It's almost forgotten today that the original James Bond was British. Ever since the 1954 adapatation of Casino Royale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq_ZJB8rcsY was such a smash hit, Bond has only been played by Americans, startng with Barry Nelson and followed by James Coburn and others. Ian Fleming was not entirely happy with the transformation of Bond into a US secret agent, but in the end he yielded--the Hollywood moguls insisted that an American audience would never believe that a "Limey" could singlehandedly defeat Internatonal Communism ("they're a bunch of socialists themselves") and other evil conspiracies. Can anyone speculate on what if Bond had stayed British? Who would have played him, and could the series have been the success it has been in OTL?
DBWI: What if James Bond stayed British?
- Thread starter David T
- Start date
this has come up before on the fan sites, in general Christopher Lee is considered the front runner for such a movie
*
*
I always thought that a British Bond would be a lot darker than the otl films, less of the clean cut US Marshal in the 20th century and closer to the borderline sociopath of the books. Book Bond is a cold blooded killer only redeemed by working for Queen and Country. Film Bond is a hero doing a dirty job that has to be done and hating it.
Isn't there talk about rebooting Bond closer to the novels and making him British with the last few Tom Cruise helmed Bond Movies being critical and box office failures. Who should be cast? If so my choice would probably be someone like David Tenant can Hugh Jackman do a British Accent? Also what would that do to the very successful television and movie franchise "The Saint" which is often seen as the British equivalent of the James Bond franchise and has enjoyed success Internationally. The two share a connection. Ian Fleming fed up with his publishers trying to force him to write Bond more and more like the movies and less like the character he created walked away from the series just before his death and at Leslie Charteris' request wrote 1964's Vendetta for the Saint. Both authors found the whole thing to be a great lark and fans found it surreal to have the man who brought 007 to life penning his literary rival The Saint. Oddly enough maybe my favorite Saint book, though I have a soft spot for the Harry Harrison written years as well.
Last edited:
What about Patrick McGoohan or Peter Sellers for a 60’s British Bond? McGoohan impressed me in Ice Station Zebra and he had a Bond inspired spy show of his own for a while and while Sellers is best known for his comedic roles, a few of those did let him show off a darker side that would fit Bond.
Didn't that massively effect other later spy shows like man from uncle which in an attempt to deviate from the bond formula by flipping the British and American roles. Like that show originally planned for for the director to be british and the western spy American but the network felt the character was too similar to bond, So they were switched.
Hell maybe we get a more up beat version and less ruthless and dark. Though it does mean its famous gallows humor is no where to be seen such as the episode where the two agents were trying to constantly one up each other in how many pro thrush officials they could kill. The show could be pretty warped.
I see so much more potential in a british bond. I agree that it likely means a much darker more brutal portrayal of spies but damn it also massively affects the way many American spies shows are made as I am unsure how willing they would be to follow trends that make their agents look so bad. Maybe its more delayed in its cultural effect?
Hell maybe we get a more up beat version and less ruthless and dark. Though it does mean its famous gallows humor is no where to be seen such as the episode where the two agents were trying to constantly one up each other in how many pro thrush officials they could kill. The show could be pretty warped.
I see so much more potential in a british bond. I agree that it likely means a much darker more brutal portrayal of spies but damn it also massively affects the way many American spies shows are made as I am unsure how willing they would be to follow trends that make their agents look so bad. Maybe its more delayed in its cultural effect?
Indeed, Fleming shows how unlikely it was for a *British* agent to believe in an anti-Communist crusade: "Today we are fighting Communism. Okay. If I'd been alive fifty years ago, the brand of Conservatism we have today would have been damn near called Communism and we should have been told to go and fight that. History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.” https://books.google.com/books?id=FU02EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA266 Obviously, no American audience would accept a "hero" like that, which was why it was almost necessary to transform Bond into an American.
Before his entry into politics, former bodybuilder-turned-actor Sean Connery was apparently considered for the 007 role in the early 1960s. The fact that he was a Scot rather than an Englishman helped his chances, but ultimately the producers decided to keep Bond American. Personally I find this decision unfortunate, as it caused the Bond franchise to depart from the spirit of the original novels which are quite good and IMO superior to the film adaptations.