Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
After a couple of somewhat-forgettable Eurotrash villain turns by normally magnetic actors Mads Mikkelsen and Mathieu Amalric, Javier Bardem made a huge splash (and, allegedly, almost scored himself an Oscar nom) for his deformed, haunted ex-spy Raoul Silva, cementing a place for himself in the pantheon of all-time great Bond baddies. For the next go-around, it seems that returning director Sam Mendes is not setting the bar any lower, and wants to hire recent Best Actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor to face off against Bond in his 24th adventure. Ejiofor's not in "formal talks" just yet, but Mendes wants him, and that's something.
Aside from having proven his talents as a leading man in movies like DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, REDBELT, and, of course, 12 YEARS A SLAVE (never said anything negative about his performance), Ejiofor was a pitch-perfect villain in Joss Whedon's SERENITY. His Operative was cold and calculating, but driven and oddly philosophical. Unlike the savage Reavers or the totalitarian Alliance, The Operative proved to be a devastating threat to Mal and his crew by wholly believing in his cause, to the point of calmly acknowledging that the world he was helping to build would have no place for his presence, despite his efforts. His was a particular brand of villainy that is usually unseen in the Bond flicks, and if he signs on, BOND 24 is already sounding pretty damn awesome.
Whatever happens, Craig, Ralph Finnes, Naomi Harris, and Ben Whishaw are all signed to reprise their respective roles, so I'm hoping Mendes can pull out another SKYFALL, and once again elevates the integrity of one of (if not the) longest-running big-budget franchises of cinema history.
JAMES BOND VS. THE OPERATIVE (just a suggestion for the final title) fires its PPK into the camera on November 6th, 2015.
-Vincent Kim-Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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