159 replies to this topic

[TheManwiththeWaltherPPK]

Craig did shoot the idea or Bonds 24 and 25 being a two-part story, but that does not mean there cannot be plot threads that tie them together - those being Ol' Ernie & co. He appeared in 4 of the Connery Bonds and those films were 99% stand-alone stories but with a mutual source of threat. And to make Blofeld work in the 21st Century Logan has to go back to the source, that being the Master Ian Fleming. No nehru suits or white persians, just a large middle aged man who'se mind is like a black diamond.

Yeah, the media and fans took that original piece of news too far. It mentioned that Logan pitched an idea for Bond 24 and 25 having a connecting "story arc" if I recall correctly. They are many different ways that two films can have a connecting story arc WITHOUT being a two-parter filmed back to back. As you mentioned, the early Connery films and their focus on Bond fighting Spectre can easily be classified as having a connecting story arc and yet they are still very much stand alone films as well.

[Mr. Arlington Beech]

"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.

... And then suddenly Blofeld becomes a carbon copy of Nolan's The Joker. I would prefer a more original approach for this character.

[L4YRCAKE]

This is what I think is going on: I think Barbara Broccolli is vocally hesitant to bringing back Blofeld and SPECTRE, it sounds like if it was up to her she'll replace SPECTRE with Quantum. I think part of Broccolli's hesitancy is because of the Dr. Evil caricature, but by that measure, Austin Powers would have made Bond himself obsolete as well. What it really comes down to is a successful pitch for how to bring Blofeld and SPECTRE back in a way that works for today's audiences. Which I think is what John Logan is going to try to do.

I'd like to think that Daniel Craig more shot down the idea of filming back to back (which makes sense the way he described it, how in the world does Peter Jackson pull it off???), but not necessarily the films having common threads and continuity. Not a direct sequel per se, but the previous movie's elements don't go down the memory hole the way almost all of them have in the past. I think it's particularly important that Bond films quit acting like the love interests of the previous films never existed. Doesn't necessarily mean that Bond should get married or even have a girlfriend, but Roger Moore's Bond told too many women that he loved them and then they vanished into thin air because they became inconvenient to the plot. That's a bad habit that opens up Bond to legitimate criticism and needs to be dropped. I feel Daniel Craig understands this.

What I think John Logan is working on is a storyline that brings back Blofeld and SPECTRE (I mean, why finally get the rights back and then not use them??) so that even when they are not central to the plot they exist in the storyline. In other words, why do all the villains politely take turns striking, what if you had a film where someone like Auric Goldfinger is trying to irradiate Fort Knox, and in the middle of that SPECTRE decides to hijack some nukes and take the world hostage because he knows Mi6 and Bond have their hands full? Blofeld could be a meddler, M's opposite number, and he and Bond have a personal hatred of each other and any chance he gets if Blofeld knows that Bond's in the middle of trying to shut down a heroin smuggling ring he'll throw a Red Grant at him just to make it that much more miserable.

[triviachamp]

Dr. Evil is specifically a parody of YOLT's Blofeld so I guess if they can avoid baldness, facial scars and Nehru jackets then a new Blofeld could work. Not sure how they can work in his cat without it looking too silly.

[L4YRCAKE]

Dr. Evil is specifically a parody of YOLT's Blofeld so I guess if they can avoid baldness, facial scars and Nehru jackets then a new Blofeld could work. Not sure how they can work in his cat without it looking too silly.

I think Idris Elba playing him with a genetically engineered albino tiger would be kind of incredible, but what do I know?

I also think it would make more sense that that's what the producers were meeting Elba about, rather than playing Bond. Talking to another actor about donning the role of Bond when Daniel Craig has almost single-handedly revived your character from oblivion to both critical acclaim and world shattering box office would be flat out stupid, not to mention offensive to Mr. Craig on a personal level. I cannot imagine they will start talking to any other actor until Daniel Craig decides to step down (and hopefully that's a long ways off).

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

Not sure how they can work in his cat without it looking too silly.

Ditch the cat I say. One has to remember it was there originally so there would be something to shoot at when the filmmakers decided not to show Blofelds face.

[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.

... And then suddenly Blofeld becomes a carbon copy of Nolan's The Joker. I would prefer a more original approach for this character.

People said the same thing about Silva.

[The Shark]

"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.

... And then suddenly Blofeld becomes a carbon copy of Nolan's The Joker. I would prefer a more original approach for this character.

People said the same thing about Silva.

Yes they did, but that was only partly true.

[007jamesbond]

If Sam Mendes does return, it is likely that Kevin Spacey could play the villain and likely will be Blofeld.......he was rumored to play him before so it likely......but with some hair of course

[Zographos]

The central idea behind Blofeld, as Fleming and McClory envisioned it, was predation. Here was a man who wasn't motivated by the most powerful ideas of the time (nationalism and ideology) and instead exploited those ideas for personal gain. The Siamese fighting fish were really the perfect metaphor for this, and it was I suppose a sort of statement that while the two World Wars and the polarization of the Cold War had produced something destructive and malevolent, so too could their inverse.

It was a unique and modern take on villainy for its time (at least in its genre) and marked a noticeable change from the first 10 or so Bond novels, but it's certainly become a mild innovation today. I would expect that the necessary updating to the character would more or less retain just the name and, frankly, produce something akin to Quantum anyway. Or Silva.

It's actually a shame they're not using Silva as a returning villain - his background and rat speech pretty much smacked the nail on the head in terms of what Fleming and McClory were doing with Blofeld.

[Iceskater101]

NO BLOFELD. enough said.

[Miles Miservy]

I think Blofeld is done. He has been rehashed & ressurected so many times, I don't see how he could re-emerge with any sense of interest or relevance. And as Agentii pointed out, Austin Powers sealed his fate to being reduced to the definition of mockery.

I'm inclined to agree with seawolfnyy. It would be worthwhile to explore further into the QUANTUM organization. Although just the the title of Fleming's short story was used, I think the writers could come up with an interesting little acronym for it that would be "SPECTRE-worthy". Besides, I felt that Mr. White was a splendid villain. No one would ever expect this guy to be a criminal mastermind; the guy looks like he works in a hardware store.

Edited by Miles Miservy, 14 November 2012 - 05:03 PM.

[L4YRCAKE]

To those opposed to Blofeld:

Being 'irrelevant and outdated' is no excuse to throw away a classic character, especially a villain as iconic as Blofeld. A good writer would see that as a challenge to run headlong into, not shirk away from. After all, the same logic could be applied to not only James Bond, but M, Q, Moneypenny, not to mention Batman, the Joker, James T. Kirk, Spock, Khan, etc. Caesar Romero and even Jack Nicholson's performances as the Joker could have been an excuse to consider the character finally unworkable in a modern day context, and yet Heath Ledger found a new way to approach a decades old classic adversary whose legend has once agagin taken on its own life. No doubt it won't be the last we see him up on screen.

Casino Royale credibly explained, for instance, why the vodka martini is Bond's signature drink and the origins of him owning a classic Aston Martin; coming up with a plausible motivation for a bald evil genius who keeps a white cat as a constant companion and is hellbent on world domination is no more than a stretch than doing a modern interpretation of a villain that wears clown makeup and likes to blow things up and kill people for no logical reason other than to see the hero squirm.

Also, now that they finally have the rights after all these many, many years to Blofeld and SPECTRE, why would they possibly just let them languish?

And while I'd love to see the return of Mr. White and even Quantum, I feel White is clearly a middle man, not the one ultimately pulling the strings.

I could definitely see an explanation in Bond 24 and/or 25 that Silva had ties to and was a member of a larger organization that funded his bad habits.

[Berni99]

I want him as Blofeld

[Leo R.]

Ben Kingsley as Blofeld.

[Aisforauric]

No scope for a female Blofeld? With women the stature of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, plus of course Margaret Thatcher having shaped so much of our modern world, it must be worth consideration.

And no, she wouldn't be called 'Blowfled', just for the record.

Actresses who could cut it:

Glenn Close
Helen Mirren
Meryl Streep
Juliette Binoche

[SecretAgentFan]

To those opposed to Blofeld:

Being 'irrelevant and outdated' is no excuse to throw away a classic character, especially a villain as iconic as Blofeld.

I absolutely agree. Everything can be re-imagined. Blofeld, definitely, too.

No scope for a female Blofeld? With women the stature of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, plus of course Margaret Thatcher having shaped so much of our modern world, it must be worth consideration.

And no, she wouldn't be called 'Blowfled', just for the record.

Actresses who could cut it:

Glenn Close
Helen Mirren
Meryl Streep
Juliette Binoche

This female angle is intriguing. Especially now. It would bring Bond into another relationship with a female authority, only this time on the side of his opponents.

She wouldn´t have to stroke an animal, by the way.

[Aisforauric]

Other actresses that jump to mind that I feel could make a nice twist to playing Blofeld include:

Kristin Scott Thomas
Monica Bellucci
Isabella Rossellini

To those opposed to Blofeld:

Being 'irrelevant and outdated' is no excuse to throw away a classic character, especially a villain as iconic as Blofeld.

I absolutely agree. Everything can be re-imagined. Blofeld, definitely, too.

No scope for a female Blofeld? With women the stature of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, plus of course Margaret Thatcher having shaped so much of our modern world, it must be worth consideration.

And no, she wouldn't be called 'Blowfled', just for the record.

Actresses who could cut it:

Glenn Close
Helen Mirren
Meryl Streep
Juliette Binoche

This female angle is intriguing. Especially now. It would bring Bond into another relationship with a female authority, only this time on the side of his opponents.

She wouldn´t have to stroke an animal, by the way.

Any thoughts which actresses could slot themselves in Blofeld's chair, SecretAgentFan?

[Bond... Raybond]

Regarding the claims that the Blofeld/SPECTRE rights are now with Eon, I recently read the following in Robert Seller's book, The Battle For Bond (before hearing the claims that Eon and gained the rights to Blofeld/SPECTRE):

"The insults continued to fly when MGM again disputed McClory's claims of ownership, revealing that a 28-year US copyright term on Fleming's work had expired and that a recent renewal of the those rights brought all of Fleming's US copyrights, including Thunderball, under the MGM/Danjaq banner" (p. 228, my emphasis)

This development was a stumbling block that prevented McClory from ever exploiting his rights to Blofeld/SPECTRE because although he would be able to make a film using those elements, without MGM's co-operation said film could never be distributed in the US. This copyright renewal and the doctrine of latches (ie legally contesting a case many years after the fact) were two key points that stopped the Sony Bond series ever moving forward in the 1990s.

Owning the US copyrights to Blofeld/SPECTRE would also provide MGM/Danjaq with huge bargaining power to obtaining the international rights to those elements from McClory's estate.

As an aside, I wonder if this copyright development is the reason for the statement in the modern Bond novels about James Bond and 007 are trademarks of Danjaq LLC.

I would also like to see Blofeld's return, but as others have already stated, go back to the books for inspiration. 1st film: Blofeld's big scheme, a la Thunderball (not necessarily nuclear, but a big blackmail scheme), is foiled. 2nd film: Blofeld hides away, licking his wounds, starting up a new scheme behind a Shatterhand persona.

Edited by Bond... Raybond, 18 November 2012 - 07:07 PM.

[Guy Haines]

Bond has gone from suave RNVR type to an agent closer to being a veteran of the Special Boat Squadron or the SAS. Q is now a droll computer geek. Moneypenny is, apparently, not a graduate of the MI6 typing pool but a former field agent with a backstory involving Bond. And the new M's languid upper class drawl belies the fact that he's an ex-SAS man who didn't crack under pressure.

My point being that there's plenty of scope to re-image the characters in the Bond saga, including Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

If he's re-introduced, I'll be surprised if he's wearing a beige Mao-style suit or stroking a white Persian cat. There may be some other affectation (Remember his habit, in the novel "Thunderball", of putting a violet scented tablet in his mouth when "unpleasant things" had to be said? - despatching SPECTRE members who had let the side down in gruesome, if imaginative ways?), but I think the Austin Powers spoofs have killed off any version of Blofeld as a "scarred, asexual monster" as one reviewer described Donald Pleasance's portrayal in YOLT.

I think he'll have a full head of hair. He'll dress relatively conventionally. And he'll either be (1) a father figure twenty years older than 007 or (2) a villain near Bond's age and a physical match for him, but with the usual intellectual pretensions of greatness.

As for potential casting - if he's the "father figure" I have Sir Ian McKellan in mind - he played "Goldfinger" in the Radio 4 adaptation and was a genuinely creepy "Number 2" in the remake of "The Prisoner". If younger - Tom Hardy? Gary Oldman? Kenneth Branagh? Or someone else?

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

Whatever they do with Blofeld the fact remains that Skyfall has really upped the ante when it comes to villain characterization. Bardem's Silva is a hard, hard act to follow.
And I think that Blofeld should be played by a continential, preferably German actor. Only past portrayal which had the right aura of continental sophistication was the unseen Blofeld thanks to Pohlmanns voice. God forbid for Blofeld being portrayed by a quintessential Brit such as Sir Ian McKellen - he's simply a terrific actor but would be completely wrong for Blofeld - and was in my opinion wrong choice for Goldfinger too.

Edited by AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän, 19 November 2012 - 08:28 AM.

[Guy Haines]

Whatever they do with Blofeld the fact remains that Skyfall has really upped the ante when it comes to villain characterization. Bardem's Silva is a hard, hard act to follow.
And I think that Blofeld should be played by a continential, preferably German actor. Only past portrayal which had the right aura of continental sophistication was the unseen Blofeld thanks to Pohlmanns voice. God forbid for Blofeld being portrayed by a quintessential Brit such as Sir Ian McKellen - he's simply a terrific actor but would be completely wrong for Blofeld - and was in my opinion wrong choice for Goldfinger too.

I have nothing against a continental actor as Blofeld. Some of the best Bond villains over the past fifty years have been continental, as Javier Bardem has just proved. As for quintessential Brits, for some reason Hollywood producers keep casting them as villains. Not that I mind. You know what they say about the devil having the best tunes - the bad guys in these films usually have the best lines. :-)

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

for some reason Hollywood producers keep casting them as villains.

That is because in general Brits are better thespians than Americans. That is not to say there aren't brilliant American actors but things like RADA and Royal Shakespeare Company have to have a lot of weight.

[SecretAgentFan]

Other actresses that jump to mind that I feel could make a nice twist to playing Blofeld include:

Kristin Scott Thomas
Monica Bellucci
Isabella Rossellini

To those opposed to Blofeld:

Being 'irrelevant and outdated' is no excuse to throw away a classic character, especially a villain as iconic as Blofeld.

I absolutely agree. Everything can be re-imagined. Blofeld, definitely, too.

No scope for a female Blofeld? With women the stature of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, plus of course Margaret Thatcher having shaped so much of our modern world, it must be worth consideration.

And no, she wouldn't be called 'Blowfled', just for the record.

Actresses who could cut it:

Glenn Close
Helen Mirren
Meryl Streep
Juliette Binoche

This female angle is intriguing. Especially now. It would bring Bond into another relationship with a female authority, only this time on the side of his opponents.

She wouldn´t have to stroke an animal, by the way.

Any thoughts which actresses could slot themselves in Blofeld's chair, SecretAgentFan?

Personally, I would love someone not that much older than Craig - so, sorry, Helen Mirren (although she would be brilliant).

I love your idea of Monica Bellucci. That way, Craig could actually encounter a major female villain that he could also be massively attracted to.

Damn, now I really want to see that film.

[FOX MULDER]

*sigh*

I know "rebooting" and "reimagining" are the fashionable hallmarks of 21st century Hollywood, but frankly I feel nothing but antipathy towards such concepts. I find them paradoxically unimaginative.

You want a female supervillain? Then create one. I'm interested. But - please - for the love of almighty God, do not call her 'Blofeld'.

[Aisforauric]

*sigh*

I know "rebooting" and "reimagining" are the fashionable hallmarks of 21st century Hollywood, but frankly I feel nothing but antipathy towards such concepts. I find them paradoxically unimaginative.

You want a female supervillain? Then create one. I'm interested. But - please - for the love of almighty God, do not call her 'Blofeld'.

How did you feel about 'M' being a woman since the mid-nineties?

[Armand Fancypants]

Kristen Scott-Thomas is the only option for female Blofeld, IMO.

And then we might actually have a Fiennes/Scott-Thomas film worth watching.

[EyesOnly]

There are two actors I think of when I hear Blofeld in the modern era.

Older route: Bruno Ganz.

Younger route: Devid Striesow. He kind of reminds me of Klaus Kinski. If only Peter Lorre were alive.

[Aisforauric]

Kristen Scott-Thomas is the only option for female Blofeld, IMO.

And then we might actually have a Fiennes/Scott-Thomas film worth watching.

Funny, I was thinking about that exact same irony as well....

[Pussfeller]

There are two actors I think of when I hear Blofeld in the modern era.

Older route: Bruno Ganz.

Younger route: Devid Striesow. He kind of reminds me of Klaus Kinski. If only Peter Lorre were alive.

Striesow is definitely Bond villain material, but I would postpone his involvement until a younger actor is cast as Bond. In 2018 or 2020 or whenever, Striesow will have reached the perfect age to play a Fröbian avuncular nemesis to the new, younger Bond.