What would Moore's Films have been like with Dalton?

RogueAgent007

I recently heard that Dalton was offered the role after DAF, but turned it down because he was only in his twenties at the time and felt he was too young to be believable.

1) has anyone else heard of this? Or am I just remembering it wrong?

2) Would that have been good or not? I can't help but wonder because I love Dalton's portrayal and would have loved to see him do more films. Thing is though, I really like Moore in some of those, and have trouble picturing them being done with anyone else.

What do you think?

Firemass

Sean Connery should have played Bond from 1962 to 1989. End of discussion.

just kidding

Given the high ratio of hardcore Dalton fans on AJB I'm sure they would have loved to see Tim in The Spy Who Loved Me.

James Suzuki

It would have been, different to say the least.
Im with the gang who think keeping George in would have been awesome with a proper ending to OHMSS and Blofeld.

Higgins

Good heavens!

The 007 franchise would have been killed mouse-dead after 2 movies!

RogueAgent007

James Suzuki wrote:

It would have been, different to say the least.
Im with the gang who think keeping George in would have been awesome with a proper ending to OHMSS and Blofeld.

what an interesting position! I've never thought about it. Since Moore was given a couple of movies to find his stride, who knows what would have happened had George been given the same. Hmmm...

Asp9mm

Bondtoys wrote:

Good heavens!

The 007 franchise would have been killed mouse-dead after 2 movies!

Or indeed, it could have kept the series thriving like a mole.

Peppermill

I seem to remember that Dalton was asked to play 007 after YOLT, not DAF. I like Moore in his 7 movies.

RogueAgent007

Peppermill wrote:

I seem to remember that Dalton was asked to play 007 after YOLT, not DAF. I like Moore in his 7 movies.

Dalton in OHMSS?! OH my! :x That would have been ... awesome! Hillary Bray might have been weird, tho.

Silhouette Man

Yes, I'd have loved to have seen DAF with George Lazenby, even LALD with George Lazenby - both more serious than the camp fun we got, one imagines, though I do love Roger Moore's seven movies. If 'if' and 'ands' were pots and pans...etc.

Nick37

It's a tough call to make. I think the films would have kept a closer tone to Connery's films than Moore's. Moore made it clear he couldn't be Connery, so the later scripts were tailored to his strengths. Dalton would have been right at home in LALD, it's definitely one of Moore's serious outings. I think Dalton would have gotten used to quips over the course of playing Bond. His quips are different in tone than Moore's, but Dalton's humor is more droll. When he drops a one-liner, he doesn't seem as self-aware as Moore, IMO. Dalton really only got TLD to "quip" as it were. The tone of LTK was too serious for many one-liners.

I don't think TSWLM would have been terribly different with Dalton as opposed to Moore. He drove a tricked out car in TLD with no problem, so I think he'd have been fine in an underwater Lotus, if they'd retained that in a Dalton version. Moore gives one of his best performances in the scene when Anya finds out Bond killed her lover, but I think an actor like Dalton would have knocked it out of the park.

The tone of the films would be certainly less funny, but after seeing, TLD, I don't think they'd have been vastly different. Again, Dalton pulls off the comedic elements leftover from Moore in TLD. They just wouldn't be as in-your-face funny, and maybe a little more believable.

As for the history, I believe Dalton was asked in 68, and 71 (For OHMSS and after DAF), but both times felt he was too young. He declined FYEO because he didn't like the comedic flavor the films had taken. He was a consideration, but was never formally asked for Octopussy and AVTAK, and then he turned TLD down before Brosnan had to pass and then he was able to work it into his schedule. (From what I heard, he finished Brenda Starr on a Saturday, flew out to Gibraltar on Sunday, and started doing Bond closeups on Monday.

Brosnan_fan

Dalton doing LALD and FYEO? No problem. I could see him in OP, if some of the humour was omitted (the Tarzan yell and the gorilla suit come to mind).

I suppose I could imagine him in TMWTGG; the scene with Bond manhandling Andrea Anders would be right up his alley.

But really - Timothy Dalton, in unbelievable, over-the-top films like TSWLM and MR? NO FREAKIN' WAY!

As for AVTAK - well, that film shouldn't even exist! 8-)

DEFIANT 74205

I think that depends on whether the films would've been rewritten for Dalton's Bond. Clearly, Dalton in place of Moore in The Man with the Golden Gun or Moonraker as it is at present isn't going to work. If Dalton was indeed hired to replace Connery after Diamonds are Forever, the films following wouldn't have been written the way they were.