alternative Bond line-up
crawfordboon
Posts: 126MI6 Agent
If you could have a choice of replacing some (or all) of the Bond actors during the film series, who would you drop, for which films, and who would you choose as a replacement? I have often thought about how cool it would have been to see Roger Moore play the part from 1962 all through to AVTAK, but here's another idea:
DN, FRWL, GF, TB, YOLT, OHMSS: Adam West
DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO, OP: Roger Moore
AVTAK, TLD, LTK: Dirk Benedict
GE, TND, TWINE, DAD: Sam Neill
CR: Martin Kemp
Not saying I would ever change it to this, but it would be interesting to see, hypothetically...what do you think?
DN, FRWL, GF, TB, YOLT, OHMSS: Adam West
DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO, OP: Roger Moore
AVTAK, TLD, LTK: Dirk Benedict
GE, TND, TWINE, DAD: Sam Neill
CR: Martin Kemp
Not saying I would ever change it to this, but it would be interesting to see, hypothetically...what do you think?
Comments
Hypothetically, I wouldn't cast Martin Kemp as the arse-end of a donkey in an am-dram version of the Nativity story.
Here's my alternative line-up though.
Patrick McGoohan would have been interesting for DN, but I feel he was better playing the cold, withdrawn, but troubled John Drake in 'Danger Man.' Also McGoohan has mentioned how he dislikes playing a hero who carried a gun, so that rules him out. Therefore I'd go for the late, great Stanley Baker. Like Connery, he's a big guy who could fight like a bast***. He was also a great actor with screen presence to burn.
1st Bond. DN to YOLT- Stanley Baker.
I've got a great deal of time for one-time Bond George Lazenby, so I am kind of loathe to think of replacing him. But next would be Jeremy Brett. He was tall, dark and classically handsome, He could have handled the romance of OHMSS and a darker version of DAF, with Bond out for vengeance. Think of a 007 version of 'Point Blank,' with Bond throwing members of SPECTRE off buildings, pistol-whipping them and such-like until he gets to Blofeld.
2nd Bond. OHMSS to DAF - Jeremy Brett.
After all that darkness a lighter Bond for the rest of the 70's is necessary and therefore I would have to keep Roger Moore as I really can't think of anyone with a lighter touch who was around at the time.
3rd Bond LALD-MR - Roger Moore.
As with 'The Saint,' Ian Ogilvy would replace Moore.
4th Bond FYEO-LTK - Ian Ogilvy.
Rupert Everett would be my choice for the 90's. 6'4, posh, kind of cruel-looking with great comic-timing. He's admitted publicly that he thought he'd be right for the part and would have loved to have done it, so in my alt 007 timeline he gets his chance.
5th Bond GE to DAD - Rupert Everett.
Then finally for CR, (although I'm more than happy with Daniel Craig), there is somebody I thought would suit the part when I saw him playing the main villain in Season 3 of '24.' Paul Blackthorne is now the lead in 'The Dresden Files,' and think he'd have made a fine Bond, so in my alt world, Blackthorne is now 007, and Craig is now playing a wizard on TV. At least nobody would be asking about his tight blue shorts any more, although they might ask to see his magic wand.
6th Bond CR-present Paul Blackthorne.
6th Bond CR-present Paul Blackthorne.[/quote]
Hahhahahahhaa that line is priceless !!!!! Jeremy Brett would have been a good Bond, i remeber reading somewhere that he was on the list when they were looking for Bond for Dr No.
I'd also consider George Clooney for the later Bond movies ( pity he is american, but he seems to have a Cary Grant quality about him, and i enjoyed him in Oceans 11 )
Ian Ogilvy didn't have the breadth for 007 but was an excellent Simon Templar.
Sam Neill would have been fantastic for sure !
It seems I remember a couple years back, when I joined AJB, a few members mentioned they'd like to see him as the next Bond.
I'll do some research, see if I can find the thread.
Ninja Edit:
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/index.php?topic=18573
If I had to pick alternative Bonds for each decade I would choose:
1960's James Bond Laurence Harvey
1970's James Bond Ian Olgilvy
1980's James Bond Lewis Collins
1990's James Bond Clive Owen
Latest James Bond Henry Cavill or Alex O'Lachlan
I think Neill could have been a great Bond (better than a certain Bond of the late 80's) but I wonder wether or not his light hair would have been appropiate.
The main difficulty of this exercise, of course, is the knowledge that casting one man to play Bond rather than another would not only have changed the "looks" of the main character but also the type of film. So, with that in mind, in addition to reassigning some of the Bonds to different actors I'm also going to have to change the sequence of the films, and suggest some variations of tone:
Sean Connery: DN, FRWL, GF, TB
George Lazenby: OHMSS, DAF*, YOLT
Roger Moore: LLD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, AVTAK
Timothy Dalton: FYEO, OP*, TLD, LTK,
Pierce Brosnan: GE, TND, TWINE, DAD*
Daniel Craig: CR
*DAF: would have to be a significantly different movie: less epic and more Flemingesque, with more Amsterdam action, more detective-work in Vegas. The "search for Blofeld" section of the film would expand considerably and become the main plot thus replacing the extravagant "laser from outer space" extortion scheme. Following the diamond trail would simply be Bond's way of finding Blofeld (who, after losing Piz Gloria in the previous film, is quietly trying to rebuild his criminal empire by cornering the diamond market).
*OP: Similar plotline, minus the silly parts (the Tarzan howl, the crescendo of animals in the jungle, the clown suit, etc.)
*DAD: A slightly darker DAD, lose the invisible car, kill Jinx off at the end (on the plane with Frost), and, once again, lose the "laser from outer space" idea keeping the North Korean/Cuban part of the plot on earth.