James Bond Racist

[Digga]

Halb said:

Digga said:

I for one would like to see a bit more of the upper-class nutcase return, but I don't for a moment feel the future has to lie with a white actor.

I'd quite like that. I think the Chewie guy mentioned above would be good for that. He has the classy assassin type down.

I always fancied that, perhaps, the sort of chap Flemming had in mind when he penned bond was, in some way, related to those public school lunatics that in earlier times went off to seek adventure in the empire (East India Co etc.) because they were too extreme and easily bored for any suitable career at home. Clever, but brutal in equal measure and unusually fearless.

[Asterix]

Who the hell is this Chewie bloke you're on about?

[Mr Whippy]

Halb said:

I always thought he was a bit light/wooden. An OK Bond in the mould of Bronsnan/Moore for a 90s feel. He is the right height.
I don't think he fits today's Bond.

Yeah I agree, Bond has moved on and he's probably getting on a bit now.

That said I think Bond has gone a bit st now. I've not really liked any of Craig's Bond films. I'd sooner watch any of the earlier ones, including Dalton ones, than a Craig one on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

So maybe Idris Elba is perfect for the new Bond, while they're completely changing things why not make Bond whatever they like so Idris suits the role, rather than the other way around.
Another re-imagined/rebooted franchise that has gone to crap.


Dave

[MarshPhantom]

Moonhawk said:

It seems in vogue at the moment to cast black actors in roles that originally featured white characters. To list a few recent ones:

Nick Fury in the Avengers.

Human Torch in the new Fantastic Four movie.

Annie in the most recent version of the film with the same name.

Felix Leiter and Miss Moneypenney in the recent bond movies.

Robert McCall in the Equaliser

Harvy Dent in Batman

Kingpin in the movie Daredevil

Idris Elba as Heimdall in the movie Thor

Red in the Shawshank Redemption

J in Men in Black

Jackie Brown in the movie Jackie Brown

Whilst some of the casting choices have raised a few eyebrows (I actually agree with most if not all of those above) - non have (as far as I am aware) initiated what is commonly referred to as a "race row". However on the rare occasions it does occur the other way around:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/b...

Actors should be cast based on their suitability and believability in the role - nothing more.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 30th March 13:32

And they're making a new Ghostbusters film with an all female team.

[The Don of Croy]

I think Adrian Lester could have pulled it off, but he's getting a bit old now...

[MarshPhantom]

Mr Whippy said:

Yeah I agree, Bond has moved on and he's probably getting on a bit now.

That said I think Bond has gone a bit st now. I've not really liked any of Craig's Bond films. I'd sooner watch any of the earlier ones, including Dalton ones, than a Craig one on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

So maybe Idris Elba is perfect for the new Bond, while they're completely changing things why not make Bond whatever they like so Idris suits the role, rather than the other way around.
Another re-imagined/rebooted franchise that has gone to crap.


Dave

Agree with this. Bond is pretty abysmal. Amazed anyone really cares.

[anonymous-user]

Asterix said:

Who the hell is this Chewie bloke you're on about?

Chiwetel Ejiofor

[Moonhawk]

MarshPhantom said:

And they're making a new Ghostbusters film with an all female team.

Well quite. But if you dare suggest women may be unconvincing for such a role - you may get branded a misogynist (just as some people are being branded as racist for suggesting that a black actor wouldn't be convincing as Bond).

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/16/paul-f...

Yes some people will oppose women or black actors in a role simply because they are misogynistic or racist - but it doesn't follow that everybody who criticises or questions such a casting choice is. Too many people are far too quick to pull out the "ist" card.

[jonby]

Moonhawk said:

It seems in vogue at the moment to cast black actors in roles that originally featured white characters. To list a few recent ones:

Nick Fury in the Avengers.

Human Torch in the new Fantastic Four movie.

Annie in the most recent version of the film with the same name.

Felix Leiter and Miss Moneypenney in the recent bond movies.

Robert McCall in the Equaliser

Harvy Dent in Batman

Kingpin in the movie Daredevil

Idris Elba as Heimdall in the movie Thor

Red in the Shawshank Redemption

J in Men in Black

Jackie Brown in the movie Jackie Brown

Whilst some of the casting choices have raised a few eyebrows (I actually agree with most if not all of those above) - non have (as far as I am aware) initiated what is commonly referred to as a "race row". However on the rare occasions it does occur the other way around:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/b...

Actors should be cast based on their suitability and believability in the role - nothing more.

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 30th March 13:32

Pedantic perhaps, but Berney Casey is a black actor, who played Felix Leiter in 1983, in Never Say Never again

[Looket]

Well a black Bond would be the final nail in the Bond coffin for me.

It's bad enough they've made Craig look like a second-rate car salesman wearing pointy shoes and pretentious suits designed by tts in a desperate effort to look like a mod with a twist. That whole edgy, progressive retro throwback thing is as old now as the 'new' Ford Thunderbird. Likewise, a black Bond would be insufferably cringe inducing.

Not because I'm a big bad wacist but because Bond should be a traditional, British gentleman. I'm not a big fan of the later Brosnan films, but atleast he looked the part. A black Bond would kill the whole franchise, as nobody except the shouty brigade enjoys a film with a sizable stick up its own arse.

[jonby]

I have sympathy with both sides of the arguments on here

Yes, JB is thought of as being 'old school British', but it is possible to have a Black actor fulfilling that brief. I would be more concerned about a JB played by an actor that speaks like Danny Dyer than I would by the colour - accent/mannerisms/background are more important, IMO, in this aspect

I think it also important to note that when Roger Moore took over from Connery and IIRC, Lazenby too, the films appeared to show JB as being the same person, with a history having been built up i.e. the cases that Sean Connery took on as JB were occasionally referred to by Roger Moore as being in his past

But with Daniel Craig, it's almost like all bets are off and other than being a British Secret Service agent who beds lots of women, has a boss called M and a techie called Q, there is a fresh start. Moneypenny is somewhat different and Craig is not considered to play the same JB that starred in the Moore/Connery films. Indeed there is an homage in the blue trunks to the first JB film

So now we have departed from a chronological series of films and in fact, neither can Daniel Craig be considered to be playing a prequel as it's set in the current era not the past, we really are in a period when anything goes

The only really important thing in my opinion is that they don't try to get too close to the Bourne Identity in style - I love that franchise but Bond is supposed to be a little more light hearted

[J4CKO]

I still cant get used to Ford Prefect in the Hitchikers film being a cool black guy and not a weird white one.

Though I think it would work, I don't think the black community would like any of their traditional cultural icons messed with by switching in some honky, imagine another remake of Shaft, with Shaft played by Elijah Wood or Martin Freeman playing Snoop Dogg in a yet to be announced biopic.

[McWigglebum4th]

Looket said:

A black Bond would kill the whole franchise, as nobody except the shouty brigade enjoys a film with a sizable stick up its own arse.

And the idea if you had a black bond the cinema would suddenly be filled to the rafters with right on types is frankly bks

Right on types won't watch a bond film no matter what sex, colour, sexuality, disability, species the actor playing bond is.

[otolith]

Maybe he could white-up?

[Mr Whippy]

jonby said:

Bond is supposed to be a little more light hearted

Exactly.

They've forgotten that since Craig came onto the scene... and they're all anything but light hearted and witty for a Sunday afternoon watch with the family.

They are just serious, violent, pretentious and to be really brutal, tiresomely boring. Even my wife who hates the womanising Bond of old will happily sit and watch the old ones these days given how good they have been made to appear by the badness of the Craig ones, with the ball smashing in a seat scene in Casino Royale, is just a load of, err, bks. Violent, stupid, overly dramatic not James Bond any more.

Dave

[TTwiggy]

I'd have no issue with a black Bond, but I would have issue with Idris Elba playing the role. He's hammier than a hamster eating a ham sandwich in Hamburg.

[GavinPearson]

killingjoker said:

I like Idris Elba. His programme on cars was excellent but should be making a feature film of Luther. Now that would be more like it. Incidently, if Idris did play Bond i don't think he would want to exchange the Aston for an electric car as he is a real petrolhead.

The programme on cars was pretty weak. He should stick to acting. I see him being a great Hollywood bad guy, a Samuel L. Jackson type but with an English accent.

[Digga]

TTwiggy said:

I'd have no issue with a black Bond, but I would have issue with Idris Elba playing the role. He's hammier than a hamster eating a ham sandwich in Hamburg.

I'd rather see a (well spoken) black Bond than another Scotch one. (And yes I realise that's racist.)

[AnotherClarkey]

Digga said:

TTwiggy said:

I'd have no issue with a black Bond, but I would have issue with Idris Elba playing the role. He's hammier than a hamster eating a ham sandwich in Hamburg.

I'd rather see a (well spoken) black Bond than another Scotch one. (And yes I realise that's racist.)

Even though Bond is meant to be half Scottish?

[DuncanM]

Recent Bond films have played like a 2 hour + Advertising campaign to me.

Kinda like staring at the first 20 pages of Esquire magazine.

A black Bond wouldn't bother me in the slightest, but then I don't have an emotional attachment to the story/history having never read the books.