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Reconception for JAMES BOND... Using Wong Kar Wai and Clive Owen

Ok, Harry here and I've been going over those damn wonderful BMWMovies and I just have to say... Dammit, Pierce Brosnan is tired and doesn't want to do another Bond... Release him. Release him and sign Clive Owen now MGM... This isn't a joking matter... this isn't even funny, Clive Owen is the future of James Bond and a birth place to reconceiving the entire Bond Franchise.

Francis Ford Copolla has given MGM the concept to begin making cheaper smarter films... After watching WHAT IS THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN last night.... Dear GOD Someone at MGM WAKE UP! If you can take a fantastic Donald Westlake novel and turn it into a piece of celluloidal manure... Please... just stop... breathe in for a minute and take a look at the company.

MGM has an image problem right now. Everyone has a collective sigh of dejection when we hear your lion's roar... You are no longer the king of the studios... There is no Louis B Mayer having made his fortune on D.W. Griffith films and coming to Hollywood with a dream for a giant cinema.... MGM... you are not competing with SONY or WARNER BROTHERS or PARAMOUNT or FOX or DREAMWORKS.... You are not competing with NEW LINE either.... You are competing with MIRAMAX, USA FILMS, ARTISAN, FINE LINE and SONY CLASSICS... You are now a mini... that's the sort of Box office share you're pulling in... Want to grow... Ya want to be a big lion in the cinema forest? Time to start over...

How do you start over? First thing first, you need talent... Not old talent... not bad scripts... not the latest thing on the development execs desk with the hottest and the freshest... What you need to do is to make some damn fine films.

The sort of films that critics begin to notice are coming from you... so they can begin to tell the public about you. The sort of films that cost little, but have wider profit margins... You need to change. And you start that with JAMES BOND.

Right now MGM has only one franchise... One thing that is holding it together for them. JAMES BOND... and as perfect as Pierce Brosnan was for the role... his Bond films never gelled... never hit on all the cylinders... They never fired the imagination and they basically haven't been very good at all. In fact, I'd go so far to say that Brosnan's BONDs are far and away the worst by any of the Bond actors, even though his personal performance as Bond has been exemplary. The best BOND movie that Brosnan did was THE TAILOR OF PANAMA... but noone saw that because they were never told it was here.

Right now, You have the audience believing that James Bond is a big thing to get all hot and bothered over. That James Bond is sexy and cool and big explosions and bang bang and computer wires being removed and wink wink nudge nudge and ewwws and aaahhhhsss... But there is no spying, there is no story, there are no characters and there is no passion. They are dead lifeless little films that open big and die quickly. How to relaunch the franchise?

Film geeks already know the actor, his name is Clive Owen and he's the best damn leading man not leading anyone on screen right now. There's rumors of AMERICANIZING James Bond and making him more... URBAN... WRONG! Change what he is. Make James Bond movies in the $35 million dollar tops range... Get a director like Wong Kar Wai... a Guy Richie... a John Frankenheimer... an Ang Lee or Alejandro González Iñárritu... Give them complete and total free reign and support the films with a major commercial push... All of a sudden when you're staring at a quality James Bond film with 'new discovery' as the lead and a smashing success... You'll understand how a simple reconception can help.

Somewhere along the way James Bond ceased to be a spy and became a superhero... He ceased to be human and became a cartoon... He ceased being a lover and an enchanter and became a libido sweating on screen in the laps of the world. It's time to make James Bond real again. Not in a SAVE THE WORLD mission... but a mission. A real life or death mission.... An assassination plot... protection... a mystery... something for him to figure out that doesn't have a volcano opening up.... Now I love JAMES BOND FILMS... The Connery's, On Her Majesty's Secret Service... For Your Eyes Only, The Spy Who Loved Me... hell even Moonraker... I enjoyed the first Dalton and mildly enjoyed the second Brosnan... But it is time to reconceive the character back into what Ian Fleming thought...

It's time to put him back into the Sixties or Seventies... Making Period Bond films where he doesn't feel like Austin Powers pulled out of Deep Freeze and wrought upon modern mankind.

Now I know... Brosnan is under contract to do another... It's no secret he wants to be the Bond that dies on camera... But I say pay him his money and set him free... Use Bond to reestablish and realign MGM into a new position and as a new company. Stop making mindlessly awful films... If you're going to go under as a company, go under making the films that make movie-goers love you. Do it with class, intelligence and style.

Just like James Bond used to be.

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Reader Talkback

I agree.
by Darth Pixel
May 30th, 2001
04:24:31 PM
1?
by scanlon
May 30th, 2001
04:24:43 PM
FIRST to say---Right F***king On Harry!...
by Randfilms
May 30th, 2001
04:26:58 PM
Better yet...
by Darth Pixel
May 30th, 2001
04:27:43 PM
amazing idea, harry!
by Giant Fish
May 30th, 2001
04:29:41 PM
me too!!!
by Jackalo
May 30th, 2001
04:38:50 PM
Give em hell, Harry!!!
by Doctor Gonzo
May 30th, 2001
04:39:34 PM
not gonna happen
by scanlon
May 30th, 2001
04:46:12 PM
Agree!
by SamWave
May 30th, 2001
04:55:00 PM
Ewan McGregor should be Bond.
by JFSebastian
May 30th, 2001
04:56:07 PM
Back before Goldeneye...
by Darth Pixel
May 30th, 2001
05:00:08 PM
Yeah, but...
by LiquidNitrate
May 30th, 2001
05:07:04 PM
It's not Brosnan's fault
by Hardyboy
May 30th, 2001
05:08:56 PM
Well, duh
by epitone
May 30th, 2001
05:12:33 PM
I Would Hesitate To Characterize the Brosnan Films As Awful!
by RightWing Dude
May 30th, 2001
05:21:27 PM
I he wasn't flamingly gay I'd cast Rupert Everett as bond.
by Batutta
May 30th, 2001
05:25:48 PM
The problem is Michael G. Wilson...
by Uncapie
May 30th, 2001
05:27:11 PM
John Gardner & Jonny Lee Miller
by LiquidNitrate
May 30th, 2001
05:28:10 PM
Goldeneye
by Jack Action
May 30th, 2001
05:28:18 PM
Not a chance, Harry . . .
by mascan
May 30th, 2001
05:36:45 PM
Within the first 5 minutes of Croupier, I knew Clive Owen WAS Ja
by PKD
May 30th, 2001
05:47:01 PM
Speaking of the Fleming Novels...
by Zubalove
May 30th, 2001
05:49:46 PM
but....um.....
by WFCall
May 30th, 2001
05:50:49 PM
Panama?
by Josh897
May 30th, 2001
05:53:31 PM
First "The Pirates of the Caribbean..."
by zacdilone
May 30th, 2001
05:58:36 PM
bond me up, bond me down
by aeonflux
May 30th, 2001
06:01:12 PM
Rupert Everett IS the best choice!
by BigTuna
May 30th, 2001
06:20:01 PM
HARRY THOUGHT TND WAS THE BEST BROSNAN BOND fer chrissakes!
by Wesley Snipes
May 30th, 2001
06:26:09 PM
Here's an idea...
by vanexel711
May 30th, 2001
06:26:59 PM
Ummmm....Yes
by Max Fisher Playr
May 30th, 2001
06:38:43 PM
One More Thing
by Max Fisher Playr
May 30th, 2001
06:41:56 PM
All I have to say about the BMW film series is.....
by J Nasty
May 30th, 2001
06:45:10 PM
The next Bond should be . . . . .
by Mr. Garrison
May 30th, 2001
07:09:42 PM
Goldeneye was tight!
by Bizcotti
May 30th, 2001
07:20:47 PM
Doh!
by Penny Dreadful
May 30th, 2001
07:30:18 PM
Have you people even seen Bond movie?
by smokinyoda
May 30th, 2001
07:30:56 PM
Here's the real way to revive Bond
by ErikDean
May 30th, 2001
07:34:05 PM
bonded
by jeff bailey
May 30th, 2001
07:35:29 PM
I still favor Jason Issacs for 007
by superninja
May 30th, 2001
07:37:22 PM
What about Rupert Everett?
by fantasticx
May 30th, 2001
07:44:31 PM
Is there a reason why Harry is numero uno nerd around here? yea
by Triumph^
May 30th, 2001
07:46:49 PM
TWINE character development
by lil' bastard
May 30th, 2001
07:49:29 PM
Of course it would work...
by superninja
May 30th, 2001
07:51:06 PM
And I still say For Your Eyes Only is the best Bond film.
by superninja
May 30th, 2001
08:00:09 PM
shaken...not stirred
by SaintX99
May 30th, 2001
08:04:37 PM
decadentdave
by SaintX99
May 30th, 2001
08:21:16 PM
Why do I even bother?
by Hardyboy
May 30th, 2001
08:44:39 PM
FIRST to say---Right Fucking On Harry!...
by 0007
May 30th, 2001
08:45:37 PM
I thought Dalton was underrated.
by Wino-Forever
May 30th, 2001
08:47:46 PM
A quick flight plan to fix the Bond series
by KingKrypton
May 30th, 2001
08:51:12 PM
The Trouble With Bond
by 16mmbadass
May 30th, 2001
09:01:28 PM
Hmmm........I Smell Crap
by BritCam
May 30th, 2001
09:09:43 PM
WHAT DO YOU THINK BOND IS?
by GFK
May 30th, 2001
09:20:37 PM
Mascan has it right, unfortuneately.
by Sith Lord Jesus
May 30th, 2001
09:31:13 PM
Whaddya know, I actually agree.
by Lizzybeth
May 30th, 2001
09:45:31 PM
Hey, King Krypton. . .
by Hardyboy
May 30th, 2001
09:49:42 PM
Real Bond news just in!
by Hardyboy
May 30th, 2001
09:56:48 PM
Clive Owen as Bond
by The Ferenc
May 30th, 2001
10:17:15 PM
Y' See, This Is Why I Read A Lot More Often Than I See Movies. A
by Buzz Maverik
May 30th, 2001
10:17:24 PM
bond is good as dead, so let's start looking for another hero
by tommy5tone
May 30th, 2001
10:23:57 PM
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. AS BOND!
by Uncapie
May 30th, 2001
10:31:12 PM
John Woo should have NEVER done MI:2 - he should have done a Jam
by Smugbug
May 30th, 2001
10:58:32 PM
James Bond
by Dorian Gray
May 30th, 2001
11:22:30 PM
Why "People's" and the rest of you are wrong.
by smokinyoda
May 30th, 2001
11:28:29 PM
ADRIAN PAUL!
by thevision
May 31st, 2001
12:30:21 AM
No! Bruce Campbell!
by Pips Orcille
May 31st, 2001
12:32:44 AM
Guy Ritchie? Clive Owen?
by Pupkin
May 31st, 2001
12:38:06 AM
What a silly view, common sense anyone?
by carterburke
May 31st, 2001
12:45:01 AM
Clive Owen??!?!?!
by Celtican
May 31st, 2001
12:51:10 AM
Why Kar Wai?
by gilbertson
May 31st, 2001
01:08:25 AM
Any true Bond aficianado knows that the BOND character and tradi
by Charles Grady
May 31st, 2001
01:36:41 AM
Hey, I posted when this TalkBack was half a day old and it ended
by Charles Grady
May 31st, 2001
01:49:14 AM
Defense
by breadfan87
May 31st, 2001
02:04:26 AM
Hell Yeah
by thimsj
May 31st, 2001
03:05:11 AM
Open your eyes...
by Inigo Montoya
May 31st, 2001
03:09:47 AM
Just once I wish they'd get it right.
by Zachsmind
May 31st, 2001
03:17:18 AM
Right on Harry.
by Vicconius
May 31st, 2001
03:27:14 AM
TWINE did NOT suck
by acamp
May 31st, 2001
03:47:44 AM
You are having a laugh
by Tippex
May 31st, 2001
04:16:27 AM
What are you all on !!!
by Smyth
May 31st, 2001
04:50:58 AM
This is why I love this site.
by Frank Black
May 31st, 2001
04:56:53 AM
Bollocks!
by Jack Daniels
May 31st, 2001
05:07:41 AM
I've never dissed harry, but SHUT THE FUCK UP!
by Wee Willie
May 31st, 2001
05:14:40 AM
Licence to Kill
by The Flash UK
May 31st, 2001
05:17:24 AM
Dear Goddess
by Anton_Sirius
May 31st, 2001
05:41:37 AM
Pierce Bronson: the effeminate David Copperfield/Bob Goen Bond..
by Brodiebruce
May 31st, 2001
05:48:26 AM
Bond schmond
by Hud
May 31st, 2001
05:58:19 AM
Jude Law is the way forward!!
by shamharga
May 31st, 2001
06:01:45 AM
Bond...
by Nastywhacks
May 31st, 2001
06:37:46 AM
People, Rupert Everitt is an ACTOR (!)
by vondoom
May 31st, 2001
06:37:58 AM
If not Clive Owen...
by Max Quordlepleen
May 31st, 2001
06:43:59 AM
Excellent piece, but I think they need to break the ratings barr
by BigW
May 31st, 2001
06:56:45 AM
Guy Richie is the man for the job...
by Halloween68
May 31st, 2001
07:11:24 AM
Ralph Fiennes as "Bond"
by Uncle Jay
May 31st, 2001
07:20:26 AM
Why not cast Connery as the villain?
by Hagrid1
May 31st, 2001
07:37:19 AM
Michael G Wilson
by Antifanboy
May 31st, 2001
07:44:03 AM
Mr. Colin Firth, here is your license to kill.
by Andy Dufresne
May 31st, 2001
07:45:39 AM
Frank Miller should write about Bond's first mission
by Hagrid1
May 31st, 2001
07:46:41 AM
It's nice to not feel alone.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
08:37:51 AM
P.S. Tailor of Panama.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
08:40:12 AM
Bond Casting
by Jim Lad
May 31st, 2001
08:47:00 AM
I saw Tailor of Panama
by Klam Bake
May 31st, 2001
09:06:50 AM
I'm with ya Klam Bake.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
09:16:56 AM
decadentdave & Tommy_Gay_Jones
by SaintX99
May 31st, 2001
09:19:21 AM
I agree, Clive Owen would work SO well!
by RoystonLodge
May 31st, 2001
09:20:04 AM
Talk to the man.....Kevin McClory
by JDOlaf
May 31st, 2001
09:37:19 AM
Oh, dear sweet lord, NOT John Woo.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
09:45:05 AM
Ooooh....Collin Firth. Nice suggestion.
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
09:45:11 AM
Btw, I don't care if Bond is black, white, asian or indian...
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
09:50:00 AM
Firmly agree on the future of 007
by BoondockFilmBoy
May 31st, 2001
10:02:24 AM
Hydra
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
10:05:01 AM
Errr...I mean SPECTRE not Hydra
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
10:09:21 AM
Brosnan is generic.
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
10:15:20 AM
wrong again!
by NapoleonWilson
May 31st, 2001
10:15:31 AM
Hugh Jackman?
by Spamagnet
May 31st, 2001
10:19:57 AM
3 Bond choices
by Al Snows 1 fan
May 31st, 2001
10:23:58 AM
apologies
by NapoleonWilson
May 31st, 2001
10:24:27 AM
Bond...James Bond
by sundown
May 31st, 2001
10:26:23 AM
Bond Villans
by dashamus
May 31st, 2001
10:30:40 AM
.
by NapoleonWilson
May 31st, 2001
10:32:56 AM
sundown
by superninja
May 31st, 2001
10:33:31 AM
Bond is Scottish.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
10:34:22 AM
The spy and the superhero
by flynno
May 31st, 2001
10:41:23 AM
I disagree Harry!! My favorite Bond flick is "For Your Eyes Onl
by The_Lion
May 31st, 2001
10:47:08 AM
Them wacky spy movies
by RenoNevada2000
May 31st, 2001
11:14:55 AM
BMW film freak?
by PlasmaOrb
May 31st, 2001
11:27:51 AM
I have to add that MY personal favorite Bond flick:
by Smugbug
May 31st, 2001
11:40:38 AM
Better Bond..... in 15 years
by kothoga212
May 31st, 2001
11:57:57 AM
Don't get your hopes up for a better Bond script
by AlonzoMoselyFBI
May 31st, 2001
12:02:25 PM
Homophobia still alive and well, I see.
by kdraines
May 31st, 2001
12:05:10 PM
In defense of the formula
by Hardyboy
May 31st, 2001
12:33:22 PM
Use the Novels!!!
by DarkSkyfire
May 31st, 2001
01:12:34 PM
Gotta disagree with you, Dark SkyFire
by Hardyboy
May 31st, 2001
01:37:09 PM
Hardyboy isn't the expert that he portrays...
by JDOlaf
May 31st, 2001
02:17:53 PM
the thing with bond is...
by dariusflamebrain
May 31st, 2001
02:49:24 PM
HOLLYWOOD, WAKE UP!
by pixelmagic
May 31st, 2001
02:56:54 PM
Hardyboy has point...
by Darko Kerim
May 31st, 2001
03:17:49 PM
kdraines - Tailor of Panama
by Klam Bake
May 31st, 2001
03:33:35 PM
Ideas, Druggie
by ProFromDover
May 31st, 2001
04:55:27 PM
I didn't call myself an expert, JDOlaf!
by Hardyboy
May 31st, 2001
05:03:00 PM
Deac Speaks..... you morons are blaming Brosnan? wow
by Deacon
May 31st, 2001
05:37:01 PM
Response of "straight-to-video Bond with Adrian Paul"
by thevision
May 31st, 2001
05:45:52 PM
"The scripts stink and the characters have eroded" and a bit on
by SethShandor
May 31st, 2001
05:53:46 PM
Everett? Fiennes? Ewan? Not likely...
by Vicconius
May 31st, 2001
06:15:04 PM
ALL IN FAVOR OF CLIVE OWEN, SAY "A Y E ! ! !"
by TheLastRomantic
May 31st, 2001
06:31:33 PM
hey GOLDENEYE was the only really decent Bronsan flick. How coul
by Tall_Boy
May 31st, 2001
07:28:31 PM
Thanks, Plasma Orb, it's nice to know that I;m not the only one
by KingKrypton
May 31st, 2001
08:11:44 PM
Moonraker?!
by Darko Kerim
May 31st, 2001
08:28:04 PM
BOND MOVIES BETTER? NAH.. JUST MORE MTV SLICK AND SAVVY
by PlasmaOrb
May 31st, 2001
09:31:01 PM
HELL IS HERE...
by Lt. Torello
May 31st, 2001
10:11:26 PM
2 Points for Harry...
by Jonny Quest
May 31st, 2001
10:59:07 PM
I agree with you wholeheartedly, except for one thing...
by Daredevil
Jun 1st, 2001
12:56:55 AM
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Steve McQueen -- all dead and the world
by Swithin
Jun 1st, 2001
02:08:57 AM
CHRISTIAN BALE? WHY NOT CHRISTINA AGUILERA THEN???
by Swithin
Jun 1st, 2001
03:20:36 AM
Apology to Christian Bale.
by Swithin
Jun 1st, 2001
04:43:19 AM
More or less agree with Harry
by ewem
Jun 1st, 2001
06:07:30 AM
Ian Fleming would approve!
by Petersmith
Jun 1st, 2001
06:53:30 AM
Have the villian survive.
by Vicconius
Jun 1st, 2001
08:38:41 AM
I'm sorry....
by lynnbracken
Jun 1st, 2001
09:07:43 AM
Unfortunately
by Heffaloo
Jun 1st, 2001
09:54:11 AM
james bond
by scout47
Jun 1st, 2001
11:24:55 AM
James Bond
by Squirl
Jun 1st, 2001
12:01:28 PM
James Bond 20: Do you keep up with the same-paint-by-numbers fil
by Electric_Monk
Jun 1st, 2001
05:27:24 PM
I always thought the guy who..........
by WGB
Jun 1st, 2001
06:52:01 PM
No-one will ever do this!
by Galapagos
Jun 2nd, 2001
03:03:01 AM
Alas, if only Roald Dahl was still with us...
by AlTaylor
Jun 2nd, 2001
11:25:31 AM
Adrian Paul
by NapoleonWilson
Jun 2nd, 2001
11:58:13 AM
Dear god no
by digiboy
Jun 2nd, 2001
01:21:44 PM
re:kdraines & homophobia
by Electric_Monk
Jun 2nd, 2001
09:32:28 PM
I know this tb is abandoned, but...
by Swithin
Jun 3rd, 2001
02:38:30 PM
Americans and Bond
by vinylrichie
Jun 4th, 2001
03:17:17 AM
rupert everett as 007...how about 9X6!
by keithomis
Jul 21st, 2001
12:40:42 PM

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