What do you want to see in Bond 25?

Blunt Instrument wrote:

If it's political correctness that drove Wright's casting as Leiter, what are we to make of Bernie Casey's casting (later Sharky in LTK, of course) in the part in Never Say Never Again 23 years earlier I wonder?

For me, the standout Leiters are Hedison and Wright by dint of the fact that they're the only 2 to have played the part more than once. I think it's more than a little ridiculous that an actor couldn't be found 'back in the day' who was willing to reprise the role across several franchise entries.    

The difference between Leiter and Sharky is the fact that Sharky is his own character. As for Bernie Casey in NSNA - I don't care for that film at all, so Kev McC can do whatever he pleases. 

Hedison is a standout Leiter for me also for that reason, and we get to see him in an expanded role in LTK, but Jack Lord will always be the best for me. Jack Lord was intended to return in GF I believe, but he wanted a bigger sum and an expanded role so it was more of a Bond and Leiter film. That said, GF does feature Leiter quite prominently - at least more than some of the other films. Van Nutter was too busy having sex to do another film after TB. Don't know why Linder and Burton didn't want to return, or why Hedison didn't want to do TLD. I can understand why Terry wasn't asked back for LTK. 

Might have more to do with changing directors wanting to work with their choice of actors?

Blunt Instrument wrote:

If it's political correctness that drove Wright's casting as Leiter, what are we to make of Bernie Casey's casting (later Sharky in LTK, of course) in the part in Never Say Never Again 23 years earlier I wonder?

For me, the standout Leiters are Hedison and Wright by dint of the fact that they're the only 2 to have played the part more than once. I think it's more than a little ridiculous that an actor couldn't be found 'back in the day' who was willing to reprise the role across several franchise entries.    

Casey was good. Casey was talented. That's why he got the part. There was no political correctness back then; certainly not as we know it today.

Casey had real chemistry with Connery. If NSNA had been a better film, Casey might be better remember. As it stands, NSNA is at its best mostly when Barbara Carrera is on screen.

Wright was undoubtedly cast because he's black. He was an affirmative-action hire pure and simple. Same with Naomi Harris. And we almost got a black Blofeld in SPECTRE; Hollywood's current idea of being progressive and edgy and color-blind and not-racist is to look at every role in ever script and see if an Asian, Black, Latino or "GenderQueer" person can't be cast.

I found this on The Hollywood Reporter (in reference to the new remake of FLATLINERS) and it's typical of the thinking in Hollywood now:

The director remarks about how different this version is as opposed to the original:

"It's female driven now. It’s three girls and two boys. The old one was four boys and one girl," director Niels Arden Oplev told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's premiere Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Oplev's credits include the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

"The unity and the friendship they have is what we need in this world. They look like the real world and not the fake news world that somebody is trying to make us believe. They look like how this world should look. Look, I have a Mexican hero [Diego Luna's Ray] that saves all the beautiful American girls."

So basically he came away from the original film feeling that the only thing he needed to do to make the new version better was make women the majority and give the lead to a Mexican actor few people know of or care about.

It has o% at Rotten Tomatoes and is cratering at the box office. People are really, really starting to get tired of the political correctness coming out of Hollywood; even progressives and other liberals are getting put off because it's become a case of the snake eating its own tail. They're cannibalizing each other to the point where even Democrats and "progressives" aren't even left-wing enough to satisfy some of these people.

At some point Hollywood and NFL players may get so poor that they have no choice but to step off the ledge of this PC sanity.

So good you posted it twice?

NuFlatliners had no pre-release screenings for critics, always a sign that a studio reckons it's got a stinker on its hands.

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Sorry, #TimezUp...

Erica Ambler wrote:

'What do you want to see in Bond 25?'

I love MacKenzie Davis but I'm pretty sure she isn't every Bond fan's vision of a main Bond girl.

I kind of like the idea of Annet Mahendru as a Bond girl. Could also be timely if they choose some Russia-related plot for Bond.

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Right now I'm sure they are just waiting for the new Mission Impossible film so they can pay attention to what GOOD STUNTS look like.

Because SPECTRE didn't have any.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

I kind of like the idea of Annet Mahendru as a Bond girl. Could also be timely if they choose some Russia-related plot for Bond.

I like her and her story arc in The Americans. Sad, but good to see a show that doesn't chicken out. Elizabeth's murder of the old woman being another example.

You mean the mother of the owner of the company that did maintenance on the mail robot? Yeah, that was pretty shocking.
There is one scene on average per season in which the showrunners want us to remember that we are sympathizing and largely rooting for people who can and probably should be objectively judged monstrous, just courtesy of the acts they are capable of.
There's another example of that in season five, but I think you mentioned you haven't yet seen that one?

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

You mean the mother of the owner of the company that did maintenance on the mail robot?

That's the one. The sort of matter-of-fact ruthlessness that Eon would do well to emulate; Bond shouldn't be likeable.

The role reversal in that show has always been interesting, with Elizabeth as the more cold/calculated one as well as the more pure ideologue and Philip as the more sensitive and pragmatic one.

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Been years since I watched Amerikantsy, but I can't believe I've just realised the protagonists are Elizabeth and Phillip. Intentional, I presume?

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FieldsMan wrote:

I'd much prefer a more faithful adaptation of Leiter, which we have yet to see.

Exactly. If I am to chose, a faithful Leiter adaption, please. Which means that he will be Bond's best friend, his closest ally and not someone who stumbles in and out for five minutes. He will fool Bond with a fake identity and Bond will fall for it - as he always does.
AND: he will have a hook.
I imagine the outcry of all those who will complain about the outlandish stuff in Bond because they're ignorant of Fleming.
All Felix depictions are a cut-down mere sketch of the original.
LTK is all right, but still not the real deal. CR shows at least how the two of them co-operate. And how Leiter saves Bond's neck. If it wasn't for Leiter's help, Bond would have failed his mission there and then.
Does it reduce or change Bond to have a best friend? It probably ruins the one-man show. I don't know. This constant reduction of Felix is a nuisance.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

I'd like Timothy Dalton to return as Bond and go down fighting.

Yes!   Best. Bond. Ever.

FieldsMan wrote:

After seeing OP and TND recently, I want to see more of Bond sneaking around, such as Bond sneaking around Kamal's palace, or Bond infiltrating Carver's Hamburg factory. The last time we saw something like this is Bond stalking Patrice in Shanghai, and before that probably Bond gaining access to Los Organos in DAD. Such a great convention of the spy genre and yet it's seen all too little. Effective way to establish suspense.

Sounds like a job for the Pinkerton man.  
(Which is Felix. Just in case...)

\"Erica Ambler wrote:

M visiting a Thai massage parlour.

The masseuse would stand on his back. That's not what you wanted, is it?  

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

M visiting a Thai massage parlour.

The masseuse would stand on his back. That's not what you wanted, is it?  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5488051/Ralph-Fiennes-takes-visit-Thai-massage-parlour.html

You mean M visits the Thai massage parlour having forgotten his wallet?
I would like that...

Oh, and I forgot, although I have mentioned it before: Garden of Death, please.

@Ambler, I am sorry to post this here, but my outbox tells me that you did not get my last message...

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

M visiting a Thai massage parlour.

The masseuse would stand on his back. That's not what you wanted, is it?  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5488051/Ralph-Fiennes-takes-visit-Thai-massage-parlour.html

'In future, Commander Bond, if you must tour the world of Suzie Wong by night inform our man here' - M, The Man With The Golden Gun.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

@Ambler, I am sorry to post this here, but my outbox tells me that you did not get my last message...

Sorry, Kath. Messages received. I'll bring the rope and baby oil.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Your last paragraph there illustrates the problem quite neatly, FM ... coming up with new stunts after 50+ years is tough.

Other franchises do them..and do them better. Bond used to lead...and now has to try to catch up to maintain the bar.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Kath wrote:

@Ambler, I am sorry to post this here, but my outbox tells me that you did not get my last message...

Sorry, Kath. Messages received. I'll bring the rope and baby oil.

Gosh, I said "Bring your own food".