DBWI: Clive Owen Not Playing James Bond

Yeezus · Dec 12, 2013

I think we all can agree that out of all the actors who played James Bond in film, Clive Owen was one of the best. He fitted perfectly the tall, dark, handsome and charismatic image of the character.

But what if the studio selected a different actor to replace Pierce Brosnan in 2005? Would Owen's career be as successful as in OTL? Also, what's your favorite Clive Owen Bond film? I particulary enjoyed Matthew Vaughn's The Property of a Lady (2009), the equally-titled theme song by Muse is amazing.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 12, 2013

Well, I heard rumors that David Eccleston read for the part in early 2005, but decided to go with Doctor Who. My thoughts are that he is like David Caruso to NYPD Blue (ABC-TV) or Denise Crosby to Star Trek : The Next Generation, he would have been good for only one or two seasons before being forced to leave....

I personally liked The International (2012) with the theme song by Amy Winehouse. The only problem in my mind is that they killed off Dame Judi Dench as "M".

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 12, 2013

Caoster said:
Is that the one with Jack Black as the main villain?

Yes, but it seemed like he was imitating Philip Seymour Hoffman's role in Mission Impossible:3. Granted it was cool how like Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Black's character manipulated the press into thinking he was an Occupy Wall Street/ Zeitgeist leader. The scenes of Wall Street in New York and the London Stock Exchange being bombed nearly got the movie banned from what I remember....

Yeezus · Dec 12, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
I personally liked The International (2012) with the theme song by Amy Winehouse. The only problem in my mind is that they killed off Dame Judi Dench as "M".

Joe Wright's direction in that one was outstanding. I actually didn't mind them killing Judi Dench as Michael Gambon excelled in his short role as the new M. I'm eager to see him in Bond 24 next year.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 13, 2013

axelbratoski said:
Joe Wright's direction in that one was outstanding. I actually didn't mind them killing Judi Dench as Michael Gambon excelled in his short role as the new M. I'm eager to see him in Bond 24 next year.

What did people think of Freema Agyeman emerging as "Moneypenny"? I think they handled it well. I also loved how they were able to bring in Nick Frost as "Q"...

volantredx · Dec 13, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
Yes, but it seemed like he was imitating Philip Seymour Hoffman's role in Mission Impossible:3. Granted it was cool how like Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Black's character manipulated the press into thinking he was an Occupy Wall Street/ Zeitgeist leader. The scenes of Wall Street in New York and the London Stock Exchange being bombed nearly got the movie banned from what I remember....

You 'till now I never thought of the similarities to Die Hard. I always thought it was more an extrapolation of Gold Finger's misdirection where it seemed the plan was robbery but was actually planing to ruin the US gold supply.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 13, 2013

volantredx said:
You 'till now I never thought of the similarities to Die Hard. I always thought it was more an extrapolation of Gold Finger's misdirection where it seemed the plan was robbery but was actually planing to ruin the US gold supply.

As seen by Goldeneye, it seems all of the Bond villians seem to be imitating Auric Goldfinger....

Yeezus · Dec 13, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
What did people think of Freema Agyeman emerging as "Moneypenny"? I think they handled it well. I also loved how they were able to bring in Nick Frost as "Q"...

I liked how Moneypenny remains unnamed until the end of the film, it was a pleasant surprise. And Nick Frost was terrific, I wasn't expecting him to be as good as Hugh Laurie (whose performance as Q was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the Pierce Brosnan Years).

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 13, 2013

axelbratoski said:
I liked how Moneypenny remains unnamed until the end of the film, it was a pleasant surprise. And Nick Frost was terrific, I wasn't expecting him to be as good as Hugh Laurie (whose performance as Q was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the Pierce Brosnan Years).

Well, I thought it was an interesting jab at British politics to have John Cleese playing the Defense Minister throughout the Pierce Brosnan years. The look on his face trying to explain the many missions to the unseen Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street were great satire similar to the routines of Bob Newhart.....

Defense Minister: No sir, he blew his cover, exposing his role as a member of British Intelligence several times to the enemy.... Well, the enemy proceeded to tell him the plans after he had been captured and subsequently tortured by the terrorist... Well, he was tied up at the time, and the suspect in question decided that he should brag about his terrorist plot.... Well, he really wasn't really tied up!!!..."

Yeezus · Dec 14, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
Well, I thought it was an interesting jab at British politics to have John Cleese playing the Defense Minister throughout the Pierce Brosnan years. The look on his face trying to explain the many missions to the unseen Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street were great satire similar to the routines of Bob Newhart.....

I enjoyed that too, Cleese was great in that role. It's a shame that the Defense Minister wasn't included in Tony Scott's Casino Royale (1997) even though Quentin Tarantino's screenplay was surprisingly good (I really like Tarantino's movies but I admit that I was skeptical at first when I heard he was going to write a James Bond film).

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 15, 2013

axelbratoski said:
I enjoyed that too, Cleese was great in that role. It's a shame that the Defense Minister wasn't included in Tony Scott's Casino Royale (1997) even though Quentin Tarantino's screenplay was surprisingly good (I really like Tarantino's movies but I admit that I was skeptical at first when I heard he was going to write a James Bond film).

The problem was the use of Samuel L. Jackson as Felix Leiter. It seemed like he was basically phoning in his role as the Bond's CIA link. The fact that he was already being featured as the model for the newest version of Nick Fury only served to make it less believable...

Yeezus · Dec 15, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
The problem was the use of Samuel L. Jackson as Felix Leiter. It seemed like he was basically phoning in his role as the Bond's CIA link. The fact that he was already being featured as the model for the newest version of Nick Fury only served to make it less believable...

You're right, albeit I thought it worked as a nod to Jim Brown's portrayal of Leiter in John Boorman's underrated Another Way to Die (1969) -starring Oliver Reed, the only time he played James Bond-, and it wasn't a big role anyways.

Besides that, Casino Royale was pretty good, let's not forget that it had one of the most memorable Bond villains, Le Chiffre, played by Stellan Skarsgard in his breakthrough role.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 15, 2013

axelbratoski said:
You're right, albeit I thought it worked as a nod to Jim Brown's portrayal of Leiter in John Boorman's underrated Another Way to Die (1969) -starring Oliver Reed, the only time he played James Bond-, and it wasn't a big role anyways.

Besides that, Casino Royale was pretty good, let's not forget that it had one of the most memorable Bond villains, Le Chiffre, played by Stellan Skarsgard in his breakthrough role.

Personally, the best villian has to go to Sir Ian Richardson, who played British Admiral Ian Nathan in Goldeneye with his plot to trigger a nuclear war, in an effort to help his stock portfolio,....

Yeezus · Dec 17, 2013

Mr_ Bondoc said:
Personally, the best villian has to go to Sir Ian Richardson, who played British Admiral Ian Nathan in Goldeneye with his plot to trigger a nuclear war, in an effort to help his stock portfolio,....

My favorite villain is Klaus Schmidt played by David Bowie (who also wrote and performed the theme song) in By Royal Command. His scenes against Sam Neill's Bond were great.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 18, 2013

axelbratoski said:
My favorite villain is Klaus Schmidt played by David Bowie (who also wrote and performed the theme song) in By Royal Command. His scenes against Sam Neill's Bond were great.

Isn't his character always the butt of jokes on The Simpsons whenever McBain needs a ready villian, they go to "Communazis", readily played by British actors/ musicians?

Confortius · Dec 18, 2013

I personally enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Shatterhand. It featured my favorite interpretation of Ernst Stavro Blofeld to date. Anyway, I think Henry Cavill could've made a great Bond, but they ultimately decided he was too young for the role. Maybe he can be the next Bond.

Mr_ Bondoc · Dec 19, 2013

Confortius said:
I personally enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Shatterhand. It featured my favorite interpretation of Ernst Stavro Blofeld to date. Anyway, I think Henry Cavill could've made a great Bond, but they ultimately decided he was too young for the role. Maybe he can be the next Bond.

Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O'Brian were relentless about that one. I remember them joking,"The only time Bond to get carded, not because he was a spy, but because he looked under age..."

Yeezus · Dec 19, 2013

Confortius said:
I personally enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Shatterhand. It featured my favorite interpretation of Ernst Stavro Blofeld to date. Anyway, I think Henry Cavill could've made a great Bond, but they ultimately decided he was too young for the role. Maybe he can be the next Bond.

I wholeheartedly agree, Jared Harris was an outstanding Blofeld. Marion Cotillard was a great Bond girl as well. Regarding Cavill, I'd be more than happy if he was chosen to be the next Bond, although I heard that Liam McIntyre was being strongly considered.

modelcitizen · Dec 19, 2013

Ving Rhames to play Bond, just once.

Yeezus · Dec 21, 2013

modelcitizen said:
Ving Rhames to play Bond, just once.

Well, if I remember correctly, Ving Rhames was actually slated to play Mr. Big in a Tarantino-penned adaptation of Live and Let Die back in the 90s after the success of Casino Royale, but the project never came to fruition.