Why depict an aging Bond?
usmguy25
Posts: 1MI6 Agent
In Skyfall, they show an aging bond closing in on retirement. This is the first time ever this has been done that i can think of. I thought James Bond to be a timeless character?? Does this foreshadow and end to the series or in ten years will he have reversed the aging phenomenon?
Comments
Never Say Never Again made great play of the fact that Bond was getting older but it's never really been acknowledged in the Eon films. They didn't even directly deal with it in Skyfall (the problem was specifically related to the fact that Bond was unfit due to his injury / lack of training and had perhaps been playing the game "too long".) It was more like subtext.
I really wouldn't worry about it foreshadowing the end of the series.
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
in Skyfall. I know Mallory mentions it's a young mans game, But Craig's
face as Bond seems to have Derision on it, as he dismisses the comment
with the "Hire me or fire me " remark.
Or are you suggesting Craig-Bond is 38 in SKYFALL in the same way as Roger-Bond is in AVTAK?
Unfortunatley, Craig's decision, or Mendes', or whoever came up with it, for the SKYFALL face meant Bond looks closer to just south of 50 than just south of 40, whatever the chronology intended.
Amusingly that's not far off the truth, but I did mean late 30's/early 40's. Your quote does hit on the truth though as most long serving special forces in their mid thirties actually look a good 10 to 15 years older.
And obviously explains Cubby's continued employment of Rog in the 1980s.
Though perhaps not why Craig-Bond seems to have aged TEN years BETWEEN QOS and SKYFALL...
Yes, well, they do seem intent on revisiting that clapped-out old warhorse James Bond era ihn Skyfall. It's also rather like the James Bond of Raymond Benson's Doubleshot (2000).
Not a huge fan of Benson, but at least his DOUBLESHOT Bond had been doped by the Union(? ) so at least he had an excuse for being knackered and behaving un-Bond-like.
But I'm still waiting for the the explanation for Craig-Bond going off the rails.
True.
Maybe we'll get that explanation in the next James Bond film to be released "by 2016"(?) Only time will tell if this is the case so we'll all have to wait.
Depleted uranium in your blood stream isn't exactly conducive to a healthy lifestyle
Two doses then: the one from Patrice... and the one from some else we didn't see.
Cos Craigy looks just as knacked at the very start of the film as he does after what (?) - his pretentious "re-birth".
Without the "this DOES make me shagged out", erm, beard????
I've said elsewhere, Fleming had the good-grace to mature, age and weary Bond over time and events. EON went with a shotgun splurge approach.
I'll say. Fleming's Bond ages very slowly: In MR, Bond's year of birth is 1916 / 1917 whilst by You Only Live Twice, his year of birth has shifted to 1924/25.
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
...making him about 9 when he buys his Bentley, and maybe 14 when he won 1m francs in Monte Carlo! Personally I find it's best to just ignore all the date stuff; as has been said, 007 is always within a year or two of 40 now whenever now is, irrespective of the age of the current actor or who's writing the book/script.
Some series characters can age in real time, or be replaced by heirs (even Next Generations) while some can't. Bond shouldn't be 20 (too young to have earned his position) or 60 (too old to do his job) so he's 40, give or take.
The task of the actor cast as Bond (among others, of course) is to convince us that he is in that age bracket- Connery was technically too young at first, though he pulled it off, and Moore was too old at the end of his tenure (and arguably didn't, though he always appeared younger than his actual age). Lazenby was too young (29) though that wasn't a problem; Dalton and Brosnan succeeded; Craig's age is about right although he does look older than his years.
LOL, it would have taken some cheek if in the scene in Zorin's office, his x-ray/"Batcomputer" said something like, "Real Identity: James Bond, Age: 42"
I did say arguably!!!
Would that be in Dog years ?
I think the idea was that He did look Rough for Skyfall
so we could see the change after his sexy shaving
scene.
Bond was supposed to look older than Q but not ancient. As has been said before, it's DC's lack of body fat which has aged him, along with the too-short hair, and as TP mentions, the beard. The bloodshot eyes he has while enjoying death and back in M's home also add to the effect.
But I don't think the intention was to make him look old - just a bit dissolute, tired and weary, and of course a few years older than Q.
Problem was he had the shave and still looked rough
True. I had forgotten about that, but then I've only seen the film once so far.
Well, Craig Bond's nearing the age Fleming had agents reture from the double-o section in his third Bond novel, Moonraker - 45 years.
Poor old Rog started off past retirement age!
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
As a surface narrative, it doesn't amount to much. It may be a hangover from the original script, where Bond had tried to bump off M as with the opener of the novel TMWTGG, and had to prove he was psychologically fit for duty.
But I felt that it would have been better to have Craig play Bond in OHMSS, and Lazenby play Bond as the young fella in CR leading up to SF. But here we have it: Lazenby was a tall fella, Craig aint. There would be something even more odd for a six footer to still have issues past 40, whereas shorties can get away with that Tom Cruise still on a learning curve schtick.
Otherwise, well, again hypothetical but really, watching the Cavill Man of Steel trailer, it would make sense for him to be the right age to be walking through that padded door of M's office now. Now he looks like the real deal.
And the new M would be a generation ahead, whereas surely he's the same age range as Craig now.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Although the age gap between Fiennes and Craig is almost exactly the same as the age gap between Robert Brown and Roger Moore, so at least there is precedent.
11- TB. 12- OP. 13- LALD. 14- TMWTGG. 15- FYEO. 16- YOLT. 17- TND. 18- QoS.
19- TWINE. 20- AVTAK. 21- MR. 22- DAF. 23- DAD.
the poundage and rallied for NSNA. Moore was the most noticeable of course and it didn't help that he was hired on past forty. If they are going to have actors make
anywhere between four to six films, they really need to look at men in their mid thirties. Lazenby may have been the youngest but I thought he looked just right. Brosnan was also fine and wasn't aging too fast. Craig's problem is he was already 38 in CR, and that would be ok if they could do en entry every two years, but given the complexities of the business now, it's a miracle to get these huge productions out in that short time frame. If he had been 3 or 4 years younger, his current appearance would not be discussed as it is. My suggestion is that he get some laser resurfacing done before his next one (it's a quick fix and would take a few years off him) as well as add another five to ten pounds)...but then I also keep saying he needs to darken the hair.
"Did someone say 'laser'?"
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Who has lived life with a big L, & suffered pain with a big P,
( Althought that might just be a prostate problem.
I mean, how DO you explain a bloke having gone from 38 to 65 in 6 years?