The Many Faces of James Bond

Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter opens his article (‘No Time to Die’ and Finding Closure for Daniel Craig’s Bond) by quoting a Bond line from the recently released trailer for that Bond film with Bond saying; “We all have our secrets.” Newby makes the point in his article that many of the Bond villains in Craig’s oeuvre have been “dark mirror” images of himself. Vesper Lynd, Newby argues is a dark reflection of Bond’s loyalty, where Vesper lacks it. Raoul Silva the dark reflection of Bond’s national identity, Silva being a spy without a country. Ernst Blofeld the dark reflection of Bond’s familial ties, where Blofeld has none.

This juxtaposition between hero and villain being two faces of the same man, so to speak, is an interesting take and part of what has made the Daniel Craig Bond films so much fun. Craig, the most recent Bond, took over the role from Pierce Brosnan in what was a major reboot of the film series. James Bond films had long been more of a parody of spy thrillers than just thrillers. This point has always made spy parodies somewhat redundant. Roger Moore, more than any other actor playing Bond starred in some of the most blatant parodies of spy thrillers, but so too was David Niven’s Bond in 1967’s Casino Royale.

David Niven was Bond’s creator and author Ian Fleming’s first choice to play Bond as he believed Niven best reflected the character, but Sean Connery was first cast in the role in 1961 for Dr. No which was released the following year. Ironically, Niven’s Casino Royale was purposely made as a satire because it was made outside of the Eon production company of Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and Casino Royale’s producer Charles K. Feldman didn’t believe his film could compete with the Eon Bond series. In fact it did well enough ($41 million worldwide off of a $12 million) but in the end could not compete with Eon’s Bond installment that year; You Only Live Twice ($111 off of a $10 million dollar budget).

The differences between Connery’s Bond and Niven’s Bond were stark. Where Niven was a much more dapper Bond, Connery was the surly Bond. Where Niven spoke with his suave English sophisticate accent, Connery spoke in his slightly slurred Scottish brogue. Niven’s thin man was all the more dapper compared to Connnery’s more husky build. Of all the actors who’ve played Bond, Connery is often rated as the most popular and beloved Bond even though he played a British spy speaking in a Scottish accent. In a call back to Connery’s Scottish accent, Eon’s reboot with Craig went so far as to rewrite Bond and make him Scottish, but ironically Craig doesn’t speak in any Scottish accent.

The worst Bond is often credited to George Lazenby who picked up the role in 1969’s Her Majesty’s Secret Service, after Connery walked away from the role for the first time. Lazenby is an Austrailian actor at least attempted to portray a sort of generalized English accent with hints of his own Austrailian accent slipping through at times. Like Connery, Lazenby was a much more rugged and husky version of Bond than Niven’s dapper Bond. Off of a $7 million dollar budget, Her Majesty’s Secret Service didn’t do as well at the box office as previous Eon Bond productions, but did pull in $82 million world wide.

After Lazenby’s departure, Broccoli and Saltzman tested other actors for the role but distributor United Artist wanted Connery back. This gave Connery a record breaking salary of $1.25 million to reprise his Bond persona. The film was also made on a $7 million dollar budget but brought in $116 million world wide so the investment in Connery paid off in a big way. Connery, however had decided he had enough of Bond after that and Broccoli and company settled on Roger Moore for their next installment; Live and Let Die (1973).

Moore’s Bond was a return to the more dapper Bond. Roger Moore was already well known as a stylish and debonaire international playboy type with his television roles, most notably Simon Templer in The Saint. Tom Mankiewicz, who was first lured into writing Bond screenplay’s as a sort of a script doctor to Richard Maibaum’s script for Diamonds are Forever, although his original two week guarantee was extended to a six month stay with the production and he wound up sharing screenplay credit with Maibaum. When Moore was cast as the next bond, Mankiewicz adapted Bond to better fit Moore’s personality, creating a more lighthearted, eyebrow raising Bond.

Roger Moore’s “mocking insouciance” and polished sophistication was again a stark contrast from Connery’s Bond. Moore, however lacked the “tough guy” optic that both Connery and Lazenby portrayed and in attempt to remedy that Eon eschewed the standard Walther PPK used in previous Bond films and replaced it with the Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum made cinematicly popular by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry in hopes to give a more macho air to Moore’s dapper Bond. Moore went on to make six more Bond movies and was 57 years old when he starred in A View to a Kill. He had simply become too old to credibly play this international playboy.

With the retirement of Roger Moore’s Bond, Broccoli and company again began looking for a replacement. They had considered, among others Sam Neill, Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton. Albert Broccoli was not sold on Neill (although his daughter Barbara, The Living Daylights director John Glen and co-producer Micheal G. Wilson were all in for him), and because Brosnan could not get released from his contract for Remmington Steele, the role went to Timothy Dalton. Dalton seemed on paper to be the perfect amalgamation of Connery and Moore. Dalton’s Bond was the beginning of a darker Bond. One that the actor felt more accurately portrayed the Bond of Ian Fleming’s novels.

This newer persona lacked the wit and charm of the previous three actors who portrayed them and this didn’t win over too many critics. Still, both The Living Daylights and License to Kill did well at the box office the former nearly reaching $200 million world wide. While the critics may not have been so enamored with Dalton’s Bond, both Mankiewicz and Maibaum considered him the best of the Bond actors, as did director Glen and even Roger Moore! Dalton’s Bond was in many ways the prototype of Daniel Craig’s Bond to come, but before Craig would eventually take on the role there was one more actor to do so.

Pierce Brosnan took on the role of James Bond after Dalton hung up his Armani tuxedo jersy in 1994. Brosnan was a return to the more suave and stylish Bond, still retaining some of the dark elements that Dalton brought to the Bond game. Brosnan was introduced to audiences with Goldeneye and he would go on to make three more Bond films (Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day). Brosnan more than the other actors also reflected a Bond in world of changing times. He was a non-smoking Bond taken to task for his mysoginy. After negotiations for a fifth installment fell apart, Brosnan finally decided to leave the enterprise.

This paved the way for the current Bond, Daniel Craig.