More from Daniel Craig’s New Yorker appearance

Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz at December 2014 media event.

Oct. 12: Updated to include a quote from another website in the eighth paragraph from the James Bond Radio website.

After reviewing more accounts of Daniel Craig’s Oct. 7 appearance at The New Yorker Festival, here are additional points that may be of interest.

Did the actor read Ian Fleming 007 stories?

Lee Pfeiffer of Cinema Retro had A DETAILED ACCOUNT  of what Craig said during his 90-minute interview with The New Yorker’s Nicholas Schmidle. It included this passage:

Craig said that throughout his life he has always enjoyed seeing Bond films but had never read Ian Fleming’s novels.

This differs from comments the 48-year-old actor has said previously. In AN APRIL 29, 2012 STORY IN RETUERS, Craig said he and director Sam Mendes had read the Fleming stories before Skyfall was filmed.

“We were in continued conversation, once Sam agreed to do it,” said Craig. “We weren’t supposed to talk to each other because MGM hadn’t done the deal.

“But we couldn’t shut up. It was a chance for us to reread Ian Fleming, and we started emailing each other, ‘What about this and what about this?’, and that’s how it snowballed.” (emphasis added)

However, THIS JAMES BOND RADIO POST said, “Wilfred (Picorelli, who reported on the event for the website) reports that Daniel said that he had read all the novels and watched all the films.”

OK, let’s say Craig first talked about not reading the novels before being cast, then read them afterward. But then why DID HE SAY IN 2011 that the “name of a Bond film is not about anything. Live And Let Die? Octopussy? What does it mean?”

They’re pretty much explained in the books and sometimes the movies use the titles for characters, such as in Octopussy. If you had read all of the Fleming stories and seen all of the movies, you’d know what (in the short story) or who (in the movie) Octopussy was.

Bond’s attitude toward women: According to the Cinema Retro story, Craig commented about Bond’s attitude toward women.

Asked about long-time criticisms that the character of James Bond was sexist, Craig commented on a clip from “Spectre” in which Bond seduces a character played by Monica Bellucci and pointed out that charges of sexism against Bond were misguided because such scenes are meant to be viewed with a degree of camp.

In 2015, in an interview with a website called The Red Bulletin, Craig described Bond’s attitude toward women this way:

But let’s not forget that he’s actually a misogynist. A lot of women are drawn to him chiefly because he embodies
a certain kind of danger and never sticks around for too long.

Misogynist is defined as “a person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women.”

Craig confirmed his Star Wars: The Force Awakens cameo: “Craig verified internet rumors that he was indeed in the latest “Star Wars” movie, playing an anonymous Storm Trooper,” according to Cinema Retro.

Tweets by others in attendance also noted Craig’s comments.

“Why would you play a stormtrooper at this point?”

Craig: “What a stupid fucking question!…STAR WARS, for fuck’s sake!” #TNYfest

— Phil Nobile Jr. (@PhilNobileJr) October 8, 2016

To read the entire Cinema Retro account, CLICK HERE.

U.N.C.L.E. movie premieres; now comes the big test

U.N.C.L.E. movie poster

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie had a premiere in New York on Monday night.

Now comes the hard part — how will the movie do when its opens later this week?

The day started out with the movie’s stars, Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, making a live appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America show (preceded by a Warner Bros. spot for the film).

The appearance itself was what you’d expect of the light approach Good Morning America takes on entertainment topics. “You better watch out, James Bond, because there are some new agents in town!” GMA co-host Robin Roberts said.

The interview covered similar topics referenced in previous interviews about the movie, including how Hammer watched YouTube videos of Russian speakers to perfect his own Russian accent and how Cavill’s bulk changes because he plays Superman.

Later, there were photos a plenty on social media on social media of the premiere itself, both from Warner Bros. and fans. One example:

That’s a wrap — the cast of #ManFromUNCLE is heading in for the premiere. See it in theaters everywhere this Friday! pic.twitter.com/pjWgVGFQGQ

— The Man From UNCLE (@ManFromUNCLE) August 10, 2015

Meanwhile, Lee Pfeiffer, the publisher of Cinema Retro, published a number of photos on Facebook, SUCH AS THESE. The Henry Cavill News website PUBLISHED EVEN MORE.

The test that now comes is whether a series that last aired when Lyndon B. Johnson was president (with one attempted revival during the first term of Ronald Reagan) can resonate with the 21st century public. The answer to that question will come in a few days.

Richard Johnson, would be 007, dies

Richard Johnson

Veteran actor Richard Johnson, a potential screen James Bond, died over the weekend.

How close Johnson, who was 87 when he died, to snagging the role isn’t clear.

Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, in his autobiography, acknowledged Johnson was in the conversation. But the co-founder of Eon Productions, makes it sound as if Johnson wasn’t that close.

(Dr. No director) Terence Young had been promoting the idea of getting that polished British actor Richard Johnson to play Bond. It was a valid idea, but we thought (Sean) Connery was a much more exciting proposition. We called Terence in to hell him.

When the Snow Melts, page 169-170

On the other hand, an obituary by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES) carries a different account.

(Johnson) told Cinema Retro magazine in 2009 that he declined the role and that he felt Sean Connery, who got the part and went on to play it in seven films, was miscast — but that the casting turned out to be perfect, “because it turned the thing on its head and he made it funny.”

Whatever the truth, Johnson did get his turn in the 1960s spy boom. The character of Bulldog Drummond was dusted off and turned into a series of spy films with Johnson as Drummond.

For more information, you can CLICK HERE for a post at Cinema Retro’s website. You can also CLICK HERE for an obit at The Telegraph.

UPDATE: The Double O Section blog HAS A POST that details Johnson’s other spy roles.

1966: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. meets The Beatles

This month marks the 45th anniversary of The Beatles’ final U.S. tour, which included a meeting the group sought with Robert Vaughn, the star of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

According to a 2004 blog post by Derek Lamar, the meeting took place on Aug. 24, 1966, at the Capitol Records building. The blog entry includes a photograph. Here’s an excerpt:

All sorts of people started showing up: both to gawk as well as to be let into the basement door in the back of the building. Robert Vaughn showed up and everyone yelled their support for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. television show.

Vaughn, then 33, wasn’t there as a Beatles groupie. Instead, the Fab Four were fans of the show, which was in production for its third season. They wanted to see the actor who played Napoleon Solo. Lee Pfeiffer, publisher of Cinema Retro magazine, briefly describes how it came about around the 3:50 mark of this video related to the 2007 release of U.N.C.L.E. DVDs:

Pfeiffer also wrote about Vaughn describing the meeting in a post on Cinema Retro’s Web site. Here’s an excerpt:

(Vaughn) also recalled an ill-advised meet-up with The Beatles that turned to potential disaster when word leaked out. The crowds were so crazed, Vaughn and the Fab Four had to be rescued in an armored car.

To see another photo of the meeting, CLICK HERE.

This was just part of the ending of an era. The Beatles became strictly a studio band after this, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the group. U.N.C.L.E.’s popularity, meanwhile, had reached its peak and less than 18 months later, it would be canceled in January 1968.

The meeting, though, is significant for fans of 1960s spy entertainment. James Bond in 1964’s Goldfinger referred to drinking warm champagne as being as bad as “listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.” Ian Fleming’s other spy, Napoleon Solo (at least the actor who played him) got to hang with the band. As people might say today in the 21st Century, “Way to go, Dawg!”

(Thanks to our friend Marc for a research assist.)

1968: Hawaii Five-O what could have been

Over at the Cinema Retro Web site, the authors are upset at the notion of a remake of Hawaii Five-O. Here’s an excerpt:

For our money, Hawaii 5-0 was one of the all-time great action TV shows. Now, CBS- the network that telecast the series for years- has commissioned a pilot for a remake of the series. Can’t they just set a brand new crime concept in Hawaii and leave the legacy of this classic series unblemished? Besides, the original series holds up great even by today’s standards.

The thing is, just like James Bond movies, things could have been very different. For example:

— The first choice for the role of Steve McGarrett wasn’t Jack Lord, but Robert Brown, the star of Here Comes the Brides. Rose Freeman, the widow of series creator Leonard Freeman, told fans attending a 1996 Five-O convention in Los Angeles that Brown was replaced by Lord with only five days before filming began on the series pilot.

— Leonard Freeman’s first draft script (which one of our staff got to inspect at that 1996 convention before he got outbid at a charity auction), had a cast of characters including the following: Steve McGarrett, the Five-O leader; Kono Kalakua, second-in-command Hawaiian in his mid 20s; a big, beefy Hawaiian whose first name was Lee; and Chin Ho Kelley, a member of the Honolulu Police Department, who was the laison between Five-O and HPD.

By the time the final shooting script was done, the second-in-command had morphed into Danny (Danno) Williams; Lee the Hawaiian had taken the Kono name; and Chin Ho was a full fledged member of Five-O.

— CBS has tried more than once to revive Five-O so it remains to be seen whether it can actually happen. Here’s the title sequence from a 1997 pilot, which never aired, in which retired members of Five-O team up with a new Five-O crew when Gov. Dan Williams is gunned down during a public appearance. One problem: the pilot included Kam Fong as Chin Ho, who had been killed off in the final episode of Five-O’s 10th season.

UPDATE: Alex O’Loughlin has been cast as Steve McGarrett in this latest revival attempt, according to Entertainment Weekly’s Web site.

R.I.P., 007 art department veteran Peter Murton

The Cinema Retro Web site reports that Peter Murton, a veteran of the art department of early James Bond movies died in December.

Murton was art director, working with production designer Ken Adam, on Goldfinger and Thunderball. He assumed the production designer role for The Man With the Golden Gun. His profile on imdb.com lists other signifcant credits, including art director (again working for Adam) on Dr. Strangelove.

Some of his sets from The Man With the Golden Gun can be seen here:

Michael G. Wilson’s latest utterings on producing 007 movies

Over at the Cinema Retro site, Lee Pfeiffer has a long article describing a recent U.K. appearance by Eon Productions bossman Michael G. Wilson. The entire story can be viewed by clicking RIGHT HERE.

A few excerpts follow:

Eon’s relations with studios

Wilson acknowledged that the production of each film is a frantic period and that Eon delivers the finished movie to the studio with relatively little wiggle room to make changes. He said this actually works in Eon’s favor because it precludes studio brass from ordering wide-ranging alterations to the films, as there simply isn’t enough time to enact them. On the other side of the coin, he expressed frustration that the tight deadlines have compromised Eon’s influence over the title song. He said that in the past, the composer of the song worked in consultation with the filmmaking team. In recent years, however, Eon had little or no say over the song, which has been delivered so late in the process that the producers have to accept whatever is delivered.

Eon’s relationships with crew members

Wilson also explained why Eon tends to use writers and technicians who are veterans of the series. He said it is very time consuming to bring on new talent and wait for them to assimilate into understanding Eon’s methods, as well as comprehend the company’s philosophies of how the Bond character should be presented. He also said that he doesn’t let fan or media bias deter his creative instincts.

Wilson answers to audience questions

One in particular hit the mark when someone asked Wilson why he allowed the action sequences in Quantum to be edited with so many fast cuts that it robbed the scenes of any suspense. Wilson acknowledged that they were attempting to please modern audiences who are used to that style of editing but did not outwardly endorse the style. He said that Eon always experiments with different filmmaking styles that the director may favor – and that by the time the first edit is done, there is precious little time to make radical changes.The only news Wilson broke about the next Bond film is that there is no news at all. He said there had been no significant work done on the next entry.