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New York Times:
Bond Franchise Is
Shaken and Stirred
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By SHARON WAXMAN (NYT) 1208 words
Published: October 15, 2005
"The new James Bond is blond. Rough trade, with a pale,
flattened face and large, fleshy ears. Accent: well, it ain't
Oxbridge.
But the producers and Sony are well aware that they are
tinkering with one of Hollywood's most lucrative franchises,
one that has generated an estimated $4 billion in ticket sales
over more than four decades. It is MGM's most important film
property and a legacy carefully guarded by Ms. Broccoli,
whose father, Albert R. Broccoli, initiated the movie series,
based on the books by Ian Fleming, in 1962 with ''Dr. No.''
''Casino Royale'' -- also the subject of a spoof Bond movie in
1967 -- was the very first Bond novel. Ms. Broccoli gained the
rights to it in 2001 in the wake of a legal battle.
Bond fans quickly reminded the producers on Friday just how
risky their decision to shift direction might be, and that ''dark''
and ''hip'' were far from what they imagined as the
shaken-not-stirred polish of the James Bond character.
Moments after the announcement, one fan wrote on the Web
site Absolutely James Bond (www.ajb007.com): ''My god, don't
the producers have any brains? Craig is not Bond material.
Bond must be tall, dark and handsome. Or at least two of the
three, and he isn't."
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