Differences in acting between Timothy Dalton's Bond and Daniel Craig's

ics

I...I find it hard to find. Actually Timothy and Daniel both did the same before the start of the production of their first Bond pictures: They read all Ian Fleming novels and they both said that James Bond is a cold-hearted, ruthless assassin. Also, they insisted on doing most of their own stunts. I recall Cubby was quite frightened of Tim doing all his stuff by himself. Barbara and Michael on the contrary give him enough creative breathing space.

Anyway, what are the differences in style between Tim and Danny's Bond? I...I can hardly find perhaps the biggest difference being that Craig's Bond was just given OO status and feels the need to prove himself-- whereas Dalton's Bond seems like someone who's had the job for years and it's taken its toll. He will do the job but as shown in TLD, he doesn't care like he once did.



(inspiration to this thread from mi6 forum)

77007

Dalton is light in the loafers pretending he's Fleming Bond. :007)

zaphod

Dalton oozes class & gravitas. Craig looks like a Newcastle night club doorman.

Thunderpussy

Zaphod wrote :

Dalton oozes class & gravitas. Craig looks like a Newcastle night club doorman.

) ) )

Agent007jamest

IMHO I think DC is the better actor of the 2 but he has to be. TD has that classic Bondian look. When we first see him folding his parachute then looking towards the scream their is no mistaking that is Bond. DC has to work to make us believe he is OO7 and to his credit he done it.

chrisisall

Both Dalton & Craig are handsome guys, both can give that determined scowl, both are physically impressive, and these attributes are shared by other Bond actors as well, but the one thing they share that the other actors don't is the ability to NOT look ridiculously striking in a crowd.
Connery walks into a room and most if not all eyes are on him. He has quite a 'presence attack'. Lazenby, well, he just looks like a male model or something! Moore oozes charm, it drips off him like sweat off a runner gone red- and that smile...! Brosnan is the definition of pretty boy...
But both Dalton & Craig (to different degrees) can slide by unnoticed. Eyes down & charm off, they can pass for ordinary. Some may call this lack of ability to command the screen at all times, I call it being well cast as an agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service! -{

James Suzuki

Agent007jamest wrote:

IMHO I think DC is the better actor of the 2 but he has to be. TD has that classic Bondian look. When we first see him folding his parachute then looking towards the scream their is no mistaking that is Bond. DC has to work to make us believe he is OO7 and to his credit he done it.

Agreed, Dalton screamed out Bond. He looked like the Bond pictured on the front cover of the Fleming Books. But with Craig, he needed to prove himself to the auidence that he was Bond.

chrisisall

Whoah, just watching TLD (yes, again) and I spotted a cool look- in Vienna, after Bond phones for the tickets, he looks off to Kara & gets this smug look on his face like, "I'm playing her well..."- what a jerk. Total Bond. I love TD. -{

BIG TAM

I'll spread this topic out a bit. I don't know if others agree, but here's my take on 007's interpreters:-

Connery, Lazenby, Dalton, Brosnan & Craig all approach it pretty much the same way, by starting with the believability of the character. Moore perhaps plays it lighter from the get-go though one cannot entirely overlook all his contributions.

Craig has been given the opportunity previous actors were denied - a backstory. This finally allows the lead actor to play a fully rounded character. Previously Bond was an enigma around whom weird & wonderful things happened. If a third dimension came across it was because a one-off story required a more human approach (OHMSS) or the actor tried to invest snippets of characterisation off his own back (Dalton).

Dalton is fairly intense. His RSC training is certainly prevelant, causing a slight awkwardness with humour. Brosnan is a better film actor & therefore handles the shift in tone more comfortably. But Dalton's Bond seems more doggedly determined which is why I prefer him.

For me, Craig projects the same ruthless aura of Connery. Both interpret a character of overall self-confidence, though Craig has the benefit of being allowed to inject that rare trait for a movie hero - weakness.

zaphod

Agent007jamest wrote:

IMHO I think DC is the better actor of the 2 but he has to be. TD has that classic Bondian look. When we first see him folding his parachute then looking towards the scream their is no mistaking that is Bond. DC has to work to make us believe he is OO7 and to his credit he done it.

I do agree with you, not necessarily that DC is the better actor although he may be, both are very good in my view. It is to Daniel's credit though that he has largely pulled it off despite not being in the classic Dalton/Bond mould.

zaphod

chrisisall wrote:

Both Dalton & Craig are handsome guys, both can give that determined scowl, both are physically impressive, and these attributes are shared by other Bond actors as well, but the one thing they share that the other actors don't is the ability to NOT look ridiculously striking in a crowd.
Connery walks into a room and most if not all eyes are on him. He has quite a 'presence attack'. Lazenby, well, he just looks like a male model or something! Moore oozes charm, it drips off him like sweat off a runner gone red- and that smile...! Brosnan is the definition of pretty boy...
But both Dalton & Craig (to different degrees) can slide by unnoticed. Eyes down & charm off, they can pass for ordinary. Some may call this lack of ability to command the screen at all times, I call it being well cast as an agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service! -{

Bond does command attention, but I agree not to the level that Connery would have done. For me Dalton hits the spot perfectly whereas DC is too low key and lacking in gravitas for Bond, but probably perfect for an agent. Fleming makes reference to Bonds tendency to stand out and Bond himself is self aware of it. M chides him for his resemblance to a Playboy.

Virgil37

Dalton´s is an older Bond, more thoughtful, less of a killing machine...I mean, in TLD, Craig would have killed Kara, no matter what. Craig is a blunt instrument. Also, Craig worked a lot from the outside by bulking up to convey that panzer-like quality, which Dalton obviously didn´t, consequently the performance is very different.

Blood_Stone

Dalton was too damn serious. Even Craig, as intense as he is, would throw out a few quips to lighten the mood.

Thunderpussy

Dalton has an intense look about him, He's Killer with a sophicated veneer.
While I feel Craig is More a "Blunt Instrument " a hard man, without
the veneer of sophication.
I'm not Putting Craig down, Each actor brings their own take on the
role, I just prefer Dalton.

zaphod

Thunderpussy wrote:

Dalton has an intense look about him, He's Killer with a sophicated veneer.
While I feel Craig is More a "Blunt Instrument " a hard man, without
the veneer of sophication.
I'm not Putting Craig down, Each actor brings their own take on the
role, I just prefer Dalton.

I was really hoping that we would get that layer of sophistication out of Craig in Skyfall as I believe he could do it. Unfotunately we got a bouncer with a buzz cut again.

chrisisall

zaphod wrote:

a bouncer with a buzz cut

That's too funny.

Jimmy Bond

I think Daniel Craig's Bond is colder than Dalton's. Whereas you can sense that Dalton's Bond had a humanity in him and it can surface here and there, Craig seems like he's intent on burying that humanity in him by his vices and by his work. They're both emotional, but they come from a different place - but with Craig, we know where he comes from, as he was benefitted, as mentioned by BIG TAM, by a backstory. Dalton's Bond we have to presume has a similar but different origin, especially deduced by Pierce Brosnan's Bond in GE (itself written with Dalton in mind).

But they're both great. I prefer Dalton, because he still manages to pack some sophistication to his interpretation, but Craig's great, too.

chrisisall

^^^That's a great take on them Jimmy, IMO!

DEFIANT 74205

Agent007jamest wrote:

IMHO I think DC is the better actor of the 2 but he has to be. TD has that classic Bondian look. When we first see him folding his parachute then looking towards the scream their is no mistaking that is Bond. DC has to work to make us believe he is OO7 and to his credit he done it.

I'm not sure I agree that DC is the better actor. Dalton may have had the classic Bondian look, but it's his delivery of the lines, the techniques that he uses ... that makes him a more convincing Bond. It's not just looks.

chrisisall wrote:

Whoah, just watching TLD (yes, again) and I spotted a cool look- in Vienna, after Bond phones for the tickets, he looks off to Kara & gets this smug look on his face like, "I'm playing her well..."- what a jerk. Total Bond. I love TD. -{

-{

And was it you that mentioned the timing of his delivery when Saunders told him that he was late? That was a brilliant bit of acting, I thought.

Thunderpussy wrote:

Dalton has an intense look about him, He's Killer with a sophicated veneer.
While I feel Craig is More a "Blunt Instrument " a hard man, without
the veneer of sophication.

And that is why I think Dalton's Bond is much more "Fleming" than Craig's interpretation.

zaphod

Jimmy Bond wrote:

I think Daniel Craig's Bond is colder than Dalton's. Whereas you can sense that Dalton's Bond had a humanity in him and it can surface here and there, Craig seems like he's intent on burying that humanity in him by his vices and by his work. They're both emotional, but they come from a different place - but with Craig, we know where he comes from, as he was benefitted, as mentioned by BIG TAM, by a backstory. Dalton's Bond we have to presume has a similar but different origin, especially deduced by Pierce Brosnan's Bond in GE (itself written with Dalton in mind).

But they're both great. I prefer Dalton, because he still manages to pack some sophistication to his interpretation, but Craig's great, too.

You have really hit on something here that I have tried and failed to pin down on a number of occasions.Dalton did have less to work on and with, but somehow managed to convert what I have tried to describe as 'gravitas' or sophistication. Humanity is so much better as an articulation of the the difference, For me Craig is more 'blunt instrument' and Dalton more rounded.

chrisisall

DEFIANT 74205 wrote:

And was it you that mentioned the timing of his delivery when Saunders told him that he was late? That was a brilliant bit of acting, I thought.

Yes. To the question & the comment. :007)

Richard--W

Differences in acting between Timothy Dalton's Bond and Daniel Craig's

The biggest difference is that Timothy Dalton is playing James Bond, whereas Daniel Craig is playing an entirely different character with the same name.


Richard

lahaine

Richard--W wrote:

Differences in acting between Timothy Dalton's Bond and Daniel Craig's

The biggest difference is that Timothy Dalton is playing James Bond, whereas Daniel Craig is playing an entirely different character with the same name.


Richard

Bond for the 21st century

chrisisall

lahaine wrote:

Bond for the 21st century

Yes, and this is a different Bond entirely from the 20th Century one. Does not smoke, drinks WAY less, must have an SAS background to explain the level of buff, etc.
But the core of his character is true IMO. I would have not cast Craig, but he IS doing a great job in the role.

However, I pray to the altar of the Daltonator.

Jimmy Bond

Drinks way less? I guess he wasn't going well at his evaluation test in SF because he had a rough night's sleep, huh?

Craig's the most alcoholic of them all.

chrisisall

Jimmy Bond wrote:

Drinks way less? I guess he wasn't going well at his evaluation test in SF because he had a rough night's sleep, huh?

Craig's the most alcoholic of them all.

*hic*

I may stand corrected here...
)

Richard--W

The character of James Bond is not present in Daniel Craig's performances nor in his Bond films.

Drinking and smoking are outward affectations beside the point.

He's playing somebody else with the same name.

There is a different way to play Bond in the 21st century but Craig will never figure it out because he's the wrong actor for the job. He may be an excellent actor delivering an excellent performance, but for anyone to suggest it's a James Bond performance is laughable and preposterous.


Richard

lahaine

Jimmy Bond wrote:

Drinks way less? I guess he wasn't going well at his evaluation test in SF because he had a rough night's sleep, huh?

Craig's the most alcoholic of them all.

A flawed hero like Bourne and Batman. Craig has shown us a different side to Bond and has given the franchise a change it needed. Too many years of suave and Bond been superman like.

Jimmy Bond

I think Craig's Bond is an anti-hero.

And, for my money, he did play a Superman Bond in QOS, and to an extent CR.