29 replies to this topic

[AndrewBond]

I believe it was his infamous Playboy interview where Brosnan, going off on the film producers after being unceremoniously booted, mentioned that Monica Bellucci was the original contender to play Paris Carver, but was rejected in favor of Teri Hatcher, probably because she was more American and "relatable".

Do you think Bellucci in the role would have made TND a better Bond movie? A better movie in general? Bellucci is considered one of the world's sexiest actresses. Would she have been too hot and foreign to play a realistic Bond ex-girlfriend? Would her English have been good enough to deliver the jokes that Hatcher did? (She didn't have an English speaking role until The Matrix Reloaded in 2003, unless anyone knows differently).

Personally, I think Bellucci would have without a doubt made the movie more memorable. TND is one of my least favorite Bond films. But in some ways, Hatcher fits the part better, if we're assuming the script would have stayed intact regardless of actress. Bellucci might have come off as too alloof and unrelatable. On the other hand, the part seems to require a "great beauty" (just think of the scene in the hotel room with Bond) and Hatcher comes off as unbelievable in that regard. She's pretty, but not classically gorgeous. And at the time, she was starring in "The Adventures of Lois and Clark" as a ditzy Lois Lane on American television every week. Not very glamorous.


One last point: Belluci would have made Wai Lin pale in comparison. While Lin was kickass, she was not one of the best looking Bond girls IMO.

[AMC Hornet]

I don't know who Monica Belluci is, but I would have preferred her or anyone over Hatcher.

Lupe Carver, perhaps, or even Stacey Carver - someone who actually was from Bond's past, so we could be clear on whether she really was the one who got "too close for comfort."

Perhaps it's my own bias talking, although I never watched 'Lois & Clark,' but I just don't find Hatcher's Paris all that appealing. I for one just can't believe that Bond had any deep feelings for her. Perhaps she changed since he knew her, bought into the high-society bitch lifestyle (in which case there could have been a line where Bond remarks on how much she'd changed since Zurich).

My take is that Bond, like Bogey with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, let Paris pretend that there was still something there, to make it easier to "pump her for information."

That's all the use Paris would be to me.

[Napoleon Solo]

As I recall, there were stories (USA Today may have published one of them) that said MGM, not Eon, wanted Teri Hatcher. Thus, it was the studio, rather than the production company, that was responsible for the change in casting.

[Mr. Blofeld]

like Bogey with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, let Paris pretend that there was still something there, to make it easier to "pump her for information."

What? There still was something; they loved each other, but he had to have her go with Lazlo -- that's what the whole film led up to, Rick being selfless. That's why that ending is so damn powerful.

Now, Paris? I really couldn't stand the helium voice Hatcher was putting on, but I get why she was in the film -- a smart move on Fierstein's part. Shame he wasn't able to take it to the next level (and with better actors) in a future Bond film.

[marygoodnight]

Bond fans can post as many and all the actors they want to as to whom would of been better in the roles but in the long run it's a waste of time and effort as no one will ever change the film itself...............................................


A TOTAL AND MUTE POINT AS FOR THE CLASSIC BOND FILMS OF DAYS GONE BY...........................................

[AMC Hornet]

Someday home graphic artists won't be limited to cobbling together 'what if' posters - you'll be able to get 'DreamCastTM' software, so you can change the faces and voices of actors in old movies (after all the copyright lawsuits are settled), then this thread will be relevant.

Not that I'm developing any such tool meself; I'm just speculating.

What if...

[bribond]

I never had a problem with Hatcher. I always liked her as an actress and was a fan of her in Lois & Clark so for her to be cast in a Bond film as someone Bond ran away from, because she got too close, resonated with me. When he came back look what happened to her. The dialogue between them was terrific, the bitter feelings of something lost were there, they looked good together and in the end I could have cared less for the Wai Lin character as a romantic interest. What did not work was the staging of their romantic scene. Terri Hatcher is made to slowly approach Bond asking if she got too close and it would be hard for anyone to pull off and she is definitely not up to it. The scene should have been blocked in some different way to get them to the kiss.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

I believe it was his infamous Playboy interview where Brosnan, going off on the film producers after being unceremoniously booted, mentioned that Monica Bellucci was the original contender to play Paris Carver, but was rejected in favor of Teri Hatcher, probably because she was more American and "relatable".

Do you think Bellucci in the role would have made TND a better Bond movie? A better movie in general? Bellucci is considered one of the world's sexiest actresses. Would she have been too hot and foreign to play a realistic Bond ex-girlfriend? Would her English have been good enough to deliver the jokes that Hatcher did? (She didn't have an English speaking role until The Matrix Reloaded in 2003, unless anyone knows differently).

Personally, I think Bellucci would have without a doubt made the movie more memorable. TND is one of my least favorite Bond films. But in some ways, Hatcher fits the part better, if we're assuming the script would have stayed intact regardless of actress. Bellucci might have come off as too alloof and unrelatable. On the other hand, the part seems to require a "great beauty" (just think of the scene in the hotel room with Bond) and Hatcher comes off as unbelievable in that regard. She's pretty, but not classically gorgeous. And at the time, she was starring in "The Adventures of Lois and Clark" as a ditzy Lois Lane on American television every week. Not very glamorous.

How do you think Miss Hatcher would have fared in a Jill St. John/Tiffany Case-type of Bond girl role?

One last point: Belluci would have made Wai Lin pale in comparison. While Lin was kickass, she was not one of the best looking Bond girls IMO.

Agreed. Whether Teri Hatcher or Monica Bellucci played the role of Paris, we still would've had to sacrifice her for Wai Lin and I'm one of the few fans who finds Mrs. Carver the far more interesting character of TND's 2 leading ladies. I actually enjoy Hatcher's performance in the film as it stands now. She and Brosnan's Bond tend to come off more as Lois Lane and Remington Steele but for me that worked very well in the flirting scene at the party.

In TND's original script, Paris' part was even smaller:

http://www.universal...scripts/tnd.pdf

[AMC Hornet]

whom would of been better in the roles .........................................


A TOTAL AND MUTE POINT ...........................................

That's who, not whom, and would have, not would of.

And it's a moot point, not 'mute.'

Just sayin'.

[iBond]

If Monica Bellucci were to have been Paris, then I'm sure she would have had a longer role in the film and it would have been better. Heck, she would be an awesome Bond girl. So, if she were to be in a Bond film, I think she would have been great to be in the entire film. It would suck to have her in a few scenes just to be killed off. On another note, I just found out she did a film with former Bond girl Sophie Marceau called Don't Look Back.

Edited by iBond, 23 October 2011 - 06:07 PM.

[TCK]

I don't know if Tomorrow never dies would have been better with Monica Belluci as Paris Carver but it would have been better :
- with another James Bond actor
- with another Wai Lin actress
- with another Elliot Carver actor
- with another screenwriter
- with another director
- with another music
- and above all, with another productor (Barbara Broccoli had promised Pierce Brosnan a more Bondian screenplay for the next film if Goldeneye was a successful film, aren't we still waiting ?)

[marktmurphy]

It's certainly true that Hatcher was miscast; she was quite hard to buy as the woman who got too close to Bond. Obviously it's hard to say whether Belucci would have been better, but it's easy to think she may have been a bit more fiery and passionate; and yeah- for me she's more gorgeous.

Equally I think Eva Green was miscast in Casino Royale. She can't do the sparkling repartee stuff on the train for toffee. Good at the vulnerable bit, though.

[Miles Miservy]

I don't know if Tomorrow never dies would have been better with Monica Belluci as Paris Carver but it would have been better :
- with another James Bond actor
- with another Wai Lin actress
- with another Elliot Carver actor
- with another screenwriter
- with another director
- with another music
- and above all, with another productor (Barbara Broccoli had promised Pierce Brosnan a more Bondian screenplay for the next film if Goldeneye was a successful film, aren't we still waiting ?)

So what you're saying is TND would be a better movie if it were a different movie???

[SecretAgentFan]

It's certainly true that Hatcher was miscast; she was quite hard to buy as the woman who got too close to Bond. Obviously it's hard to say whether Belucci would have been better, but it's easy to think she may have been a bit more fiery and passionate; and yeah- for me she's more gorgeous.

Equally I think Eva Green was miscast in Casino Royale. She can't do the sparkling repartee stuff on the train for toffee. Good at the vulnerable bit, though.

She can´t? Interesting...

[TCK]

I don't know if Tomorrow never dies would have been better with Monica Belluci as Paris Carver but it would have been better :
- with another James Bond actor
- with another Wai Lin actress
- with another Elliot Carver actor
- with another screenwriter
- with another director
- with another music
- and above all, with another productor (Barbara Broccoli had promised Pierce Brosnan a more Bondian screenplay for the next film if Goldeneye was a successful film, aren't we still waiting ?)

So what you're saying is TND would be a better movie if it were a different movie???

In a way, yes.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

If Monica Bellucci were to have been Paris, then I'm sure she would have had a longer role in the film and it would have been better.

I doubt that the Paris role would've been bigger even with Miss Bellucci in the part since the Mrs. Carver role was essentially TND's Corinne Dufour/Plenty O'Toole type "sacrificial lamb" character. EON had already decided to hype up Wai Lin as yet another female type Bond agent so that probably kept Paris' part pretty small as it was in Feirstein's original script.

[Lachesis]

So what you're saying is TND would be a better movie if it were a different movie???

In a way, yes.

I tend to agree, although the scene's between Brosnan and Hatcher and later Brosnan and Schiavelli make me squirm and they are incidental details that in a better film wouldn't be so awkwardly inept.

[TCK]

So what you're saying is TND would be a better movie if it were a different movie???

In a way, yes.

I tend to agree, although the scene's between Brosnan and Hatcher and later Brosnan and Schiavelli make me squirm and they are incidental details that in a better film wouldn't be so awkwardly inept.

Teri Hatcher was right in the part and Paris Carver was a very hopeful character, who could have been something like "third most important woman in James Bond's life" after Teresa and Vesper, but two flaws : 1 - too rapidly killed and 2 - her death is ruined by the underground parking scnene when James Bond enjoys himself with his car and his gadgets.

Anyway, the first hotel room scene is awesome. The sequence when James Bond takes off her dress is wonderful, probably best Tomorrow never dies sequence.

[The ides of Mark]

No. TND would have been better if the film just stopped after the garage-carchase in Hamburg.

[Scottlee]

I thought the women side of things was the weakest aspect of TND. At the time the film came out I was sick to death of Hatcher from having seen her on Superman so much (I didn't have sky back then. I was forced to watch crap). Her acting was passable as Carver but the role could have been so much more in the hands of a sexier actress. Just thinking of Hatcher's hairstyle in TND makes me cringe.

Michell Yeoh, whilst likable, again had absolutely no sex appeal. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to have sex with her in the freezing cold water rather than flag down the passing ship, and I'm a damn sight less handsome than Brosnan. The thing with Bond at the end of Thunderball/Goldfinger is, for example, you actually could have believed he'd ignore the passing help for a quick romp.

[marktmurphy]

Michell Yeoh, whilst likable, again had absolutely no sex appeal.

That is probably true, yeah; but I think I still liked her the most of Brosnan's girls. She's grown-up and no-fuss, but still stunning. She's a classy spy where Jinx ain't.

[Wade]

If I remember correctly, early idea was to have the character be Tiffany Case, Jill St. John's character from DAF, a golddigger who found her man. Don't know who would've played her, though. Maybe Annette Bening? Julianne Moore? Sharon Stone?

[Scottlee]

Michell Yeoh, whilst likable, again had absolutely no sex appeal.

That is probably true, yeah; but I think I still liked her the most of Brosnan's girls. She's grown-up and no-fuss, but still stunning. She's a classy spy where Jinx ain't.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still take Yeoh or Hatcher over Halle Berry. That performance/character is the worst in the entire series for my money.

[DR76]

One, I really don't see how Monica Bellucci as Paris Carver would improve the movie. The problem - at least to me - wasn't Teri Hatcher. The problem with TND was the writing. It sucked. Aside from a few scenes, the whole movie was a paint-by-number cliche of the Bond films. It was generic Bond. Replacing Monica Bellucci with Teri Hatcher wouldn't have solved a damn thing. And I think that Brosnan's dislike of Hatcher had blinded him to this possibility.

As for Michelle Yeoh and Teri Hatcher having more class than Halle Berry . . . I guess they were lucky that they didn't utter one line of Eubonics and get branded by the bigots as a horrible Bond girl. Yo mama!

[Fiona Volpe lover]

Every film would have been better with Monica Bellucci in it.

[Pussfeller]

It wouldn't have mattered who played her. Paris was a bad idea for a character.

[PrinceKamalKhan]

If I remember correctly, early idea was to have the character be Tiffany Case, Jill St. John's character from DAF, a golddigger who found her man.

I like that idea. Teri Hatcher and Jonathan Pryce both reminded me of Jill St. John and Charles Gray, respectively. I could easily see the sly jewel smuggler marring Carver to get enough money to retrieve the diamonds from the satellite.

This clip from a 1995 episode of Lois & Clark turns out to be unintentionally ironic in retrospect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f0NoCRMNMI&feature=related

[Miles Miservy]

[quote name='AMC Hornet' timestamp='1318459014' post='1167871']
I don't know who Monica Belluci is, but I would have preferred her or anyone over Hatcher.

"Yeah... what HE said!!!"

[larrythefatcat]

Every film would have been better with Monica Bellucci in it.

If this is true... that means the Matrix sequels could have been *gasp* WORSE!!??

But seriously now, I don't think the casting was the real issue here. I think my problems with Tomorrow Never Dies lie mainly within its writing with the blatant generic Bond pastiche throughout the film that rivaled Austin Powers (fitting that they were released the same year) and only to be outdone by Die Another Day in its "horribleness" (in that aspect, anyway).

I'm actually quite a fan of most of the casting in that film... Jonathan Pryce and Michelle Yeoh really weren't bad in terms of their acting or being miscast, they did quite well with what they were given on the pages of a mediocre script. I still don't get why Ricky Jay is in this movie, though.

And I'm glad David Arnold has learned how to make Bond scores that don't sound like drawn out successions of electronic noises... I guess it's really not all that bad... it was still a step above Eric Serra!

EDIT: I can't type f-a-r-t without it being censored? REALLY!?

Edited by larrythefatcat, 22 November 2011 - 09:06 PM.

[Aris007]

Well I'd certainly like to see the "close for comfort" scene featuring Belluci's behinds, but other than that it wouldn't make a difference whatsoever.