Becoming Bond

It's been a year since the fabulous Casino Royale premiered at Leicester Square in London with the queen in attendance, and I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the crap poor Daniel Craig had to put up with after signing on to become the sixth James Bond.

Bond fans claimed he was too blonde, too short, too frail to be a convincing 007 (see photo). Not handsome enough, not suave enough, not James Bond enough (again, see photo). And God knows, he'd never be able to pull off wearing a tux (see video below).

Then came the rumors from the set--he'd gotten two teeth knocked out the first day of filming and he couldn't handle the Aston Martin's stick shift (both rumors totally bogus). A website run by disgruntled Pierce Brosnan fans called for a boycott of Casino Royale and all future Bond films staring Craig (and that boycott worked, too, because the movie only earned a measly $600 million worldwide, the highest grossing Bond film of all time).

Critics predicted Craig would be a miserable failure in the role and he'd end up being a one-picture Bond, just like George Lazenby (note: according to the Daily Mail, Daniel Craig recently signed a record-breaking, $60 million deal to play James Bond for four more films--I should be such a miserable failure!).

The rest, as they say, is history.

Blond Bond Here to Stay (and I couldn't be happier)

Ha! How appropriate that I posted that interview with Daniel Craig this morning. Just in from MI6: According to trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, James Bond star Daniel Craig has extended his contract to play 007 for four new films following his record-breaking debut in "Casino Royale" (2006).

This news, if true, makes me very happy as Craig's performance in Casino Royale brought me back to the Bond franchise, which I'd all but given up on. Give a clicky for my take on that film.

Check him out here with Catherine Tate in a Comic Relief spot:

MI6

I've discovered a cool new site for James Bond fans called MI6, which contains all the information you could ever hope to find on our favorite secret agent, including up-to-the-minute news on the movies, the actors, the literary James Bond, reviews, photos, fan art, speculation about the next bond girl and--my favorite part--a production diary for the upcoming (as yet untitled) feature film in 2008 starring Daniel Craig.

I'm currently reading Casino Royale, which was published in 1953. If you're only familiar with James Bond through the movies, I highly recommend that you become acquainted with Ian Fleming's 007.

Spy Thrillers

Have you noticed that the spy genre seems to be back stronger than ever? So much so that there's an all out message board war going on between James Bond and Jason Bourne fans. The kerfuffle was triggered by a comment Matt Damon made in an interview promoting his upcoming movie, The Bourne Ultimatum.

"Bond is an imperialist and he's a misogynist. He kills people and laughs and sips martinis and wisecracks about it. Bourne is this paranoid guy. He's on the run. He's not the government. The government is after him. He's a serial monogamist who's in love with his dead girlfriend and can't stop thinking about her. He's the opposite of James Bond."

Uh, 'scuse me, Matt, but have you seen Casino Royale?

But lest I sound as if I have as much time on my hand as these fanboys, I'll get to the point. I'm loving spy thrillers again after pretty much ignoring the genre for the past fifteen years or so. 24 has a lot to do with it. So does the aforementioned Casino Royale.

Back in the late seventies, I read nothing but science fiction and fantasy...by the truckload. I'm not kidding, I went through at least one book a day and sometimes read around the clock in order to finish a particularly engrossing story (back in those days, I really did have a lot of time on my hands...too bad there wasn't an Internet).

Then came The Bourne Identity in 1980 and bam! Suddenly I was knee-deep into spy thrillers. I'd read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold back in high school and, of course, some Ian Fleming along the way. And I loved all those sixties spy movies. I even had dreams of growing up and joining the CIA.

But it was Robert Ludlum who really made me a diehard fan of the genre. Once I read Bourne, I started tearing through Ludlum's back catalog like a madwoman, and though I loved most of them, The Bourne Identity (along with the equally superb The Aquitaine Progression) remained the measure by which I judged all spy tales.

During the nineties, I became interested in psychological suspense and the spy genre fizzled for me. I completely missed out on the whole Tom Clancy thing, although I've seen all the Jack Ryan movies and enjoyed them. But I bet you Tom Clancy fans feel the same way I do about the Bourne movies...that is so not Jason Bourne up there on the big screen.

So now that I'm digging spy thrillers again, I want more. What have I missed out on? Got a book or movie you'd recommend? I'd love to hear about it.

Oh, and what is the deal with the initials J.B.? James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Baur. A coincidence? I think not.

Bond...James Bond

If you’ve been working too hard this summer, you need to take a break and go rent Casino Royale, the latest James Bond movie. Have you seen it? I resisted for a long time because I wasn't sure about the new guy. I wanted to see Clive Owen in the role and my second choice would have been Hugh Jackman. And, too, I'd gotten a little bored with the franchise.

Now that I’ve had a chance to see the new Bond in action, here’s my take...Clive, who? Hugh Jack-what?

I’ll just say it. Daniel Craig is the best James Bond ever. I said...ever. He is Ian Fleming's James Bond. Dark, driven and, at times, utterly vicious--the Bond that is described in both the movie and the book as ‘a blunt instrument’. This installment required a real badass with a side order of nasty and, boy, does Daniel Craig serve it up. I can’t even imagine (and don’t want to) any of the other Bond portrayers doing what he did in this movie.

Casino Royale is the beginning of Bond’s 007 career, before he becomes the suave, sophisticated secret agent of his later years. He’s realistic and gritty and doesn’t resort to the usual bag of silly gadgets and tricks that had begun to make the character cartoonish. And there's a pretty wonderful love story to boot.

It is the love story—and the resolution—that creates the smooth, rakish (sometimes chauvinistic) Bond of the future.

Still not convinced? Watch this clip and tell me this isn't one of the most romantic scenes in recent movie history?