59 replies to this topic

[tim partridge]

I think this will probably inspire giggles, but I am asking with sincerity, was Lee Tamahori ever considered for Casino Royale? Did he get asked back at all like Martin Campbell had apparently been so many times?

Was Tamahori on the consideration list for Quantum of Solace, has it been published?

Could Tamahori have handled a more serious direction for Bond? I know lots of fans of his more serious The Edge and Once Were Warriors.

Just out of interest, what about Michael Apted? Was he ever considered for a Craig 007 outing?

[Zorin Industries]

I very much doubt it.

Although a great many Bond directors are asked back - out of courtesy. I know that one was thought about for a subsequent film but nothing came of it.

[tim partridge]

Roger Spotiswoode?

[jaguar007]

After DAD came out, Brosnan stated that he would like Tahamori to direct the next Bond film, but I think that is about how far him being considered got.

[Zorin Industries]

After DAD came out, Brosnan stated that he would like Tahamori to direct the next Bond film, but I think that is about how far him being considered got.

I think Tamahori was too busy directing traffic in an LA car park.

[Judo chop]

I can only speak for myself. And no, I never considered him for CR.

[Pierce - Daniel]

Tamahor said during the filming of DAD that he was unlikely to return for the next film, not because he wasn't intrested. But because he said the producers seem to want to get a new director for each film. I think they knew he was providing a complete stinker.

[Righty007]

After DAD came out, Brosnan stated that he would like Tahamori to direct the next Bond film, but I think that is about how far him being considered got.

I think Tamahori was too busy directing traffic in an LA car park.

[hilly]

I don't think he was considered as a director. I did hear that he tried to audition for the part of Vesper however.....

[I never miss]

I don't think he was considered as a director. I did hear that he tried to audition for the part of Vesper however.....

Outstanding!


As for the idea of 'Tam' returning - good grief, I think I'd rather Denise Richards reprised her Dr Christmas Jones role in B23. Actually, that's not a bad idea for a new thread - 'Least wanted comebacks'.

[hilly]

I don't think he was considered as a director. I did hear that he tried to audition for the part of Vesper however.....

Outstanding!


As for the idea of 'Tam' returning - good grief, I think I'd rather Denise Richards reprised her Dr Christmas Jones role in B23. Actually, that's not a bad idea for a new thread - 'Least wanted comebacks'.

I'll start the bidding for that one..John Cleese

[Loomis]

Was Tamahori considered for CR? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.... and no.

I have it on very good authority that, in the wake of the commercially successful and (at the time) critically acclaimed DIE ANOTHER DAY, Tamahori was indeed asked back. However, it is questionable (though, given certain cryptic remarks made by Tamahori in a Sight & Sound interview at the time of DAD's release, not impossible) whether the followup to DAD was at that time going to be CASINO ROYALE or simply "BOND 21" with Brosnan.

Tamahori accepted the offer, but, for reasons I'm not privy to, the whole thing fell apart.

Could Tamahori have handled a more serious direction for Bond? Unquestionably. See not only ONCE WERE WARRIORS but also the SOPRANOS episode he did. While Tamahori has largely made CGI-stuffed crap of late, he is nonetheless a capable and professional director who is able to work across a range of styles and subjects. He may be a hired gun (or, to put it less kindly, a hack) when compared to alleged auteurs like Marc Forster, but that does not mean that he is the village idiot (although plenty of DAD-hating Bond "fans" would beg to differ).

I am certain that had Tamahori directed the superb Purvis/Wade/Haggis script for CR, it would definitely not have been a bad film.

As for Apted, I doubt he was considered for the Craig era, but I do believe he was invited to direct BOND 20 (which of course became DAD), but declined.

[I never miss]

As for Apted, I doubt he was considered for the Craig era, but I do believe he was invited to direct BOND 20 (which of course became DAD), but declined.

I also believe that to be true - I think Apted said at the time that after directing the excellent Enigma (2001), he wanted a break from espionage-style movies (though Bond and Enigma are quite different IMO).

[tim partridge]

Thanks for that, Loomis. I must say though, I only thought Tamahori got Cleese and the bridge exchange scene right in DAD.

As for the idea of 'Tam' returning - good grief, I think I'd rather Denise Richards reprised her Dr Christmas Jones role in B23. Actually, that's not a bad idea for a new thread - 'Least wanted comebacks'.


I'll start the bidding for that one..John Cleese

"NOBODY screws with Boris Grishenkov"!

[zencat]

Was Tamahori considered for CR? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.... and no.

I have it on very good authority that, in the wake of the commercially successful and (at the time) critically acclaimed DIE ANOTHER DAY, Tamahori was indeed asked back. However, it is questionable (though, given certain cryptic remarks made by Tamahori in a Sight & Sound interview at the time of DAD's release, not impossible) whether the followup to DAD was at that time going to be CASINO ROYALE or simply "BOND 21" with Brosnan.

Tamahori accepted the offer, but, for reasons I'm not privy to, the whole thing fell apart.

Yep, I also heard something to that effect.

I don't think he was considered as a director. I did hear that he tried to audition for the part of Vesper however.....

LOL. Bad.

[darthbond]

I think that all directors have the option of returning to do sequels in the Bond era. All returning directors in the Bond era have managed to come back with a better movie than the previous one. Except for, maybe, Guy Hamilton.

As for the bidding, J.W Pepper, Wayne Newton, and the Dynamic Duo (Wint and Kidd)

darthbond

[Mr_Wint]

I guess it is impossible for Tamahori to come back again after CR. I mean, he promised:

"If this guy walks into a Casino again one more time, I'm out of here".

We should be more worried about Forster...

[danslittlefinger]

I highly doubt they (EoN) would entertain him again.

Or would they? Stranger things have happened.

I guess it is impossible for Tamahori to come back again after CR. I mean, he promised:

"If this guy walks into a Casino again one more time, I'm out of here".

We should be more worried about Forster...

Yes, I agree.

[DamnCoffee]

Since Die Another Day, the overall tone of Bond has changed. It's became darker, and grittier, no such place of Lee Tamahori lies within this.

EON, probably know the fans reaction to Die Another Day, and I honestly think they won't make the mistake of going there again. The Casino Royale reboot, was a subtle way of saying "We know we ed up, this is our way of making it right again".

[Zorin Industries]

Since Die Another Day, the overall tone of Bond has changed. It's became darker, and grittier, no such place of Lee Tamahori lies within this.

But the first half of DIE ANOTHER DAY could actually have come straight out of - more or less - a Daniel Craig film.

[DamnCoffee]

And if the 2nd half of the film followed this tone, then maybe he would've been asked to come back.

But he ed it up.

[Judo chop]

Overall, I don’t think Tamahori is a terrible director. If I recall, MULHOLLAND FALLS was a bit flat but not terrible, and I liked THE EDGE quite a bit. I’m not sure what happened on DAD. DAD seems like the result of a few bad ideas mixed with a few good ideas, and none of it taken at all seriously. Which I still prefer to a few bad ideas mixed with a few great ideas taken way too seriously. (ie. TWINE)

I’d love to see an alternate universe where Tamahori approached DAD in “EDGE” mode. Bring on the DAD remake, starring Broz, two entirely different leading ladies, all directed by a clear-thinking Lee Tamahori, and done in parallel with Craig’s B23!

[jaguar007]

In all fairness, I think Tamahori did a better directing job than Apted did in TWINE. While DAD had alot of Cheese in the script, apart from some bad CGI, it was a well made film. Yes, some of the acting and diolague was atrocious, the car was way over the top, but the movie itself, was not that poorly directed.

[Mr_Wint]

It is hard to draw a fine line between script and directing and everything else. Die Another Day was a complete failure as a Bondfilm; A plot that didn't make sense with too much emphasis on technology/CGI, miscasting and horrible MTV-editing. You can blame the whole film crew but it is the producers and the director who are mainly responsible for the final product. Hence, I hold Apted in much higher regard since TWINE was a, by far, more solid effort.

[Loomis]

Since Die Another Day, the overall tone of Bond has changed. It's became darker, and grittier, no such place of Lee Tamahori lies within this.

But the first half of DIE ANOTHER DAY could actually have come straight out of - more or less - a Daniel Craig film.

Indeed.

[tim partridge]

Jag,

I strongly disagree, and I think DAD was considerably poorly directed and a giant plummet down from TWINE.

DAD was an alarmingly inconsistent mess in every department from tone to technical work. Just look at the entire PTS, with it's apparently undirected performances depending on the shot, terrible photography (that was saved in the grade according to the vfx press notes of the time), cheap and inconsistent looking, unvisual production design, unconvincingly shot and decorated locations suppose to be Korea, lazy, unconvincingly directed bluescreen shots, OVRBEARING techno soundtrack and random speed ramp/Rob Cohen lookalike editing (what's that gratuitous surf sequence at the beginning of the film)?

We go from pretend MTV land of surf stunts straight into an out of control "action" scene where everything blows up loudly for no reason in that out of control Vic Armstrong style that thinks it's impressive. We go from tasteless, North Korean politics and morbid, morale zapping TORTURE scenes (that don't belong in a Bond movie, especially with such a dated and lyrically amateurish, sub Victoria Beckham Madonna song over the top) to a really pofaced TWINE retread with M, to a dark, CSI style, grimly over serious cardio-arrest scene that makes everything seem that much more awful.

How does Tamahori follow this up? Oh, by having a pjama-dressed "Hagrid" Brosnan do a bored, smug and bad impression of Roger Moore as he shrugs his way onto the least convincing Hong Kong hotel set you will ever see on screen (or even at a school play)! Yes, the film then shifts from cheap looking political thriller to cheap looking Rob Cohen wannabe! Cue an Oscar revoking performance from Halle Berry, Joel Schumacher's ice palace, CGI everything for no reason, stock footage from TND, unmotivated Rob Cohen style editing and endless, obviously directed by Vic Armstrong action sequences where we are supposed to be impressed by how loud and desperately willing to compete with Hollywood mediocrity everything is.



Michael Apted, for all of his faults (in my opinion the action scenes are the most obvious here), at the very least clearly spent days and hours with his actors and their performances. At least there are great lengths of the film where Bond is just snooping around, spying. At least they dared show Bond vulnerable, committed to a woman he finds out to be taking him for a ride. At least the film has a very elegant look that adheres to Eon heritage, where the effects and stunts are appear to be done for real and everything is shot in a classical fashion. Aside from the second unit action the film does at least look moderated by someone going out of their way to create consistency. I personally didn't get one second of that in DAD.

I'd rather have a conservative Apted Bond that retains 007s dignity rather than watch DAD. I also loathe how so many fans whine about indicative DAD was of "staleness" within the franchise. Eh?? It didn't even look like a Brosnan Bond film, let alone a real Bond film.

I also think that CR's brilliance was it returned to the low key, classical Bond style that TWINE was continuing but even improved on it's flaws. CR returned to good, old fashioned formula played straight, and with pride.


Maybe DAD could have been a Craig film on paper, but not in the filmed result.

Edited by tim partridge, 01 May 2009 - 07:34 PM.

[Mr_Wint]

How does Tamahori follow this up? Oh, by having a pjama-dressed "Hagrid" Brosnan do a bored, smug and bad impression of Roger Moore as he shrugs his way onto the least convincing Hong Kong hotel set you will ever see on screen (or even at a school play)!

Agree with most things in your post, apart from this. I think Bond's escape from the boat was really cool. This scene and the fencing scene are first class, IMO.

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

The thing I remember about Tamahori was the interviews he gave during filming of DAD professing to know about the works of Hamilton and Gilbert. Notwithstanding if this is true, neither director would have made the mess that DAD turned out to be.

[jaguar007]

Partridge,
I think you misunderstood part of what I was saying. I agree with most of what you said about DAD. I dislike the style of DAD as well, but I think Tamahori succeeded somewhat at making the movie he was trying to make. Nowhere did I say that DAD on paper looked like a Craig film. In fact TWINE on paper probably looked the most Fleming like of Brosnan's film, but TWINE really fell flat in production. DAD was certainly a slicker production that TWINE and I think that is what Tamahori was going for. In my book, both TWINE and DAD rank toward the bottom of the series.

[Loomis]

And if the 2nd half of the film followed this tone, then maybe he would've been asked to come back.

But he was asked to come back.

And I don't think the second half of DIE ANOTHER DAY should have followed the tone of the first (which in any case is hardly ultra-realistic). I love the film, but its story is fundamentally too campy and silly for straight-down-the-line serious treatment. It doesn't have the drama or emotional resonance of CASINO ROYALE or QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

I think Tamahori and Eon always intended - rightly - that DAD should be A Film of Two Halves™, starting out relatively (for the Brosnan era) "small" and gritty before blossoming into a grand old rollercoaster of a good old-fashioned everything-but-the-kitchen-sink escapist hokum Bond movie. Not that I think Eon cares about anniversary films as much as the fans do (he types Zorinesquely ), but I believe the Bond people wanted DAD to be a kind of one-stop 007's Greatest Hits film, containing a bit of every permutation of Bondage to date to sit alongside all the references and in-jokes. And I think they succeeded spectacularly in making DAD a sheer riot of tongue-in-cheek entertainment.