50 replies to this topic

[DamnCoffee]

If he'd been, I wished that we could have had Moneypenny back (for the guy who has office next door to the M) and Q back (for the guy who injext Bond) and maybe come to Montenegro to explain gadgets. I liked more humour and less poker - it was too lang for me. Oh, and we would not need silly b&w beginnings - we could have had more action! I founded CR a bit boring and too lang. I thinking Pierce could have this done.

I think I can safely say if Pierce filmed Casino Royale how you want it, It would have just being another Bond movie, and nothing that special. If we had more action I think the spirit of the movie would be greatly lost and bogged down with mindless action.

[Mercator]

If he'd been, I wished that we could have had Moneypenny back (for the guy who has office next door to the M) and Q back (for the guy who injext Bond) and maybe come to Montenegro to explain gadgets. I liked more humour and less poker - it was too lang for me. Oh, and we would not need silly b&w beginnings - we could have had more action! I founded CR a bit boring and too lang. I thinking Pierce could have this done.

I think I can safely say if Pierce filmed Casino Royale how you want it, It would have just being another Bond movie, and nothing that special. If we had more action I think the spirit of the movie would be greatly lost and bogged down with mindless action.

I have agreement with this. Maybe it could have been more like Die Another Day. I know some people do not have liking for this film but I think it was fun! I like the bigger Bonds like Spy That Loves Me, Moonraker, You Only Live Twice. I like less the seriousness of some filme.

[Andrew]

Yes, Brosnan could have done CR but it would have been something immensely different from what we got. Awhile back I posted my idea for how CR could be adapted for an older Bond such as Brosnan. I'll repost that here...

I actually think that Casino Royale could've served as a "Bond's last mission" film. Think I'm crazy? Hear me out.

James Bond is in his mid-fifties. Everyone at Mi6 (maybe even himself as well) feels that 007 is simply washed up and has become too old for real use as a "blunt instrument" (after all, he is a "relic of the Cold War") but M just can't bring herself to retire one of Her Majesty's best agents.

Bond is given a mission to track a young bomb maker but is unable to keep up with him and fails the mission. Upon his return to London, M calls Bond to her office where she tells him that even James Bond gets old and sooner or later he's going to have to call it quits or he'll face mandatory retirement. Because of these doubts, M sends Bond off on a simple mission to play poker against Le Chiffre; "Nothing too dangerous, more like a vacation for you, 007".

The rest of the film would pretty much turn out as we know it. Bond meets Vesper and falls in love for the first time since Tracy, only to be betrayed. After the near-death torture which Bond suffers and the betrayal (and death) of the woman he loved, Bond decides that his game of "red indians" is over, hands in his license to kill and retires to Jamaica or something.

Now of course I love the Casino Royale we got (it's in my top five) and I wouldn't ever want to have a franchise without it but I think this could've been an interesting scenario.

[Simon]

The Bond Begins aspects to CR were minimally placed at best and the most cursory of rewrites would have removed those elements.

Brosnan was more let down by the dozy scripts and, in fact, productions problems in every one of his films;

GE - First Bond for some time, is it still viable, let's not spend too much (so we get shaky wings on the jet models)
TND - April to November production to release date, all very rushed.
TWINE - utterly ridiculous directorial assigning, Apted out of his depth, women women (one of whom was Richards, so why?) with the result of a boring Bond film.
DAD - silly CGI and colour grading after what was a promising start.

Brosnan with Haggis would have been the better production.

So yes, I think CR with Brosnan could have been done, but that said, Craig did do a lot of Running, and Running is what Brosnan does worst. Too much like an Action doll with hinged arms. The rest though, absolutely.

[Major Tallon]

Despite his age, Brosnan could have done the action scenes in CR. He invested a lot in these scenes and worked hard on getting them right. I can picture Brosnan running up the crane, bursting through the drywall (though I think he'd have had a tendency to mug when he did), shooting up the embassy, and doing the airport chase.

It's the dramatic scenes I've got reservations about. Brosnan's not a bad actor, but I don't see him in the new dinner jacket scene, the shower scene, or the card defeat scene, and certainly not in Vesper's death scene.

He could have done Casino Royale, but nowhere near as well.

[DR76]

Could Brosnan have done CR? Sure. It would have a slightly different movie than what Craig had done with the film. But I feel that Brosnan could have done it.

[Joey Bond]

If Brosnan was to have a proper swansong, I think a film version of Everything or Nothing would have been better.

[DR76]

How would FYEO been had Dalton stepped into the role in that movie. I think FYEO would have been even a tougher film than what we got, just like the CR we got.

I doubt that Dalton was needed to make FYEO a tougher film. I thought that FYEO was just as tough as LTK . . . in its own way. And just as violent.

[Painted Gold]

Yes he could do it. Pierce still has it looks wise and acting wise and the fitness to do the stunts comes from practicing all the time. Daniel Craig admits to not being very fit naturally, he has to work on it. Pierce looks to have a body type that would make it easier for him to bulk up for the role than it did for Craig. Having said that it wouldn't make much sense time line wise and if they wanted to take Bond in a new direction then they have succeeded with Craig.

Much as I love CR and think that DC is more than worthy of the role, I am surprised that everyone thinks he is such an amazing actor. He does action well and he did the torture scene well but he can't seem to handle every day one to one dialogue without it sounding forced. When you see him interviewed he comes across so natural and charismatic and that charisma is what i felt Pierce had that DC lacks.

[Emma]

No. He couldn't. There are many things in CR that Craig did which to be blunt were very a/holish. If DC had not been so down to earth and so humble and inherantly likable, Casino Royale would not have worked. Pierce Brosnan has none of Daniel Craig's humility or affabality. All the films which I have seen Brosnan play a cad or rogue such as 'The Tailor of Panama' or 'The Matador' I have hated. I stopped watching 'The Matador' half way through becaue I found Brosnan's character so obnoxious and irritating.

[Ravenstone]

Could have? Well, probably. In a world where we have Keanu Reeves doing The Day The Earth Stood Still, anything's possible.

Should have? Hell, no. Brosnan had his moments, but he was too old for DAD. Another Bond film would have put too much strain on the girdle.

I'm not Brosnan-bashing. I thought he was pretty good as Bond. But I'm being realistic. He was too old.

As for Craig's acting ability - well, my opinion is not based purely on the Bond films. Craig is a damn good actor.

[Kristian]

Could Brosnan have done CR?

Fv@k. No.

[Cmdr. Bond]

In answer to the central question: no Brosnan could not have done CR, but Dalton could have if it were filmed in 1990.

[DR76]

Could Brosnan have done CASINO ROYALE. Of course. If the movie had not been written as a "Bond Begins" story, Brosnan could have done it easily. Some people seemed to assume that if Brosnan had done CR, the movie would have been another gadget-laden story. I don't think so. With or without Brosnan, CR would have maintained its gritty spy/romantic storyline . . . but with an older Bond in the role.

Edited by DR76, 10 November 2008 - 03:51 AM.

[bondrules]

Brosnan goes against the whole idea of Casino Royale, which was supposed to be a more realistic Bond. Brosnan himself is not realistic as a human being. So I'm gonna go with NO.

Edited by bondrules, 10 November 2008 - 03:56 AM.

[Kristian]

Could Brosnan have done CASINO ROYALE. Of course. If the movie had not been written as a "Bond Begins" story, Brosnan could have done it easily. Some people seemed to assume that if Brosnan had done CR, the movie would have been another gadget-laden story. I don't think so. With or without Brosnan, CR would have maintained its gritty spy/romantic storyline . . . but with an older Bond in the role.

MUCH Older.

And did he deserve another go? Well, let's look at the contract, shall we? My understanding is that the Broccolis had the OPTION of having him do another movie. But since he was, well, an aging pretty-boy and they wanted to take Bond back to his roots, they had to go for a younger pretty-boy.

They didn't owe him a goddamn thing. And he didn't deserve another chance after the crap-and-laser fright show that was DAD.

[DR76]

And did he deserve another go? Well, let's look at the contract, shall we? My understanding is that the Broccolis had the OPTION of having him do another movie.

To be honest, I don't really care about his contract. I just wonder if Brosnan could have done his own version of CR that was just as gritty as what was released with Craig in the role. And I think he could have done it.

[SecretAgentFan]

He would have deserved another go, he could have delivered, I like the guy, but the timing was against him and EON was right to restart after twenty Bond films and they chose the best actor for the role.

[LazyAmerican24]

I believe to the fullest extent that Brosnan could've done CR. Remember he had always said he wanted to play 007 as he was potrayed in CR and he never got the chance. I can see him doing most of the scenes. I think he could out-do Danny in the poker scenes and most of the parts with Bond and Vesper. I'm not sure about the construction site but I think he could pull off the airport fight pretty nicely and the sinking building in Venice

[Eurospy]

I'm with LazyAmerican.

I said this in another thread but I'll state my opinion once again here.

Why do fellow Bond fans insist on blaming the tone of the films on the actors, instead of the directors and, more importantly, the producers?

My favorite Bonds being Dalton and Craig, I think Brosnan could have done a much better job if not for Mr. Wilson and Ms. Broccoli, it is they who determine the tone of the movies.

Like it was said before, Brosnan stated numerous times that he basically would like to have portrayed Bond closer to Fleming, a bit of a more grittier character, so to speak.

All the humour, gadgets, characterization (or lack of thereof) is all due to the producers (and directors, but producers, mainly). For example, for those who didn't like DAD (IMO, I don't know which was worst, the CGI Bond or the fact that after a 12/13-month torture, all he needed was a shower and a new suit and he was as good as new), if it wasn't a better movie it's because Lee Tamahori couldn't care less about anything even remotely in the action genre, to him it seems to be just another big paycheck (I'm basing my opinion on his commentary on the XXX sequel).

Brosnan always wanted less punchlines, less gadgets and a harder-edged Bond. TWINE was close to what he seemed to wanted (most of the action sequences actually bore me, but there are a lot of fans for this movie, and had it perhaps been a different director I could end up changing my view on the film). There's a big level of characterization, but I don't find it properly balanced with the rest of the film.

As I said, just remember the number of gadgets, the tone, etc. is always dur to the producers. Otherwise, I think Mr. Brosnan might have impressed me.

[db077]

I, for one, liked Brosnan as Bond. Goldeneye is one of my favorites. But from there the movies went down hill, but I don't think it was any fault of the actor.

That said, if he had done CR, it would have been a completely different movie. Sure, I suppose he could have done it, but after seeing Craig in it, I can't picture anyone else doing it better.