159 replies to this topic

[QuantumOfRoyale]

Now, I'm not exactly sure about the specifics of the whole Never Say Never Again-lawsuit nonsense, but ignoring that...

Would you want to see Blofeld return to Bond movies, and go toe-to-toe with Craig Bond? How would you want to want to see him updated for the 21st century? Who would you want to portray him?

I'm curious to hear peoples' thoughts on this one...

[seawolfnyy]

I would welcome his return. I especially like the idea of a Shatterhand-esque story line, complete with the Castle of Death. I would also like to see Quantum return after a hiatus reimagined as SPECTRE. EON has the rights back to Spectre and Blofeld and is possible. Would work for a possible a true EON reimaging of Thunderball (unlike the load of crap that was NSNA) as well as other stories like a potential remake of Goldfinger or OHMSS. Both of which I have mentioned in other threads would work well as remakes, but I don't think they'd go that route.

[Secret007]

Deleted

Edited by Secret007, 20 October 2012 - 06:15 AM.

[The Shark]

Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds, Ciarán Hinds and Ciarán Hinds.

Did I mention Ciarán Hinds?

[JCRendle]

The question is, is their an actor that would be willing to shave his head for the role of Blofeld?

Why would they have to shave their head? In the novels he has black hair in his first appearance in Thunderball, silver hair in OHMSS. In the films he has hair in FRWL, Thunderball and when played by Charles Grey in DAF) and when played by Max Von Sydow in the unofficial NSNA.

Before Donald Pleasence was cast as the bald, scarred Blofeld another actor was cast for the role, Jan Werich, who filmed several scenes before he was replaced. When Werich was Blofeld, the character had hair and a beard:-

Just think how different Austin Powers would be today if Werich had stayed in the role?

So if an actor is needed for Blofeld in the future, they could have hair or not, a scar or not or a cat or not. They may even go the route of the first few films and have his face hidden.

[L4YRCAKE]

Oh hell yeah! I think it's a must that they bring back Blofeld and hopefully SPECTRE as well, it would be an awful shame not to. I've been pretty much certain that Ralph Fiennes' character was going to be revealed as Blofeld, but at this point I think I'm just in full blown denial about a few of the rumors about Skyfall.

I believe Barbara Broccoli mentioned recently that they now indeed have the rights secured (finally!!!) and would like to bring back Blofeld/SPECTRE but said that Austin Powers still being so fresh in everyone's mind was going to make it a challenge. I was kinda surprised that visually in the new Bond video game they showed Blofeld in OHMSS and he looked more like Donald Pleasance than Telly Savalas, which I thought was a bummer. In the books he's described several different ways, none resembling how he looked in the movies, yet it just seems wrong not to have him bald. YOLT is one of my absolute favorite of all the Bond novels, I'd love to see that material done right up on the big screen probably more than any other of the books.

I think it'd be great to somehow not throw Quantum down the memory hole and have a Quantum versus SPECTRE film, with Bond and Mi6 caught in the middle.

Ciarán Hinds? Hmmmm... Yes, I think I have to agree with that, actually! Good call...!!! Imagine him with a huge albino tiger laying at his feet in place of the white cat!

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

IF (and that is a very big if) Blofeld is rebooted, the actor should be someone in his 50's, and preferably German. My choice would be Ulrich Matthes.

In my opinion it would be better to take the character from the novels and use that as a template creating a new character without the name Blofeld and absolutely without the nehru suit and white persian.

Edited by AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän, 20 October 2012 - 04:02 AM.

[seawolfnyy]

In regards to Quantum, I could see it coming back as SPECTRE. Let's say that in the 8 years between Quantum of Solace (which takes place in 2006) and Bond 24 being released in 2014, Quantum had to go to ground after Bond got the information he needed out of Greene and Yusef. So 8 years later, Quantum returns after rebuilding itself with a new leader (Blofeld) and a new name (SPECTRE).

[Jose]

Quantum of Solace (which takes place in 2006)

That's the thing that I've always found a litle odd because it's never explicitly stated how much time has passed between Vesper's death and Mr. White's capture. Yes, Quantum of Solace starts off right after the end of Casino Royale but that could be a year after Vesper's death or a week, etc: unspecified.

As for Quantum being the new SPECTRE, I would kind of like to see something along the lines of SPECTRE (since EON has the rights back) squashing Quantum's plans / absorbing them.

[Guy Haines]

In the novel Thunderball, Blofeld formed at least two criminal syndicates - one, admittedly consisting of himself and a "network" of "agents" whose names he had borrowed whilst he did the actual espionage - before founding SPECTRE. There's no reason why Quantum, which was pretty much blown in QoS, couldn't have been wound up in the period between QoS and, say, Bond 24, with the chief executive going underground for a while before re-emerging at the head of SPECTRE, an organisation consisting not only of former Quantum members but ex-intelligence operatives from both sides, East and West, and representatives of the world's terrorist groups.

As for who should play the re-booted Blofeld - well, the right actor for the role, and not necessarily a big name. Some of the best villainous portrayals in the Bond films have come from actors who were household names at home, but "widely unknown" outside.

[Pussfeller]

I agree with the Shark. Ciaran Hinds will always be my first choice to play a rebooted Blofeld. Preferably Ciaran Hinds with a big ol' mustache.



As I would have it, his Blofeld is a self-made Polish billionaire based in London, perhaps the owner of a football club. (I've noticed that a lot of vaguely sinister people seem to own British football clubs.) Anyway, that's just his public face. He's really a supervillain, and it's an open secret. His diabolical schemes are many and varied. But whatever he's working on, you can be sure it's massive and crazy. No small potatoes. Why else would you bother bringing back freaking Blofeld if not to put him in charge of the craziest schemes you can imagine?

Here's an idea of the general tone I'm talking about: old Ernst has devised a method of breaking into American supermax prisons, kidnapping the inmates en masse, and press-ganging them into a private army of thieves, pirates, and assassins. Bond and Felix Leiter are inserted into a prison, posing as murderers, so that they can be shanghaied into Blofeld's operation and thereby expose it. Can they prevent Blofeld from launching an amphibious assault on the port of Rotterdam? Or will they succumb to the cocktail of meth and angel dust that Blofeld uses to control his slaves? Find out this October in Risico. (The name of the prison that Bond and Felix break into, naturally.)



Or how about this: Ernst has used a cutting-edge hypnotic technique to start a cult. His creepy followers wear matching polo shirts, peddle his books in the street, and make regular pilgrimages to Spectreville, a utopian community in Belize. When Bond threatens to expose his criminal activities, Blofeld takes his money and vanishes, but not before initiating a mass suicide that will erase all evidence of his crimes. Can Bond reverse the hypnosis before Blofeld's thousands of brainwashed followers commit suicide? Or will those followers murder him for causing their leader's disappearance? Find out this October in The Mogul of Death.



The joy of Blofeld is the promise of gleeful, emotionally uncomplicated malevolence on a global scale. It's villainy as an art pursued for its own sake, not as a squalid mercenary pursuit, nor as butthurt vengeance for an old injury. With Blofeld, you have a villain who positively enjoys toying with pesky secret agents, and who doesn't fall to pieces when one of his schemes goes belly-up. He just moves on and starts again, because he knows that you can't keep a bad man down. And now that Kevin McClory has fallen down the metaphorical smokestack, Blofeld and his brand of mayhem will inevitably return. The only question is whether the producers will make the most of him.

[bey-columbo]

If Blofeld returns face to Craig's Bond in the XXIth century, he needs a great actor to act as him.

Patrick Stewart, why not ?

Anthony Hopkins ?

Steven Berkoff ? (General Orlov in Octopussy and he acted with Daniel Craig in Millenium)

Edited by bey-columbo, 21 October 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[QuantumOfRoyale]

"For the rest, he (Blofeld) didn't smoke or drink and he had never been known to sleep with a member of either sex. He didn't even eat very much." - Ian Fleming, Thunderball

I think that this passage is very important for if they bring Blofeld back. He needs to not be a character, "character" implies change or growth over time. No, Blofeld must be a fully-formed idea. Pure malevolence and madness and brilliance and malice in physical form. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't drink: he's simply empty. Him and his actions must make the characters and audience question him constantly: who is he? How does a man become like him? Is he even human? Is he even real? What does he want? The answer of course, being nothing. Blofeld creates chaos simply for the sake of creating chaos.

So what I'm trying to get at is this: Blofeld must be an enigma even after we see his face. His background ambiguous, his motivations unclear, one minute he's playful, one minute he's brilliant, one minute he's frightening, Blofeld must leave every character and every moviegoer questioning and questioning and fearing every answer.

[S K Y F A L L]

I think Patrick Stewart would make a great Blofeld, I believe he is a classically trained actor like Dalton.

[Chief of SIS]

I think Patrick Stewart would make a great Blofeld, I believe he is a classically trained actor like Dalton.

I guess my issue with that is his best known roles are ones were he is a moral mouth piece. I am thinking of Picard and Xavier in particular. However, the man is of many talents. But personally I'd have a hard time swallowing it on screen. I mean...Patrick Stewart as Blofeld? Unfortunately, I can't make it so.

Can't believe I am going to say this but...

Ciarán Hinds

Edited by Chief of SIS, 21 October 2012 - 03:59 AM.

[L4YRCAKE]

I know. Ciarán Hinds would be amazing. He's got the size, the look of intelligent malevolence, he broadly fits all Fleming's (conflicting) descriptions of him in my opinion. I'm going to have to side with him being bald though, maaaaybe the mustache, but while I of course agree that they should do new territory with him as a character, the bald guy with the cat as a visual is too iconic to stray far from, it just seems like if he looked any other way nobody would realize he's supposed to be Blofeld unless they're hardcore fans like we are.

In other words, his look is universally recognizable but the name Blofeld isn't necessarily.

And I think somebody like Patrick Stewart is too associated already with his past bald characters he's played. I bet he'd turn it down, in fact.

Whatever they do with Blofeld they're going to have to take him into new territory. Perhaps he's a master of disguise? A mad geneticist? Perhaps he breeds himself a giant albino tiger? But I'd also like to see something akin to the SPECTRE meeting scene of him in Thunderball, even though it was parodied in Austin Powers. I like the idea of him being M's opposite number, and both have agents they are throwing at each other as proxy.

It also goes without saying: we're going to have to wait and see what this Silva guy is like, it's entirely possible that he's wearing a wig and is a bald villain himself.

[seawolfnyy]

I think Patrick Stewart would make a great Blofeld, I believe he is a classically trained actor like Dalton.

I guess my issue with that is his best known roles are ones were he is a moral mouth piece. I am thinking of Picard and Xavier in particular. However, the man is of many talents. But personally I'd have a hard time swallowing it on screen. I mean...Patrick Stewart as Blofeld? Unfortunately, I can't make it so.

I don't see Patrick Stewart as a convincing Blofeld either.

[L4YRCAKE]

I think Patrick Stewart would make a great Blofeld, I believe he is a classically trained actor like Dalton.

I guess my issue with that is his best known roles are ones were he is a moral mouth piece. I am thinking of Picard and Xavier in particular. However, the man is of many talents. But personally I'd have a hard time swallowing it on screen. I mean...Patrick Stewart as Blofeld? Unfortunately, I can't make it so.

I don't see Patrick Stewart as a convincing Blofeld either.

I think Patrick Stewart could potentially be a great Blofeld if he was an unknown.

Telly Savalis is still my favorite...

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

the bald guy with the cat as a visual is too iconic to stray far from

That is exactly why those aspects shouldn't be present. Dr Evil anyone? If he's brought back (which I seriously doubt) when first seen he should be a tall man with heavy midsection, bulging eyes and a crewcut. I did envision the backstory of contemporary Blofeld on this forum and if the character is rebooted it should be done right, without any winks or elements imported from older films. Go back to Thunderball novel and take that as a gospel. Ciaran Hinds could pull that off.

Edited by AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän, 21 October 2012 - 08:31 AM.

[SPECTRE ASSASSIN]

It's nice fanboy talk, but the Blofeld character has been parodied so much that I doubt he'll be considered serious anymore. Thanks Mike Myers.

[JCRendle]

The first film that Blofeld returns we don't see his face. He's either in the shadow, hidden infront of a chair or the scene's shot from his perspective. At the end of the film, in the credits, the actors name isn't even mentioned. The voice is recognisable, but you can't place it. He's an enigma.

The next film is much the same until at least half way through the film where he is revealed - maybe the first time Bond really sees him, is when we see him.

He may have already been revealed to us, wasn't he the lawyer in the last film? - does that mean the lawyer was really Blofeld?

His office is full of old books - history, science, law etc. No fiction. He doesn't concern himself with modern technology where he can help it. He has computers but his phone is just a phone.

He is the tactician. Unless there is no other choice, he won't be present at the attack, he is like a modern Moriarty - no major criminal or terrorist attack happens without him knowing about it first. The intelligence services can pin anything on him. He is too clever for that. There are no paper trails, if one of his agents is caught, there is nothing linking them together and the agents fear him so that they would rather die than even mention his name.

As to the actor, I don't think he should be bald. It would remind people of the Dr Evil character too much. He must be able to believable sound like he is a genius, speaking his lines with intelligence and unwavering authority. He says something, there are no arguments.

He can silence someone with just a look.

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

It's nice fanboy talk, but the Blofeld character has been parodied so much that I doubt he'll be considered serious anymore. Thanks Mike Myers.

I agree. But in my opinion the Fleming Blofeld could be readapted with another name. Use his aliases, Serge Ångström or Guntram Shatterhand.

[tdalton]

I've been pretty much set against the idea of Blofeld ever returning (or even returning as one of his aliases from the novels), but I have to admit part of that is because you know the filmmakers wouldn't be able to resist some kind of nod to the bald, tunic-wearing, cat-petting incarnation of the character that has since been parodied beyond the point of being able to be taken seriously ever again. But, if they could get Ciaran Hinds to play the part, I'd be up for it.

[L4YRCAKE]

Am I really in the minority here about Blofeld being bald? I think Ciarán Hinds could pull it off, I don't think anyone would associate him with Dr. Evil if done right, but then again... The scar over the eye would certainly be too much, I was surprised to see it in the new video game.

I still would prefer him bald to the crewcut and all, but then again I bristled as much as anybody when I first heard that they'd hired a blonde guy to be the new Bond, and now it doesn't even register...

What if he starts out with hair and Bond does something that causes him to be both bald and disfigured? That could be kind of interesting...

[tdalton]

I think that most would want to see him with the crew cut rather than being bald because Fleming's Blofeld had hair. I think the feeling is that, if they're going to bring Blofeld back, then why not do something closer to Fleming's creation than just do an updated version of what they already did with Savalas and Pleasance.

[Iceskater101]

Yeah, I mean that would be interesting to add him in another bond film. I think it would be a nice send out to fans of this series.

[seawolfnyy]

It's nice fanboy talk, but the Blofeld character has been parodied so much that I doubt he'll be considered serious anymore. Thanks Mike Myers.

I will always thank Mike Myers for Dr. Evil.

[L4YRCAKE]

Here's a link to some quotes from Barbara Broccoli on the whole matter, from the September issue of SFX:

http://www.sfx.co.uk...spectre-return/

Off the top of my head I'd say she makes it sound like they might lean towards keeping the name Quantum rather than SPECTRE, but who knows. Of course we'll all be shocked when Ralph Fiennes' character is revealed to be Blofeld in Skyfall...

[AgentBentley]

If Blofeld ever returns, it should be as a serious evil character, as far away from the whacky baldhead with the cat as possible. As everybody pointed out, that image has been parodied to death and would not fit in with a Daniel Craig Bond.

[TheManwiththeWaltherPPK]

I think Blofeld and Spectre are more relevant now than ever, given the heightened role of PMCs and other non-governmental actors in world affairs. Outsourcing is the name of the game. However, with the exception of Hinds, I have to disagree with the suggested actors so far. We need someone younger, a contemporary of Craig, not men who are in their 70s like Stewart. Christoph Waltz might be a good choice, but he might veer too much towards camp in his portrayal.

Edited by TheManwiththeWaltherPPK, 22 October 2012 - 07:05 PM.