No Time To Die (Bond 25)

[Frankeh]

Which woman could look like they could realistically fight Bond? And don't say Ronda Rousey or Gina Carano.

Gwendoline Christie

 

[gwynplaine]

Anna Kendrick

 

[Mach2Infinity]

Wouldn't mind seeing Morena Baccarin as a CIA agent or something.

 

[Aximili86]

You don't necessarily have to do anything. Before you start thinking this is some SJW crusade, my point is that it'd be nice to change up the formula a bit, which I think general audiences would appreciate. The formula has gotten stale creatively.

I didn't say a thing about "SJW"s. Point was, there are plenty of ways to mix up the formula here - a female villain's fine, it wouldn't be the first time. But you can still have a Bond film with a female villain that feels "formula", that in itself isn't going to do it.

As for all the physical-fight talk, don't know they'd go so much that road (at least close-quarters unarmed brawling like with the henchmen guys in the Craig flicks) - and they probably shouldn't. Guess they basically did in Goldeneye way back when though. Not sure we really need to see all that though, I'd prefer more of a "brain", someone who doesn't get their hands dirty, probably someone older playing the long-chess-game thing. It'd be too similar though, given we got Blofeld last time around.

 

[samsnee]

I agree with you that the third act doesn’t need to involve a fight between Bond and the villain.

Look at the last two Mission Impossible movies, which in my opinion have been better than Bond. Hunt and Lane didn’t exchange a single punch yet still had an effective confrontation.

 

[Loki882]

However

Spoiler

Rogue Nation DID involve a cat and mouse chase sequence between Hunt and Lane, as well as Ilsa Faust fighting the main henchman. And Fallout did include Ilsa and Benji fighting Lane while Hunt had an extended chase sequence turned fight scene with August Walker (the other main villain of the film).

Also aside from QOS, the Craig-era Bond films have never really had a full on final fight between Bond and the main baddie. So if anything it'd be a change of pace.

 

[Aximili86]

Oh, I just meant more the sense that we probably don't need to see Bond full-on fisticuffs beating up a woman bad guy, the way he's been throwing down with various mercs and stuff in the Craig era. Yeah, it's happened before in Goldeneye with Onatopp, but still.

If they go a female villain route probably best to keep her more scheming/intellectual than "I'm Russia's/China's/whoevers' answer to the 00 program! Throw up your dukes, English!" fighter/assassin type. In the Craig-era tone with that sort of intensity it could be more than a little wince-y.

 

[Loki882]

I don't need a final fight between Bond and the main baddie (that's what henchpeople are for). Heck if Mr. Hinx returns like I want him to then let him fight Bond. I'm simply saying that Bond fighting the main baddie, be it male or female, isn't inherently a bad idea either.

But if they do go for a female big bad, which I hope that they will, then I'm fine with her being more of an intellectual threat than a physical one as long as sexuality isn't a huge part of it. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind that in-general (Elektra King is one of my top 5 favorite Bond villains, and both Xenia and Fiona Volpe are two of my favorite Bond hench-people and they were all VERY sexual). But NOT having that be a big part of a female villains MO would be a nice change of pace imo.

 

[samsnee]

You know what would be ballsy? Make it like the first Mission Impossible. Halfway through the movie, make Bond the villain and a new MI6 agent has to stop him. Then the new guy can be the new 007. Bet Craig would love to play the bad guy.

 

[Dark Raven]

You know what would be ballsy? Make it like the first Mission Impossible. Halfway through the movie, make Bond the villain and a new MI6 agent has to stop him. Then the new guy can be the new 007. Bet Craig would love to play the bad guy.

Tom Cruise can be the new 007. That will be the 2nd time he's done that to a well-established character who is firmly meant to be a good guy.

 

[Loki882]

To be fair, I put that more on Brian de Palma. That felt very much like one of the "shocking twists" that he loves to do in his films.

 

[Dark Raven]

He needs to direct the next mission impossible then. Reveal Ethan Hunt as the villain.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

Maybe someone like Helen Mirren or Glenn Close. That would give them some gravitas. They could seem like a proper head of an organisation and businesswoman. Better still, find a non-English or non-American woman. Someone European perhaps.

Or even get someone like Cate Blanchett as the villain and don't have Bond sleep with her at all.

Or how about Alfre Woodard? She could be a Mariah Dillard Stokes type character who is really heartless and conniving.

I love all these suggestions and this line of thinking (you had me at Alfre Woodard who I think is SPECTACULAR)

I wouldn't mind throwing Anjelica Huston into the mix. I found her absolutely terrifying when I was a kid and I have no doubt she's still got it. With that dark hair and severe haircut, she could definitely pass for Russian.

 

[Dark Raven]

I love all these suggestions and this line of thinking (you had me at Alfre Woodard who I think is SPECTACULAR)

I wouldn't mind throwing Anjelica Huston into the mix. I found her absolutely terrifying when I was a kid and I have no doubt she's still got it. With that dark hair and severe haircut, she could definitely pass for Russian.

Angelica Huston would be fantastic as a Bond villainess. She would seem both like Rosa Klebb and also the head of an organisation at the same time. She has the age and the gravitas. And she's not someone who Bond would automatically sleep with either.

 

[Aximili86]

They'd all be great choices, it seems kind of moot though. Sounds like from what the guy from Wonder Woman said a week or two ago about his potential casting, it'll be either a middle-eastern or a Russian dude, last he'd heard (around the time Boyle bailed) they were undecided on which, but one of those two was the plan.

You'd probably have to assume they're not going back to the drawing board with that, this late in the game. Fukunaga gets to steer it from here on out, but I'd guess using the same general concepts they've cooked up already rather than starting from scratch. It'll pretty likely be either a middle-eastern arms-dealer type or fanatic of sorts, or a Russian restore-the-glory-days-of-the-Soviet-block fanatic. Unless they're going to try to tie stuff all into Blofeld again (this dude as an underling/ally), which I kinda just hope they leave the hell alone. He didn't work the first time around.

 

[Dark Raven]

I love all these suggestions and this line of thinking (you had me at Alfre Woodard who I think is SPECTACULAR)

I wouldn't mind throwing Anjelica Huston into the mix. I found her absolutely terrifying when I was a kid and I have no doubt she's still got it. With that dark hair and severe haircut, she could definitely pass for Russian.

Don't know where my post went earlier. But I said that Angelica Huston could be fantastic as a Bond villainess. She has the age and gravitas to be the head of an organisation. She would be a combination of Rosa Klebb and someone like Blofeld or any other mastermind. And she is someone that Bond wouldn't automatically want to sleep with.

On another note, how come EON can't be more productive like Marvel Studios? They don't have anything else to do except for Bond, and yet now we're getting to the point that it's a Bond film almost every 4-5 years. Imagine if Marvel studios took that long with each of their films.

 

[Aximili86]

They...don't want Bond to feel oversaturated & like product, maybe?

Like, hell, I love the MCU, but it gets a little overboard at a point. A 4 year cycle for Bond is fine, 5's on the long side, but you don't want to be getting them every 2 years either.

 

[jfurioso]

Heck I was hoping that Monica Bellucci would turn out to a female Blofeld in Spectre, with Christoph Waltz actually being Franz Oberhauser as a different character. It would have been different, and less obvious and they wouldn't have completely wasted Monica either.

Monica as Blofeld would have made the movie for me.

 

[Frankeh]

You know what would be ballsy? Make it like the first Mission Impossible. Halfway through the movie, make Bond the villain and a new MI6 agent has to stop him. Then the new guy can be the new 007. Bet Craig would love to play the bad guy.

So, like Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun, then.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Forgot to mention but Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz have welcomed their first child together, a girl, according to multiple reports.

Rachel Weisz And Daniel Craig Welcome Baby Girl: Reports

You know what would be ballsy? Make it like the first Mission Impossible. Halfway through the movie, make Bond the villain and a new MI6 agent has to stop him. Then the new guy can be the new 007. Bet Craig would love to play the bad guy.

I think a good story with Bond being made to be the bad guy would be interesting.

Say he has to shoot "M" for some reason. He's now on the run.

He has to fight other double "O" agents while on the run.

Turns out two double "O" were the cause of everything. M makes a joke about Bond shooting him

 

[Dark Raven]

Forgot to mention but Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz have welcomed their first child together, a girl, according to multiple reports.

Rachel Weisz And Daniel Craig Welcome Baby Girl: Reports



I think a good story with Bond being made to be the bad guy would be interesting.

Say he has to shoot "M" for some reason. He's now on the run.

He has to fight other double "O" agents while on the run.

Turns out two double "O" were the cause of everything. M makes a joke about Bond shooting him

That sounds dull and like all the rogue Bond or "this time it's personal" missions we've been getting for the past 26 years.

 

[chamber-music]

Elisabeth Röhm would make a good female villain. She often plays villains (Angel, The Last Ship and The Oath) and is really good at playing despicable villains you love to hate.

 

[Aximili86]

Much as I like Rohm as an actor, and Angel was awesome, and she was okay on The Last Ship, where the hell did Elisabeth Rohm come from?

She's basically a TV actor. "That chick from Angel & Law & Order 15 years ago". Doubt she'd in a million years ever have a chance at being a Bond villain - that's not a criticism of her, it's just that they're more than likely going to go for people in the movie-actor level of things.

And she was a good guy on Angel anyway.

 

[Dark Raven]

Much as I like Rohm as an actor, and Angel was awesome, and she was okay on The Last Ship, where the hell did Elisabeth Rohm come from?

She's basically a TV actor. "That chick from Angel & Law & Order 15 years ago". Doubt she'd in a million years ever have a chance at being a Bond villain - that's not a criticism of her, it's just that they're more than likely going to go for people in the movie-actor level of things.

And she was a good guy on Angel anyway.

Yeah, she's pretty much a TV actress. She was also a villain on Hawaii Five-0 a season or 2 ago. I don't see them going to her for a Bond film. That would be like suddenly getting David Boreanaz showing up as a villain.

In Angel, she was just a detective/police officer who sometimes crossed paths with Angel, and only in the 1st season if I recall correctly.

She doesn't always play a villain either. She is mostly known for Law and Order, but she was also in that series "Bull" as one of the lead characters. I'm not talking about the Michael Weatherly show, but the one from circa 2000 which was set in Wall Street and featured the likes of Stanley Tucci, Alicia Coppola, George Newbern (Superman from Justice League) etc.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

I do think Bond 25 will follow On Her Majesty's Secret Service in the sense that Bond will be married to Madeleine and she gets bumped off. I think it makes sense given the ending of Spectre where they essentially drive off into the sunset.

For goodness sake though can they not ignore the fact that Daniel Craig is 50 years old and give him an age appropriate leading lady (I was happy with Belucci but disappointed she was in Spectre for all of 3 minutes)

There are plenty of beautiful, intelligent women in their 40s (Marion Cotillard or Penelope Cruz would be a dream)