Mendes and Craig talk SKYFALL - Empire Magazine

From the latest issue:

Skyfall director Sam Mendes has revealed that the latest Bond villain, Silva, is "full of surprises" - and the 007 helmsman believes the character is "up there with the greats".
In an interview with Empire magazine, Mendes praised Spanish actor Javkier Bardem's performance as Bond's latest nemesis.

"It is larger than life in one respect but full of surprises," he told the magazine. "Never entirely, at any given moment, exactly what you think it is. Javier takes some risks. But he's an amazing actor and I think he gives you something you may consider to have been absent from Bond movies for a long time."

The director added: "Silva's up there with the greats for me, and that's why I worked very hard to persuade one of the great actors of the world to do it."
In the new issue of Empire, Daniel Craig also revealed why he loves the role so much.

He said: "When I'm doing the movie I'm totally single-minded. I keep my energy levels as high as I can all the time. I want to inspire, and be inspired.
"And I'm lucky enough to work with some incredible people with vast experience."

Daniel explained: "I was standing on top of a train in Turkey with this crew of people, I looked around and I thought, 'You know, this is the best place to be for an actor'.
"So I kind of give it all I've got, and then collapse for a while!"

Good to hear that DC--unlike Seanery and Lazenby--fully appreciates what he's got in the Bond role. This appreciation suggests that Craig's ego is manageable by the standards of actors.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Good to hear that DC--unlike Seanery and Lazenby--fully appreciates what he's got in the Bond role. This appreciation suggests that Craig's ego is manageable by the standards of actors.

That's what you took from the article? I was much more intrigued by the comparison of Silva being among the great villains of Bond history. We've certainly needed a weirdo/wacko for a while now, and hopefully we're going to get it.

They mispelled Javier.

Walecs wrote:

They mispelled Javier.

I bleeve that's the Czech spelling of Javier.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

We've certainly needed a weirdo/wacko for a while now, and hopefully we're going to get it.

I don't think weirdos and wackos are what the franchise needs. The most-memorable villains are the ones who bring a certain menace to the screen - the ones who make you believe that, if only for a moment, they might actually be able to kill Bond. Gustav Graves was a nutcase, but he was also a cartoon. On the other hand, Blofeld was not particularly crazy, but he was as cold as he was ruthless with his own people, showing no hesitation in killing them they moment it became apparent they had failed him. And instead of having someone else do it, he was happy to pull the trigger himself.

Silva needs to have a presence, and having a crazy schtick doesn't last very long. A crazy schtick on top of a presence is fine.

Based on what we have seen from the trailers, I think Silva is going in the right direction. He seems to be an utterly cerebral person, able to dissect things and turn them to his own psychological advantage. He cuts Bond's professional relationship with M to ribbons in a matter of minutes and openly mocking Bond with it. My bet is that he wants to plant a seed of doubt in Bond's mind about M's reliability or professionalism or judgement or whatever so that he hesitates at a crucial moment and gives Silva the opening he needs.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

he wants to plant a seed of doubt in Bond's mind about M's reliability or professionalism or judgement or whatever

Well, as long as Silva has the last six Bond films in his DVD collection, that shouldn't be too difficult.

Lazenby. wrote:

Well, as long as Silva has the last six Bond films in his DVD collection, that shouldn't be too difficult.

Hey, remember the last time a Bond film made a meta-reference with that guy on that beach?

I don't remember that working out very well.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

I don't remember that working out very well.

Are you referring to OHMSS? I thought it was a pretty neat quip. :bom:

Remember guys, Quantom of Shate also had the damanged goods speech... and the vilain was sub-par. I want Skyfall to be good, I'm just sayin.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Are you referring to OHMSS? I thought it was a pretty neat quip. :bom:

And I thought it was Lazenby admitting that he wasn't James Bond.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

And I thought it was Lazenby admitting that he wasn't James Bond.

More like not Sean Connery. :joker:

And Sean Connery was James Bond. Even today, he is recognised as the best James Bond.