Bond by an American Actor? (Jonathan Hamm)
DarkSavant13
Columbus, IN, USAPosts: 1MI6 Agent
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.
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.
Comments
Ever!
:007)
(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.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
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!
Not a prerequisite. A flawless British accent, perhaps.
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.
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 {[]
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
As for Grant - I honestly thought that he was american. Sorry my fault...
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
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 )
"Facts about Michael Caine- May Not Be True"
Not a lot of people know 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.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
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.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
Sorry, I couldn't resist. {[]
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I would not object if he jumped the line
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
live with all the dirty looks from others.
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.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
"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.