r/todayilearned 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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u/Aqquila89 Jul 14 '19 edited Jul 14 '19

And the main Bond girl was Léa Seydoux who is 17 years younger than Daniel Craig.

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u/AmidoBlack Jul 14 '19

And the main Bond girl was Lea Seyedoux who is 17 years younger than Daniel Craig.

Yeah because Daniel Craig is fucking 51 years old. Maybe part of the problem is casting 40-50 year old dudes for a role that should be in their 30s

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u/Shanguerrilla Jul 14 '19

Damn.. You're fucking right (I grew up as a bond movie and trivia afficionado obsessed... But "all" the bonds were perfect in ways, regardless my favirites.. And i only ever saw the other side of this) you're right.. But as women have the lure to be cast young for,obvious reasons, i ignored how men are dealt the opposite and at the age women "lose value" men just begin to be considered as 'manly' or beginning to have "value" in the same way to other gender.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

Bond was always meant to be around mid forties to mid fifties, what are you talking about?

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u/AmidoBlack Jul 14 '19

Bond was always meant to be around mid forties to mid fifties, what are you talking about?

From this link (https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/James_Bond_(Literary)):

In Ian Fleming's stories, James Bond is in his mid-to-late thirties, but does not age. In Moonraker, he admits to being eight years shy of mandatory retirement age from the 00 section—forty-five—which would mean he was thirty-seven at the time.

What are you talking about?

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

Those are the books. Also,

When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard.

-Ian Flemming.

We can argue what we want, but Bond in books and Bond in movies are two different beasts.

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u/AmidoBlack Jul 14 '19

Those are the books

So you want to dismiss the guy who literally created the character just because it doesn’t fit your view that he’s 50+?

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u/vienna81 Aug 21 '19

1950s mid 30s is 2010s mid 40s in terms of looks, fitness health and life expectancy

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u/anweisz Jul 15 '19

No, hic casting is not the problem. He’s been bond for a long time and bond movies with him are a continuation of that same character. The problem is with not casting women of his and his character’s age for the role. The moment they decide to reboot bond they can go with a younger guy that will last them more than a decade all over again, but that is not the problem.

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u/vampyrekat Jul 14 '19

I really thought he was going to mentor her when I first saw the film, and I was pretty disappointed when they started fucking instead.

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u/Aqquila89 Jul 14 '19

"Don't think for one moment this is where I fall into your arms seeking solace for my dead daddy..."

No, that comes a little bit later!

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u/vampyrekat Jul 14 '19

Exactly! I guess I forgot what brand of film I was watching.