Ways to Celebrate James Bond Day When the Next 007 Remains a Mystery?
Arriving this weekend is James Bond Day, if you weren't aware – the fifth of October is recognized as a global celebration honoring all things 007, because of this being the day of the international launch of the first Bond film, with Sean Connery, during 1962. Think of it similar to the Star Wars celebration, minus the creature costumes and an abundance of tuxedoed swagger.
A Low-Key Observance Currently
This year however, the advent of JBD feels rather underwhelming. It hasn't been following Denis Villeneuve was confirmed as the director the next Bond film in June, and not long afterwards since Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight was hired to draft the story. But there’s been almost no indication from that point about the future agent being officially announced, and even less sense of where this iconic film series is headed. What remains are whisperings on the wind through film industry sources implying that the film-makers intend to cast a fairly young Brit, who might be a person of colour yet will not be a female actor, a franchise star, or a person we’ve vaguely heard of.
Disappointment for Bookmakers
This is, of course disappointing news for the many gambling platforms who have been making a pretty penny for months now out of trying to convince gamblers that it is a race among several speculated candidates along with the attractive actor from Saltburn who is actually Australian.
Going Back to Unfamiliar Faces
Notably, the last time the 007 series opted for a complete unknown took place in 1969, with George Lazenby for a short time carried the famous firearm. Before that, the original Bond certainly wasn’t a star: he had taken some small movie parts along with some theater and modeling jobs as well as working in fitness and milk delivery in his hometown before taking the main character in the debut movie. Producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman deliberately avoided a well-known actor; they wanted a new face whom audiences would see as Bond himself, instead of an actor playing Bond.
Trying this approach once more might prove to be a clever decision, exactly as it was in the early 1960s.
The Villeneuve Factor
Yet hiring the director Denis Villeneuve indicates that there's no room for error in any way should the next 007 ends up as a stiff. Dialling up the exploding pens and innuendo is off the table with a director like is a solemn auteur of genre film-making best known for dense futuristic stories where the loudest sound is profound unease.
An aggressive type in black tie … Daniel Craig as Bond in Casino Royale.
A New Direction for James Bond
Nevertheless, in numerous aspects, selecting this director tells us everything we should understand concerning the fresh post-Daniel Craig direction. There are not going to be stealth automobiles or double entendres, and the return of the southern lawman in the near future. This entire situation is, naturally, quite alright assuming you enjoy your 007 contemporary in style. But it doesn’t tell us this new version on Britain’s suavest state-sponsored assassin will distinguish itself compared to previous Bonds who immediately preceded him particularly should the upcoming phase doesn’t choose to take the whole story in the original time period.
Reinventing Every Period
Craig was instantly distinctive as a new kind of elegant secret agent upon his debut in the role in the 2006 film, a bruiser in a dinner jacket who would never be caught dead in an invisible car, or using sexual wordplay with co-stars while handling explosives. He made Brosnan's tech-dependent charmer which recently was viewed by many as the best Bond since Connery, seem like a copycat version badly reheated. This is not unprecedented. After Connery came Lazenby, Brosnan came after the underrated Timothy Dalton, and the campy later Moore came after the intense early Moore. Every era of 007 redefines the last one, but each one is in its unique manner the iconic spy, and worth raising a glass to. It feels odd, while we mark the current 007 Day, that we are asked to celebrate an agent that is not yet chosen.