159 replies to this topic

[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.

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.

That's very true. Too young to be Craig's villain now.

[SecretAgentFan]

Striesow is a brilliant idea.

Ganz is not to my taste. Too mannered, doing the same stuff in every role.

[EyesOnly]

Striesow is a brilliant idea.

Ganz is not to my taste. Too mannered, doing the same stuff in every role.

I'm surprised Striesow hasn't been mentioned before. I think the selections around here are rather obvious ones. There are some great choices out there if you think outside the box.

[Aisforauric]

there should be a poll question if you want Blofeld or not, who should play him,

Or her......

Striesow is a brilliant idea.

Ganz is not to my taste. Too mannered, doing the same stuff in every role.

I'm surprised Striesow hasn't been mentioned before. I think the selections around here are rather obvious ones. There are some great choices out there if you think outside the box.

I'm surprised no-one's suggested Jurgen Prochnow...he has that icy capability, a great drawl to his accent and could play Blofeld utterly ruthlessly, and no Nehru jacket required....

Edited by Aisforauric, 23 November 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[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'.

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

Fine, but why ask?

"M" is a job position, which can of course be filled by either a man or a woman. Blofeld is specifically male. Your comparison failed.

[Mr_Wint]

*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?

Fine, but why ask?

"M" is a job position, which can of course be filled by either a man or a woman. Blofeld is specifically male. Your comparison failed.

It is not a job position. Admiral Sir Miles Messervy is a Fleming character and he is just as important/interesting as Bond himself.

I think they should save Blofeld & SPECTRE for Bond #7.

[coco1997]

It is not a job position. Admiral Sir Miles Messervy is a Fleming character and he is just as important/interesting as Bond himself.

How is it not a job position? Messervy, Dench's M (Mawdsley) and now Mallory have all held the same position and hence the same title. Coincidentally, all three characters have had surnames beginning with 'M'. Both Desmond Llewellyn and Ben Whishaw's characters have gone by 'Q', even though Llewelyn's character's given name is Boothroyd.

[tdalton]

It is not a job position. Admiral Sir Miles Messervy is a Fleming character and he is just as important/interesting as Bond himself.

How is it not a job position? Messervy, Dench's M (Mawdsley) and now Mallory have all held the same position and hence the same title. Coincidentally, all three characters have had surnames beginning with 'M'. Both Desmond Llewellyn and Ben Whishaw's characters have gone by 'Q', even though Llewelyn's character's given name is Boothroyd.

It is a job position, as you've pointed out, and one that has been rotated a few times over the years and has been inhabited by several different actors, all playing different characters who happen to be inhabiting the office of 'M'. We've seen the same thing with Q as well.

Blofeld is not a job position, it's an actual character.

[Quintin Sayers]

Recasting Blofeld does not meet with my approval - he's from the mythology of the past - please let him stay there.

[GalaBond]

I'd love to see a reboot of not just Blofeld, but Irma Bunt as well - it would be very interesting.

[tdalton]

Recasting Blofeld does not meet with my approval - he's from the mythology of the past - please let him stay there.

I agree for the most part.

I think the only way that I'd be interested in seeing Blofeld return to the screen would be if EON were to cast Ciaran Hinds in the part.

[GalaBond]

Blofeld and Irma Bunt anyone?

[Miles Miservy]

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

John Gardner had the one-breasted daughter of Blofeld in his debut OO7 adventure, FOR SPECIAL SERVICES.

[tdalton]

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

John Gardner had the one-breasted daughter of Blofeld in his debut OO7 adventure, FOR SPECIAL SERVICES.

I would very much like to see them figure out a way to adapt the Nena Bismaquer character into a future film. Of course, the downside to that would be that it would force Blofeld back into the series sometime in the near future so that the storyline could eventually be set up, but I do think that it's something that could be interesting to see unfold on the big screen if handled correctly.

[Shaun Forever]

I'd love to see a reboot of not just Blofeld, but Irma Bunt as well - it would be very interesting.

I'd love to see a pre-title sequence in a future Bond film, where he actually hunts Bunt down, and gets revenge.


As much as it would please the fans, casual audiences would have no idea who this woman is, and why Bond is out to get her.

[SecretAgentFan]

Recasting Blofeld does not meet with my approval - he's from the mythology of the past - please let him stay there.

Bond is part of the mythology of the past - and he was re-booted brilliantly. Blofeld should be, too, IMO.

Now that we have a male M, Moneypenny and Q there´s no reason not to give Blofeld a try.

[seawolfnyy]

John Gardner had the one-breasted daughter of Blofeld in his debut OO7 adventure, FOR SPECIAL SERVICES.

For Special Services was number 2. License Renewed was his debut novel.

[Shaun Forever]

 

Recasting Blofeld does not meet with my approval - he's from the mythology of the past - please let him stay there.

Bond is part of the mythology of the past - and he was re-booted brilliantly. Blofeld should be, too, IMO.

Now that we have a male M, Moneypenny and Q there´s no reason not to give Blofeld a try.

 

 

Excellent post!

 

 

Obviously the bald man stroking the cat look would have to be dropped, due to the Austin Powers gag. Although having said that, a Blofeld

in the vein of Max Von Sydow's in Never Say Never Again would be quite good.

[Walecs]

I think they should make Blofeld's face unseen for some movies, just like they did in the Connery era (however, they must keep the same actor once he has showed himself)

 

Or is it too much cliché?

[FOX MULDER]

I do think EON should seriously consider using Blofeld, and I shall tell you why...

 

Craig has done three films, and looks set to do two more. The three films so far have covered the classic character journey, from apprentice to master. Craig's Bond is, now, after Skyfall, truly a master of his craft. He has been tested physically, and emotionally, and passed with flying colours.

 

So now, in mythic terms, he is ready to slay the dragon. In the world of Bond, Blofeld is that dragon.

 

So what better way to complete Daniel Craig's journey as Bond than have him struggle with the dragon over his last two films?

 

From becoming a "00" to becoming the dragon slayer in five movies. Perfect.

[bill007]

Blofeld?  Really?

 

007 began anew with Casino Royale.  We have moved on from the old stuff, and into the new stuff.

 

Since 007 films have always reflected current times, perhaps a bad guy named..... Bedrock Hussein Adama, or something to that affect.

 

Or, maybe a female villain named Annette Force.... (A-Net-Force of Evil)

 

Or, maybe a male villain named Alec Tron..... (A Electron, Super-Villain)

 

Or, maybe a robot villain named W34U.... (Dub-ya three for you, call me Jeb).

 

I digress.....

 

lol.

[graric]

Blofeld?  Really?

 

007 began anew with Casino Royale.  We have moved on from the old stuff, and into the new stuff.

 

 

...The new stuff in Craig's run being the return of: a Male M and the classic office of the Connery and Moore era's (complete with a Moneypenny who dresses more like early Lois Maxwell than the more contemporary look of Samatha Bond.)
We've also seen Craig return Bond to the PPK after Brosnan updated to the P99 and Skyfall is the first movie since Thunderball that featured the DB5 as the 'hero car' of the films (rather than being Bond's vintage car for his down time between missions, quiickly forgotten about in the film after the introduction of a top of the line gadet laden BMW like in the Brosnan era.)
We even have a villain with his own Island!

As much as Casino Royale might've been presented at the time as moving on from the old troupes of the Bond series, providing a fresh look at the character, but Skyfall was clearly embracing and celebrating all of these old troupes.

Pre Skyfall, bringing back Blofeld might not have seemed like it was in keeping with the direction of the series but the direction suggested by the end of Skyfall is certainly one that embraces the old along with the new.

[tdalton]

As much as Casino Royale might've been presented at the time as moving on from the old troupes of the Bond series, providing a fresh look at the character, but Skyfall was clearly embracing and celebrating all of these old troupes.

Pre Skyfall, bringing back Blofeld might not have seemed like it was in keeping with the direction of the series but the direction suggested by the end of Skyfall is certainly one that embraces the old along with the new.

 

Skyfall doesn't really bring back any of the tropes, because they never really left.  Casino Royale never presents itself as a film that is moving away from the formula or the tropes of the 20 films that precede it.  It really embraces them almost as much as Skyfall does, albeit by turning them on their heads a bit, but they're still there.  If one were to take out a couple of lines of dialogue referring to what has to be the weakest "reboot" ever put on film, Casino Royale could fit in the same timeline as Die Another Day.  It's really just as much of a reboot as The Living Daylights was in relation to A View to a Kill.  Casino Royale fully embraces the Bond formula and checklist, all Skyfall did was add in the final two missing ingredients to that formula.

 

Edited by tdalton, 22 December 2012 - 03:37 PM.

[graric]

 

 

As much as Casino Royale might've been presented at the time as moving on from the old troupes of the Bond series, providing a fresh look at the character, but Skyfall was clearly embracing and celebrating all of these old troupes.

Pre Skyfall, bringing back Blofeld might not have seemed like it was in keeping with the direction of the series but the direction suggested by the end of Skyfall is certainly one that embraces the old along with the new.

 

 

Skyfall doesn't really bring back any of the tropes, because they never really left.  Casino Royale never presents itself as a film that is moving away from the formula or the tropes of the 20 films that precede it.  It really embraces them almost as much as Skyfall does, albeit by turning them on their heads a bit, but they're still there.  If one were to take out a couple of lines of dialogue referring to what has to be the weakest "reboot" ever put on film, Casino Royale could fit in the same timeline as Die Another Day.  It's really just as much of a reboot as The Living Daylights was in relation to A View to a Kill.  Casino Royale fully embraces the Bond formula and checklist, all Skyfall did was add in the final two missing ingredients to that formula

 

Agree about Living Daylights and that Casino Royale as a film never really leaves that Bond formula, but what I meant instead was that the film itself was promoted by the Producers and others on the film as a slighlty gritty serious reboot and a move away from the 'typical Bond formula' through the examining of the character of Bond by going back to Fleming novel (even going as far as to call the novel a Bond origin story.)

 Skyfall on the other hand was being actively promoted as a 'Classic Bond film with a capital B' by most involved on the film and is very consciously incorporating more of the style of the early films along with the classic troupes (Along with the change to the old M's Office Daniel Craig's suits in Skyfall are very reminiscent of the early 60's Connery suits, while in Casino Royale he was still wearing Brioni like Brosnan.) The point is then that despite what bill007 may be suggesting about moving away from the old post Casino Royale, all appearances would suggest that the current Bond motto is more along the lines of ' old is new' which would make a reappearance from Blofeld seem more likely than it has in decades

[tdalton]

I think the way in which the films have been promoted simply boils down to how the producers feel they need to sell the films to the audience rather than what's actually contained in them.  After Die Another Day, they needed to push the whole concept of the "reboot" (which is quite funny, since they never really rebooted anything) for a couple of different reasons.  First, it was the popular thing to do, given that Batman Begins had just pulled it off surprisingly well.  Second, pretty much everyone knew that, after Die Another Day, the series need to have some kind of a reset to bring things back to reality.  There wasn't anywhere else to go with invisible cars, space lasers, and ice palaces, so they sold the public on the concept of a reboot.

 

Skyfall, on the other hand, needed to be promoted as after the public rejected Quantum of Solace as, as is said often around here, "not a real Bond film".  They had to promote Skyfall that way, otherwise some in the general population that were on the fence after Quantum of Solace may not have returned. 

 

Regarding Blofeld, I don't doubt that he'll reappear at some point in the near future.  They made so much money off of a film that is essentially all about nostalgia and how the old ways are better that it's only a matter of time before they go back and start reintroducing some of the characters from the older films.

Edited by tdalton, 22 December 2012 - 10:39 PM.

[R. Dittmar]

Regarding Blofeld, I don't doubt that he'll reappear at some point in the near future.  They made so much money off of a film that is essentially all about nostalgia and how the old ways are better that it's only a matter of time before they go back and start reintroducing some of the characters from the older films.

 

I've been following this thread for a while, but apologies if someone has mentioned this before and I missed it.

 

I'm seriously doubtful that we'll see Blofeld again because I frankly don't think anybody really knows who he is anymore.  The last time he sort of appeared in a movie is 30 years ago with FYEO and even then he isn't named.  Fans like us know who he is, but do casual viewers have any idea?  I don't think they do.  Even given the popularity of the Austin Powers movies, I question whether many people who watched those can name the character Dr. Evil is supposed to be a parody of.  I bet for most people he's that just that bald guy with a cat from some movie or other back in the 60's.  Could they really put a name to him like they could to Goldfinger or even Dr. No?  Again I don't think so.

[tdalton]

That would be all the more reason for them to go ahead and do it.  Casual fans wouldn't know the difference and would think they're getting something new while the fans who do know who he is would be getting yet another dose of nostalgia.  When he does return, though, he won't be holding a white cat or have any of the other characteristics that Austin Powers endlessly mocked a decade ago.  Hopefully EON realizes that it would be better to create a new character rather than re-imagining Blofeld, but given how much the nostalgia factor seemed to work in Skyfall's favor, I'm sure they'll eventually bring him back to face off against Bond again.

[Stavro]

How about making a new arch-nemesis, but not naming him Blofeld? That would suit both the reboot-feel and the awesome sense of continuity. So, quintessentially, the head of the Quantum organization is Blofeld, but without the name or the looks. Or, you know, the cat.

Edited by Stavro, 24 December 2012 - 09:15 AM.

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

How about making a new arch-nemesis, but not naming him Blofeld? That would suit both the reboot-feel and the awesome sense of continuity. So, quintessentially, the head of the Quantum organization is Blofeld, but without the name or the looks. Or, you know, the cat.

In my opinion that is how it should be done - adapting the character from Flemings novels with another name.

[bonds_walther]

How about making a new arch-nemesis, but not naming him Blofeld? That would suit both the reboot-feel and the awesome sense of continuity. So, quintessentially, the head of the Quantum organization is Blofeld, but without the name or the looks. Or, you know, the cat.

 

I feel that's the way that EON were going with Mr. White.  It would have been a great twist to find out that Bond had captured Quantum's head, only for him to escape.  The opera scene in QOS only added fuel to the fire for me.