Who would be a good James Bond?

Pierce Brosnan's done with Bond

Brosnan on playing Bond...

Pierce Brosnan's done with Bond

Pierce Brosnan's done with Bond
Fifth 007's services no longer required, he's told

Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Posted: 10:40 a.m. EDT (14:40 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A single, surprising phone call and it was over. That's how Pierce Brosnan says he learned that his services as James Bond would no longer be required.

"One phone call, that's all it took!" the 52-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly magazine in its August 19 issue.

Brosnan starred in four Bond films. He says that before they stopped negotiations, the producers had invited him back for a fifth time.

"You know, the movie career for me really started with Bond," says Brosnan, acknowledging that by the time "GoldenEye" premiered in 1995, he was already 42.

He then starred as 007 in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) and "Die Another Day" (2002).

His departure from the role was a "titanic jolt to the system," says Brosnan, followed by "a great sense of calm."

"I thought. ... I can do anything I want to do now. I'm not beholden to them or anyone. I'm not shackled by some contracted image. So there was a sense of liberation."

Brosnan says he's grateful to have had the role, but adds: "It never felt real to me. I never felt I had complete ownership over Bond. Because you'd have these stupid one-liners -- which I loathed -- and I always felt phony doing them."

He plays a foulmouthed, skirt-chasing hit man in the upcoming film "The Matador."

"(For this) to come on the heels of my departure from the world of Bond is sweet grace, to play this one as a farewell to that chapter in time -- it certainly wasn't planned."

 

Yeah, the dialogue in the recent Bond films has really been dumb. No wonder they're having a hard time finding someone.

 

Visnjic Up For 007?

TV Guide columnist Michael Ausiello reported a rumor that Goran Visnjic (Elektra) is under consideration for the role of James Bond. Ausiello offers no source for his report that the Croatian-born actor, best known as Dr. Luka Kovac on NBC's ER, is under consideration for the role, last filled by Pierce Brosnan.

"Yes, it's true," Ausiello writes. "But should he get the role, it wouldn't mean the end of Kovac." Ausiello quotes ER executive producer David Zabel as saying that the production could film a bunch of stuff with Kovac at one time for later episodes or that Visnjic could work on both at the same time.

Hugh Jackman has reportedly turned down the 007 role. The next Bond movie is a remake of Casino Royale.

 

007 Field Narrows

Variety reported that the field of actors under consideration to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond has narrowed to Daniel Craig (Layer Cake), Henry Cavill (a contender for Superman), Sam Worthington and Goran Visnjic (E.R.). Screen tests are being completed this week, the trade paper reported.

The lack of big names results from the producing Broccoli family's unwillingness to break precedent and pay gross points to a 007, eliminating such rumored stars as Clive Owen from the Bond derby, the trade paper reported. They'll surely get their Bond for a fraction of the $25 million or so paid on the last film to Brosnan before he was dumped. Martin Campbell starts production in January on the next Bond movie, Casino Royale, for Sony.

 

It should still be Adrain Paul.

 

Sony To Unveil 007: Craig?

Sony Pictures said that it will name the actor who will portray James Bond in the upcoming next 007 movie at a news conference in London on Oct. 14, the Reuters news service reported. Reports in London have identified English actor Daniel Craig, who recently starred in the gangster film Layer Cake, as the new Bond, but that could not be confirmed, the news service reported.

The new actor will succeed Pierce Brosnan, who first donned Bond's tuxedo for 1995's Goldeneye and ended his run with 2002's Die Another Day.

The next Bond movie, Casino Royale, is scheduled to begin production in January and is expected to be in movie theaters in the fall of 2006.

Separately, Warner Brothers has agreed to back a film about Bond creator Ian Fleming, from a screenplay by writer Damian Stevenson and produced by Andrew Lazar, Variety reported.

 

Just does not look like a James Bond to me

 

Yep. He'd be the first blond Bond.

 

well let's hope they arent just changing actors and nothing else. The last few bonds have sucked bad storywise and they need to get the series back to what it's supposed to be. The last few have tried too hard to get in the MTV audience or they look too vin diesely XXX like for me.

 

Easily changed. Don't forget that Connery was bald by "Never Say Never Again."