Christoph Waltz: I didn't nail the role

Maybe Gray's Blofeld was actually Gray's Dikko Henderson. I can picture the former strutting around in a kimono, uncovered balls swinging in the evening breeze, remarking that Bond has the wrong idea about pussies etc.

EDIT: Got Pleasance and Gray mixed up. Have fixed it up now.

Ah, Henderson ... am picturing Fleming fans at the cinema in '67 wondering why the plain-speaking Aussie of the YOLT novel has become Gray's ripely camp Englishman in the journey from page to screen .

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Ah, Henderson ... am picturing Fleming fans at the cinema in '67 wondering why the plain-speaking Aussie of the YOLT novel has become Gray's ripely camp Englishman in the journey from page to screen   .  

I suppose it was just a jump to the left...

And then a step to the r-iiiiii-ght ...

Erica Ambler wrote:

That the script is bad is incontestable. However, even if it had been better-written, the central idea of Spectre could not have worked.

Blofeld is a pantomime villain. He’s larger than life and needs a spectacular backdrop.

Nine Eyes, whilst contemporary and sinister, was not that. Datamining is the least visual activity, which is sort of a problem for the most visual medium.

Exactly. What is the purpose of that potocol anyway? They want to shut down the 00 section and make Bond jobless. But apart of that?

Hilly KCMG wrote:

His manner in the torture scene was much like a dentist. As said, he could've been the best but fell short.

Even that can be pretty scary. Eric Ambler (and I mean the author this time, not the member with the changed name   ) makes one of his protagonists describe Dimitrios as having the eyes of a doctor who is about to hurt you.

Scariest dentist in film would be Lord Olivier in Marathon Man.

No Blofeld has ever had an ounce of menace and power of the original unseen Dawson/Pohlman iteration. Savalas is lovely but just doesn't click as being the fully realized Fleming character, neither does Pleasance. The former is very physical and the latter is unforgettable.
Gray is not meant to be the Fleming character and is a delightful change of pace in DAf because he fits that film's tone.

But outside of the original appearances none approach Fleming's character. I love them all but none are quite Blofeld.

hegottheboot wrote:

No Blofeld has ever had an ounce of menace and power of the original unseen Dawson/Pohlman iteration. Savalas is lovely but just doesn't click as being the fully realized Fleming character, neither does Pleasance. The former is very physical and the latter is unforgettable.
Gray is not meant to be the Fleming character and is a delightful change of pace in DAf because he fits that film's tone.

But outside of the original appearances none approach Fleming's character. I love them all but none are quite Blofeld.

Thanks for saying that. I must even say that all Blofeld's are not quite the novel Blofeld to me. I mean, Blofeld is Fleming's most changing character. He can even change his whole appearance. There are not even two books in which he is alike. So, it is even impossible to put your finger on Fleming's Blofeld and all adaptions fall short of taking these changes into consideration. They have forced this chameleon into a fixed shape with a grey suit and a white cat.