It's James Bond Day, if you weren't aware – October 5th has become a global observance dedicated to everything about 007, due to it marking the day of the global debut of the first Bond film, featuring Sean Connery, back in 1962. Imagine it as a bit like May the 4th, minus the furry aliens and a whole lot more sophisticated style.
But on this occasion, the coming of James Bond Day is a bit like a damp squib. It's only been after the acclaimed director was confirmed to helm the upcoming 007 movie in June, and even less time that Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight was hired to pen the screenplay. But there’s been scant evidence since then regarding the next Bond actually being revealed, and even less sense concerning the path this long-running series is going next. What remains are whisperings on the wind through film industry sources suggesting that the creative team intend to cast a relatively youthful UK performer, who could be a person of colour yet will not be a woman, a big-name celebrity, or a person we’ve vaguely heard of.
This is, of course disappointing news for the hordes gambling platforms who have been making a pretty penny for months now out of trying to convince gamblers that the selection process is between several speculated candidates and that hunky guy from Saltburn who is actually Australian.
Notably, the previous instance the film series actually went for an absolute newcomer was in 1969, with George Lazenby for a short time carried the famous firearm. Before that, Sean Connery had little recognition: he performed some small movie parts plus occasional theater and modeling jobs as well as working in physique competitions and dairy delivery in Scotland prior to accepting the main character in the first film. Producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman specifically didn’t want an established star; they wanted someone fresh who the public would believe as the actual character, instead of a performer portraying Bond.
Repeating this trick could turn out to be a brilliant tactic, exactly as it was back in the sixties.
Yet hiring the director Denis Villeneuve suggests that there is no get-out clause in any way if this new Bond proves to be wooden. Amplifying the exploding pens and suggestive humor is no longer an option with a director like is a solemn auteur specializing in cinematic genres renowned for ponderous sci-fi epics where the dominant feature is deep philosophical tension.
A bruiser in a dinner jacket … Daniel Craig as Bond in Casino Royale.
Nevertheless, to a large extent, hiring Villeneuve tells us everything we need to know about the new post-Daniel Craig direction. We won't see stealth automobiles or sexual innuendos, and it's doubtful we'll see Sheriff JW Pepper in the near future. This entire situation is, undoubtedly, perfectly acceptable if you like your James Bond contemporary in style. Yet it fails to indicate the director's interpretation on Britain’s suavest state-sponsored assassin will be unique compared to previous Bonds who immediately preceded him especially if the upcoming phase opts not to place the plot in the original time period.
Craig stood out at once as a new kind of stylish operative upon his debut in the franchise in the 2006 film, a tough character in formal attire who would avoid at all costs in a stealth vehicle, or trading sex puns with Denise Richards during bomb disposal. He caused Brosnan's tech-dependent charmer that just a short time before was viewed by many as the best Bond since Connery, appear as an imitation Connery badly reheated. Not that this is anything new. Lazenby (briefly) followed Connery, Brosnan came after the underrated Timothy Dalton, and cheesy late-era Roger Moore followed brilliantly dead-eyed and callous early Roger Moore. Every era of 007 redefines the last one, however, every version remains in its unique manner the iconic spy, deserving of a toast. It's somewhat strange, during this year's the annual Bond celebration, that we are being invited to honor a character that is not yet chosen.
Tech enthusiast and writer with a passion for exploring emerging technologies and their impact on society.
