• Sony email leaks: Studio head wants Idris Elba as the next James Bond
    136 replies, posted
I think Wesley Snipes would do better. Or Will Smith.
[QUOTE=valkery;46755539]"Next thing you know James Bond will be played by a female Iranian/Mexican who was born in Sweden and raised in Nebraska. She won't even have a British accent. It's not just a code name! It has to be a white, anglo-saxon male with a very pronounced jawline!" ~Bond Purists. Although, to be fair, this weird new idea of "we are more inclusive if the actor we use to portray a character is from a diverse background" is a touch annoying. [editline]20th December 2014[/editline] Not saying that Elba can't/shouldn't play Bond. Just pointing out that we have had this type of discussion over a lot of different classic characters recently.[/QUOTE] To be honest, I wouldn't mind him being the main character of a Bond spinoff or something set in the bond verse. But not Bond himself. Make him 008 or something. Bond as such is a certain archetype, that while being modernised from time to time, tends to keep a lot of the concepts within the archetype intact. Being white, male and with an english accent are just some of the more prominent features of it. Bond ought to be the suave english gentlemen. The kind of person others expect him to be.
[QUOTE=catbarf;46766026]Despite his perfect acting personality, I don't think Idris Elba is the best fit for Bond, but not because he's black per se. Bond was written to represent the idealistic social concept of the landed English gentry of the turn of the century, projected into the Cold War. His characterization as a suave, knowledged, respectable, and above all honorable gentleman is the continuation of the social construct of the British upper class. You can find a lot of characters similar to Bond in earlier (especially Victorian) works, where they usually take the role of a military officer (which has in turn been parodied, for example the Flashman series of the '70s), but with the end of WW2 and the start of the Cold War the fashionable trend was to write that sort of character as a spy rather than a soldier. A character meant to evoke that archetype basically has to be white, male, and British because it's exclusively a white, male, and British historical trope. I think, barring the hardcore racists and the Fleming purists, the vast majority of people who object to casting a black character as Bond do so because a black Bond doesn't really reflect the social context for the character archetype, and that's hard to articulate without seeming racist. Personally I don't care about who they choose for Bond because the last thirty years of cinema have already broken from Fleming's work, but I can see where the complaints come from.[/QUOTE] At the same time, though, that trope's been done to hell, and it would be a breath of fresh air to cast someone who isn't [I]exactly[/I] the same as all the rest. We don't live in mid-century Cold War England/America anymore, so why should we keep writing our characters like that? It's a chance to rejuvenate and recycle the character and the story to make it acceptable for a new generation of movie-watchers.
[QUOTE=catbarf;46766026]Despite his perfect acting personality, I don't think Idris Elba is the best fit for Bond, but not because he's black per se. Bond was written to represent the idealistic social concept of the landed English gentry of the turn of the century, projected into the Cold War. His characterization as a suave, knowledged, respectable, and above all honorable gentleman is the continuation of the social construct of the British upper class. You can find a lot of characters similar to Bond in earlier (especially Victorian) works, where they usually take the role of a military officer (which has in turn been parodied, for example the Flashman series of the '70s), but with the end of WW2 and the start of the Cold War the fashionable trend was to write that sort of character as a spy rather than a soldier. A character meant to evoke that archetype basically has to be white, male, and British because it's exclusively a white, male, and British historical trope. I think, barring the hardcore racists and the Fleming purists, the vast majority of people who object to casting a black character as Bond do so because a black Bond doesn't really reflect the social context for the character archetype, and that's hard to articulate without seeming racist. Personally I don't care about who they choose for Bond because the last thirty years of cinema have already broken from Fleming's work, but I can see where the complaints come from.[/QUOTE] Whatever social context the character was originally written in is barely relevant nowadays. You can trace back the historical roots of why James Bond is the way he is, but he's nothing but the star of a smarter-than-average action film franchise. I doubt most of the filmmakers who worked with the character or the fans who just don't want a black Bond (but can't find a good reason for it) know or care about any of that. Besides, the initial context he was written in, according to you, requires him to be white, but this is 2014 and there's no reason the archetype can't be shifted to include a black person.
[QUOTE=Killergam;46758876]Ok, we can have a black james bond if we can have a white Django.[/QUOTE] you mean the original django who had shitloads of films in the '60s and actually cameo'd in django unchained
is you taking notes on a top secret M16 conspiracy?
I think Idris is a really cool guy, but Bond is not of African descent. Why do they keep changing it up so much? It's already gone far away from the classic Bond movies. I really hope this isn't something they are doing to show "diversity". If they want him, I hope it has [I]nothing[/I] to do with his skin color, and all to do with his acting. At least it's not as retarded as Marvel making female Thor movie. That's just plain stupid.
[QUOTE=Nick Lomax;46778224]I think Idris is a really cool guy, but Bond is not of African descent. Why do they keep changing it up so much? It's already gone far away from the classic Bond movies. I really hope this isn't something they are doing to show "diversity". If they want him, I hope it has [I]nothing[/I] to do with his skin color, and all to do with his acting. At least it's not as retarded as Marvel making female Thor movie. That's just plain stupid.[/QUOTE] Yeah, instead making an effort to make an interesting character/movie they just make changes to an established brand just for the lols, to fill some social quotas or something. It's counterproductive IMO.
[QUOTE=Nick Lomax;46778224]I think Idris is a really cool guy, but Bond is not of African descent. Why do they keep changing it up so much? It's already gone far away from the classic Bond movies. I really hope this isn't something they are doing to show "diversity". If they want him, I hope it has [I]nothing[/I] to do with his skin color, and all to do with his acting.[/quote] The movies aren't 100% based off the books anymore so I don't think it should be a problem [quote]At least it's not as retarded as Marvel making female Thor movie. That's just plain stupid.[/QUOTE] You're just plain wrong here, though. Marvel never turned Thor into a woman, a character that was worthy of the hammer picked it up and became the new Thor, which has happened a couple of times already. And they're not planning a female Thor movie either, idk where you heard that.
[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;46781202]The movies aren't 100% based off the books anymore so I don't think it should be a problem You're just plain wrong here, though. Marvel never turned Thor into a woman, a character that was worthy of the hammer picked it up and became the new Thor, which has happened a couple of times already. And they're not planning a female Thor movie either, idk where you heard that.[/QUOTE] I know they not based off the books, but it's still James Bond. They should stick to it. It's become something we can look forward to. I hope they continue for many more years, but stop making it into just any other action movie. Also the thor thing. Found some list over planned marvel movies. They got movies planned for the next 10 yrs. Also includes spiderwoman. They just milk the stories they already have instead of coming up with new stuff. Meh.
It seems to me that people want Idris to play Bond because they like him as an actor rather than because he'd be a good fit for Bond, which isn't a problem. I mean hey, it's not like Facepunch would ever be upset over someone tearing apart source material? RIGHT?????
[QUOTE=Nick Lomax;46784625]I know they not based off the books, but it's still James Bond. They should stick to it. It's become something we can look forward to. I hope they continue for many more years, but stop making it into just any other action movie.[/quote] Why should they stick to it? They've stuck to it for over 20 movies, isn't it time for something new? Besides, like it has been said, being white is not one of Bond's defining characteristics. He's suave, daring and bold. [quote]Also the thor thing. Found some list over planned marvel movies. They got movies planned for the next 10 yrs. Also includes spiderwoman. They just milk the stories they already have instead of coming up with new stuff. Meh.[/QUOTE] That list is bullshit lol
[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;46786644]Why should they stick to it? They've stuck to it for over 20 movies, isn't it time for something new? Besides, like it has been said, being white is not one of Bond's defining characteristics. He's suave, daring and bold. That list is bullshit lol[/QUOTE] Bond is meant to suave, charismatic, handsome, stoic, eloquent, physically fit, have a sexual magnetism, and be capable of being intimidating like that is Elba's typecast down to a T if it was a bad fit overall fair enough, but literally the only thing that wouldn't fit is that he's not white, and that doesn't mean shit in modern Bond really
[QUOTE=Reagy;46755401]Well 007 and James Bond are just codenames and false identities, how I've always seen it so swapping how he looks makes no difference to me, as long as he can play the role well.[/QUOTE] That's actually a pretty interesting way of looking at it, I never thought about that.
Having watched both Luther and The Wire I'd fucking love to see him play James Bond, he's an amazing actor and perfect for the role
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