James Brolin, what if?
Eagleman
Posts: 26MI6 Agent
Got 'Octopussy' on DVD for Christmas. Thought the James Brolin screentest is excellent. Brolin wouldn't have made a good Bond at all but it's fun to see an american have a stab at it. What would have been good is if Sean Connery had come back for Octopussy and Brolin had played Bond in 'Never Say Never Again' :007)
Comments
No--he uses his normal accent, which is what convinced me he couldn't and shouldn't be Bond. I'm a red-blooded, patriotic American, but some jobs should be left to the Brits!
I know what you mean. I don't see how they could have even considered an American to play James Bond. It doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
To be honest, I don't really remember Brolin sporting a beard all the time. Anyway, he was clean-shaven for the test.
I'm going to have to go ahead and say that, IMO, this is nonsense. If there's an American actor with the ability to pull it off and to do a convincing British accent, then he should by all means be considered. There's been an actor from a non-UK former British colony (Lazenby from Australia), so I don't see what the problem would be with an actor from the US, a former British colony, who has a British/Irish/Anglo-Saxon ethnicity.
That said, I can't think of an American actor who, specifically, would have been a great Bond, because there's not an actor who I can remember being able to do an exceptional job with a British accent. I would love to have seen my hero, Steve McQueen, take on Bond, but I can't remember a movie in which he played a British character or tried a British accent.
Gavin literally got the part--he was signed to a contract and the producers were pretty well ready to make Bond an American. However, United Artists managed to lure Connery back, and, as a result, had to buy out Gavin's contract.
And, Klaus, call it nonsense if you will, but that's where I stand.
Actually,John Gavin volunteered to step aside for Connery,and for no payment at all.Cubby was impressed with Gavin's gentlemanly conduct and insisted that Gavin receive what he would have been paid had he played James Bond.This is the story Cubby tells in his autobiography.
And back to the question at hand:what about Pierce Brosnan,then?He was an Irishman--definitely not British--at the start of his period as 007,and before he finished as Bond,he'd become a naturalized American citizen.First a Mick and then a Yank.Neither nationality exactly tallies with what Ian Fleming gave the James Bond character.
Yes,I know--that's "different" because Brosnan was previously established as Remington Steele(who,by the way,was not British either--but Irish, like Brosnan).But growing up in Britain doesn't make someone born outside that country British.
Well, Fleming did describe Bond as looking like an "American film star." Also, Bond reflects in the novels that there's something not very British about him. So, you could make the argument, based on Fleming's text, that an American film star playing Bond is legit. Just as long as he can pull off the accent.
I'm wondering if the folks on this site from the U.K. can think of a male American actor who does a convincing British (or Scot or Irish or Australian, etc ...) accent. Your ears are no doubt better than Klaus' and mine in this regard. I'm not talking about a Bond candidate, necessarily; it could be anybody.
I admire James Brolin as an actor and I think he's very good in films like Westworld and Capricorn One. But there's no way I could have accepted him as James Bond based on his Octopussy screentest.
The only guy I can think of is Alexis Denisof, who appeared in the TV series 'Angel.' I was very surprised to find out he was an American. Did live in the UK for over a decade though, which maybe helped. Johnny Depp has made some decent attempts as well, 'The Libertine,' a not bad Scots accent in 'Finding Neverland. Aidan Quinn does a good Irish accent, (Michael Collins) but then I think he comes from an Irish-American background.
I wouldn't care if an American played Bond, so long as they could do a convincing English/Scottish/Irish/Australian accent. The only trouble is that I can't think of an American actor that can. I've said this before, but male English/Scottish/Irish/Australian actors seem to have an easier time sounding American than Americans have sounding English/Scottish/Irish/Australian. I'd like to see Brolin's test. He's kind of wooden, but does look good in a tux. Does he use an accent?
No. He's quite well spoken though, but distintively American. There's an interview with him in which he discusses how Cubby thought it best that he didn't put on an accent. But Brolin felt Cubby had doubts about whether or not people would accept a Bond who spoke with an American accent.
I think his doubts were well-founded. A big part of Bond's appeal is that he's British. It's a romantic thing: he's on her Majesty's secret service, not working for the company (by the way, John, I finally saw The Company: I liked it, too). It would be as jarring to me to hear Bond speak with an American accent as it would be to hear Batman, for example, speak with a British or French accent. These are characters who just don't make sense in any other nationality.
I have heared that The Tatania Scene is a standard Test. I'm sure I heared Craig did it. They also cast Maryam d'Abo in Living Daylights because of the way she performed with Dalton in that scene.
so yeah, I'm willing to bet they test all potential Bonds with this scene, to see if they stand up to Mr Connery.
{[] I thought that might be the case. It's an interesting scene for them to use. It's quite a seductive scene, but both actors are doing the seducing.
Whereas I do not think any of them would have had problems with the looks, charm (particuliarly Wagner) or abilities in the fight scenes (particuliarly Reynolds) I do not think any of them would have been readily accepted as a British scret agent.
Whereas I do not think any of them would have had problems with the looks, charm (particuliarly Wagner) or abilities in the fight scenes (particuliarly Reynolds) I do not think any of them would have been readily accepted as a British scret agent.
That's interesting. It is a great scene and I can see how it would be a good benchmark for picking a 007.
It would be fun for EON to put out a DVD of nothing but Bond auditions. I imagine they have quite a library.
I've heard that Gavin was used as a sort of placeholder to pressure Connery into returning to the fold. I'm wondering if those other American actors weren't used in roughly the same way. Like you, I just don't see the public going for that kind of casting.
That would be great. I've only seen Sam Neill's and Brolin's. I'd love to see some of the 90's contenders, Jeremy Northam for instance. And if there is any footage of John Gavin that would be wonderful to see. Incidentally HH, I can remember in the OSS 117 thread, that you mentioned you could remember the original OSS 117 films. John Gavin appeared in one of them. Did you ever catch that one?
Gosh- I'd love to even just read a full rundown of actors they've looked at. I recently discovered a guy who knows many more than I do and there's some surprising names in there (although you might have to know British pop culture to get a few of them)- not all tested but all were considered (and more of course!)
Obviously Michael Billington (there's some test pictures of him as Bond here: http://www.michaelbillington.org.uk/html/bond.html ); Michael Jayston; James Fox; Rod Taylor; Anthony Valentine; Michael Gambon; Patrick Mower; Simon Oates; ike McStay; Hans De Vries; Robert Campbell; Anthony Rogers; John Richardson; Jeremy Brett (Sherlock!); Bob Langley; Roy Thinnes; Adam West (Batman!); Paul Newman (asked but didn't call back!); Robert Wagner (very probably); Oliver Reed (rejected by the studio before he could test); Sir Ranulph Fiennes (the explorer!); Oliver Tobias; Andrew Clarke; Antony Hamilton; Lewis Collins (broke Bob Simmons' ribs!); Peter Snow (the newsreader!); Lambert Wilson; David Warbeck (a superb screentest, I'm told- he was even signed to do Moonraker if Roger didn't); Trevor Eve (quite a big TV star in the UK and was in very serious contention- apparently his test was very good too); Neil Dickson (shortest at 5' 9"); Patrick McGoohan; John Richardson (not great); Gordon Williams (bit of a model); Alan Rickman (screentested in the early 80's)... tonnes and tonnes of fascinating stuff. What I'd give to have a rummage in their archives!
I'm not sure. They're a pretty dim memory. I saw several of them, but all I remember now is a title, and in French at that: Banco a Bankok pour OSS 117. I couldn't tell you what the story was about. Gavin might have played Hugo, but it might also have been another American, a B-movie actor whose last name was Forsythe or Forrest -- something like that. The only other thing I remember seeing him in was Hitchcock's Topaz, I think.
EDIT: I just looked it up on the Web. Actually, it was Frederick Stafford, who looked at lot like Gavin. But Kerwin Matthews played Hugh in Banco
I have come to the conclusion that you have to have a really great ear to go from British accent to American and vice versa -- and not many actors are very good at it. Hugh Laurie slips into his native tongue all the time on House, and the woman on CSI is even worse. Last week, I watched Linus Roache's debut on Law & Order -- try as he might to affect a thick New Yaaaaawwk accent, his Euro-ness shows through constantly.