Your wishlist of dream Bond films that never got made
Revolver66
Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
I tried searching for a prior existing thread on this topic but I coudn't find one. If there is one then feel free to link it here or shut this one down but what the heck.
I sometimes think of my fantasy list of Bond films, or Bond films that were proposed and planned but never eventuated. I love the series as it is but if I could suspend reality and request alternate universe Bond films to see then these would be it...
- George Lazenby in Diamonds are Forever. The early drafts had this as a darker revenge tale, with Bond drunk and morose, mourning Tracey and seeking vengeance against Blofeld and Bunt. This would have been so great to have seen and would have given George a second film which I think he deserved.
- Timothy Dalton's 3rd film set for 1991 release - Reading the synopsis of the early story outline and draft, it would have been fascinating to have seen Dalton's third set largely in China battling a mad industrialist. Definitely would have loved to have seen him get a third film and see an early 90s Bond flick, and then a 4 year break before Pierce came in with Goldeneye.
- Sean Connery in OHMSS 1969 - If Sean had have done this re-energized and fit this would have been something to see. I know he would have nailed it. Would probably be the best Bond film.
- Pierce Brosnan in Quentin Tarantino's Casino Royale - Now this would have been insane. Pierce starring in a QT black and white, 60s set Bond film, which is want he wanted to do. Would be a complete oddity in the series but I'd be fascinated to see it.
Complete fantasy Bond's
- I'd get another 60s Sean Bond film, most likely based on the Trigger Mortis novel.
- Daniel Craig in a fully fledged Ian Fleming book adaptation, set in the early 60s.
What are yours? -{
I sometimes think of my fantasy list of Bond films, or Bond films that were proposed and planned but never eventuated. I love the series as it is but if I could suspend reality and request alternate universe Bond films to see then these would be it...
- George Lazenby in Diamonds are Forever. The early drafts had this as a darker revenge tale, with Bond drunk and morose, mourning Tracey and seeking vengeance against Blofeld and Bunt. This would have been so great to have seen and would have given George a second film which I think he deserved.
- Timothy Dalton's 3rd film set for 1991 release - Reading the synopsis of the early story outline and draft, it would have been fascinating to have seen Dalton's third set largely in China battling a mad industrialist. Definitely would have loved to have seen him get a third film and see an early 90s Bond flick, and then a 4 year break before Pierce came in with Goldeneye.
- Sean Connery in OHMSS 1969 - If Sean had have done this re-energized and fit this would have been something to see. I know he would have nailed it. Would probably be the best Bond film.
- Pierce Brosnan in Quentin Tarantino's Casino Royale - Now this would have been insane. Pierce starring in a QT black and white, 60s set Bond film, which is want he wanted to do. Would be a complete oddity in the series but I'd be fascinated to see it.
Complete fantasy Bond's
- I'd get another 60s Sean Bond film, most likely based on the Trigger Mortis novel.
- Daniel Craig in a fully fledged Ian Fleming book adaptation, set in the early 60s.
What are yours? -{
Comments
-Mr Arlington Beech
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[*]Connery in OHMSS in 1964 and 1969[/*]
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[*]Lazenby in DAF and on to complete his 6 (?) film contract[/*]
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[*]Dalton taking over in FYEO onwards[/*]
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[*]Brosnan starting as originally planned for TLD[/*]
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[*]Brosnan for his 5th for an adaptation of CR, whether or not w/Quentin, as I posted way back in 2005 (?), it would have had a penultimate plot of a Bond nearing the end of his career, but taking care of an unresolved major personal and career issue that began with Le Chiffre, who suddenly resurfaces.[/*]
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[*]An actor cut from the literary Bond cloth to an exacting detail, e.g., saturnine, dark, black hair, terribly handsome but with cruel features, 6 ft tall, muscular on a slender frame, bearing of public school and of a military officer, etc., etc., though it seems that of all my wish list items, this is the most like a magical unicorn.[/*]
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Sounds just like the magical unicorn named Aidan Turner!
Almost but not quite for me. Maybe in a few years time perhaps. Come to think of it if the current (lack of) pace holds he might be perfect. He lacks that sense of cruelty for me and looks a bit petulant rather than imposing. He was great in that Agatha Christie thing though
Well...I've always thought that "Pole Dark" was secret code used by Bond's women
Wow imagine a world where George did 7 Bond films! That would be interesting to see. I wonder how different they would have been compared to what we actually got
Judging from the "Becoming Bond" documentary that I just recently watched, a lot of unplanned pregnancies
It was your ultimate Bond film and it asked everyone to type out their dream Bond film using already existing elements from any actor's era.
So, after OHMSS his next Bond movie would be "Diapers Are Forever"? .... I'll get my coat ;%
Here's a long-lost still from that movie
The rumor than the Bond movies were going back to the 60s was actually pretty exciting. I think there is something so endearing about that era of espionage.
"- That is something to be afraid of."
-{
Agreed. I think Turner would be brilliant.
I also don’t think OHMSS would’ve worked with Connery rather than Laz. From Thunderball on, Connery was playing Connery playing Bond. That would’ve been quite awkward in OHMSS. In addition to the excellent supporting actors (who might not have been cast alongside Connery), Lazenby’s ability to portray vulnerability is the key to the whole film.
I'm torn between wanting to see Brosnan in Dalton's two films, or Dalton continuing on as Bond through the 90s. I think either could have worked well. And then we would have been more likely to see a new Bond in 2002.
I really would have loved Brosnan in Casino Royale in 2006, without the reboot and keeping the story truer to Fleming's story without the rookie Bond nonsense.
In the realm of "what if's" and based on actual plans, OHMSS with Connery in place of TB would have been an interesting scenario. It's difficult to swallow since OHMSS as we know it was a multi-faceted jewel in the series, but many of those facets would be unrecognizable had they done OHMSS in place of TB as planned. Terence Young would have directed and the casting of Tracy, Draco, Blofeld, Bunt, etc. would have been different, not to count the entire production and to say the least the Schilthorn for example wouldn't have even come up for consideration for Piz Gloria.
However, that doesn't mean that the potential for a 1964 OHMSS to be even remotely as wonderful as the 1969 version, is negated. As for Connery playing Connery as Bond after TB, I agree that would have been the obstacle had he done the 1969 version, since I think Lewis Gilbert had influence in starting that trend, of which seeds were planted by Guy Hamilton in GF. But Terence Young would have kept the character grounded; the question would then be, taking everything into consideration, who would have been the better director? ...such as experience (Young), caliber (Young), passion and dedication to the source novel (Hunt), point in career (Hunt's reputation since OHMSS was his first film ever), etc. Also, adjusted for inflation the budget greenlit for TB was just half a million below the OHMSS budget, so the production values could have been comparable, i.e., beyond a DN or FRWL scale of production...except of course for the fee paid to the lead
IMO, Connery's performances in non-Bond movies during the period showed a lot of promise with different dimensions of characterization outside his Bond persona, his opportunistic schemer in Woman of Straw, his kitchen-sink-y rendition of a WWII Tommy in The Hill (co-starring with Rory "Tanner" Kinnear's dad, Roy!) and that lacking quality from Bond, a self assuredness masking vulnerability in Marnie.
In Fleming's books, OHMSS was the point when the story stopped being a romp and things began to really get personal for Bond more than before. At that point of his Bond tenure (1964), I'm sure Connery would have welcomed the radical melodramatic elements to the Bond character unique to OHMSS (and to some extent, CR), true love, marriage and his bride's death and the seeds of revenge. But for us, it would be a leap of many suppositions into the unknown.
The milkman always rings twice
That would've be cool
Also OHMSS with Connery or Lazenby does DAF rewritten to be a revenge plot.
Would've love to see Dalton in '91, even '93. Then '95 commence the brosnan era
1. GE 2. TWINE 3. TSWLM 4. TLD 5. OP 6. GF 7. SF 8. TND 9. FRWL 10. LALD 11. LTK 12. CR 13.
All Bond movies had something special to contribute. I only consider QOS to be a travesty.
Agreed. It was a damn good game!
"Better make that two."