# Cast a new James Bond **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698 "2002-10-10T16:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/1 "2002-10-10T16:33:38Z")
I can’t stand that jaw-setting, eye-squinting poser Remington Heel. I would love to see Clive Owen in the roll. Think he could pull it off? Too reluctant and moody perhaps? Who would you cast? ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/2 "2002-10-10T17:29:32Z")
I am very happy with Pierce Brosnan as Bond, James Bond. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/3 "2002-10-10T17:38:28Z")
I’m impressed with Brosnan, but he’s made it clear he doesn’t see it as a long-term role. Clive Owen looks like a banker (I’ve never been able to forget his earlier TV roles, most of which were bankers). If it wasn’t too obviously against the tradition of the films I’d like to have seen Laurence Fishburne in the role (but I doubt he’d have been believable as a ‘traditional’ Bond). ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/4 "2002-10-10T17:59:34Z")
The name is Clooney, George Clooney ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/5 "2002-10-10T18:04:42Z")
Setting aside for a moment that the franchise should have been put out of its misery 2 decades ago, I kinda like the idea of Clive Owen as Bond. Anyone who doubts his acting chops should check the excellent thriller, _Croupier_. Or how about Daniel Day-Lewis? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/6 "2002-10-10T18:11:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*Setting aside for a moment that the franchise should have been put out of its misery 2 decades ago, I kinda like the idea of Clive Owen as Bond. Anyone who doubts his acting chops should check the excellent thriller, _Croupier_. > \*\* Exactly. I just saw Croupier a few days ago and that’s what, for lack of a better term, turned me on to Clive Owen. I suppose this is really more of a “Clive Owen is cool” thread than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/7 "2002-10-10T18:16:02Z")
First of all, I’d like to see Tim Dalton make a few more. Same with Pierce Brosnan. If we have to have a new one, I’d say Alexis Denisof or Viggo Mortensen. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/8 "2002-10-10T18:17:09Z")
Clive Owen is cool, but he doesn’t float my Bond boat. He would be excellent as the edgy, crash-n-burn Bond that Dalton did, but the majorities taste seems to be towards the camp, fluffy Bond. I like both but in different ways. I will debate the issue of a new Bond with mrsIteki and get back here. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/9 "2002-10-10T18:21:34Z")
Clive Owen’s the first person I thought of simply on the basis of the thread title. He does look good driving those fancy cars on the BMW films, though. Robbie Williams? 😃 Actually, he’d be better as a petulant, prissy, pussy-stroking baddie. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/10 "2002-10-10T18:28:15Z")
Damn **Ethilrist** , beat me to it. Gotta veto Viggo though. Bond simply must be from Britan (or Ireland at a push with Brosnon…). It’s just part of the whole ‘thang’. ymmv ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/11 "2002-10-10T19:05:28Z")
And if Clive Owen isn’t available, I nominate Rupert Everett. ---
**Author:** ![stylize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@stylize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stylize)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/12 "2002-10-10T19:26:20Z")
Two words: Jude Law ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/13 "2002-10-10T20:14:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stylize \* > \*\*Two words: Jude Law \*\* Two more words: big wimp. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/14 "2002-10-10T20:19:03Z")
Had Clive Owen not already been offered (and seconded and thirded and fourthed), he would be my sole nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/15 "2002-10-10T20:22:01Z")
How about Colin Farrel (sp?) from Minority Report? Or Christian Bale? ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/16 "2002-10-10T20:56:29Z")
George Clooney is no more Bond, than he was Bruce Wayne/Batman, so NO. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/17 "2002-10-10T21:18:45Z")
Johnny Cash, but only if Pauly Shore isn’t available. Gilbert Gottfried as the new supervillain, Dr. Adnoid. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/18 "2002-10-10T22:04:37Z")
How about Mike Myers? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/19 "2002-10-11T01:01:55Z")
Robson Greene. Solid actor, medium height and build (which, IIRC, is how Bond was written anyway), twinkling blue eyes [sigh], fantastic charm and charisma, and the right age. Only drawback: not well-known internationally (most of his work has been for British TV) and has a strong Newcastle accent that probably should be toned down a bit for the role, but I consider those trivial concerns. With his attributes, he would definitely be a “Connery-style” Bond. Clive Owen, good actor that he is (in “Close My Eyes” he even managed to make brother-sister incest look sexy!), is perhaps too tall, dark, and broodingly handsome, and his voice is all wrong – Owen’s an overly deliberative speaker, and an oddly soft-spoken baritone. We’re casting James Bond here, not Heathcliff! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698/20 "2002-10-11T01:08:12Z")
Clive Owen would add edge if he stayed in _Croupier_ mode. He certainly has the look for Bond. Maybe Ioan Gruffud from the _Horatio Hornblower_ TV movies when he gets a little older. Jude Law always seems more like Somerset Maugham’s Ashenden. He projects the brain and charm needed for a spy, but I can’t see Law as the man of action at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cast-a-new-james-bond/131698.md?page=2)