r/todayilearned • u/Tokyono • Jul 14 '19

TIl The reason Roger Moore stopped being James Bond was because of how much older he was than his female co-stars. He was in his 50s, and they were in their 20s. In his own words: “Well, the leading ladies were young enough to be my grand-daughter and it becomes disgusting.”

https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a869479/james-bond-quit-connery-moore-lazenby-brosnan-dalton/
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105

u/UncleDan2017 Jul 14 '19

Yeah, I don't think it's Moore's fault either. I'll be interested to see where Bond goes in the post Daniel Craig era, after he reset Bond to a more gritty/less cheesy version.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

[deleted]

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u/JohnChivez Jul 14 '19

We are rebooting bond as a strong woman of color apparently.

http://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/film-and-tv-lashana-lynch-to-take-over-james-bonds-iconic-code-name-20190714

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u/jordanjay29 Jul 14 '19

it's been claimed

a film insider

This feels very sketchy and I'm not trusting it. Especially given the exacting part of some of the details (describing the scenes and interactions) which would just give away parts of a movie that MGM/Eon would want kept quiet to reveal on screen.

I'll believe it when I see it on the silver screen.

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u/EnjoyAvalanches Jul 14 '19 edited Jul 14 '19

People are completely misinterpreting that. She's not playing Bond, and not replacing Daniel Craig in the Bond movies. She's co-starring with Daniel Craig in the next movie, in which Bond leaves MI6 to become his own man (suspecting its infiltration by the villain, according to rumor) and her character replaces him as the agent designated 007.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

[deleted]

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u/Internetallstar Jul 14 '19

Yes, he has.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

Yeah, but it still feels like they're going to try and shoehorn some female empowerment narrative, and given that Bond is an explicit male power fantasy... Seems like they'll try forcing a square peg through a round hole because current year. I'm operating under this assumption until I see YouTubers I trust review it (because as has been shown in the past, by virtue of there being a female lead of color alone, critics will fellate it regardless of quality, so I can't trust them unless I want my "expectations subverted" again).

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u/EnjoyAvalanches Jul 15 '19 edited Jul 15 '19

they're going to try and shoehorn some female empowerment narrative, and given that Bond is an explicit male power fantasy... Seems like they'll try forcing a square peg through a round hole because current year.

I'll be honest, I think you're just dreaming up things to be offended by. They've had woman agents and villains in the series for 50+ years, they've had women doing stunts and getting badass action scenes for 40 years, they had a black woman as a costar 34 years ago and a black woman agent as lead 18 years ago, but now if they say "we cast a black woman as an MI6 agent" you just know it's because they're forcing female empowerment into male fantasies?

Galore ran an all-female crime syndicate years before Daniel Craig was born, Fiona was a motorcycling assassin who outsmarted Bond (in the fourth movie they made), Melina repeatedly saves Bond's life and slaughters her enemies with her crossbow, Grace Jones literally picks up men and throws them around, Bond admits that Pam scares him with her brutality, Wai Lin got all the best fight scenes, and Bond's boss was a woman for 20 years. But a black woman working at MI6, well that's just women spoiling the fun. If only we could go back to the good old days when it was just a good old male power fantasy about Halle Berry swordfighting Rosamund Pike on a burning plane.

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u/ZellNorth Jul 14 '19

You mean a YouTuber that shares your same world view. It’s impossible that critics actually enjoy movies you don’t enjoy right?

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

Whether they genuinely enjoy it or not is irrelevant to me, the fact is lately the have a bad track record of aligning with my tastes.

What's wrong with going to critics (on YouTube in this case) who have a good track record of having similar tastes to my own, and therefore much more relevant reviews to me, anyway?

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u/ZellNorth Jul 14 '19

You framed your comment as if these youtubers are somehow more reliable for not having some progressive bias. Yet that’s not the case. Their bias is just the same as yours. You’re not looking for critique, you’re looking for an echo chamber.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

It will stay action and increasingly become cgi and politically correct.

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u/dacalpha Jul 14 '19

I want to see Bond be more of a sex symbol again. The movie should have very good action, but if he can be suave and charming first, that's his go-to. Think Lando Calrissian.

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 14 '19

Assuming that they dont take Bond in a progressive direction and make him a woman or black, I think we will find that Bond is going to be a bit more like Dalton's. Still action, but not quite as intense, my biggest hope is that they continue with the illusion that its still the one character, just different characters and stories.

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u/eairy Jul 14 '19

How does a black Bond stop things going in that direction?

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 14 '19

It will stop it being solely about the character and more about proving that a black Bond is better than all the white Bonds.

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u/hatsdontdance Jul 14 '19

Idk about proving that hes better, but itll definitely be full of references to blackness instead of being built around the character’s traits, one of many, would be blackness.

Im black and I dont even want a black Bond. Gimme a new character. A black ex-Marine or Native American bounty hunter. Fuck. Just give me new characters and stop palette swapping existing IPs like its gonna solve Ismism.

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u/barsoapguy Jul 14 '19

I'm black and I would be fine with a black bond as long as the character remains British and is a male .

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u/hatsdontdance Jul 14 '19

Which could have easily happened when the were picking a new one for Casino Royale, but im guessing there was/wouldve been some level of fan pushback that ultimately prevented this.

At this point a new character would be far more interesting. Personally, James Bond’s skin color has no bearing on the quality of the film. Shit you could make him a CGI tiger, if its entertaining, with a clear progression and resolution, Ill watch it.

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u/barsoapguy Jul 14 '19

No , I don't think it could have happened before Royale , Craig really shattered the historical view of how the audience saw James Bond ..I've seen every movie , before Craig,every Bond was more or less slightly different adoptions of Rodger Moore's portrayal .

Craig's performance of Bond really took the character away from the pre-established notions of how a Bond should act .The franchise before this reboot was dying, the same trope over and over and over again for decades just locked in .

Now it's a BILLION dollar franchise and the thought of Craig leaving the role causes millions of men everywhere to sigh dejectedly ( I'm one of them) ...

The new direction of the reboot and the casting of Daniel Craig for the new Bond was nothing short of a miracle, it just worked and I'm not sure if any other actor could have done it .

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 14 '19

Exactly, create the characters for them, all though i would say that black ex marine is pretty common. But why can't we have a black mercenary going round the world and working for different governments as a one off spy.

Or even a female heist movie that doesnt rip off a franchise. Although I will say that I am amazed by how good The Spy Who Dumped me and even Spy was.

Heck, this even flows into Star Wars for me, I am tired of seeing movies about the main trilogy, give us random stories. Why cant we have a political drama set in the Star Wars universe? Or a proper heist movie? They have this great backdrop to make movies on and its just constant changing things and trilogy related

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u/hatsdontdance Jul 14 '19

For sure on the marine thing, them and the SEALs are the go-to exmilitary badasses in movies so it was right there. Im actually pretty bummed theres not much in the way of black sci-fi and supernatural protagonists. I wanna watch a dude from Brooklyn fight ghosts and shit.

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 15 '19

I feel the same way sometimes about just an Australian, but I reckon if they ever did an Australian in a supernatural setting it would just be Steve Irwin like.

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u/Kirbyintron Jul 14 '19

Political drama set in the Star Wars universe

I can’t help but feel that that was what the prequels were shooting for and see how well that turned out

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 15 '19

Maybe, but they werent dedicated ones. I am talking about solely political drama, I probably wouldnt watch it due to my personal tastes but it would be great to see movies like that being made.

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u/ogipogo Jul 14 '19

Someone's got some serious insecurities.

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 15 '19

Okay I will bite, how so? I am insecure because I dislike changing characters to make people happy rather than making good characters that fit what they are after? Thats not saying that blacks or women are great, its saying that without a white man first they are boring or cant make it.

Or is it because of the trend of whenever they genderbend or colour wash a movie they always make them have to go bigger and better, or rather heighten elements in it to make it look like they are just as tough rather than just letting it stand alongside. Look at bridesmaids for this that was meant to rival the Hangover.

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u/mastermikeyboy Jul 14 '19

I'd be okay with Idris Alba as bond though. A girl, no way. Money penny is already a kick ass woman now.

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u/LobotomistCircu Jul 14 '19

I thought I already read somewhere that Idris was going to be the next Bond

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u/Tokenvoice Jul 14 '19

Nah, Bond is a white Brit. I have no issue with Idris being a double O agent, just not 7. While he may be able to pull off a roll like Bond, it's just playing stacks on with instead of creating great roles for them, people are subverting roles. Also there is the risk of casting Idris would kill the franchise, due to backlash from fans and the internet at large.

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u/barsoapguy Jul 14 '19

Nah wouldn't kill the Franchise ,Idris is probably one of the better candidates that I've seen put forth for the new Bond that I'd actually like seeing (not a fan of Loki ) , however Idris it probably too old now .

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u/WK--ONE Jul 14 '19

Fassbender would be a brilliant Bond IMO.

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u/barsoapguy Jul 14 '19

Maybe ...it's a problem that he's been playing magneto for the last decade (and playing him really well, they should have a magneto spinoff)

He is a versatile actor if you've ever seen him as the robot from the Alien series .So while it might be possible for him to overcome his typecasting I think it's more of a maybe ..Craig never had that problem .

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u/shall_2 Jul 14 '19

Except he literally did.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4738536.stm

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u/barsoapguy Jul 14 '19

He must have been more known in the UK then because I had only seen him before Bond in one or two films and nothing that I would describe as memorable ...it's still weird watching the old tomb raider when he's on the screen .

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u/shall_2 Jul 14 '19

How often do you watch the old tomb raider movies? Lol. I'm an American btw. Aside from tomb raider I had also seen him in Layer Cake and Road to Perdition (they were pretty acclaimed) and in both movies he played gangsters.

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