Bond by an American Actor? (Jonathan Hamm)

DarkSavant13

I just watched Mad Men seasons 1-5 on Netflix, one right after another and the more I watched the more I became convinced of something, Jonathan Hamm (aka Mad Men's Donald Draper) would make one hell of a Bond!

I am an avid Bond fan, have been since I was a kid (I'm 42) and would NEVER have considered that an American actor should play Bond until watching Jonathan Hamm, in Mad Men, as a sort of amalgamation of all Bonds (with the exclusion of George Lazenby, lol). I know, a part of me cries "SACRILEGE! You can't have an American Bond!", but a much larger part of me kept expecting Jonathan Hamm to pull out a Walther PPK, stop by for a visit with "Q", etc. while watching Mad Men. -{

Bond has been played by Scots and Irish, why not open up the field to a British stepchild (aka American )? I say that if Jonathan Hamm can pull off a normal British accent that he should be afforded the chance to play Bond. If you haven't seen the Mad Men series (as I hadn't until recently) you should take a look at Jonathan Hamm's performance as Donald Draper and you just may agree with me. I've not seen anyone more perfect for the part since Sean Connery (though Roger Moore was fun and Pierce Brosnan was damn good). Jonathan Hamm seems to me to have the best of each Bond in one package. I've also not seen another American born actor that seems so... "British gentleman", even without the accent.

Here's a couple of photos in case ya don't know what he looks like.

Lexi

This discussion has come up before....but nope, I don't want an American actor to play Bond.

Ever!

:007)

chrisisall

Lexi wrote:

This discussion has come up before....but nope, I don't want an American actor to play Bond.

Ever!

:007)

That'd be like a Brit playing Batman! No way. X-(
(But chrisisall the last one WAS a Brit, Supes as well )
Oh... then I guess it really doesn't matter after all.

Seriously, I get your POV Lexi, but if an actor from America, Canada or even Austria could pull off a flawless English accent, why not? I mean, it's not the Olympics, is it?

That said, I'm not keen on Hamm's look for a Bond.

Lexi

chrisisall wrote:

Lexi wrote:

This discussion has come up before....but nope, I don't want an American actor to play Bond.

Ever!

:007)

That'd be like a Brit playing Batman! No way. X-(
(But chrisisall the last one WAS a Brit, Supes as well )
Oh... then I guess it really doesn't matter after all.

Seriously, I get your POV Lexi, but if an actor from America, Canada or even Austria could pull off a flawless English accent, why not? I mean, it's not the Olympics, is it?

That said, I'm not keen on Hamm's look for a Bond.

Hey, I didn't mind Renee Z play the quintessential Brit girl Bridget Jones....

But for me, Bond is British...and should be played by one. There are lots of other roles that can be crossed over, but I want to retain 1 character to be played by someone from here....

Anyone and everyone else is up for grabs!

Barbel

chrisisall wrote:

a flawless English accent.

Not a prerequisite. A flawless British accent, perhaps.

Sir Miles

I just don't see John Hamm as James Bond...he just doesn't look like him, imo...I've never seen him act, so I can't comment on that...but on looks alone - and too many seem hung up on looks nowadays 8-) - he just doesn't cut it for me...

Thunderpussy

If at the time the best actor was an American, I wouldn't mind. -{

Charmed & Dangerous

I'm coming round to TP's way of thinking. My wife asked me the other day if Jonny Depp was British, I can see why she might think that as he's so convincing doing different accents its hard to know.

If the best candidate was American, unknown enough that our reception of him wasn't too focused in him being American or British, and he could do the accent well enough - then I'd be happy.

Higgins

The J. Hamm proposal is nothing new and has been done a lot of time here.

What's worse than having a scotsman with "Scotland forever" tattoo on his arm playing a british agent?
Or an Aussie?
Or an irishman?

I would have loved seeing Cary Grant in the role - certainly there are some US actors who could take the role but Craig is contracted for another one or two - so all these discussions don't make sense and have a tendency to bring up national clichees -imo {[]

Barbel

8-) The Scotsman IS British, BT. So was Cary Grant- from your context it sounds like you think he was from USA.

Higgins

:v you ask Connery that question, Barbel....

As for Grant - I honestly thought that he was american. Sorry my fault...

Thunderpussy

Cary Grant (born Archibald Alexander Leach ) was an English stage and Hollywood film actor who became an American citizen in 1942.

Even Bob Hope is English. )

and most of the American Actors I like turn out to be Canadian.

Only Michael Caine is American ( He puts that accent on ) )

Barbel

I think we all know what Connery would say (he's known for his views), but it doesn't alter the fact that he was born in Edinburgh. In Scotland. In Britain. He's British, just like James Bond :007)

Barbel

Thunderpussy wrote:

Only Michael Caine is American ( He puts that accent on ) )

"Facts about Michael Caine- May Not Be True"

Sir Miles

Barbel wrote:

Thunderpussy wrote:

Only Michael Caine is American ( He puts that accent on ) )

"Facts about Michael Caine- May Not Be True"

Not a lot of people know that

Sir Hillary Bray

Jonathan? Never heard him called that.

I'm a huge Mad Men fan, so know Hamm's work well. To me, he actually looks the part of Fleming's first description of Bond -- facially at least. But I have serious dounts he could be credible in an action role.

And to top it off...even though it makes no logical sense, I don't want an American portraying Bond. I say this as a proud American.

So, no.

hehadlotsofguts

We've had an Australian actor as Bond so why not an American as long as he has the look and can pull off a convincing Brit accent. That's fine with me

Blackleiter

hehadlotsofguts wrote:

We've had an Australian actor as Bond so why not an American as long as he has the look and can pull off a convincing Brit accent. That's fine with me

I agree that an American actor with a flawless British accent could pull it off. But for me an added prerequisite would be that the actor be unknown (or at least barely known). Otherwise I think my response would be "Hey, it's Jon Hamm (or whomever) pretending he's James Bond". That would ruin the movie for me.

hehadlotsofguts

Blackleiter wrote:

I agree that an American actor with a flawless British accent could pull it off. But for me an added prerequisite would be that the actor be unknown (or at least barely known). Otherwise I think my response would be "Hey, it's Jon Hamm (or whomever) pretending he's James Bond". That would ruin the movie for me.

Sort of like GL (as an Australian) as he was virtually unknown as he wasn't an actor before OHMSS.

Thunderpussy

He wasn't an Actor after OHMSS either )

Sorry, I couldn't resist. {[]

Barbel

We're sorry too!

Higgins

yesss, ban him!!!

Barbel

He's well behind YOU in the queue

Higgins

)

I would not object if he jumped the line

Napoleon Plural

I think the producers object if the actor has a different accent in real life, it makes it harder to work the chat show circuit. This was never a problem with most previous actors (not sure about Lazenby really). I read a story albeit in the Mail about how they were keen on Sean Bean in the role pre GE, but his Sheffield accent was so strong he would have to do his (southern or posh) English accent for the role and the two just didn't marry up. It sort of makes sense. Sadly, not many Brits an avoid the regional accent thing so it limits the pool.

Thunderpussy

) There is an art ( and rules, in thr UK) to queuing Bondtoys. I couldn't
live with all the dirty looks from others.

esseUK

I just don't see how this would work. 8-)

L Jones

I just don't see how this would work. ajb007/rolleyes

Why? Barry Nelson, an American, once portrayed Bond. And he gave a pretty good performance. Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed by American actors. Batman and Superman have been portrayed by British actors. Why engage in such limited thinking when it comes to casting?

Blackleiter

L Jones wrote:

I just don't see how this would work. ajb007/rolleyes

Why? Barry Nelson, an American, once portrayed Bond. And he gave a pretty good performance. Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed by American actors. Batman and Superman have been portrayed by British actors. Why engage in such limited thinking when it comes to casting?

While I generally agree with your point, Barry Nelson isn't a good example. He played Jimmy Bond, an Americanized version of 007. He did not portray British agent James Bond.

chrisisall

Blackleiter wrote:

While I generally agree with your point, Barry Nelson isn't a good example. He played Jimmy Bond, an Americanized version of 007. He did not portray British agent James Bond.

Kind of painful, actually.

L Jones

He played Jimmy Bond, an Americanized version of 007. He did not portray British agent James Bond.

"Jimmy" Bond is still James Bond. And American or not, Nelson gave a good performance.

This thinking that James Bond has to be portrayed by a British actor strikes me as a good example of a narrow mentality. If people continue to insist that a British actor portrays Bond, then I think a campaign should be started to have Henry Cavill replaced as Superman with an American-born actor.