Is Craig an "Autistic" Bond?

Gassy Man

Okay, hear me out. Those who've followed my posts on this board know I'm a big Craig supporter and have been thankful for his resuscitation of the Bond franchise. The purpose of this post is not to insult him or invite ridicule.

But something curious happened the other day. I assign my students an evaluation paper, and while many of them watch TV and movies, it's clear they have little real understanding of either medium. So, for instance, they often fail to understand just what an actor does other than "pretend to be someone else." They frequently confuse actors with the characters they play.

So, I showed them a clip of Connery in Thunderball and then a clip of Craig in Casino Royale, to both illustrate acting and different approaches to playing the same character. One thing that became very clear in the Connery scene -- the Mustang with Fiona Volpe -- was the sheer range of Connery's facial expressions and body language, as well as how he modulated his voice. While the movements were often relatively subtle, Connery managed to demonstrate amusement, bemusement, concern, irritation, competitiveness, humor, and so forth with little more than his eyes or a slight movement of his mouth, and his voice was equally effective. The students picked all this out with ease.

When I showed a scene with Craig -- the bit when he arrives by plane in the Bahamas up to the SUV parking -- it was obvious that Craig's expression never changed, a fact the students clearly noticed, too. They said Connery did so much more, while Craig was just a strong physical presence in the scene. They said all he seemed to be doing was trying to have blank expression while doing something cool.

I always thought that when he was seducing Solange, Craig's expressions were more like he didn't fully comprehend what was going on versus searching in her face for answers. Craig's Bond seems to develop more as the film continues, but for a large portion of the movie, he seems not just out of touch with his feelings but not really capable of understanding them, at least judging by Craig's expressions.

Did anyone else sense this? Could Craig have made a decision to more or less treat Bond as a high-functioning autistic for the first film?

Charmed & Dangerous

Haha, always good to court controversy, Gassy Man! )

DC does deliberately play Bond fairly deadpan - after all, which of us wouldn't be slightly alarmed at doing Bond's dangerous job? - and maybe keeping a deadpan face to give away nothing is part of his training.

Also and more importantly perhaps, I think you could have showed them better clips. DC'S Bond shows amusement when he sees the German Range Rover driver and friend running towards his car; and again when he says 'Guten Abend' to the same guy at the bar. And he shows terror when being tortured by Le Chiffre, and a whole host of emotions throughout the poker scenes and when Vesper dies.

Finally, I've noticed that each actors's performance in their first Bond film is always a little more wooden: Brosnan's certainly was before he relaxed into the role in TND, ditto Dalton's in TLD is not as much fun as LTK. And Connery's performance in Dr No is nowhere near as relaxed and polished as Thunderball. I think it's because there is so much riding on the first film. -{

Thunderpussy

We'll never know the full story of an actor's "Take" on a character, but I do agree in CR Craig uses
much less facial expressions than he does in Skyfall for instance.
Also you have to take into account how the actor has been told to play it from advice from Director
and Producers.
In CR DC does have a range of emotions which he clearly shows. The laughter and happiness with Vesper.
The betrayal, the almost shock after the fight on the staircase, the tenderness to Vesper in the hotel shower.
Evolving to Skyfall where he adds smirks, sly smiles etc to his already established range.
I also agree with C&D that most of the Bond actors don't give their best performance in their first outing as
Bond.
On a side note GM, ...............
.... I do hope you forgive all my gramar and spelling mistakes. )

Gassy Man

Haha, you tell people you teach writing, and they get nervous -- it's like having a relative who is a cop. Don't worry, TP, not only do I not police it, but my own writing is full of errors, as I'm off the clock and rarely bother to proofread.

Regarding you're point C & D, I think you're right that the clips aren't quite comparable. I do think Craig is more stoic overall, but he does get better as the films continue. Connery, though, was pretty solid right out of the gate. I rank his dinner scene with Dr. No among the best confrontation scenes of the series, too. Craig, as both you and TP suggest, does get more animated in other scenes, but he still seems mostly one-note in many.

AlphaOmegaSin

If Craig has Autism, then Dalton had ADHD )

Sir Miles

Gassy Man wrote:

Regarding you're point C & D, I think you're right that the clips aren't quite comparable. I do think Craig is more stoic overall, but he does get better as the films continue. Connery, though, was pretty solid right out of the gate. I rank his dinner scene with Dr. No among the best confrontation scenes of the series, too. Craig, as both you and TP suggest, does get more animated in other scenes, but he still seems mostly one-note in many.

Is part of that not down to character evolution though ? With Connery/Bond obviously being more experienced...

Gassy Man

Sir Miles wrote:

Gassy Man wrote:

Regarding you're point C & D, I think you're right that the clips aren't quite comparable. I do think Craig is more stoic overall, but he does get better as the films continue. Connery, though, was pretty solid right out of the gate. I rank his dinner scene with Dr. No among the best confrontation scenes of the series, too. Craig, as both you and TP suggest, does get more animated in other scenes, but he still seems mostly one-note in many.

Is part of that not down to character evolution though ? With Connery/Bond obviously being more experienced...

That's a good point, though the way Craig approached things, it seemed more like his character at first didn't understand emotions as opposed to was learning to deal with his own emotions with greater range and maturity. I can see why he did it this way -- we're supposed to see this Bond's vulnerability as the film continues. But it's almost like the contrast is too much -- in terms of the emotions or lack thereof, he seems to have taken cues from David Bowie's The Man Who Fell to Earth, as though typical emotions and their expression are alien to him. That's what got me thinking that maybe he saw Bond as somewhat autistic.

Sir Miles

Or maybe he's bored of this 'simple' work...he doesn't quite understand what's at stake, until later in the movie...? Like it's just routine stuff to him - such as a training exercise...it's only later he realises you can have fun with this work...

Gassy Man

Sir Miles wrote:

Or maybe he's bored of this 'simple' work...he doesn't quite understand what's at stake, until later in the movie...? Like it's just routine stuff to him - such as a training exercise...it's only later he realises you can have fun with this work...

I suspect that's something along the lines. But when I asked the students to explain what emotions they thought his facial expressions were showing, they were stumped.

Thunderpussy

I blame the Teacher ... ) {:)

Barbel

I blame the actor....

Sir Miles

Barbel wrote:

I blame the actor....

I blame the Scotsman :v

Barbel

To expand-

Ian Fleming once said (and I paraphrase), that James Bond was who every man wanted to be and every woman wanted between her sheets. I have always found that Sean Connery fits that to a T, and his successors in the role struggle (we can argue endlessly over that point, but my tuppenceworth- 2 cents to US readers- would be that Moore and Brosnan frequently succeeded while Dalton and Lazenby were more hit and miss, more often hit). I just do not get that feeling with Craig. He's improved over his 3 movies, but IMHO does not make me want to be in his shoes.

Barbel

Sir Miles wrote:

I blame the Scotsman :v

Me for not admiring Craig or Sir Sean for setting the benchmark?

Sir Miles

It is odd...I have no argument with any if the actors that have played Bond - I think Lazenby does a great job in the best film in the series...and I'd happily have swapped places with any of them...but more so with DC...maybe it's because he's my age...?

Thunderpussy

I have posted before. I regard Connery as the origin of the species.
All following actors can only be compared to him, )

Barbel

Maybe you're right, Sir Miles, it's an age thing. I've been into Bond since the 60s and Connery set a high standard then. And like TP says, he's the origin of the species and all the others must be held up against him. I love ALL the Bond movies (let me say that upfront) irrespective of the actor playing 007, although obviously some more than others.
It's my feeling that the current Craig hype will die when another actor takes over the part, and things will be seen in better perspective then. And Connery will still be seen as the benchmark.

Thunderpussy

I think D Craig will go down as one of the best Bonds ever. -{

always shaken

Thunderpussy wrote:

I think D Craig will go down as one of the best Bonds ever. -{

until the next one comes along

Thunderpussy

You think him better ?
No, just different ! )

Sir Miles

always shaken wrote:

Thunderpussy wrote:

I think D Craig will go down as one of the best Bonds ever. -{

until the next one comes along

That tends to be true...but, for me..it will depend upon the direction the next actor/movies take...I'll probably still enjoy them ( I'm one of the few the like CR'67) but maybe not as much as the DC Bond movies...

Thunderpussy

Liking ( CR67) now that must be the smallest club in the world. )

Sir Miles

Thunderpussy wrote:

Liking ( CR67) now that must be the smallest club in the world. )

That AND prefering QoS to the other DC Bond movies -{

Thunderpussy

) , if we were sitting on a bus, right about now I'd be moving away. )

Charmed & Dangerous

In the scenes whe we see DC having fun- and they are generally the ones involving women ) - I do think he lives up to Fleming's point about Bond being who every man wants to be (and there's little doubt about the man women want beneath the sheets... ) )

Thunderpussy

Funnily enough that's how many people describe ME ! )

Barbel

You must give us the names of their oculists.

Higgins

Thunderpussy wrote:

) , if we were sitting on a bus, right about now I'd be moving away. )

..and he was not even farting - like he usually does :v

Thunderpussy

It's like a breath of fresh air, reading your post. )

Sir Miles

Higgins wrote:

Thunderpussy wrote:

) , if we were sitting on a bus, right about now I'd be moving away. )

..and he was not even farting - like he usually does :v

I think he'd be running away from your awful trainers )

Blackleiter

Gassy Man wrote:

One thing that became very clear in the Connery scene -- the Mustang with Fiona Volpe -- was the sheer range of Connery's facial expressions and body language, as well as how he modulated his voice. While the movements were often relatively subtle, Connery managed to demonstrate amusement, bemusement, concern, irritation, competitiveness, humor, and so forth with little more than his eyes or a slight movement of his mouth, and his voice was equally effective.

Absolutely spot on about Connery. And this reminds us again that despite what some may say about his being more of a "presence" than anything else, Connery is a very solid actor who manages to convey quite a bit while seeming to do very little. Couple that with his natural appeal and charisma and it's no wonder that even very good actors like Dalton and Craig have an extremely uphill battle trying to compete with him. As to your point, I seriously doubt Craig is deliberately portraying Bond as being autistic, although it's an interesting theory. I believe he is trying to show that Bond has closed himself to the world, at least emotionally, because he believes that's what is required to be effective in his job. But he also shows us the cracks in that veneer from time to time to remind us of Bond's ultimate humanity and the toll it takes on a man to be a Double O. That's one of the reasons I like Craig's Bond films as much as I do - because the layers are there, and they are taken seriously.