Bond -Do Looks Matter?

IanSean

Bond is famous as a handsome hero in the same guise as – for example – Superman. When Ian Fleming sat down with a stiff drink and penned his first thriller his hero was an archetypal one: tall, dark and handsome. But now today in 2015 we have a Bond in the movies who is the opposite of this.

Cubby Broccoli always wanted a certain look for Bond. If he saw the traditional handsome Bond look in his postman he would screentest and keep him in mind for future movies. Cubby had files on a series of models and wooden actors in his filing cabinets because they had the Bond look. He even famously cast a model as Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service because HE LOOKED LIKE BOND!

The tall handsome look for Bond remained until Barbara Broccoli inherited full control of the Bond franchise. Bond was the Milk Tray man. A common joke among comedians etc was to have a short odd looking chap dress in a tuxedo and say he was James Bond. Barbara decided to render this joke redundant by casting Daniel Craig as Bond. Daniel Craig, obscure English character actor with a short stature and the looks of a traditional villain from Ian Fleming’s time (i.e. odd looking) was unveiled as Bond. Of course Craig’s casting had nothing to do with the fact he was a close personal friend of Barbara Broccoli.

Craig’s casting now means that anyone can be Bond – even a black actor.

When rumours surfaced of Craig’s potential casting everyone on the James Bond fan forums complained. He was too ugly they said; he would never be cast. But these same fans bent over backwards to defend him suggesting that he looks like Sean Connery and that Ian Fleming did not actually define what Bond looked like. Strangely enough most of these Craig fans are ardently against a black Bond. But through their support of someone who looks like Craig as Bond the Bond look rules have been discarded so a black Bond would be no big deal; and those Bond fans who changed their minds to support Craig would no doubt switch again to support a black actor as Bond.

One last note of Craig’s unsuitable look for Bond. Craig fans often say opponents to his casting dislike him because of his “blonde hair”. This is untrue. He has completely the wrong look for Bond – too short, odd looking, big hooter, weird droopy mouth etc. And his approach to Bond is charmless, humourless and wooden. But audiences seem to love this 21st Century Bond.

Never-Say-Never-Again-Sean-Connery

 

  5 comments for “Bond -Do Looks Matter?

  1. Daniel stinks. I saw Casino Royale and that’s all. James Bond is dead.
    Best Bond ever…Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan.

  2. I totally agree,but why does the media hype him up so much ,why do so many people behave like zombies and follow the media.i'm having a guess here i believe a lot of young people who are techno savy or people who are my age forties  or older would Not watch any film with daniel craig in it because it is so obvious he is a spastick or retard as they say in the states.but rather people Who never liked being cool who crusty boring types think he is good.He looks like the robot from RED DWARF and he can not act aswell,How is possible for him to be in any film let alone james bond.

  3. Until the end of movies and time itself (not to be too dramatic), the character of James Bond has been, and will always be handsome — even handsome like a 'movie star' as the Bond girl in From Russia With Love opined.  Fleming's books have other women describe Bond as 'handsome, with a rather cruel mouth' or 'handsome Bastard!' (althouigh Bond himself may have said this, the conceited cad!).  While certainly one man's ugly may be another's handsome, it can hardly be argued that Bond of the books and the movies have featured a character that was at least more than suitably attractive.  A slight bending of the rules would be Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca:  white tux, self-deprecating humor.  One could say that he was handsome, though not in a pretty boy way.  Of course, he wasn't tall, but he had the charsima of Bond.  Now, we have a Bond who is not only bland-looking but charismatically-challenged.  Bond has been bourned-again, but should never have been re-birthed.   Really, did they test Craig by having him sauntering past beautiful women, and they went blub-blub, catatonic?  Most likely, they sighed out of boredom, not excitement.  

  4. Superb blog! Do you have any suggestions for asirnpig writers? I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally confused .. Any suggestions? Appreciate it!

  5. Truer words were never spoken, except when Connery first said,  "Bond, James Bond …."  The recent book "Goldeneye," a bio of Fleming in Jamaica and the creation of Bond, informs us:  After knowing Connery for awhile, Fleming said that if he had had to re-write the books, he would have cast him in the Connery mold.  Craig fans seem to 1/ have never read the books or 2/ been asleep when the original novels clearly state that Bond is classically handsome, albeit with a deadly look.

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