who he is, to me. The character obviously works without it but there's just something missing that's noticeably felt. It's like taking away Batman's cape, sure, it works (Batman Beyond) but it just doesn't feel completely right.

I understand 60 a day is ridiculous, but noone's asking for that. I've never met a person who smokes more than one pack let alone 4 a day.

The 'tough duty' doesn't hit it either. Soldiers smoke, they always have and, like the rest of society, it might have decreased in this day and age but it's still highly prevalent. In terms of cardio fitness, at least from my experience, it's about your conditioning not whether you smoke. When I did PT regularly last year I found myself in the same shape I was in High School before I started smoking. Now, after about 4 months without a real workout (yeah, I know...Pathetic. I'm planning on starting up again) I have noticeably shorter breath when doing physical activity. Bond works out every morning. With a more realistic less than pack a day habit coupled with his fitness regimen, I dont see how it would impact his abilities much.

Edited by icecold, 07 October 2006 - 01:51 PM.


#36 Thunderfinger

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Posted 07 October 2006 - 08:46 PM

I never saw that, either.
Now that I quit, I see it very clearly.

#37 dajman_007

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Posted 07 October 2006 - 10:39 PM

I'm against smoking in almost every way. Frankly I don't see the point in inhaling burning crop. HOWEVER, Fleming did see a point in it. Smoking is part of Bond's literary character. Since the movies are based off of the novels then I think he should smoke in the movies, but the movies are digressing further and further from the novels and becoming an entity of their own. I voted yes because James Bond smokes. But in all reality, an operative that required as much physical work as Bond's wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't smoke.

#38 Thunderfinger

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Posted 07 October 2006 - 11:50 PM

In the books, he also does a LOT of paperwork.
I want to see more paperwork in the movies.

#39 icecold

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Posted 08 October 2006 - 01:12 AM

In the books, he also does a LOT of paperwork.
I want to see more paperwork in the movies.

That's probably sarcastic but I agree. We've only seen Bond at his desk once, maybe twice in the whole series, IIRC. A little scene with him sitting there in his office enjoying a coffee and reviewing some intel on his desk, then being called into M's office to rush off and save the world again would be nice. :)

#40 dajman_007

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Posted 08 October 2006 - 03:31 AM


In the books, he also does a LOT of paperwork.
I want to see more paperwork in the movies.

That's probably sarcastic but I agree. We've only seen Bond at his desk once, maybe twice in the whole series, IIRC. A little scene with him sitting there in his office enjoying a coffee and reviewing some intel on his desk, then being called into M's office to rush off and save the world again would be nice. :)

That's a good idea. I mean it would take up about 30 seconds... maybe a minute in a movie, but i like the idea

#41 Andy A 007

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Posted 13 October 2006 - 06:13 PM

Smoking is such a distinct characteristic of Fleming's Bond. No matter whose playing Bond, the character should always smoke. Its part of who Bond is. As a matter of fact, thats the one thing that I think is really missing in CR.

#42 Thunderfinger

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Posted 14 October 2006 - 12:37 AM

But do you think Bond is missing it?
And if so...why?

#43 RazorBlade

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Posted 14 October 2006 - 07:58 AM

yeah the smoking thing, more of it to get it out of the way. But the paperwork----! Wow! I wanna see more paperwork. I think it would hi-larious.

In the book Thunderball, M gives Bond a lecture about naturalistic health remedies. If Bond were a smoker in the movies, it would give M something to lecture Bond about.

Small thing to be sure, but he devil is in the details. Which is why I avoid details.

#44 Mr Teddy Bear

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 06:28 AM

I want it in if it seems appropriate. I don't want it in "just cos" meanwhile I don't want Bond films to feel censored, like when Brossa was in the hotel room in TND.

If it looks like Bond really needs one and we know he would have one if it weren't for censors, that is when not having him smoke takes away from the scene.

#45 dee-bee-five

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 07:19 AM

But do you think Bond is missing it?
And if so...why?


I really do, and I write as a non-smoker. As a fan of the novels first and foremost, I always liked those moments when Bond smoked his "sinful" fifth cigarette before breakfast because it made him much more human. It's a mistake to regard Fleming's just as a man who smoked 70 a day, and drank a fair bit of alcohol.

It's more subtle than that; Fleming's Bond is a man who is aware he probably smokes and drinks too much, but recognises they are outlets from the horrible tensions of his job. Bond is a man who kills other men on the orders of his government; this is a moral minefield, one which Fleming explores brilliantly in Casino Royale. Bond somehow has to reconcile himself to what he's doing and patriotism really isn't enough.

Far from glorifying cigarettes, alcohol and sex, I take away from Fleming's books that these are very much Bond's weaknesses; but necessary ones to relieve the build-up of tension and stop him going mad. We've only really got a hint of that a few times in the movies (the preparation to kill Dent in Dr. No; waiting in the hotel in TND) and I wish we'd seen more of them. For what it's worth, I also think that any adaptation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories which ignores Holmes' rather genteel cocaine habit are also missing a trick.

So I'm not advocating Bond smoking in the movies just because it flies in the face of political correctness (although anything that irritates the PC brigade is fine by me.) It's because, for me, Bond's smoking is an integral part of who he is and what he does. I know some posters have, sometimes amusingly, argued that boring paperwork, snobbery and mild racism and misogyny were also part of Fleming's Bond and that if one argues Bond should smoke, then he should also be portrayed as a snobbish pen-pusher who is disdainful of minorities and slaps women. But I submit that those elements (reprehensible though they might be) are not weaknesses and are not, therefore, an essential counterbalance to Bond's superman tendencies in the way smoking, drinking and s*agging are.

Bond not smoking has never spoiled watching the movies for me; that would be silly. But whenever Bond has lit up a cigarette onscreen it has, for me, always given an extra little link back to Fleming and that's never a bad thing.

One final thought on whether Bond should be seen smoking or not: just try imaginging the opening casino scene in Dr. No without him smoking.

Edited by dee-bee-five, 19 October 2006 - 07:29 AM.


#46 Double-Oh Agent

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Posted 19 October 2006 - 07:59 AM

Great post dee-bee-five. I'm a non-smoker too and don't really care whether Bond smokes or not, but I agree with you that it is one of his weaknesses and shouldn't be eliminated from a film just for the sake of not having it and 007 smoking probably should have taken place in Casino Royale. He is after all gambling in a casino where smoking is prevalent and where he's smoked countless times. You're also dead on about your assessments regarding Dr. No and Tomorrow Never Dies. Excellent points.

I also like the scene in The Living Daylights when Bond exhales smoke as a sign of his disbelieving Koskov's tale at the Bladen safe house. His smoking (and gaze) says a lot about his thoughts without ever saying a word. Having said all that, however, I wouldn't want Bond puffing throughout a film. If the scene dictates/asks that Bond smoke then by all means let him smoke. But if it doesn't, than I'm all for having him abstain.

#47 Thunderfinger

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Posted 21 October 2006 - 04:11 PM

He would stand out if he didn

#48 Matt_13

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Posted 21 October 2006 - 04:26 PM

Voted yes...he'd look too cool. :)

#49 the villain's architect

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Posted 21 October 2006 - 04:35 PM

If we don't see Craig's Bond smoking in CR, he has no reason to start it in a future film :P .
Honestly, what can turn this charakter into a cigarette addicted AFTER all that?

And with the now more realistic approach of the series, the producers are well aware that this fictional charakter indeed is a role model for young people.

So what we'd lose would be much more than what we'd win. Fans of him smoking can still pretend he does it off screen :) .

#50 Waffles, James Waffles.

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Posted 24 October 2006 - 11:37 PM

Well, I really don't care, I never noticed him NOT smoking cigarettes before in the Brosnans, but the bigwigs in the US government and MPAA wouldn' really like it. I don't really mind if he smokes, but I don't think it'll happen.

I love quick reply.

#51 AgentPB

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Posted 25 October 2006 - 02:35 AM

I'd love to see him puffing in a moment of dark intensity, rather than during more flippant sections of a film. It would suit me to see him smoking while he's preparing himself before a tough kill. Just strolling through a casino, or lounging at a bar wouldn't call for it though. It should be used to amplify intensity, not just for the sake of hitting Fleming on the mark.

Just my opinion.

As for the whole 'rolemodeling the kids' theory... hogwash.

I agree with you on both points. Bond smoking should only be used to ramp up the intensity, not while he's playing slots in the middle of an indian resort.

Also I doubt kids today are stupid enough to start smoking because of a movie character. If they are it is obviously the parents fault!

#52 Mr.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

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Posted 25 October 2006 - 09:10 PM

Of course he should smoke!
If you read the novel CR it is mentioned, that Bond smokes about 71 sigarettes a day!!!!

#53 Captain Grimes

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Posted 27 October 2006 - 12:52 AM


But do you think Bond is missing it?
And if so...why?


I really do, and I write as a non-smoker. As a fan of the novels first and foremost, I always liked those moments when Bond smoked his "sinful" fifth cigarette before breakfast because it made him much more human. It's a mistake to regard Fleming's just as a man who smoked 70 a day, and drank a fair bit of alcohol.

It's more subtle than that; Fleming's Bond is a man who is aware he probably smokes and drinks too much, but recognises they are outlets from the horrible tensions of his job. Bond is a man who kills other men on the orders of his government; this is a moral minefield, one which Fleming explores brilliantly in Casino Royale. Bond somehow has to reconcile himself to what he's doing and patriotism really isn't enough.

Far from glorifying cigarettes, alcohol and sex, I take away from Fleming's books that these are very much Bond's weaknesses; but necessary ones to relieve the build-up of tension and stop him going mad. We've only really got a hint of that a few times in the movies (the preparation to kill Dent in Dr. No; waiting in the hotel in TND) and I wish we'd seen more of them. For what it's worth, I also think that any adaptation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories which ignores Holmes' rather genteel cocaine habit are also missing a trick.

So I'm not advocating Bond smoking in the movies just because it flies in the face of political correctness (although anything that irritates the PC brigade is fine by me.) It's because, for me, Bond's smoking is an integral part of who he is and what he does. I know some posters have, sometimes amusingly, argued that boring paperwork, snobbery and mild racism and misogyny were also part of Fleming's Bond and that if one argues Bond should smoke, then he should also be portrayed as a snobbish pen-pusher who is disdainful of minorities and slaps women. But I submit that those elements (reprehensible though they might be) are not weaknesses and are not, therefore, an essential counterbalance to Bond's superman tendencies in the way smoking, drinking and s*agging are.

Bond not smoking has never spoiled watching the movies for me; that would be silly. But whenever Bond has lit up a cigarette onscreen it has, for me, always given an extra little link back to Fleming and that's never a bad thing.

One final thought on whether Bond should be seen smoking or not: just try imaginging the opening casino scene in Dr. No without him smoking.



Terrific, terrific post. I agree absolutely.

#54 Harmsway

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Posted 27 October 2006 - 12:58 AM

Smoking would be a nice touch. If it's not there, I'm not going to throw a fit or really waste much time bemoaning its absence.

#55 dee-bee-five

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Posted 30 October 2006 - 05:04 PM



But do you think Bond is missing it?
And if so...why?


I really do, and I write as a non-smoker. As a fan of the novels first and foremost, I always liked those moments when Bond smoked his "sinful" fifth cigarette before breakfast because it made him much more human. It's a mistake to regard Fleming's just as a man who smoked 70 a day, and drank a fair bit of alcohol.

It's more subtle than that; Fleming's Bond is a man who is aware he probably smokes and drinks too much, but recognises they are outlets from the horrible tensions of his job. Bond is a man who kills other men on the orders of his government; this is a moral minefield, one which Fleming explores brilliantly in Casino Royale. Bond somehow has to reconcile himself to what he's doing and patriotism really isn't enough.

Far from glorifying cigarettes, alcohol and sex, I take away from Fleming's books that these are very much Bond's weaknesses; but necessary ones to relieve the build-up of tension and stop him going mad. We've only really got a hint of that a few times in the movies (the preparation to kill Dent in Dr. No; waiting in the hotel in TND) and I wish we'd seen more of them. For what it's worth, I also think that any adaptation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories which ignores Holmes' rather genteel cocaine habit are also missing a trick.

So I'm not advocating Bond smoking in the movies just because it flies in the face of political correctness (although anything that irritates the PC brigade is fine by me.) It's because, for me, Bond's smoking is an integral part of who he is and what he does. I know some posters have, sometimes amusingly, argued that boring paperwork, snobbery and mild racism and misogyny were also part of Fleming's Bond and that if one argues Bond should smoke, then he should also be portrayed as a snobbish pen-pusher who is disdainful of minorities and slaps women. But I submit that those elements (reprehensible though they might be) are not weaknesses and are not, therefore, an essential counterbalance to Bond's superman tendencies in the way smoking, drinking and s*agging are.

Bond not smoking has never spoiled watching the movies for me; that would be silly. But whenever Bond has lit up a cigarette onscreen it has, for me, always given an extra little link back to Fleming and that's never a bad thing.

One final thought on whether Bond should be seen smoking or not: just try imaginging the opening casino scene in Dr. No without him smoking.



Terrific, terrific post. I agree absolutely.


Thanks. I aim to please...

However, I am taken with the suggestion above that Bond should smoke a joint to relieve tension. How very 21st century. And it's practically legal in the UK now, y'know (they say it isn't of course, but like coke, I don't think anyone's fooled... :) )

#56 Bon-san

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Posted 30 October 2006 - 05:34 PM


But do you think Bond is missing it?
And if so...why?


I really do, and I write as a non-smoker. As a fan of the novels first and foremost, I always liked those moments when Bond smoked his "sinful" fifth cigarette before breakfast because it made him much more human. It's a mistake to regard Fleming's just as a man who smoked 70 a day, and drank a fair bit of alcohol.

It's more subtle than that; Fleming's Bond is a man who is aware he probably smokes and drinks too much, but recognises they are outlets from the horrible tensions of his job. Bond is a man who kills other men on the orders of his government; this is a moral minefield, one which Fleming explores brilliantly in Casino Royale. Bond somehow has to reconcile himself to what he's doing and patriotism really isn't enough.

Far from glorifying cigarettes, alcohol and sex, I take away from Fleming's books that these are very much Bond's weaknesses; but necessary ones to relieve the build-up of tension and stop him going mad. We've only really got a hint of that a few times in the movies (the preparation to kill Dent in Dr. No; waiting in the hotel in TND) and I wish we'd seen more of them. For what it's worth, I also think that any adaptation of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories which ignores Holmes' rather genteel cocaine habit are also missing a trick.

So I'm not advocating Bond smoking in the movies just because it flies in the face of political correctness (although anything that irritates the PC brigade is fine by me.) It's because, for me, Bond's smoking is an integral part of who he is and what he does. I know some posters have, sometimes amusingly, argued that boring paperwork, snobbery and mild racism and misogyny were also part of Fleming's Bond and that if one argues Bond should smoke, then he should also be portrayed as a snobbish pen-pusher who is disdainful of minorities and slaps women. But I submit that those elements (reprehensible though they might be) are not weaknesses and are not, therefore, an essential counterbalance to Bond's superman tendencies in the way smoking, drinking and s*agging are.

Bond not smoking has never spoiled watching the movies for me; that would be silly. But whenever Bond has lit up a cigarette onscreen it has, for me, always given an extra little link back to Fleming and that's never a bad thing.

One final thought on whether Bond should be seen smoking or not: just try imaginging the opening casino scene in Dr. No without him smoking.


Bravo. :) You've captured my sentiments precisely and I have nothing to add.

#57 MR. BOND 93

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Posted 31 October 2006 - 12:10 AM

I would like to see Craig smoke in a Bond film. It would make him look so cool.

Hey, it's what always made Connery look more tough!