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Anthony Horowitz says Idris Elba is 'too street' to play James Bond

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, September 02, 2015, 11:23:35 PM

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CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on September 03, 2015, 11:10:53 PM
The best bit in Skyfall is when he sees that lift going up and he runs over and jumps up and hangs off the bottom of it. Fucking magic.

Anyone who thinks large chunks of Skyfall aren't in the Fleming / Bond aesthetic is gonna have to stop getting Bond wrong.  That fight at the top of the tower is the first time in 50 years that the series has come close to bettering the From Russia With Love train carriage scrap.  [nb]Ah, to be fair the pre credits fight in the toilet in Casino Royale is a cracker as well.[/nb]

Then there's the first minute or so of this:

https://youtu.be/wcA9_bPfFuU

pigamus

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on September 03, 2015, 09:30:12 AM
The main issue with casting Idris Elba is that - without his beard - he doesn't look like Idris Elba any more.  Which defeats the purpose of casting Idris Elba.

Plus, he's named after the dragon in Ivor the Engine.

'Whenever I hear about Idris Elba I always think of Smallfilms.'
'Noggin the Nog?'
'Mate, you... you just can't say that kind of shit any more.'

Benevolent Despot


Don_Preston

Similar vein, Derek Laud.



He already has some espionage training.


Lady

Mexican

CJ de Mooi

Paaaaul

I have no idea who that is, but there's a 99.7% chance that he's a better actor than Idris Elba.

East of Eden

Why do people care so much about cheesy shite like James Bond and Doctor Who?

Get a plate of liver to play both.

Revelator

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on September 03, 2015, 12:07:08 PM
If you read the interview in question (people on Twitter don't know how to do this) you'll see that Horowitz advocates Adrian Lester as Bond over Idris Elba. That's a black bloke as well.

Yep. That fact has been conveniently ignored in the media shitstorm, since apparently the only black actor capable of playing Bond is Idris Elba.
Horowitz would have certainly saved himself trouble if he'd just said "based on what I've seen of him in Luther, I think Elba would be less suited for the role than Adrian Lester." And as a friend noted, Horowitz wouldn't have gotten into trouble if he'd said someone like Vinnie Jones was "too street" for Bond.

Connery himself was initially regarded by Fleming as too uncouth ("an overgrown stuntman") for the part. He changed his mind after gauging the reaction of a female friend to Connery's presence. Fleming's attitude toward the films was pragmatic--were he somehow around (and in sound mind) today, I don't think he'd have a problem with a black actor in the role, especially since it would give the series a good public image and publicity.
As for Horowitz, I wonder if it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity. It'll be interesting to see the sales figures.

In any case, Elba is slightly too old to have a realistic chance of playing Bond. By the time the next Bond film starts shooting he'll be around 45. That said, Brosnan was hired at 41 (and looked middle-aged by his last film) and Moore signed on his mid-40s (and everyone agrees that while he looked fine in Live and Let Die, he was geriatric in Octopussy and A View to a Kill). Connery was in his 50s for Never Say Never Again, but that was a one-off. Best to cast an actor in his 30s, with the expectation of at least four films over the course of decade. That's what they did with Craig.

Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on September 04, 2015, 05:58:23 AM
Anyone who thinks large chunks of Skyfall aren't in the Fleming / Bond aesthetic is gonna have to stop getting Bond wrong.

True--large parts of the screenplay seem to have been inspired by Fleming's You Only Live Twice and The Man With the Golden Gun, including Bond's Scottish upbringing (though Skyfall the house was a screenwriter's invention). And of course the very first Craig film was a mostly close adaptation of Fleming's Casino Royale. The films have been using what they'd found in the books to conform to what's expected of modern action movie heroes: tragic backstory, psychological pain, glamorous neurosis etc. Beyond that, it can also be said that the best Bond films have either been those that captured the best of their source novels (CR, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Casino Royale) or those that managed to artfully pastiche earlier Bond films (You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me). Skyfall is sort of in the middle.

Hollow

I don't care if there is a black Bond as I don't really like Bond...but I think it's semi-suicidal and if I did like Bond I'd probably be a bit mystified.

Not sure if Flemming ever referred to Bond being a whitey...I can't really see why he would...but it's fairly accepted knowledge that he was...what the hell is the problem with keeping him that way? Just to fuck about for fuck abouts sake?

I like Idris Elba, but he'd have to be insane to drink from this poisoned chalice...it won't end well I tell you.

They should stop making Bond films cause they are shit and Idris Elba should get together with an upcoming director and make a name for himself as a new character.

That's my opinion on this.


Dr Rock


El Unicornio, mang

Tom Hardy is apparently now frontrunner, with Elba and Damian Lewis the other contenders. I like Hardy a lot, I don't know how well he could do the suave/sophisticated stuff but he's pretty versatile.

marquis_de_sad

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on September 04, 2015, 10:29:05 PM
Tom Hardy is apparently now frontrunner, with Elba and Damian Lewis the other contenders. I like Hardy a lot, I don't know how well he could do the suave/sophisticated stuff but he's pretty versatile.

As long as he doesn't do A Voice he could be fine. Feel like we've just had a pouty Bond and they should go for something different. Also come to mention it, I can't imagine why Hardy would take the role given his current career trajectory.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


Revelator

I wouldn't pay much attention to anyone the tabloids are calling the front runner. If Spectre does as well as projected, then MGM/Sony and the producers will try getting Craig to return. If he does, it'll be several more years before anyone else is considered for the role. If he doesn't, there will still be a year or two of careful selection and vetting. Hardy is too prominent (only Moore was a big star before he became Bond) and doesn't really fit the role, while Elba and Lewis would be too old by the time contracts were available. Younger, less high-profile actors will be the front-runners--before  Craig was finally cast, his competitors were Goran Višnjić, Henry Cavill, and Sam Worthington, and none were big names at the time. 

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on September 04, 2015, 10:51:08 PM
Damien Lewis? But he's ginger!

Bit less radical than making him black though. Plus they could always dye his hair if need be. Not that they should have to.

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Revelator on September 04, 2015, 10:55:03 PM
I wouldn't pay much attention to anyone the tabloids are calling the front runner. If Spectre does as well as projected, then MGM/Sony and the producers will try getting Craig to return. If he does, it'll be several more years before anyone else is considered for the role.

Yup yuppity yup.

El Unicornio, mang

Actually, Craig is already signed on for one more after Skyfall anyway isn't he?

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on September 04, 2015, 10:51:08 PM
Damien Lewis? But he's ginger!

Damien Lewis. That appalls me more than anything.

And as for him playing Bond? That's even worse!

Lord Mandrake

Tom Hardy would rag Bond to fuck - think Eames in Inception - but he would be wasted in a bollocks load of bollocks bond.

Noodle Lizard

Aye, I think Hardy would be a good choice.  But as I said, I don't know if it matters since I don't like the films anymore.

CaledonianGonzo

Looking at where this Tom Hardy rumour originates from, it seems to come from a press release from BoyleSports, an Irish bookies - traditionally a trustworthy source of solid inside information.

Blinder Data

Before Craigy got cast, I remember reading in a Daily Sport EXCLUSIVE that Dougray Scott had definitely signed up to be the next Bond.

Idris Elba would be a poor choice. I took Henry Cavill's role in The Man from UNCLE as a bit of a 'well, if they're not going to give me Bond then fuck 'em, I'll do a more fun version.' Can't see him being cast now.

Jerzy Bondov

Sam Worthington?!? Can you imagine what that would have been like?! Fuck me.

I seem to remember Robbie Williams being tipped for it at one point, mostly because he did a Bond themed video for a song.

Talulah, really!

Why can't a woman be considered for the part? This is the 21st century after all, in fact it could be made as quite a moving story of a woman feeling trapped inside a man's body, sent to a conservative all boys public school and having to hide their nature by building a false identity as a womaniser and excessively manly risk taker, the confusion of which leads to a lonely inability to commit to long term relationship, alcoholism and masochistic search to punish the body she finds herself imprisoned in through violent encounters. All leading to...

INT. M'S OFFICE. SIS BUILDING. DAY.
                                                       
                                                                         M

There you are Bond. Sit down. I've just got the latest psychological profile back from P branch. The findings are conclusive. I'm sending you on Reassignment, Sexual Reassignment.

                                                                      Bond

You mean?

                                                                         M
 
That's right, it's Operation Sunderballs.[nb]I'm so sorry.[nb]No I'm not.[/nb][/nb]

biggytitbo

I notice nobody ever campaigns for a bald James Bond.


That's the true racism at work here.

biggytitbo

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on September 04, 2015, 10:29:05 PM
Tom Hardy is apparently now frontrunner, with Elba and Damian Lewis the other contenders. I like Hardy a lot, I don't know how well he could do the suave/sophisticated stuff but he's pretty versatile.


Be good if Hardy played 2 James Bonds at the same time.

Talulah, really!


CaledonianGonzo


Talulah, really!

Quote from: biggytitbo on September 05, 2015, 10:13:52 AM

Be good if Hardy played 2 James Bonds at the same time.

And one of them was Black. It's Double O' Trouble.

Serge


El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: biggytitbo on September 05, 2015, 10:11:39 AM
I notice nobody ever campaigns for a bald James Bond.


Connery and Moore both wore hairpieces, so it shouldn't be a deal breaker.