The fate of the James Bond franchise has made the cover for this week’s Entertainment Weekly. Apparently, many in Hollywood think that Bond might not be resuscitated – the franchise’s home, MGM is close to bankruptcy, they were supposed to start filming on Daniel Craig’s third outing as Bond earlier this year, but had to quit because of money woes, and plus, maybe Bond doesn’t have a place in today’s world? No, it’s mostly about the money, I think. Because Daniel Craig successfully rebooted the franchise in 2006 with Casino Royale, and I would think that Bond is one of the most financially successful franchises in history. So what’s the problem, again?
These are dark days for James Bond fans. It will likely be years before 007 returns to the screen, thanks to money troubles at MGM, Bond’s longtime studio, which has been up for sale since November. Even Daniel Craig seems to have moved on, signing up for the lead in a different potential franchise, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The last time the Bond series was put on this sort of “indefinite” hold was back in the early 1990s, after a series of legal battles (and Timothy Dalton) nearly wrecked the series. It took six years to get it up and running again. And in Hollywood today, six years is an eternity.
“No franchise can afford to be away from screens for that long anymore,” says a former MGM exec. “You lose too much momentum. Even for Bond, it could be deadly.”
Of course, Bond has defied death before — just ask Blofeld — so we’re not counting him out just yet.
One possibility: “[MGM] should sell the Bond franchise for a billion dollars to some sovereign company in Abu Dhabi and promise to make Bond movies in Abu Dhabi from now on,” suggest one financial analyst familiar with the MGM sale.
The name is Bond, Jamal Bond. We could live with that.
[From Entertainment Weekly]
So, what do you think? Does everyone need to just let James Bond go, to let the franchise die for a decade, when some studio will pick up the property and reboot it with yet another actor? I have to admit, the thought of Craig never playing Bond again depresses me. I love him as Bond, I think he’s wonderful. More so in Casino Royale than that turd Quantum of Solace.
And if Bond does get a reboot, who would play him then? Jon Hamm? Idris Elba? Clive Owen?
EW cover courtesy of Pop Crunch. Promotional image from Casino Roale, plus Daniel Craig on October 14, 2005. Credit: WENN.
clive owen!
Oh, please no. I am a huge Bond fan and Sean Connery was always my fave. UNTIL Daniel Craig. That man gets me hot under the collar (and other places too)
I need more Craig as Bond.
Before Craig was announced i wanted the tall black dude thats M’s bodyguard(dont know the name of the actor),it would have been a nice change.They did ask Clive Owen for the job and he turned it down so they went with Craig.
Daniel Craig was great as Bond but Ildris(a Black Bond now that would make my day), Clive, and John would do well also. There will definitely be another Bond eventually and if Sean Connery can be replaced so can Daniel.
Bond is the only real thing of value MGM has aside from the back catalog. Any buyer would put a new Bond movie on the fast track and to keep a continuity going they’d use Craig.
The only REAL James Bond is Sean Connery!! Everyone else is an imposter.
I say, dump the franchise. Bond is irrelevant in this day and age anyway.
loved him as bond too! & quantum sucked. it was like watching a promo for the next film.
loooooove Daniel Craig. Now there’s a real man! Also great in Layer Cake.
Clive…please…
Oh, Daniel Craig nailed it in Casino Royale…
Ugh, I didn’t die Casino Royale and I didn’t bother to watch the other one.
I think Daniel made a great Bond. Problem is they need to stop all the huge action crap. Go to a more “story line” for the character. Make us know Bond. We never really did. Sick of all the chasing. I think in this day and age spy movies need a story. Daniel is an awesome actor. He could handle it.
Oh my God. Idris Elba. Brilliant!
As long as you post that bathing suit picture with EVERY post, who cares? Not a Bond fan but Daniel Craig is just crazy sexy.
Going blond is one thing, going black is quite another. Then again M changed gender (brilliant) so anything possible and may be a fantastic change.
However if Craig doesn’t take it on a least one more time (perish the thought) but especially if he does (just one more) then I suspect they’ll then be looking younger. Clive Owen et al will be getting a bit long in the tooth esp for a multi film deal. I like Jon Hamm but he’s not 007 material.
I’m pissed off MGM got themselves in this position. It’s inconceivable that they’re holding on to such a valuable and storied asset whilst in trouble. It can’t be collateral damage! SELL IT you miserable bastards!!!
I like Craig as Bond too, I thought he brought an icy coolness to the role that Brosnan never really did.
I’d be OK with any of those other guys too though, but it would be a shame if Craig only got 2 films out of it because of the MGM problems. I’d find it hard to believe that anyone would let the franchise die though, I bet sooner or later someone picks it up from MGM.
I think I would like Jon Hamm as Bond. My fav was Pierce. In the books, Bond is tall, slim, dark hair, blue eyes, so I always thought Dalton looked the most like Bond. I didn’t care too much for the new guy, Daniel, but my teen thinks he great. Also, didn’t like the way they rebooted Bond with the trilogy story. Now we won’t get part 3? Bonds always make money. Why can’t they get financing to make a Bond? There’s something strange here…
Javier Bardem….yum….(lucky Penelope Cruise)…..I like Daniel Craig too and Colin Firth.
They made a mistake by their new and, in their mind, improved Bond formula – installing Daniel Craig and aiming for a younger audience with politically correct scripts that were counterbalanced by elongated action/no dialogue. I’ve watched all Bond films, consider myself a fan, but the last two films bored me and I’ve never thought I’d find myself bored in the middle of a Bond film. It’s something that shouldn’t happen, but the scripts were terrible. Ever since Cubby Broccoli’s daughter took over as producer, the films have gone downhill.
Sure I’m pissed that MGM is in a terrible position, but I doubt that any other film studio will do better with the way Bond is currently scripted. Remove Daniel Craig, return to the previous form of Bond (script wise) and don’t try to make it all so politically correct. Bond is a tongue in cheek character. It’s not meant to be real.
Not only that, we aren’t living in the world of the Cold War anymore. The Soviet references in the last two Craig movies were ridiculous.
Pierce’s Bond is the one you go to the party with, the one who’s arm you want to be seen on. Daniel’s Bond is the Bond you’d bang in the coat room standing up because by God, if you get a chance at that, you take it.
@ Shay, I agree with you.
I LOVE Daniel Craig as Bond…he has this Steve McQueen thing going on that is appealing to both Men and Women. I love Clive Owen as well but I want me some more Craig as Bond.
Bond movies make money so get on with it
daniel craig always looks like he has a headache.
Clive Owen was never asked to be Bond @Dizzybenny. IIRC, Barbara Broccoli has never said anyone other than Daniel Craig was considered, even if they were in the running and certainly, no one else was asked.
Ian Fleming’s Bond was never meant to be funny or tongue in cheek. The original Bond franchise may have portrayed him that way, but it’s not what Fleming wrote. “Reinventing” Bond by finally filming him as he was written was a shrewd move by the Broccoli’s; the franchise HAD gotten stale. The fact that the studio went in the tank had nothing to do with the Bond brand and I can’t believe that no one else will pick it up eventually.
Daniel Craig’s done a terrific job with Bond so far. I love the way he’s gone at the character; in interviews, he really seems to “get” the way Fleming wrote Bond. If anything, I wonder if the Bond franchise will end up losing him because they farked up and he’s got so much else to do.
John Hamm isn’t English/from Europe so he wouldn’t even get a look in I don’t think.
I always thought Clive would have made an awesome Bond, but I heard that he didn’t want to get typecast, so wouldn’t have even considered the role had he been offered it.
I hope that DC never plays Bond again, I thought he was awful (although the movies were so over rated so maybe that was it for me), so yeah I do hope they let the franchise die for a while and bring it back in 10 years or so. Best thing that could happen to it IMHO.
mslewis: I agree with you!
idris elba should be cast as everyone, in everything, until further notice. i’ve had it bad for that man ever since ‘ultraviolet’.
hehehe Fair enough Bizzy, but failing that can we cast Colin Salmon? He’s lovely.
I thought D Craig was fabulous as Bond. He’s a great actor, was great as Bond, and Casino Royale kicked major a**. Quantum of Solace was disappointing, but that wasn’t Craig’s fault. It was a totally dumb (predictable, safe) plot. There is SO much they could have done and amped up with Craig, but oh well.
Craig nailed that “bit of a bastard” air that I’ve always read into Bond in the books. Never cared whether his hair was blond or not; it’s how he carried the character.
Anyway, I totally concur about doing Craig in the coat room, hee!
For a new Bond, I’d prefer someone unknown at this point. British. Don’t care if he’s black or white or whatever, for me, it’s how he embodies Bond. IMO, Bond’s always been somewhat rough, having had a terrible upbringing, and his suaveness is manipulative to get what he wants. And yes, there’s a part ofhim that was forever damaged when his first love was murdered. I could talk about his all night but I’ll stop there…
*considers colin salmon*
yes, yes that is also acceptable.
I would loooove to see Idris Elba play Bond 🙂
Oh yeah, DC was super hot as Bond, and I’ve always hated that stupid character with a passion! Perfect combination of grunty animal and warped personal development. And I would surely miss him.
BUT- Clive! OMG! The only reservation I have is that Clive just looks too brainy- Bond is a dumb, reactive machine. Clive is temporal deliciousness. Hmmmm.
@ jane16
Actually, Bond is blonde in Fleming’s books.
@ shay
Casino Royale is probably the truest depiction of the character in terms of physicality and interpretation on the part of Daniel Craig. Personally, the casting the was spot-on. Bond is supposed to be a representative template of Cold War Era renaissance man, that for all his unvariated staleness and lack of compositional complexity is merely an idealization borne out of the head of Ian Fleming.
In the first book, M tells him near the end something to the extent (and I’m paraphrasing) that: We wouldn’t want to ruin such a beautiful machine. There was an attempt in the first novel to round out his characterization of which Fleming disposes in the subsequent novels. So, that Craig plays him rather stoically playing down the emotive charisma is actually more true to the character. Of course, liberties were taken. They attempt to give the Bond girl a brain, which is credit to the franchise, not detraction. I just hope that if they are able to save the franchise that they do a better job than Quantum of Solace which seriously sucked ass. The potential is there for effective execution.
I took a class in school in which we analyzed Bond’s presence in pop culture and its implications. Italian writer Umberto Eco presents some interesting assertions about Bond in his Il Caso Bond (The Bond Affair). In it, he espoused some theories regarding how the cyclical nature of pop serials are achieved and, therefore, how Bond and some of other pop culture figures have achieved immortality. If MGM kills the franchise, it would be interesting to ponder the wider cultural implications.
Anyway, just may piece.
love, love,love Persistent Cat’s comment.
On a separate note,
I think Clive Owen would work beautifully, though he may be getting a little too long in the tooth. I remember like 6 years ago when they were trying to cast Bond and he made the short list before they offered it to Craig.
I was probably one of the few that was over the moon about the casting of Daniel Craig, though. He’s got such an impressive catalogue of good roles. May I suggest Enduring Love or the Mother. The man is seriously talented.
He was probably really smart to jump ship and sign on the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, just in case Bond becomes defunct. I think that he’ll make a good Mikael Blomkvist.
This doesn’t make sense, there is no way that a Bond movie doesn’t make money. Surely MGM would still be looking at making more from one of their cash cows! And just look at how popular Bond is in Asia.
My hopes rest on Barbara Broccoli sorting something out.
As for the lead actor, I thought a blond Bond would never work. I was sooo wrong!
The Bond franchise was destroyed by Roger Moore, he & the movies were God awful. Pierce Brosnan resuscitated them & Daniel Craig kicked ass. Quantum did suck big time.
OMG Please res-erect (pun intended) daniel craig as bond, that guy does things for me.
he is not conventional but mmmmmmm mmm mmmm mmmmm MMMMMMMMMMMMM! dammm
second, craig is actually a great actor, i love him in layer cake. but then again i love him in anything or without anything!
who cares about the tittays or bond gurls, bitch please move outta the way!! dont block the half naked daniel craig scene mmmkay!
VictoryGin, its been a long time since I read the original books, the ones by Ian Fleming, but I could swear I remember him having dark hair in those books. (I did not read the later Bond books, written by other authors). On wikipedia, there is a drawing of James Bond, by Ian Fleming and he has dark hair. It also had this quote from the Moonraker novel:
“Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is “certainly good-looking . . . Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold.””
Maybe I’m remembering them wrong & wiki is certainly known to be wrong. I’ll have to take a look next time I’m @ library. I no longer own the books.
VictoryGin, I’ve read all the Flemming novels, and Bond is NOT blond.
For those of you who think Bond has no place in our society anymore, I think that’s just sad. James Bond is a character of modern mythology, and he is perhaps the most enduring. Yes, he’s from a different time, but more than that, he’s from a fantasy world you’re not really supposed to relate to. His world is exotic and rich and he enjoys the best of everything. He is an enigmatic traveller who fights for good against evil. There are weapons and gadgets that are pure invention. There is sex and violence, and a clash between Flemming’s conceptions of masculine and feminine. People don’t watch it to relate, they watch it to escape, and it is one of the most delightful escapes.
Also, for those of you obsessed with Mad Men style. Watch the old Connery movies. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
No other Bond had that awesome body like Daniel Craig has. Damn, not even the bond girls could stand next to him.
daniel craig was a good james bond, so was sean connery, and george lazenby. when it came to fight scenes lazenby had the upper hand, because of his hand to hand expertise, which means his martial arts background. my wife loved sean connery, i liked them all except timothy dalton. he didn’t look the part. the living daylights and licence to kill were good movies, but daniel craig should of played the roll or someone else like clive owen or jude law, or gerard butler, or adrian paul.