17 replies to this topic

[scaramunga]

Any chance Timothy Dalton would record audio commentaries for his 2 Bond films? I know he is quite shy about it, but it would be nice to have.

[Turn]

I'd like it if he had something decent to say. But I wouldn't want was is a commentary with sparse commentary and a majority of it dead air.

To be honest Dalton was only with the franchise for two film and I don't know he'd have that much to talk about. Unlike a Moore, who had countless anecdotes, or Brosnan, who had just come off making his latest film when he recorded his comment for DAD.

Same with Connery. Lazenby seems more willing to talk and could talk about his road to Bond, the fallout, etc. I doubt Dalton would discuss the real reasons behind his departure or his thoughts on other Bonds.

[Cruiserweight]

I'd like it if he had something decent to say. But I wouldn't want was is a commentary with sparse commentary and a majority of it dead air.

To be honest Dalton was only with the franchise for two film and I don't know he'd have that much to talk about. Unlike a Moore, who had countless anecdotes, or Brosnan, who had just come off making his latest film when he recorded his comment for DAD.

Same with Connery. Lazenby seems more willing to talk and could talk about his road to Bond, the fallout, etc. I doubt Dalton would discuss the real reasons behind his departure or his thoughts on other Bonds.

It'd be nice though

[Qwerty]

I doubt Dalton would discuss the real reasons behind his departure or his thoughts on other Bonds.

Pretty solid point you make, Turn. Could explain why so many Bond fans always wondering what exactly was going on between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye.

[Royal Dalton]

Any chance Timothy Dalton would record audio commentaries for his 2 Bond films?

Not a hope in hell (more's the pity).

Could explain why so many Bond fans always wondering what exactly was going on between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye.

We already know what happened. John Calley wanted a new Bond to relaunch the 'franchise'. So, enter Pierce Brosnan as Bond, while Dalton was set-up as the fall guy for all the series' ill's.

[puck]

Wasn't there a six year law suit between LTK and GE? I didn't think he really wanted to do more Bond films and he did remain on very good terms with the Broccolis.

[Scottlee]

I doubt we'll ever see a commentary from Dalton. If he was going to do one I think he would have done it by now - same with Connery and Lazenby. I wouldn't put it past Brozza going back to some of his earlier films to record tracks, but not for a good many years yet.

[scaramunga]

If they don't do commentaries maybe some new interviews with Dalton could be done?

On The Living Daylights and LTK dvd's he seems willing to discuss the topic of Bond, direction, etc.

Does he still harbor hard feelings about it, or just doesn't want to draw any attention to it?

I read a while back that Dalton was allowed to say he stepped down, but that the powers allowed him to say so even though they intended to replace him and essentially fired him from the part?

Are Dalton and Brosnan the only actors to be fired from the part? Sean, George and Roger all walked away from the part. Well, there's no way Roger could've made another one... But he did walk away I guess.

[puck]

Most of what you hear is "hearsay" but I thought it was significant that he maintained an excellent relationship with the Broccoli. . . he was even a pall bearer at Cubby's funeral. Also he jumped right back onto the stage after TLD.

I have heard he didn't like working with Glenn and actually turned down roles after that, when he found out Glenn had been hired as director. Not surprising in a sense, Glenn wouldn't be the first director to come to mind for dark charcater driven material, (just look at the resumes of the CR and Bond 22 directors; startling difference). Anyway, anyone know if there's any truth to that?

[Bucky]

Dalton is doing a commentary for the three disk Hot Fuzz set although it appears to be with several other members of the cast. hopefully it was a good experience for him and will lead to him considering doing commentaries on high definition releases of his bond films.

Edited by Bucky, 16 September 2007 - 07:29 PM.

[ACE]

Any chance Timothy Dalton would record audio commentaries for his 2 Bond films?

Not a hope in hell (more's the pity).

Could explain why so many Bond fans always wondering what exactly was going on between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye.

We already know what happened. John Calley wanted a new Bond to relaunch the 'franchise'. So, enter Pierce Brosnan as Bond, while Dalton was set-up as the fall guy for all the series' ill's.

Couldn't agree more, RD.
I think it highly unlikely that Mr Dalton will ever support the studio with new material. I was surprised he turned up at the DAD premiere. I guess he did that for Barbara and Michael.

I read a while back that Dalton was allowed to say he stepped down, but that the powers allowed him to say so even though they intended to replace him and essentially fired him from the part?

Correct. Except it was the studio. Eon and Cubby fought for him.
I believe MGM said in 1994, "We are not in the Timothy Dalton business." A real shame, a real shame.

Are Dalton and Brosnan the only actors to be fired from the part? Sean, George and Roger all walked away from the part. Well, there's no way Roger could've made another one... But he did walk away I guess.

Well, Pierce was not fired. His contract was not renewed - a big and not semantic difference. It is questionable whether Roger would have been consistently rehired after Moonraker were it not for the interventions of the studio. Cubby would have gone with various replacements.

[David_M]

It is questionable whether Roger would have been consistently rehired after Moonraker were it not for the interventions of the studio. Cubby would have gone with various replacements.

Interesting, I've never heard that take before. I guess I always assumed Cubby kept bringing Roger back because he wanted to. Possibly this is due to the fact that whenever anything turned out well, Cubby always claimed it was his idea from the start.

It's intriguing to think maybe Cubby was ready to move on earlier than TLD, and that the studio was a powerful third player in those famous salary negotiations between Cubby and Rog. If nothing else, it alters considerably my view of how the series was made, pre-MGM days. It was always my impression EON was given a huge amount of lattitude to go whatever way they wished, but if United Artists had control over who played the lead, obviously that would have tied the hands of Cubby and crew considerably. (For instance, it would've been near-impossible to make a film like LTK so long as Roger was around).

[DamnCoffee]

Are Dalton and Brosnan the only actors to be fired from the part? Sean, George and Roger all walked away from the part. Well, there's no way Roger could've made another one... But he did walk away I guess.

I was under the impression that Dalton got bored of waiting, due to the fincancial difficulty between EON and MGM. Which explains the six year gap. From what I hear Dalton was cast for Bond 17 in 1991, but the film never got up off the ground, the same happened in 1993, and with an aging Dalton, he decided to step down, and put the franchise into further diffuculty by having to recast to lead.
Shame, if he just hung on for another two years, he would have done GoldenEye.

As for Brosnan, I really dont know. Some say he was fired, Some say he was asking for more money and some mearly say that his contract expired - But I dont honestly know the real answer behind it all.

[Royal Dalton]

Shame, if he just hung on for another two years, he would have done GoldenEye.

He was going to do GoldenEye. Until MGM decided that he wasn't...

He probably got paid for the third one, anyway, though. Which is nice.

[Arch Stanton]

I for one belive, regardless of whether or not MGM wanted it, that Dalton really didn't want to come back after the 6 year gap. I also belive that it would've been EoN's first choice for Dalton to return, like I've heard Michael Wilson say in an interview one time. Assuming all this to be true (which is what I personally belive), if Dalton hypothetically DID want to return to the role in GoldenEye, I question if EoN could've overruled MGM if MGM wanted a new actor (Pierce).

You could say that EoN has more control over the studio since they got Daniel Craig when it was obvious that wasn't exactly what Sony wanted. But EoN just came off with 4 huge money making movies, so maybe Sony decided to give them a chance and backed off a little when they cast Craig. With the Bond films of the 80's to go on, maybe MGM didn't want to take a chance with Dalton again and would've had used their power to get them to re-cast the part had Dalton not willfully stepped down (which I belive he did).

This is all speculation on my part, but I think it's pretty good speculation. And with Pierce's departure, I think it's pretty obvious. EoN really wanted to re-boot (Michael Wilson has said he's wanted to do that for years), and decided to end negotiations with Pierce when they settled on finally doing that. Whether whatever Pierce's money-demands may have been I don't think matter. What ended up happening I think was going to happen no matter what.

[puck]

I was under the impression that Dalton got bored of waiting, due to the fincancial difficulty between EON and MGM. Which explains the six year gap. From what I hear Dalton was cast for Bond 17 in 1991, but the film never got up off the ground, the same happened in 1993, and with an aging Dalton, he decided to step down, and put the franchise into further diffuculty by having to recast to lead.
Shame, if he just hung on for another two years, he would have done GoldenEye.

As for Brosnan, I really dont know. Some say he was fired, Some say he was asking for more money and some mearly say that his contract expired - But I dont honestly know the real answer behind it all.

Yeah people seem to be unaware that there were MAJOR law suits, the first of which began after a writer died, and lasted for six years. I'm not sure about Goldeneye but they were set to do another film when the law suit took a stranggle hold and production came to a grinding halt for 6 years. After six years it was too late . . . he definitely didn't want to do any more, he barely wanted to do those two.

Brosnan is a different story. He said in an interview (I think fairly recently), that they had discussed doing a fifth, way back when but decided not to renew his contract. He makes no bones about the fact that he's bitter about it and claims age discriminatioon (he'd turned 50) played a hand. He also said he was aware that they were giving him goofy scripts and was angry about it (I think he asked for more of the serious material). If I get a chance, I'll link the article[s]. Tho over at the IMDB boards, several Bond "experts" there, didn't feel Brosnan was the best fit for weightier stories, even if he'd had the directors Craig is getting.

I don't know about commentaries now, but he has done them and shown up at "Bond" events and spoke at them and even praised Craig highly for his work. I'm not sure if Brosnan is still too bitter... we'll see.

Edited by puck, 19 September 2007 - 12:02 AM.

[Royal Dalton]

Yeah people seem to be unaware that there were MAJOR law suits

Well, they're not. It's been discussed here many, many, many times before.

[scaramunga]

It seems he has wanted to distance himself from the role. It would just be nice to have though. I mean to have him do a quiet interview about Bond. I think there are tons of fans that would like to hear more about it from him. On the other hand, maybe it's not time yet due to his leaving the part.

In addition, sometimes I think the writer and director seem to maybe have a bit more interesting information and recollections at times?

It would be nice for Connery to do commentaries too, but it's been so long now. I know on the Roger Moore commentaries he makes that well known on each of them. There's just been so much time since they were made...

It would be cool if they would talk more about the 3rd Timothy Dalton movie on the dvd extras for Goldeneye or LTK.