"Older Woman" indeed

[selenak]

Daniel Craig: so my favourite Bond, on and off screen. Here's the latest reason why:

Q: And this time you’ve gone one better, showing 007 succumbing to the charms of an older woman.

A: I think you mean the charms of a woman his own age. We’re talking about Monica Bellucci, for heaven’s sake. When someone like that wants to be a Bond girl, you just count yourself lucky!


Also, foolish interviewer, if you want Bond/Older Woman, what do you think the last three movies were all about? (Well, for some of us anyway. :)

Comments

[kerkevik_2014]

There's only one movie Bond and that is Sean Connery; even though most of my fave Bond movies are not his. Everyone else is an imitation.

Having said that if the next Bond is not Idris Elba, as now seems likely, I shall be disappointed.

Also, and here's a point I've not seen discussed, if the designation 007; as well as the soubriquet James Bond (or Bond) can be assigned to anyone rather than be the code name (or actual name) of a particular individual, why couldn't someone lie Carey Mulligan, or Parminder Nagra, become 007?

kerk

[selenak]

Bite your tongue. Roger Moore is assuredly not an imitation of Connery, if anything, he's the anti Connery, consciously. And Timothy Dalton actually tries to play the character as written by Fleming in the novels, who is another animal yet again. As for Connery, I enjoyed his performance but I never felt something for the character. What Daniel Craig pulls off is a combination of a) actually making me believe that this Bond is truly dangerous and a professional killer, and b) vulnerability in certain moments (with Vesper, with M sometimes, with Mathis when he dies), which results in c) me actually caring about James Bond as a person.

You'll notice I didn't mention Brosnan. I disliked Brosnan so much I quit watching his movies after Goldeneye. I'm aware he's the second most popular or something, but that was my reaction.

(Otoh poor old Lazenby was alright, but he DID try to imitate Connery, which Moore wisely didn't.)

re: Idris Elba, he'd be perfect, but like you I think his time window is closing or already closed. As for a female Bond in the future - I think it's more likely we'll get a female Doctor first, because the Bond franchise is less likely to dare quite that much.

[likeadeuce]

I'm more excited for SPECTRE than for Star Wars or any actually upcoming or in-production superhero movie.

[selenak]

Ditto. And I'm so glad they got Sam Mendes back for direction, because those visuals were gorgeous, and he can get awesome results from actors instead of going "we're in a Bond movie, nobody needs to bother".

[misbegotten]

Well, for some of us anyway

Heeee. Count me in!

[selenak]

M/Bond 4eva!

[monanotlisa]

Oh, he's so right. (And my favorite Bond, perhaps because of this sheer physicality he exudes; to me it's something that adds to the sleekly suited Bond).

[rachelmanija]

Same here. Sean Connery is great but Craig is the only Bond who actually seems dangerous.

[selenak]

Yes indeed. This is a man you really believe kills on a regular basis. And yet, he also manages to exude vulnerability (with Vesper in the first movie, sometimes with M in Skyfall).

[rachelmanija]

Yes, and he also is the only Bond who I believe can get hurt (physically or emotionally). I remember thinking that right at the beginning of the very first Craig movie, when his knuckles got cut up during a fight. I love how his smoothness isn't Teflon.

[selenak]

Me too. I never felt any concern for the other bonds, not because I had anything against the actors, but because the character never had that degree of realness. Fling him from a cliff and he'd come out unscratched, and while there is some minimal movie continuity re: the death of Tracy, you still don't think of Bond as a character in emotional pain outside of Tracy's death scene. But with Craig's Bond, I do believe he can get hurt in both senses, because we get shown that the does. Which creates much more emotional investment on my part.

[lonelywalker]

Wait, Monica Bellucci is in this? Now I'm even more excited to see it. And heck yes, Daniel, set it straight! If anything I would've thought he was older than Monica.

And yes. Bond/Dench!M will never die.

*uses icon of my other fave Bond*

[selenak]

He's my other favourite Bond, too. I've been itching to use Andrew's line from BTVS ("Timothy Dalton should win an Oscar and beat Sean Connery on the head with it!"), but womanfully restrained myself.

Of course it really says something about how reviewers have trained themselves to watch female actors if they see Monica Belluci as older than Daniel Craig, but given male actors usually get paired up with actresses half their age or even younger, I suppose that's not surprising. Anyway, recalling that equality vid he did with Judi Dench, Daniel Craig is a raliably good ally.

[raincitygirl]

Heeee!!! That's awesome.

[selenak]

He's a good egg.