Who should play the next MI6 regulars?
This thread assumes the next movie will be a hard re-boot and will require re-casting the "Scooby gang". Please avoid any spoilers. There are other threads more suited to discussing if there should or shouldn't be a hard re-boot or not and why.
Who do you think should be cast as M, Q, Tanner, Moneypenny, Felix Leiter and Perhaps Mathis?
I've wanted Toby Jones (Zola in Captain America) as Q for years, but he'll be close to sixty if he's cast.
Comments
Idris Elba as M? He's too old to be Bond, but he's just the right age to start a long tenure as the head of MI6. He's a fine actor who can conway inteligence and authority well.
Before Skyfall Hugh Laurie was often mentioned as a possible Q. Now I'd rather see him as M (if Idris Elba doesn't get the job).
At this point, Broccoli and Wilson have lost my confidence and I have no faith that anything in Bond-dom will ever be right again. I could likely come up with some good suggestions for the Scooby-gang, but I fear it will likely end up being the most inappropriate, melancholy and depressing actors possible for the roles.
Hannah Murray (Gilly in GoT) could be Moneypenny. She's not too famous. People know her face, but not neccessarily her name and she doesn't headline movies. She's very cute and charming, but no supermodel type.
Feel free to join in.😃
I would like to see a Brit of Asian decent, perhaps from India, play Q.
I'm not sure we'll see M, Q and Moneypenny for a while. I think they may do as they did with the DC reboot, but without even M.
As far as which actors I would choose. Very difficult. Perhaps Olivia Colman as M. Dev Patel as Q. A lot will depend on the look and feel of the next film.
They may even switch things around in the other roles and have for example Moneypenny as a man, Q or Tanner as a woman.
if Hugh Laurie plays M, can Stephen Fry play Q? or vice versa would be even better, M could tell Q to shut up and Q could mug the camera.
I've long wanted to see Gillian Anderson in a Bond film. I think she would be a superb M.
Agree. Gillian Anderson would be a good M, or a good villain!
I do hope and even belive M and the rest of the gang will be in Bond26. Gradually introducing them over several movies was done in Craig's tenure, no reason to repeat it. I think Dev Patel or a woman as Q are really good ideas.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as M and Q? They're both brilliant, but it could easily get to humerous or at least people will expect it to be.
Iain Glen as M
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
I think the casting of Bond has to come first, then the supporting parts should be built around him. That said... I'd like to see Thandie Newton as M, Claire Foy as Moneypenny, Damien Lewis as Bill Tanner, Karen Gillan as Mary Goodnight, Naoko Mori as Q, Stephen Fry as Sir Frederick Gray, Sean Pertwee as Ronnie Vallance, Don Warrington as Sir James Molony, Michael Pena as Felix Leiter, Clarke Peters as Jack Wade and Catherine Dent as Dami Falco.
That's ..... quite a list, sir.
Good point about building the regulars around the next Bond actor, but it's a point I suspect I'm going to ignore in this thread. 🙂
Craig's Scooby gang was very good. However I suspect the actors' fame caused the characters to be overused. Maybe one of them can be a household name, most likely M, but but ideally the actors shouldn't be famous. People like Hannah Murray are about the right level of fame in my opinion. Most people will think "haven't I seen her in something?", but she can't star in a major movie.
Interesting point. But such is the pull and exposure of Bond that accomplished and/or well-known actors have been happy to play supporting MI6 roles; it's helped that Daniel Craig is himself regarded as having serious acting chops. In fact, there's been something of a switch since the old days: Diana Rigg was cast as Tracy to compensate for George Lazenby's lack of acting experience; Rory Kinnear signed up for the limited role of Tanner knowing he'd be joining a powerful ensemble of performers, including Judi Dench as well as Craig. I haven't minded seeing more of a well played back-up team of MI6 characters - although the drive towards fleshing out their parts, exploiting top-notch thespian talent, has (it is true) been one cause of the mutation of the traditional Bond film formula.
I'd like the regulars to be played by good character actors, but not stars who can open a movie themselves.
I'd love to see Timothy Dalton as M and Pierce Brosnan as Q 😉
Failing that, someone with gravitas like Anthony Hopkins as the retired Admiral version of M, and as you say Number 24, Stephen Fry would make a hilarious Q.
We need to go back to Fleming. In times of crisis when the films have hit an impasse, this has always led to success and a continued future for the franchise.
Dalton and Brosnan would just be stunt casting. Stephen Fry would make a hillarious Q, but is that what we need? And Hopkins has been the M of Mission Impossible, I think we need someone less obvious than Antony Hopkins to play M - he's so blindingly obviously he's already played the part in Mission Impossible!
Stephen Fry was the Q in Stormbreaker, the Alex Rider Movie. And Gillian Anderson was the M in Johnny English reborn.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Stephen Fry also played 'C' in Chis Chibnall's forgettable Bond pastiche for Doctor Who, 'Spyfall' - an M type character, albeit one who met his end in a way which reminded me of AVTAK's Achille Aubergine. The episode was neither good Doctor Who nor a good Bond pastiche.
Samuel West, currently playing Siegfied Farnon on the remake of All Creatures Great and Small, would make a good M. If a bit traditional.
I like Idris Elba as M. One black actor I'd like to see again is Lennie James from the first series of Line of Duty - he'd make a good M too. Not hugely plausible, sadly, given the lack of diversity in the upper echelons of power in the UK these days.
I too like Hannah Murray @Number24 - from her days as Cassie in the C4 drama Skins. Not known for playing cool, assertive characters, however.
I'd like to see more made of characters like Villiers and Mathis, not to mention never used Loela Posonby, not sure I've spelt that correctly.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Do as Lois Maxwell always hoped for: have Bond enter M's study only for the chair to swivel around... and there's Naomie Harris! 😊
Completely agree, that way their roles will be limited much like they were in the pre-Brosnan era and we won’t be subject to extended scenes or plot contrivances that are only there to serve “name” actors.
yes even in the Brosnan era movies the big name casting was getting to be a problem: I found John Cleese hugely distracting as Q, and the dialog he was given was so much weaker than anything he'd ever write for himself it was like Mr Python wasn't actually funny after all. Though I gather he has divorce bills to pay so he takes these jobs...
I think for Moneypenny the key words are: inteligence, charm and duty.
Samuel West is a fantastic shout for M. Too good actually to probably ever get the role.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
He's the son of the couple in Great Canal Journies! I think Samuel West has the level of fame and talent EON should look for. By that I mean the talent should be obviously greater than the fame.
Excellent. I could definitely see Iain Glen as a Miles Messervy, ex-RN type of M. And I think he has the right balance of being a pretty well known and respected actor without being a full-on movie star like Ralph Fiennes.
How about either Patrick Stewart or John Cleese playing M, Yes I know Cleese has already played Q (or R), Another suggestion would be transfer Rory Kinnear from Tanner to play Q? His late great Father the Comic actor Roy Kinnear would have been a great Q?