DC

I’m downloading a software upgrade, which is almost done, so I have been passing the time while the download completes by doing a bit of near-random browsing, following on from some current news stories and a bit of curiosity about the next Bond film.

There’s always been a lot of interest in “MI5” (its official name is the Security Service, but you can see why people prefer not to use those initials) and SIS, but it wasn’t that long ago that the official line was that those two bodies did not exist. There were books giving detail about the organisational structure of Britain’s intelligence services, but the Government — whoever was in power — insisted that there were no such bodies. Now they have official websites devoted to them (MI5, SIS) and the BBC has information pages on them, too (MI5, SIS). I find that slightly amusing, for some reason.

The last reports I heard about Casino Royale, the next Bond film (based on the first of the novels), suggested that Pierce Brosnan would return in the rôle, but it seems that is not the case. According to the Bond site MI6.co.uk, the final four candidates are Goran Visnjic (33), Henry Cavill (22), Alex O’Lachlan (28) and Ewan Stewart (47). I would have thought Ewan Stewart was a bit old and Henry Cavill a bit young, although on paper Brosnan would have been too old for Die Another Day and he was fine, so who knows?

Looking at the IMDB pages, I’ve seen Henry Cavill in at least one thing, although I can’t remember him at all; still, his photograph looks suitably Bondian. (Goran Visnjic doesn’t, somehow. His picture reminds me of Clive Owen, someone else once suggested as a possible Bond, someone else I thought just didn’t look right.) Ewan Stewart isn’t a name I recall, but it turns out I’ve seen him in several things, and in fact he’s in a couple of DVDs I have. Taking a look at one, it is very difficult to see him as Bond. He is Scottish, though, and Bond was supposed to be part Scottish.

It’s probably wise for the producers to go for someone fairly unknown. Connery was pretty unknown when he was cast in Dr. No, and he made the rôle his own; and I have always felt that one of the problems with Moore was that he was already famous (as The Saint), so when he finally got to play Bond (he had been Fleming’s favourite candidate for the part before Connery, but was committed to The Saint at the time) he brought something of his Templar with him. I do hope that, whoever is cast, the producers get the tone of the film right (as they have, mostly, with the last few films), and that the main title music is better than the dire Madonna piece used last time.

Casino Royale should feature Felix Leiter — if it does, I hope the producers take some care over the casting. Rik Van Nutter was perfect for the rôle in Thunderball, David Hedison did a good job in Live And Let Die; on the other hand, Hedison was much too old for the part in Licence To Kill, as was Cec Linder in Goldfinger; and Norman Burton in Diamonds Are Forever was just plain wrong. Leiter is supposed to be Bond’s CIA counterpart (in Casino Royale, anyway) and they develop a friendship of equals; basically, they become drinking buddies. That’s never really come out on the screen.

Incidentally, it’s worth seeing the 1954 Climax Mystery Theatre production of Casino Royale if you get the chance — it’s just so weird. Barry Nelson plays CIA agent “Card-Sense” Jimmy Bond, while Leiter is British, and his first name has become “Clarence” — he doesn’t seem remotely believable as a secret agent in this. One character who has never made it into the Eon films (and also should be in Casino Royale) is Mathis, of the Deuxième Bureau, and he didn’t make it into the American TV play, either — but his surname is pinched for the main female character. Despite the oddities and the rough edges (this was live TV drama, after all), it is fairly faithful to the storyline of Fleming’s book. There was a VHS release some years ago.

Completely unrelated to all that, I see that Penguin have a translation of Snorri’s Edda coming out soon — I don’t know if it is actually a new translation, though.

This story made me laugh; some people really are that stupid, difficult as it is to believe.

The download has finished (a while ago, in fact), so I will post this, install the upgrade and get on with some stuff I need to do.