"Can I offer an opinion?"
"Stop. Touching. Your ear."
"Was that a compliment?"
"......Bitch"
"It's time to get out."
"If you wanted his soul, you should've made a deal with a priest."
But one that's stuck with me is his double delivery of...
"Whatever is left of me. (Vesper touches his face) Whatever. Is left..of me. Whatever I am. I'm yours."
But I could quote pretty much all of Quantum since most of what he said were one liners.
"that's because you know what I can do with my little finger"
"now that was a waste of a good Scotch"
he doesn't really have to project with any of these lines, the way say Moore's voice confidently booms out, or Dalton belts it out to the back row. His delivery is almost understated, but most of those lines are pretty damn intimidating.
I think they [Connery and Moore] both have very strong characteristics which make them easy to impersonate and lampoon. To my mind Daniel does not have this, I can't imagine how he could be impersonated.
Craig's style is maybe more visual. The walk, and especially the thing where he leans in close and gets in people's faces when he talks. You'd have to incorporate both of those to convey Craig's Bond.
But practice saying the lines "do I look like I give a damn?" and "I think I'll call you C". What are some other iconic CraigBond lines? seems like theres a bit of lipcurling as he delivers them, with an unflinching glower. He's considerably scarier than the previous Bonds.
Agreed. However I was only commenting on his voice (which is excellent) as it was the subject under discussion. His delivery is indeed a vital element as is his physicality. I think we are on the same page with this :007)
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Yeah, that's the thing with Craig. He doesn't need to overdo it, like Brosnan did a number of times.
Many people rag on him for that but honestly, I love it.
"Well, perhaps you're out of practice."
"Enjoying Death."
"Did you bring any chocolates with you?"
"It was either that or the priesthood."
Even the way he delivers "The name's Bond, James Bond." in Casino Royale has its own unique twist on it.
There's always that subtle hint of undercurrent of sorrow after Vesper's death.
Of course, I'm probably reading too much into that.
I stand by what I said in the opening post- Craig does get the right tone on occasion but tends to flatness: his voice is more of a monotone than, say, Moore's.
I stand by what I said in the opening post- Craig does get the right tone on occasion but tends to flatness: his voice is more of a monotone than, say, Moore's.
Because of this, I find that a lot of his one-liners fall flat. He's still better at them than Lazenby.
How does James Bond speak? For over 60 years we’ve been hearing various actors saying the lines written by Fleming (and others) trying to convince us that they are Bond, James Bond- obviously the iconic lines (the name, the drink order) but also their dialogue with the villains, their relationship with the ladies, etc. How do they stack up? This is not a critique of the actors’ performances- just their voices. Opinions will naturally vary but this is mine:
8) BARRY NELSON: Given a pass owing to the circumstances. Doesn’t sound like Bond, doesn’t even try to (how could he?).
7) GEORGE LAZENBY: Gets it right some of the time, but often sounds awkward.
6) DAVID NIVEN: Like Nelson, gets a pass owing to the circumstances. His natural voice is just fine for an 007 of the time.
5) DANIEL CRAIG: Tends to flatness, though gets it right on occasion.
4) PIERCE BROSNAN: Often hits just the right note, tendency to be glib.
3) ROGER MOORE: Beautiful voice, a pleasure to listen to. A dab hand at potentially corny lines others would struggle with.
2) TIMOTHY DALTON: Measured deep tones, weight given to the correct syllables. Minus a point for lack of humour, but overall a voice that could read the telephone book and be worth hearing.
1) SEAN CONNERY: Need I say more? Often imitated, never bettered. One-liners carried off effortlessly, women seduced instantaneously, put-downs delivered charmingly...
1) Without hesitation, I'd put Connery at the top, even as he let his own accent slip out more and more as the years went on. Connery's voice has the perfect masculine resonance and hint of danger but with polish.
2) Moore is next. He has the best overall diction and mellifluous sound, but it lacks the inherent threat of Connery's.
3) Believe it or not, I'd put Lazenby next. Though his Australian accent is obvious and his cadence sometimes seems off, he sounds like Bond to me but more like I imagine the fellow on the written page sounding. Fleming's descriptions never quite matched up with Connery or Moore, and Lazenby looks and sounds more like what I imagine the literary figure does.
4) Next would be Craig. He has a good voice for Bond, but the reason he slides to the middle is his diction, which is sometimes slushy. It's interesting because he's much more the thespian than others, so I would have thought it would be more clear. Listen to how he says "secrets," for instance, in the teaser of Casino Royale. Some of his lines are also not delivered with the right emphasis, such as the 'waste of good Scotch" line in Skyfall.
5, 6) Between Dalton and Brosnan is a tie, and interestingly enough, it has nothing to do with their actual voices. Dalton certainly sounds commanding, but his speech pattern is more like a Shakespearean play than a Bond film. Brosnan never quite figured out the right balance for his Bond -- I was watching Evelyn last night, and Brosnan was perfectly charming. I kept wishing he'd brought more of that to Bond, where his attempts at darkness often seemed unconvincing.
7, 8) David Niven and Barry Nelson were David Niven and Barry Nelson, completely likable fellows but nothing remarkable for Bond.
which of them have done voice-acting work for cartoons?
Craig voiced the villain in Spielberg's Tintin movie, very slimy as I recall, and I wouldn't have guessed that was James Bond if I did not know.
Brosnan was on a Simpsons TreeHouse of Horrors episode, as the voice of a Demon Seed style smart-house computer seducing Marge. The point was his voice was posh and manly, just what a lonely housewife could fall for. But therefor similar to Bond.
Don't know if any of the others ever did voice-acting work.
Other thing, is in Logan Lucky, Craig put on that hilarious hillbilly accent ("I'm a gunna git neckid"), and sure did not sound like James Bond. I don't know if any other Bond actor could have done that. Connery, for example, played a Russian submarine captain with a Shcottish accshent.
So, as far as being able to do different voices, Craig seems to be have the advantage.
Sean Connery did the voice of a dragon in Dragonheart. The two last jobs he did were voiceover. He was James Bond again in the FRWL computer game and himself in Sir Dili.
Well, Timothy Dalton on Toy Story 3 purposefully overplayed the welsh part of his accent on Mr Pricklepants, as a sort of a self-parody being "classically trained" et al.
which of them have done voice-acting work for cartoons?
Craig voiced the villain in Spielberg's Tintin movie, very slimy as I recall, and I wouldn't have guessed that was James Bond if I did not know.
Brosnan was on a Simpsons TreeHouse of Horrors episode, as the voice of a Demon Seed style smart-house computer seducing Marge. The point was his voice was posh and manly, just what a lonely housewife could fall for. But therefor similar to Bond.
Don't know if any of the others ever did voice-acting work.
Other thing, is in Logan Lucky, Craig put on that hilarious hillbilly accent ("I'm a gunna git neckid"), and sure did not sound like James Bond. I don't know if any other Bond actor could have done that. Connery, for example, played a Russian submarine captain with a Shcottish accshent.
So, as far as being able to do different voices, Craig seems to be have the advantage.
Timothy Dalton has done voice-acting for the English dubbed release of the Studio Ghibli film Tales of Earthsea. I watched it unknowingly and it turned out to be a great surprise.
which of them have done voice-acting work for cartoons?
Craig voiced the villain in Spielberg's Tintin movie, very slimy as I recall, and I wouldn't have guessed that was James Bond if I did not know.
Brosnan was on a Simpsons TreeHouse of Horrors episode, as the voice of a Demon Seed style smart-house computer seducing Marge. The point was his voice was posh and manly, just what a lonely housewife could fall for. But therefor similar to Bond.
Don't know if any of the others ever did voice-acting work.
Other thing, is in Logan Lucky, Craig put on that hilarious hillbilly accent ("I'm a gunna git neckid"), and sure did not sound like James Bond. I don't know if any other Bond actor could have done that. Connery, for example, played a Russian submarine captain with a Shcottish accshent.
So, as far as being able to do different voices, Craig seems to be have the advantage.
I thought the question was about Bond's voice, not which actor has the most vocal flexibility. Sean must have the most limited range, but in the early films he had a very good voice for Bond.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
quite right, Barbel's question is which actor has the definitive Bond voice. "How does James Bond speak?"
I just asked a related question to keep conversation going, because this is more pleasant than the Bond25 panic-mongering thread.
I agree, Connery equals definitive. Why? because he was first (if we don't count Barry Nelson, or the voice in that long-lost South African radio play)? popularity of those films? he's the coolest to imitate? I'd guess all three are factors.
Barbel mentioned David Niven. Peter Sellers actually "plays" Bond in the Fleming derived scenes in that movie, le Chiffre is meant to believe he is gambling against the"real" James Bond. Just want to point out Peter Sellers is the best voice actor of all recorded history, in this or any other universe. Just for the sake of saying it. But he's not doing a Connery imitation, or a Niven imitation (which would make sense within the logic of that film). I think he just continues the Evelyn Tremble voice, even though he is now code-named James Bond.
And actually, at the very start, Niven complains about this new fellow who has stolen his name, we presume he means Connery. Thus the public within that film's universe are familiar with the unseen young fellow (evidentally a public figure), not the retired original (Niven), Tremble should therefor have been imitating Connery's voice, not Niven's, if he wanted to fool anybody. All those codenamed Bond decoy-deputees should have been doing a Connery imitation.
Niven plays the part with a stutter. That's not how I ever imagined James Bond to talk.
I agree re Sellers' voice talents- he was remarkable (and this includes his radio and record work as well). Here he decided he wanted to play Tremble/Tremble-as-Bond as himself, and I'm paraphrasing here, in the way that Cary Grant played Cary Grant no matter what the part was, rather than come up with a voice for the character as he normally would. In other words, he wouldn't use Connery's voice, or Niven's for that matter, but his own- mostly, anyway ("the beggar in the marketplace", "Formula 3").
Whether that worked or not is of course for the viewer, but it was an interesting decision for him to make. In CR67, of course, it wouldn't have mattered terribly much.
Niven thankfully drops his stutter quite soon into the film, after the hideous sequences with Deborah Kerr, and speaks normally thereafter.
Hummm. This is an interesting question. Never gave it much notice because for me each actor is so different that comparing their voices with each other seems odd since they are only using their natural voice..and what is James Bond's voice supposed to sound like anyway? I don't recall Fleming every describing it in the books, though I may be wrong on that. Lazenby's is somewhat of an exception as he was attempting to tamp down his natural Aussie accent, but I still found it acceptable because it was a far cry from actor Paul Hogan's.
Connery often sounds like he's trying to talk a little more posh than his working class Scots background so it often sounds a bit unnatural to me. Lazenby's is fine - it fits his personality and the film, though when I read the novels I don't hear his voice as Bond's. Moore's is also ok - it's melodic and deep and suits him, but I also don't hear that when I'm reading the novels. Neither do I when I hear Brosnan's. It seems appropriate to him, but it comes across on a bit of the light side for me. Dalton and Craigs come closest to what I hear when I read the novels or even picture them in the scenes (save for their appearance - Dalton has that over Craig).
Given Bond's background according to Fleming, it's hard for me to image what he's supposed to sound like. He's born in the Scottish Highlands to a Scottish middle class father but has a Swiss mother - goes to Eton but ends up back in a Scots college and also is multi-lingual. Perhaps Tom Hiddleston might be close - he was born and raised in Wimbleton and Oxford and though not having the same parentage, he did go to Eton. I also have pictured a young Stewart Granger. Not only did he seem like could have played Bond or Fleming, but he was born in Kensington and his grandmother was Scots.
I would switch Craig and Brozza, but otherwise I agree with Barbel’s ranking. Pierce had to fight the Irish accent, and the result was sometimes strained.
Also, allow me to posit that Aidan Turner’s voice could be THE definitive Bond voice. It’ll never happen, but one can hope.
Given Bond's background according to Fleming, it's hard for me to image what he's supposed to sound like. He's born in the Scottish Highlands to a Scottish middle class father but has a Swiss mother - goes to Eton but ends up back in a Scots college and also is multi-lingual. Perhaps Tom Hiddleston might be close - he was born and raised in Wimbleton and Oxford and though not having the same parentage, he did go to Eton. I also have pictured a young Stewart Granger. Not only did he seem like could have played Bond or Fleming, but he was born in Kensington and his grandmother was Scots.
this is a good angle ... how should Bond talk given what Fleming tells us about his background?
Bond got kicked out of Eton, so maybe he wouldn't want to speak like someone who had the correct accent beaten into him. He may choose to retain the regional accent of his roots out of spite. But as you say he was already welltravelled as a child, his accent and vocabulary probably drift back and forth depending on who he's talking to, or even what he's talking about (I have friends who do this, switching languages within one sentence even, without being aware of it).
But of course his job as a spy means he needs to speak however strangers expect him to speak, meaning he's capable of consciously and persuasively switching voice depending in the situation. Like looking like he belongs in all those upper crust casinos. So he should have a natural voice and a repertoire of put-on voices.
Fleming may never have describe Bond's voice within the text, but he did have a few preferred actors in mind for the movie adaptations did he not?
Lets just say I do not picture Bond talking like Cary Grant, as much fun as it is to try to talk like Cary Grant.
Pierce had to fight the Irish accent, and the result was sometimes strained.
Pierce never had much of an Irish accent as an adult. He even said that as a kid he spoke with a London accent to fit in with others in South London. He had been living in the States for a while by the time he became Bond, so whatever accent he had before was softened. I see his accent as mid-Atlantic, without it being distinctly from any one place.
I thought he did a good job. He really suits a beard, looks very distinguished.
Although the N.irish accent sounds horrible, it's designed for threatening and
arguing not for romance.One comedian said it sounds like angry Scottish people
who've not had enough to drink. )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Comments
"Stop. Touching. Your ear."
"Was that a compliment?"
"......Bitch"
"It's time to get out."
"If you wanted his soul, you should've made a deal with a priest."
But one that's stuck with me is his double delivery of...
"Whatever is left of me. (Vesper touches his face) Whatever. Is left..of me. Whatever I am. I'm yours."
But I could quote pretty much all of Quantum since most of what he said were one liners.
"What makes you think this is my first time?"
"Well, it's all a matter of perspective"
"Do I look like I give a damn?"
"now that was a waste of a good Scotch"
he doesn't really have to project with any of these lines, the way say Moore's voice confidently booms out, or Dalton belts it out to the back row. His delivery is almost understated, but most of those lines are pretty damn intimidating.
Agreed. However I was only commenting on his voice (which is excellent) as it was the subject under discussion. His delivery is indeed a vital element as is his physicality. I think we are on the same page with this :007)
Many people rag on him for that but honestly, I love it.
"Well, perhaps you're out of practice."
"Enjoying Death."
"Did you bring any chocolates with you?"
"It was either that or the priesthood."
Even the way he delivers "The name's Bond, James Bond." in Casino Royale has its own unique twist on it.
There's always that subtle hint of undercurrent of sorrow after Vesper's death.
Of course, I'm probably reading too much into that.
Because of this, I find that a lot of his one-liners fall flat. He's still better at them than Lazenby.
https://youtu.be/K46Mg4csqFE
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
1) Without hesitation, I'd put Connery at the top, even as he let his own accent slip out more and more as the years went on. Connery's voice has the perfect masculine resonance and hint of danger but with polish.
2) Moore is next. He has the best overall diction and mellifluous sound, but it lacks the inherent threat of Connery's.
3) Believe it or not, I'd put Lazenby next. Though his Australian accent is obvious and his cadence sometimes seems off, he sounds like Bond to me but more like I imagine the fellow on the written page sounding. Fleming's descriptions never quite matched up with Connery or Moore, and Lazenby looks and sounds more like what I imagine the literary figure does.
4) Next would be Craig. He has a good voice for Bond, but the reason he slides to the middle is his diction, which is sometimes slushy. It's interesting because he's much more the thespian than others, so I would have thought it would be more clear. Listen to how he says "secrets," for instance, in the teaser of Casino Royale. Some of his lines are also not delivered with the right emphasis, such as the 'waste of good Scotch" line in Skyfall.
5, 6) Between Dalton and Brosnan is a tie, and interestingly enough, it has nothing to do with their actual voices. Dalton certainly sounds commanding, but his speech pattern is more like a Shakespearean play than a Bond film. Brosnan never quite figured out the right balance for his Bond -- I was watching Evelyn last night, and Brosnan was perfectly charming. I kept wishing he'd brought more of that to Bond, where his attempts at darkness often seemed unconvincing.
7, 8) David Niven and Barry Nelson were David Niven and Barry Nelson, completely likable fellows but nothing remarkable for Bond.
Craig voiced the villain in Spielberg's Tintin movie, very slimy as I recall, and I wouldn't have guessed that was James Bond if I did not know.
Brosnan was on a Simpsons TreeHouse of Horrors episode, as the voice of a Demon Seed style smart-house computer seducing Marge. The point was his voice was posh and manly, just what a lonely housewife could fall for. But therefor similar to Bond.
Don't know if any of the others ever did voice-acting work.
Other thing, is in Logan Lucky, Craig put on that hilarious hillbilly accent ("I'm a gunna git neckid"), and sure did not sound like James Bond. I don't know if any other Bond actor could have done that. Connery, for example, played a Russian submarine captain with a Shcottish accshent.
So, as far as being able to do different voices, Craig seems to be have the advantage.
I could imagine Connery as the voice of a dragon. That seems very well cast.
Timothy Dalton has done voice-acting for the English dubbed release of the Studio Ghibli film Tales of Earthsea. I watched it unknowingly and it turned out to be a great surprise.
I thought the question was about Bond's voice, not which actor has the most vocal flexibility. Sean must have the most limited range, but in the early films he had a very good voice for Bond.
I just asked a related question to keep conversation going, because this is more pleasant than the Bond25 panic-mongering thread.
I agree, Connery equals definitive. Why? because he was first (if we don't count Barry Nelson, or the voice in that long-lost South African radio play)? popularity of those films? he's the coolest to imitate? I'd guess all three are factors.
Barbel mentioned David Niven. Peter Sellers actually "plays" Bond in the Fleming derived scenes in that movie, le Chiffre is meant to believe he is gambling against the"real" James Bond. Just want to point out Peter Sellers is the best voice actor of all recorded history, in this or any other universe. Just for the sake of saying it. But he's not doing a Connery imitation, or a Niven imitation (which would make sense within the logic of that film). I think he just continues the Evelyn Tremble voice, even though he is now code-named James Bond.
And actually, at the very start, Niven complains about this new fellow who has stolen his name, we presume he means Connery. Thus the public within that film's universe are familiar with the unseen young fellow (evidentally a public figure), not the retired original (Niven), Tremble should therefor have been imitating Connery's voice, not Niven's, if he wanted to fool anybody. All those codenamed Bond decoy-deputees should have been doing a Connery imitation.
Niven plays the part with a stutter. That's not how I ever imagined James Bond to talk.
Whether that worked or not is of course for the viewer, but it was an interesting decision for him to make. In CR67, of course, it wouldn't have mattered terribly much.
Niven thankfully drops his stutter quite soon into the film, after the hideous sequences with Deborah Kerr, and speaks normally thereafter.
Connery often sounds like he's trying to talk a little more posh than his working class Scots background so it often sounds a bit unnatural to me. Lazenby's is fine - it fits his personality and the film, though when I read the novels I don't hear his voice as Bond's. Moore's is also ok - it's melodic and deep and suits him, but I also don't hear that when I'm reading the novels. Neither do I when I hear Brosnan's. It seems appropriate to him, but it comes across on a bit of the light side for me. Dalton and Craigs come closest to what I hear when I read the novels or even picture them in the scenes (save for their appearance - Dalton has that over Craig).
Given Bond's background according to Fleming, it's hard for me to image what he's supposed to sound like. He's born in the Scottish Highlands to a Scottish middle class father but has a Swiss mother - goes to Eton but ends up back in a Scots college and also is multi-lingual. Perhaps Tom Hiddleston might be close - he was born and raised in Wimbleton and Oxford and though not having the same parentage, he did go to Eton. I also have pictured a young Stewart Granger. Not only did he seem like could have played Bond or Fleming, but he was born in Kensington and his grandmother was Scots.
No, you're right enough.
Also, allow me to posit that Aidan Turner’s voice could be THE definitive Bond voice. It’ll never happen, but one can hope.
Bond got kicked out of Eton, so maybe he wouldn't want to speak like someone who had the correct accent beaten into him. He may choose to retain the regional accent of his roots out of spite. But as you say he was already welltravelled as a child, his accent and vocabulary probably drift back and forth depending on who he's talking to, or even what he's talking about (I have friends who do this, switching languages within one sentence even, without being aware of it).
But of course his job as a spy means he needs to speak however strangers expect him to speak, meaning he's capable of consciously and persuasively switching voice depending in the situation. Like looking like he belongs in all those upper crust casinos. So he should have a natural voice and a repertoire of put-on voices.
Fleming may never have describe Bond's voice within the text, but he did have a few preferred actors in mind for the movie adaptations did he not?
Lets just say I do not picture Bond talking like Cary Grant, as much fun as it is to try to talk like Cary Grant.
Pierce never had much of an Irish accent as an adult. He even said that as a kid he spoke with a London accent to fit in with others in South London. He had been living in the States for a while by the time he became Bond, so whatever accent he had before was softened. I see his accent as mid-Atlantic, without it being distinctly from any one place.
when visiting the country
Although the N.irish accent sounds horrible, it's designed for threatening and
arguing not for romance.One comedian said it sounds like angry Scottish people
who've not had enough to drink.