The James Bond Thread

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Henry Cavill would be my choice. He looks like Bond.

[MrBarlow]

Why Sean Connery broke his promise to never play James Bond again

On this day on 27 September, 1982, Sean Connery taped on his James Bond toupee one last time to start filming Never Say Never Again on the French Riviera. Boasting an all-star cast that included Kim Basinger, Max Von Sydow, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Barbara Carrera, Bernie Casey, Rowan Atkinson, and Edward Fox, Connery’s 00-seventh Bond film would also shoot in the Bahamas and Elstree Studios.

It had been 12 years since his last outing as 007 in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, after which he’d sworn he would ‘never again’ play Ian Fleming’s secret agent, but he’d been tempted back for one last mission with a deal that offered more than just a huge payday.

His return in the unofficial, non-canon Bond film came with a side dish of revenge that would leave the producers of the official 007 films shaken and stirred.

Having left the role behind in 1971, Connery felt he was getting too long in the tooth for the rough and tumble required of the Bond blockbusters. But in the early 80s, the Scottish star had found himself backed into a corner by a series of movie flops and an ongoing legal dispute with a former accountant which had bled the coffers dry.

Enter Kevin McClory — the enterprising Irish filmmaker who had been a thorn in the side of the producers of the James Bond films for decades —- who was ready to make Connery a deal he simply could not refuse.

To play Bond again in Never Say Never Again, Connery asked for — and reportedly got — $5m, casting and script approval, and a share of the profits. On top of the money, the film also represented an opportunity to get revenge on Albert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, the producer of the James Bond films, who Connery felt had cheated him out of millions when he refused to make him an equal partner on the films in the 1960s.

But for Never Say Never Again, Connery wouldn’t have to deal with Broccoli (he’d split from Saltzman in 1971 over another money issue) as McClory had the rights to make a Bond film without him.


Having helped Ian Fleming formulate the story for his 1961 Bond book Thunderball — which crucially introduced Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld — the Irishman had gone to court to claim co-authorship of the book and any film adaptations.

Broccoli and co-producer Harry Saltzman made a deal with McClory to make Thunderball starring Connery in 1965, and McClory agreed to not adapt it again for at least ten years. With that moratorium over McClory had been doggedly trying to remake Thunderball for years (and had blocked the use of Blofeld in the official films) when the Connery situation reached critical mass.


So not only would Connery earn a fortune with a guaranteed box office hit, and give him the chance to have a hand in production on a Bond film for the first time ever, it would be a chance to settle an old score.

Never Say Never Again would go toe-to-toe with Octopussy at the box office giving Connery the chance to prove to Cubby that he was bigger than Bond and not the other way around.


Legal battles continued behind the scenes, with Broccoli’s lawyers doing all they could to delay or block the release of Connery’s 007 swansong.

But in 1983, after a myriad of production issues and escalating budget, Never Say Never Again was ready to go up against Octopussy, the official, Cubby Broccoli-produced, James Bond film starring Connery’s friend Roger Moore as 007. It was dubbed in the press as the Battle of the Bonds, but neither actor was prepared to bad mouth the other in the press.

Released in June 1983, Octopussy was first out of the gate and grossed over $182 million worldwide. Later that year, in October 1983, Never Say Never Again was met with warmer reviews, and enjoyed a bigger opening weekend in North America, but grossed less than Roger Moore’s Bond film overall, taking $160 million.

Financially, Never Say Never Again lost the battle, but ultimately James Bond fans were the real winners having two 007 adventures to enjoy in 1983.

McClory continued his battle long after Never Say Never Again, mounting plans to remake Thunderball again throughout the 80s and 90s, and even approached Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan to return as Bond after their tenures ended, but all efforts were blocked in the courts.

Eventually James Bond distributors MGM acquired the rights to Never Say Never Again in 1997, and then following McClory’s death in 2001, his family sold his claim over Thunderball back to Eon Productions, paving the way for the return of Blofeld in 2015’s Spectre.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sean-conne...063716640.html

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Henry Cavill would be my choice. He looks like Bond.

That would make filming another season of The Witcher very difficult, if not impossible, so I'd be against it.

Also, although he looks very different in The Man from U.N.CL.E. to his portrayal of Superman, he doesn't generally have "a taciturn mask, ironical, brutal, and cold."

That said, he's an actor with enough skill to 'become' James Bond and convincingly play a cold-blooded killer.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

That would make filming another season of The Witcher very difficult, if not impossible, so I'd be against it.

Also, although he looks very different in The Man from U.N.CL.E. to his portrayal of Superman, he doesn't generally have "a taciturn mask, ironical, brutal, and cold."

That said, he's an actor with enough skill to 'become' James Bond and convincingly play a cold-blooded killer.

As evidence of these traits i offer you Mission Impossible: Fallout.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Henry Cavill would be my choice. He looks like Bond.

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

As evidence of these traits i offer you Mission Impossible: Fallout.

I completely agree – it's a fine performance in a terrific action movie. Annoyingly, I wrote that he had already displayed that ruthless streak in my post but the page refreshed as I was posting it, so I had to rewrite everything and forgot to mention Mission: Impossible – Fallout at the end.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Have to agree with the bookies I'm afraid.....only one next Bond for me......

[Susan Foreman]

Allan Bryce, from 'The Dark Side' magazine, writing on FB:

"Just got back from watching No Time To Die, a cuddly, soft farewell to Daniel Craig's Bond. Impressive action scenes as expected, but this one is way too long and frankly goes so far in being inclusive that all the fun is sucked out of the 007 franchise. I'll spend some time reviewing it for Infinity later, but it will surely be a Marmite entry. The Guardian have already given it five stars, quelle surprise. In reality it's a three star entry, pretty good but not great, and the only time it felt like a proper old fashioned Bond flick to me was when 007 teamed up with the lovely Ana de Armas as a trainee agent who proves more than capable of handling herself. There are a lot of twists that I won't be giving away but others probably will, but I will say that this must be the end of the Bond franchise and if so it will probably be about time because the character as written by Ian Fleming doesn't fit into the modern world. Hans Zimmer's score was very good as expected, but his nostalgic use of We Have All The Time in the World from OHMSS just reminded me of better films and better times."

"Just one further thought on the Mills and Bond film I just watched. When I saw Bond films as a kid I tuned out whenever he jumped into bed with a woman and wanted him to get on with fighting those sinister SMERSH lads. Sorry, but Bond is not a romantic character and though Daniel Craig is excellent in the role I feel they have now gone so far away from Fleming's (admittedly outdated) concept that there is just no point in continuing this franchise. I hope they make their money back but to me the Bond films, like the Carry Ons and the Hammer greats, are enshrined in the past and can never reach the standard of the best films of old. Let's have new heroes for a new generation."

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Nah totally disagree Brycie.
By the time Brosnan was on his final outings,it had gone stale again.
It needed a boot up the modern era arse,and Craig,romantic or not did that in style.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

I see Britain's biggest benefit cheats were out for the freebies again......

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man@Cult Labs

Nah totally disagree Brycie.
By the time Brosnan was on his final outings,it had gone stale again.
It needed a boot up the modern era arse,and Craig,romantic or not did that in style.

The Brosnan films were solid with the exception of the last one - it's total dogshit - starts really well too. In fact both Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough start with very gritty pre-credit sequences but the producers didn't have the bottle to follow through on that for the rest of each film.

Eon has aleays been a follower rather than an innovator. You can see the where the changes in the series happen and pinpoint almost all the influences, whether it's blaxploitation (Live and Let Die), kung fu movies (The Man with the Golden Gun)post-Star Wars sci-fi (Moonraker), 80s action antiheroes a la Die Hard (Licence to Kill) and the Bourne films (Craig's run).