Mel Gibson interview about Bond around 1988

Number24

Short, but interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eMrrER38-EY#t=16

I suspect some actors mix up being offered the part with being asked if you're interested.

Thunderpussy

Given how his career has gone, I bet he'd kill for a part
in a Bond now ! )

AlphaOmegaSin

Would of been an awful Bond anyway. Funny to Note that the Interviewer got the Titles the wrong way round.

Mr Mallory

I wonder if he was just saying he wasn't a fan of the Roger Moore Bonds. )

Higgins

Looks like he's under a lot of 'speed' or something else in that interview.....

Number24

I actually think he had the potential to be a very good Bond. His nationallity and hig...hm ta...... well, one particular physical trait might have been a problem, but not insurmountable at all. He had the looks, talent for action scenes, love of torture scenes, charm and starpower to do it. He also has darker sides that might be both a plus and a liability to the part.

David Schofield

Thunderpussy wrote:

Given how his career has gone, I bet he'd kill for a part
in a Bond now ! )

Well, didn't Gibbo literally want to kill Timothy Dalton personally at one point? )

Unusual ethnic group for Mr Gibsons' hatred. -{

Thunderpussy

But every time he got arrested, for drink and drug use or for his
Racist and anti jewish views, he would have hurt the Bond image.
Liked him in the leathal weapon films but for me at lease he was
Never Bond material.

AlphaOmegaSin

I agree, he is a Racist Tosspot.

Number24

But he would have been bond in the Dalton/early Brosnan erea. Gibson didn't have a racist/drunk reputation then.

David Schofield

Number24 wrote:

But he would have been bond in the Dalton/early Brosnan erea. Gibson didn't have a racist/drunk reputation then.

Do you think he just grew into being a racist as he got older? 8-)

Number24

No, but he knew to shut up before.... Or he might have grown into a racist. I think we need to remember the nicest actor who ever played Bond was also the least good Bond.

Thunderpussy

Well they do say you get more right wing as you get older, it
Happened to that Hitler bloke. ) As far as I'm concerned
The Bond films dodged a bullet by not getting him. I don't
Care if he's a great actor, if he's a racist scumbag I wouldn't
Want to support his films. It's all history now anyway.

Number24

He has a plan to make a viking film and he is a briliant director, regardless of his personal life. I still hope he will make the first good viking film!

Thunderpussy

Have you forgotten The Vikings 1958 with K Douglas and T Curtis )

AlphaOmegaSin

He is also very Anti - English I believe.

Thunderpussy

I believe he was once attacked by a breakfast muffin, resents it still.

Maybe he's becoming a really grumpy old git who.hates everyone. )

AlphaOmegaSin

As a Youngin, I just Love everyone )

Blackleiter

Thunderpussy wrote:

Well they do say you get more right wing as you get older, it
Happened to that Hitler bloke. ) As far as I'm concerned
The Bond films dodged a bullet by not getting him. I don't
Care if he's a great actor, if he's a racist scumbag I wouldn't
Want to support his films. It's all history now anyway.

Amen!

Charmed & Dangerous

Number24 wrote:

.... we need to remember the nicest actor who ever played Bond was also the least good Bond.

Dalton was the nicest actor who ever played Bond?

Seriously, all the actors who played Bond have been great in the role, and Sir Rog was and still is, in many people's eyes*, the only and only Bond. He could play it for laughs and he could also play it ice cold, such as the scene with Locque in FYEO, and with Amasova in TSWLM when she mentions Bond's wife. :007)

(* except BL ) )

Firemass

Blackleiter

Charmed & Dangerous wrote:

Number24 wrote:

.... we need to remember the nicest actor who ever played Bond was also the least good Bond.

Dalton was the nicest actor who ever played Bond?

Seriously, all the actors who played Bond have been great in the role, and Sir Rog was and still is, in many people's eyes*, the only and only Bond. He could play it for laughs and he could also play it ice cold, such as the scene with Locque in FYEO, and with Amasova in TSWLM when she mentions Bond's wife. :007)

(* except BL ) )

Thank you for acknowledging me as an oasis of sanity in the desert of absurdity in which Ole Rog would be viewed as "the only Bond"! )

Gassy Man

Firemass wrote:

Yeah, haha, the graph is misleadingly out of proportion, but I was going to post that if people thought Craig was too short to play Bond (he isn't), their heads would explode if Mel Gibson played the part.

David Schofield

Gassy Man wrote:

Firemass wrote:

Yeah, haha, the graph is misleadingly out of proportion, but I was going to post that if people thought Craig was too short to play Bond (he isn't), their heads would explode if Mel Gibson played the part.

Worse thing is, though, that Gibbo's rangy build, and tendency not to bulk up too much, actually make him look longer and leaner than Craigy whose desire to bulk up (dare one say in the absence of prettiness?) makes him look shorter and squatter.

A well-photographed Craig LAYER CAKE size would have worked better for Bond. That and his haircut from that film or QOS.

AlphaOmegaSin

In the Books, Bond is described as being quit tall.

David Schofield

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

In the Books, Bond is described as being quit tall.

And not as tall as most of the actors playing the part. And not as short as either Mr Gibson or the current lead on EON's payroll, Mr Craig.

Indeed, Brozza is the closest to the books size. Height and weight. Oh, and hair colour.

Number24

Gassy Man wrote:

Firemass wrote:

Yeah, haha, the graph is misleadingly out of proportion, but I was going to post that if people thought Craig was too short to play Bond (he isn't), their heads would explode if Mel Gibson played the part.

According to the net, most of these heights are wrong. Connery is 6'2'', Lazenby is 6' 2''
Roger Moore height is 6ft 1.5in and Timothy Dalton height is 6ft 1.75in (some say 6'2'') and Mel Gibson height is 5ft 9.5in.

chrisisall

Thunderpussy wrote:

I believe he was once attacked by a breakfast muffin, resents it still.

Attila the bun.

Gassy Man

David Schofield wrote:

Gassy Man wrote:

Firemass wrote:

Yeah, haha, the graph is misleadingly out of proportion, but I was going to post that if people thought Craig was too short to play Bond (he isn't), their heads would explode if Mel Gibson played the part.

Worse thing is, though, that Gibbo's rangy build, and tendency not to bulk up too much, actually make him look longer and leaner than Craigy whose desire to bulk up (dare one say in the absence of prettiness?) makes him look shorter and squatter.

A well-photographed Craig LAYER CAKE size would have worked better for Bond. That and his haircut from that film or QOS.

Contemporary propensity to over-rely on torso and close up framing of actors doesn't help. I was watching the Skyfall production videos where the actors were filmed from a distance rather than right in their faces and was once again reminded that they and the sets can look very different if filmed in full frame. Craig in particular looks taller and leaner, but with so many shots close up, the eye never really sees much of the line of his body. When we do, the wrong angle makes him look shorter. The same goes for lighting -- when Craig's features look darker, he is much more defined.

Dalkowski110

It's funny, but after taking a bit of a hiatus from the site for a while (some issues with physical illness, then had to help organize a reunion), this was the very first thread I actually clicked on. Accidentally, but there you go. I responded first on the James Bond Car Collection thread, but intended to respond here after thinking it over. Because this actually does raise a very interesting question.

Suppose Mel Gibson had no problems whatsoever in his personal life. Suppose he wasn't an anti-Semitic lunatic. Suppose he wasn't short. Well, you still have one HUGE problem: his opinion of the British.

Face it: whoever portrays James Bond has to at least like Great Britain the country and the people, even if not whatever government is in power. If you get a guy who is like Gibson in his anti-British attitude where he's constantly criticizing "the British" (as a blanket entity), but even if he's an otherwise is a perfectly rational individual well-suited to the role of a sophisticated secret agent, it still just wouldn't work.

chrisisall

The mere fact he was considered still makes me cringe.