Would you support the idea of a black actor playing James Bond?

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Broheim

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2011
4,592
2
81
in order for a black guy to make sense in the role of Bond his whole background story would have to be rewritten and then what is the point of calling him James Bond.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
in order for a black guy to make sense in the role of Bond his whole background story would have to be rewritten and then what is the point of calling him James Bond.

What background story and why would it have to be re-written?

KT
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
What background story and why would it have to be re-written?

KT

The one where his parents are white.:|

I don't know why anyone would have a problem with this. You know, other than just racism.

OTOH, the idea of race not playing a role in casting is fucking retarded. 'So we're making this movie about Richard Nixon, but we didn't want to be offensive, so we cast an elderly Filipino woman to play him.'

Casting SHOULD include considerations for race, just like it does gender. No, everyone is not the same. But it's different from saying a fictional character has always been protrayed by white people, so he should continue to always be portrayed by white people, even if it's at the expense of the movies being fucking awful.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
The one where his parents are white.:|

I don't know why anyone would have a problem with this. You know, other than just racism.

OTOH, the idea of race not playing a role in casting is fucking retarded. 'So we're making this movie about Richard Nixon, but we didn't want to be offensive, so we cast an elderly Filipino woman to play him.'

Casting SHOULD include considerations for race, just like it does gender. No, everyone is not the same. But it's different from saying a fictional character has always been protrayed by white people, so he should continue to always be portrayed by white people, even if it's at the expense of the movies being fucking awful.

Well biopics are different. I would assume they'd try to match the real life person to at least some degree. Of course depending on the film and what they were doing with it, I would not really care either.

all we really know about James Bond:

--He's an orphan
--He was in the Navy

Damn it, the Navy is whites only isn't it? :(

KT
 

T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
5,320
6
0
You can't have a black guy play the lead in a movie. They'd have the black guy killed off in the first 20 minutes.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,790
1,473
126
You can't have a black guy play the lead in a movie. They'd have the black guy killed off in the first 20 minutes.

Like that Kevin Spacey movie where he's dead in the beginning and the movie is a flashback?
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,396
725
126
FUCK HIM, he'll always be a dirty ass backstabbing snitch, I don't care if it was just a character in a show. FUCK Stringer Bell.
 
Last edited:

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Definitely could be good.

Bit of history: The 60's show "I Spy" with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby as two spies was as I understand it the first time for a black start co-starring as an equal.

The network realized it offended a lot of white viewers and wanted to get rid of Cosby but Culp gave them an ultimatam, Cosby stayed or he left. They gave in.

Numerous affiliates in the south refused to air the series. Aren't ya proud of our history?
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
The one where his parents are white.:|

I don't know why anyone would have a problem with this. You know, other than just racism.

OTOH, the idea of race not playing a role in casting is fucking retarded. 'So we're making this movie about Richard Nixon, but we didn't want to be offensive, so we cast an elderly Filipino woman to play him.'

Casting SHOULD include considerations for race, just like it does gender. No, everyone is not the same. But it's different from saying a fictional character has always been protrayed by white people, so he should continue to always be portrayed by white people, even if it's at the expense of the movies being fucking awful.

Casting for Nixon and Bond are not the same thing. Bond could be black easily.

Just do NOT cast Will Smith. Ugh.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
in order for a black guy to make sense in the role of Bond his whole background story would have to be rewritten and then what is the point of calling him James Bond.

OK, let's re-write it. Everything's the same except his family is black. Done.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
By the way, I'm saying I think a movie with a black Bond could be great. I'm not saying I want one, given the established history of Bond.

But if they do, I'll happily see it and expect it to be good like other Bond movies.

BTW, they did make M a woman...

An example where it didn't work was Wild, Wild West with a black Jim West. Did I mention, don't cast Will Smith?
 
Last edited:

Broheim

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2011
4,592
2
81
all we really know about James Bond:

--He's an orphan
--He was in the Navy

his father was Andrew Bond from the Scottish village of Glencoe and his mother, Monique Delacroix, came from Switzerland. He lived in Scotland until his parents died, when he was 11, in a mountainclimbing accident, and went to live with his aunt in the village of Pett Bottom, Kent. He went to Eton College at around the age of 12 but was expelled due to an incident with a maid, afterwards he was sent to Fettes College in Scotland (just as prestigious as Eton according to some) the same school his father went to. His father was a representative for Vickers armaments company and Bond became bilingual on his travels with his family through Europe. He lost his virginity at 16 to a prostitute in Paris and attended the university of Geneva. He was taught to ski in Kitzbühel by Hannes Oberhauser (whose murder was part of the plot of Octopussy). Bond joins the ministry of defense and rises to the rank of commander before he joins the "secret service".

this is not the background story of a black man in his late 30's, even today, never mind the fact that in 2 separate books he is described as looking rather like Hoagy Carmichael.

(I've left out dates and disregarded Skyfall completely).
 
Last edited:

Geosurface

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2012
5,776
4
0
Hell I was pissed just based on them casting a BLONDE Bond (Daniel Craig) - so no, I would not support this.

Pierce Brosnan fit my mental image of Bond quite well. Dalton looked the part but I didn't really enjoy him in the role. Connery was great but a bit hairy.

I think Bond should be black-haired, and more suave less brawler like Craig.
 

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,695
4
0
A long time ago I read am analysis of of all the novels that deemed Timothy Dalton as the closest to Bond-like appearance.
 

bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
12,248
3
0
If they stop pretending that all the James Bonds are supposed to be the same fictional character and instead take the series in a direction where 007 is actually a role that just gets filled by the next best agent when the previous one needs to be replaced (whether by death or retirement), then yes, I'd be all for a black Bond.

Otherwise, no, the character is white. Its not a matter of race as much as its not a matter of gender, and why we're not asking the same thing about why a female couldn't play the character.
 

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
124
106
If they stop pretending that all the James Bonds are supposed to be the same fictional character and instead take the series in a direction where 007 is actually a role that just gets filled by the next best agent when the previous one falls, then yes, I'd be all for a black Bond.

Otherwise, no, the character is white. Its not a matter of race as much as its not a matter of gender, and why we're not asking the same thing about why a female couldn't play the character.

I can't even imagine the feminazi backlash if we had a 007 female agent. Because according to them video games are sexist because of this horrible act of women being portrayed in one night stand dates.
 

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
He's a fictional character, so there's no issue at all using a black actor.

Now that I think about it, I'd really like to see Elba get the role, he looks the part.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
69,052
26,937
136
A Jamaican Bond would be hilarious.

"That's a Smith and Wesson mon, and you've had your six"