Craig: 'Next Bond Film Will Be Funnier'
highhopes
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CRAIG: 'NEXT BOND FILM WILL BE FUNNIER'
Contactmusic.com
JAMES BOND star DANIEL CRAIG insists fans will see a different side to him in the next 007 film - he's going to be funnier. The actor excelled in the dramatic scenes of last year's Bond blockbuster Casino Royale - but admits he is excited at the prospect of trying to add a lighter touch to the next movie. He says, "They (the producers) just want more gags. The next one's going to a lot funnier. Octupussy and Pussy Galore style gags."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/craig%20next%20bond%20film%20will%20be%20funnier_1037361
"Gag" is the operative word for me here. This is the most disturbing news I've heard since Craig was cast. Let's just hope this isn't a signal that Eon, having encroached on Connery's legacy with a tougher, more serious Bond, has now set its sights on Roger Moore's. This is not the time to backslide. It's not like the new approach wasn't successful. If they want more gags, couldn't they just produce an Austin Powers flick on the off-season and leave 007 alone?
If this is true, the mods can move this post to the "daftest" producer decisions thread -- and place it at the very top of the list.
Contactmusic.com
JAMES BOND star DANIEL CRAIG insists fans will see a different side to him in the next 007 film - he's going to be funnier. The actor excelled in the dramatic scenes of last year's Bond blockbuster Casino Royale - but admits he is excited at the prospect of trying to add a lighter touch to the next movie. He says, "They (the producers) just want more gags. The next one's going to a lot funnier. Octupussy and Pussy Galore style gags."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/craig%20next%20bond%20film%20will%20be%20funnier_1037361
"Gag" is the operative word for me here. This is the most disturbing news I've heard since Craig was cast. Let's just hope this isn't a signal that Eon, having encroached on Connery's legacy with a tougher, more serious Bond, has now set its sights on Roger Moore's. This is not the time to backslide. It's not like the new approach wasn't successful. If they want more gags, couldn't they just produce an Austin Powers flick on the off-season and leave 007 alone?
If this is true, the mods can move this post to the "daftest" producer decisions thread -- and place it at the very top of the list.
Comments
I'd like Bond 22 to be more, well, relaxed at times than CR. Craig's not too bad with the jokes but not great imo, so he needs someone who can write for him, not just churn out identikit one-liners.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I know there are folks out there who think CR'06 was cr*p, but time will prove them wrong!!
A DC version of AVTAK, with beach boy music, another theme custom made by Madonna and the return of Grace Jones and "Jaws" - what a treat something like that would be!
Lets hope that this time it's DC that's off his meds!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
With the overall track record .... I can't see any reason to be optimistic!!
But, that won't prevent me from "Looking for a Pony!"
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Your're certainly right about the false rumors concerning CR; and Barry is correct that the choice of directors seems to belie the idea. But you never know. It's easy to fall back into bad habits. I'm especially disturbed about the "Pussy Galore" mention, since I think the way the "Stephanie Broadchest" joke was handled in CR was one of the most clever: referencing the old Bond films' propensity for outrageous female names, but placing it in a more realistic context (i.e. Bond teasing Vesper).
I have no problem with a more relaxed Bond when the situation calls for it (although I found Craig to be pretty relaxed for his first time out), but I feel Bond should seem relaxed in a slightly menacing way.
As Hardy, says, gags are not the problem if they are good. In the early days the gags were excellent and fitted in well with the story. In previous years, gags seem to have just been there for the sake of it and have been of a very poor standard.Many appeared forced.
I liked Dalton's run very much but his "tongue-in-cheeks" barely got a chuckle out of me. Just boring.His strengths lied in being stern, cold & calculating; that is what made him work. I think the same descriptions apply for Craig.
We'll see...
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Correct !!! Nothing about the CR humor was of the "cricket bat in the face" style.
I loved the "Broadchest" scene. Perfect!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Speaking of which
I guess this is where I differ from many of the members here. IMO the last decent pun was "I thought Christmas only comes once a year" with most of the best puns coming from the Connery films, followed by the Moore and Brosnan films; but with all three eras producing great puns.
Regarding this particular rumour, I am optimistic as I think that with a few exceptions (the last Moore/Brosnan films, the Dalton films and CR) the one-liners and puns in the Bond films have been excellent. So, if they can revert back to the quality of, say, TWINE, then I will be delighted.
*copyright Loeffelholz
In my view, the Tarzan yell or double-taking pigeon variety are not a true representation of the Moore era at all. By that I mean that IMO the Moore era produced among the *finest one-liners of the entire series and I would love Bond 22 to follow in the path of the Moore films in this aspect.
I enjoyed CR, however I consider it to be far from perfect. One of the reasons why I don't love it and why I consider it to be inferior to 4 Moore films (LALD, TSWLM, FYEO, OP) is that IMO CR wasn't particularly humerous. All of the best Bond films IMO are humerous to some degree. This does not make them comedies however it lends them a softer side which IMO is an essential component of the cinematic Bond. So if Craig is saying that Bond 22 will feature some terrific one-liners then I say ring it on!
Finally, I would like to point out that Craig referred to 'Octupussy and Pussy Galore style gags.' I could be mis-reading it but I loved the humour in GF and I thought that the humour in OP (the Tarzan yell aside) was really good. I love puns and quips (as long as they are good, which they are IMO in the majority of Bond films), and I missed them in CR, and so this rumour, if accurate, makes me a very happy man. -{
*"He always did have an inflated opinion of himself" from LALD, "He just dropped in for a quick bite" from TSWLM and "I discovered it had a crush on me" from MR are examples of IMO great one-liners from the Moore era.
Humour rooted in character will always appeal to me; the puns Connery used in the Classic Era revealed and reflected Bond's sardonic fatalism (which I think CR also executed fairly effectively)...in the Moore and Brosnan eras they felt a bit more 'wedged in,' for the sake of a chuckle
As for this latest 'scoop' from Contact Music, it simply strikes me as internet fanboy bait, and I'm not going to bite quite yet :v Of course, a bit more humour in #22 would seem to indicate a more 'traditional' Bond entry I've been expecting...as long as they don't let the pendulum swing too far, too quickly:
-{
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
If true, the Craig films will be making a necessary change IMO. In CR, Daniel Craig was completely uncharismatic and stone cold serious. I would have lost all hope for Daniel if it wasn’t for his performance on (BBC’s) Comic Relief.
Elaine: “Daniel, normal straw or crazy straw?”
Daniel: (goofily) “Crazy!”
He does have a sense of humor after all!
However, based on the events of CR, I have a hard time believing that Bond 22 (being a direct continuation and all) will have a lighter tone. After all, Vesper’s dead, Mathis is suspected of treachery, and Mr. White is in MI6 custody. Now of all times, Bond is going to start cracking jokes? ?:) I suppose there’s always Bond 23.
Whatever happens, I think it’s safe to say that there will not be a return to the “double-taking pigeon, Tarzan yell” style of humor. So sleep soundly Moore-haters!
-Roger Moore
...zzzzzz....
:v
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Watch it Loeffs, or i'll wake you up with a slide whistle!
-Roger Moore
...Huh???
[jolts himself awake from a weird dream where he just heard Clifton James announce: "I been deputized!"]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
@merseytart
Sounds like a YouTube assignment for someone...should they decide to accept it :v
{[]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/13376/Daniel+hints+at+comic+Bond+
Daniel Hints at Comic Bond
July 13, 2007
HAVING toughened up the character of James Bond for Casino Royale to huge critical acclaim, Daniel Craig has surprisingly revealed that the next Bond outing will mark a return to the comedy that Roger Moore brought to the franchise in the Seventies.
Craig, 39, says of his forthcoming second outing as 007: “They [the producers] just want more gags. The next one’s going to be a lot funnier. Octopussy and Pussy Galore style gags. They’re all great names – but that’s the thing, the Bond jokes will be flipped on their heads.”
The Cheshire-born actor is keen to make Bond his own creation and that will apparently mean showing a softer, less macho side to the character.
“Bond is supposedly the most male moment [in film] but to me he’s never been macho. That Bond is something that Sean Connery created in Dr No,” he says.
“I don’t know Sean but I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley – he was a big strong guy and he had a big male presence about him.
“Everybody was in an uproar when he was going to be James Bond. He got flak because he was basically an Edinburgh bricklayer. And everyone who read the books thought how can he possibly do it? But he created a style that was unique and kind of sexy.”
Not that Daniel wants to imitate Connery or any other preceding Bond, adding: “There’s no point in trying to compete with every Bond that came before. You manage to make it your own.”
Just as long as he dons those very fetching tight blue swimming trunks...
Now this would be something to start a petition drive about. It sounds absolutely daft, as the British say.
Darenhat wondered earlier in the thread what was wrong with Pussy Galore. Not a thing. It was great -- perfect -- in Goldfinger. Terrific name for a lesbian crime boss (which is what she was in the novel). But you will note that Fleming used those kinds of outrageous names sparingly. I think Holly Goodhead was the other. But the films have a tendency to take a good thing and beat it to death, like Onatop, the woman who squeezes men to death between her thighs. Gimme a break. That's why the "Stephanie Broadchest" joke was so refreshing. It took a shopworn Bond convention and gave it a fresh and more reality-based twist (the martini joke, too). Let's hope, if Craig really is correct about this approach, that that is what he means by turning them "on their ear." But even that could get a little tireseome. I'm not against humor -- in fact, a Bond film requires it -- but it has to be organic to the story and characters and used sparingly. I thought CR's humor was just the right touch. I'm not interested in a return to the Moore era at all. I don't understand why the produders, after earning raves for a tougher, more serious Bond film, would want to go that route. It's asinine.
I'm with you 100%, HH. I'd just urge everyone to not project too much excess baggage onto this one story. Two or three extra minor comic 'beats' in a Bond 22 script could well be what they're talking about...rather than a full-fledged "return to the comedy that Roger Moore brought to the franchise."*
*That said, just typing the previous line, even as transcription, caused a bit of distress in my lower colon
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
[/quote]
That's very true. But on the other hand, I have to wonder who at Eon -- if anyone -- came to the conclusion that CR lacked laughs. Which I think is nonsense (although there are certainly those for whom the constant quipping and outrageous action was an intrinsic part of James Bond). Let's take a partial look at the record: there was the Land Rover at the resort; the bomber blowing himself up rather than the plane; the chief of police arrested for corruption; the banter with Vesper and the tuxedo scene; the list goes on. We're not talking Greek tragedy here. It had just as much -- if not more-- than each of the first three Connery Bonds.
Let's hope that Eon, wanting very badly to "top" CR, isn't going to ratchet up everything (i.e. action, humor, gadgets, characters) to grotesque proportions. A good movie is enough. It doesn't have to be more of anything. I'm a big fan of Goldfinger, but it's on steroids compared to the first two. That was a conscious decision by Eon and that's fine, but it ultimately led to the overkill that turned off so many people, me included. I'd like to see them take Bond in a quieter, more character-driven direction, which I thought was the reason for hiring Foster. Oh well. Who knows?
Obviously it is subjective however, I didn't find CR to be particularly funny as IMO the humour was often inappropiate for the context, badly delivered or written or simply not funny. DN however was IMO very funny, due to the behaviour of Connery (his staying back with Sylvia Trench, his turning in to the police of Miss Taro but only after he slept with her), some of the interplay involving M and Moneypenny as well some of Connery's quips (perhaps the best IMO being "I was just looking.")
I don' think it's asinine at all but I already defended the Moore films in an earlier post on this thread. You mentioned Xenia Onatopp and Stephanie Broadchest. Therein lies my problem with CR. I thought that Xenia Onatopp was a fantastic name which suited the reality that was GE perfectly. Stephanie Broadchest, like some of the other humour in CR, appeared to me to be completely out of step with CR. So, if Bond 22 can come up with Pussy Galore/Xenia Onatopp jokes that actually suit the film (unlike IMO CR), then I will be happy. I mean, say what you want about the Moore films, but you have to admit the humour suited the films.
Furthermore, the Moore films featured a wide variety of humour, much of it superb IMO. Let's wait to see what humour is actually being referred to before deeming Bond 22 to be a disaster.