4014 replies to this topic

[JohnnyWalker]

I watched some Downton Abbey to see Tom Cullen's acting, what I saw was too much like Simon Bird. But that's why we have screen tests. 

[x007AceOfSpades]

For me, I'd rather have someone have the persona, presence, and attitude of Bond, then look like the character as depicted (or not) and have nothing. Being good looking is one thing, it's having the presence of the character that's important.

[tdalton]

Connery wore a toupee during most of his tenure. Lazenby and Brosnan aren't even British. Shock. Horror!

 

I guess Connery, Lazenby, and Brosnan aren't BOND either.  Who knew? 

[JCRendle]

Connery wore a toupee during most of his tenure. Lazenby and Brosnan aren't even British. Shock. Horror!

I guess Connery, Lazenby, and Brosnan aren't BOND either.  Who knew?

Oh, I forgot to mention - Timothy Dalton didn't have a Scottish father or a Swiss mother (worse still - his mother was *gulp* American!), and he didn't move in with an Aunt Charmian in Pett Bottom when he was young, he can't be JAMES BOND!

[Major Tallon]

No, When In Egypt, not directed at you.  I  hadn't previously thought of Cullen, but he'd be an interesting choice.

[Goodnight]

James Bond weighs about 160 pounds, has blue eyes, and has a three-inch vertical scar down his right cheek.  If we go only by looks, nobody to play the role in the films is James Bond.  Who captures the spirit of the character?  And who have audiences, voting with their pocket books, thoroughly accepted?  Yep, Daniel Craig.  And didn't this argument about his hair color wear out its welcome almost a decade ago? 
 
Finding an actor to replace him when the time comes is going to be quite a chore, as difficult as replacing Connery (who, for the record, didn't have black hair, blue eyes, or the scar, and whose weight was over the limit; I guess he wasn't Bond either).

Well said Major Tallon

[tdalton]

In an effort to get this back on track, I went back through the posts made in the thread during the last calendar year and compiled a list of the actors mentioned who either got any kind of support from other posters and fell somewhat close to within the range of what EON would be looking for in terms of things like the age of the actor when they debut and so on.  I might have missed a few, and I'm sorry if I missed yours, but this seems like a pretty representative list of who we've been discussing over the past year:

 

• Jack Huston
• Matthew Goode
• Henry Cavill
• Rupert Friend
• Dan Stevens
• Chris Hemsworth
• Christian Bale
• Richard Armitage
• Tom Cullen
• Sullivan Stapleton
• Tom Hardy
• Alex O'Laughlin
• Michael Fassbender

[Odd Jobbies]

Thanks and well done, tdalton, that must've been time consuming to go through this lengthy thread to accumulate those name.  It's certainly interesting to see them all together and fingers crossed this puts us all  back on track

[JCRendle]

 Aidan Turner?

[Fairbanks]

 

• Jack Huston (1982)
• Matthew Goode (1978) 
• Henry Cavill (1983)
• Rupert Friend (1981) 
• Dan Stevens (1982)
• Chris Hemsworth (1983)
• Christian Bale (1974)
• Richard Armitage (1971)
• Tom Cullen (1985)
• Sullivan Stapleton (1977)
• Tom Hardy (1977)
• Alex O'Laughlin (1976)
• Michael Fassbender (1977)

 

 

That's a good list. I added their years of birth for quick reference. I'd also keep an eye on these guys:

 

Tom Mison (1982)

Sam Claflin (1986)

Jamie Dornan (1982)

Ben Aldridge (1985)

Liam McIntyre (1982)

Adam Rayner (1977)

Max Brown (1981)

Mark Ryder (1989)

Luke Evans (1979)

Ben Barnes (1981)

[tdalton]

Turner would be about the right age when Craig hangs it up.  He'd definitely have to hit the gym to prepare for the role, but otherwise he has the general look for it.  Have no idea about him as an actor, though.  I haven't seen a single one of the films/shows that he has listed on his IMDb page.

[JCRendle]

Turner would be about the right age when Craig hangs it up.  He'd definitely have to hit the gym to prepare for the role, but otherwise he has the general look for it.  Have no idea about him as an actor, though.  I haven't seen a single one of the films/shows that he has listed on his IMDb page.

 

I think "Being Human" is a good way of showing how he could handle Bond. "I haven't seen a single one of the films/shows that he has listed on his IMDb page." You haven't watched any of the Hobbit films?

[tdalton]

Never seen them.  Watched a few minutes of the first Lord of the Rings film but that's been about it.

[Royal Dalton]

He's starring in the new version of Poldark soon. A role Dalton was offered back in the Seventies, incidentally.

[Guy Haines]

Going off track, I know, but I haven't seen any Lord Of The Rings films or read any of the books. At school, in my teens, my fellow pupils were forever prattling on about Tolkien and being a bit of a contrarian it put me off. Pity really, because it means I only followed one of the 1950's top two British writers (in terms of sales, I think!). The other provides the reason I chip in to this site!

[Vauxhall]

Those are pretty good lists there. Bookmakers in the UK have pretty long odds for many of those we consider likely. Might be worth a pound or two.

[DaveBond21]

 

 

• Jack Huston (1982)
• Matthew Goode (1978) 
• Henry Cavill (1983)
• Rupert Friend (1981) 
• Dan Stevens (1982)
• Chris Hemsworth (1983)
• Christian Bale (1974)
• Richard Armitage (1971)
• Tom Cullen (1985)
• Sullivan Stapleton (1977)
• Tom Hardy (1977)
• Alex O'Laughlin (1976)
• Michael Fassbender (1977)

 

 

That's a good list. I added their years of birth for quick reference. I'd also keep an eye on these guys:

 

Tom Mison (1982)

Sam Claflin (1986)

Jamie Dornan (1982)

Ben Aldridge (1985)

Liam McIntyre (1982)

Adam Rayner (1977)

Max Brown (1981)

Mark Ryder (1989)

Luke Evans (1979)

Ben Barnes (1981)

 

 

OK that's a good list to start off with. Now do we agree that we're talking about a movie which would come out around 2021?

 

If yes, then I think we can omit anyone who will be over 40 at this stage - which rules out Armitage as he will be 50.

 

I think they would choose an actor around the 37 years old mark.

[Guy Haines]

If we are pushing the first film of the next actor to play James Bond into the next decade, the 2020s, then that next actor might not be on anyone's lists so far, a point I tried to make earlier on - we're considering the "usual suspects" but may be surprised when the announcement occurs.

 

Particularly if - Heaven forfend - we have another reboot of the series.

[Guy Haines]

For once I agree with ml94. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next Bond actor is a child of the 80s, because Daniel Craig is possibly going to be around for one more movie, probably in 2017 or 2018. Add a two to three year gap after that and we're looking at 2020/2021 and an actor in his late thirties/early forties, in other words born in the early eighties. Of course if Mr Craig decided to extend his run as Bond into a sixth film, we could be looking Bond 7 being introduced even further into the next decade, and then we may be in the territory I mentioned earlier of a name we haven't even considered yet, because he hasn't yet had that break to get him noticed.

[Odd Jobbies]

Odds are it will indeed be an 80s born actor (i'm currently betting on Stevens).

 

But i've gotten the impression over the years that Eon will take the actor they think best and build the style, pace, tone etc. around that actor. But i'd limit it to early 40s as i don't think they'll make the Moore mistake again and have an elderly Bond.

 

That keeps the likes of Fassbender, Stapleton and Hardy in the game, should they be willing and screen-test well.

[Odd Jobbies]

I was just posting a reply to the Bond 25 in 2017  thread, but i think my idea is probably more apt in this thread.  Regarding using Fleming's  YOLT  as source material for Bond 25 if it were a 2-movie story arch which i'm sure it will be, the finale with Blofeld takes place in The Garden of Death (great film title).

 

Then keeping Fleming's amnesia epilogue, it ends with Bond mistakenly sailing off to the bad guys after getting just fragments of his memory back and assuming he's one their  agents. In the book it's Russia, but in Bond 25 it could easily be SPECTRE he's headed to, remembering the location of one of their lairs. Great ending and a very dramatic and memorable (no pun intended) way for Craig to make his exit as Bond.

 

Then the start of Bond 26 is the start of Fleming's TMWTGG - our new Bond actor returns to MI:6 brainwashed and briefed to kill M. He fails and is re-programmed (this is where we see in flashback what had happened when he turned up at SPECTRE's door after the end of Bond 24).

 

This gives us a Bond that has to try and remember who he was and needs to now re-invent himself as Bond; perfect for introducing a new Bond without it being another reboot.

 

ETA: In the other thread i did mention SPECTRE performing plastic surgery on Bond as another way of explaining his change in appearance (i know we don't need  to explain, as the audience readily accepts and obviously know well in advance that the actor has changed, but if the story lends to it, then why not?).

However, i can't think of a plausible reason why SPECTRE would change his appearance, since it's the very fact that he's Bond which they want to use against MI:6. But if anyone else can think of a plausible reason, then that might be a novel factor in the Craig-to-??? transition.

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 19 January 2015 - 01:35 PM.

[JCRendle]

Rupert & Henry, they both are in right age when Craig leaves.

 

I'm surprised they haven't been suggested before

[tdalton]

And Cavill would have been even more miscast had Campbell gotten his way.  Cavill would have been just 22 when Casino Royale began filming and would have turned 23 during the film's production.  That's easily a decade and a half too young to play Bond.

[Fairbanks]

 

 

I think they would choose an actor around the 37 years old mark.

 

 

I would go with a birth year of 1980 +/- 5. Guys born before 1975 will be too old to begin a long tenure. Guys born after 1985 will not have enough experience. 

[Jim]

Depressingly true.

 

Ah, the first Bond who will be younger than me. Can't be a fantasy aspiration, more like "this is what you've missed".

 

Argh.

[MkB]

I feelbjust the same, Jim. Being older than Bond will probably be the tipping point of my sorry life!

[Odd Jobbies]

I feelbjust the same, Jim. Being older than Bond will probably be the tipping point of my sorry life!

Yep, me too! Damned depressing...

Edited by Odd Jobbies, 19 January 2015 - 09:22 PM.

[tdalton]

 

I feelbjust the same, Jim. Being older than Bond will probably be the tipping point of my sorry life!

Yep, me too! Damned depressing...

 

 

I can relate, although I think I'll probably just miss being older than Bond #7, although it's possible that they could end up choosing someone younger than me depending on when they actually get around to casting the next guy.  It's a depressing thought.

[AMC Hornet]

Craig is the fist Bond actor to start out younger than I am / was.

 

As I said once in another thread, I'll probably become more charitable towards AVTAK in another couple of years, when I'm older than Moore was then.

[DaveBond21]

Depressingly true.

 

Ah, the first Bond who will be younger than me. Can't be a fantasy aspiration, more like "this is what you've missed".

 

Argh.

 

I am 40 now. They can choose me now! I even have the surname!

 

I've seen all the movies. I once saw the back of Michael Kitchen's head! My grandfather liked helicopters! JUST LIKE BOND DOES!

 

Please!!??