The character of James Bond has listed resurrection amongst his hobbies, but speculation is our game today.
Your own ideal fantasy James Bond film probably depends on what sort of Bond youre into.
How about Connery returning to the role in his 60s?
All of these possibilities were up for grabs at one time or another.
Lets dream a little.
A different initial Fleming adaptation.
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Likelihood: Eminently possible, Mr Bond.
The then relatively unknown actor, Sean Connery, was the eventual choice as the first cinematic James Bond.
But before that, many established actors had been mooted.
Grant didnt want to do it because he didnt want to get tied to a potential series of films.
But if he had, screen Bond would have been a different character.
Grant was suave, and a ladies man, but his delivery of humor was playful and self-effacing.
And the audience knew that kill he would, when the time came.
Many of the other actors who were considered would have doubtlessly taken the character in a different direction.
Stars like David Niven, Rod Taylor, and Dirk Bogarde are amongst the greats.
Yet like Grant, in a sense, they would have been safe choices.
No,there had been earlier attempts to make a theatrical James Bond film.
The most well known project isThunderball, and well get into that further on.
Nodid begin production, Fleming had eight published Bond novels under his belt.
While writingMoonrakerin 1954, Fleming had imagined it as a potential film.
The rights forCasino Royalewere already contentious, but any of the other novels were probably fair game.
Thunderball
Thunderball Again in the 1970s
The Scenarios:An earlierThunderballremake.
DifferentNever Say Never Againactor/script.
Likelihood:Probably would have happened if not for the legal stubbornness of Eon Productions.
So,Thunderballwas to be the first James Bond film.
However, the script was regarded as too expensive to produce.
I mean, this Bondmania thing would have burnt out by then anyway, right?
In 1976, McClory announced that he would produce hisThunderballremake.
Youve got to remember that this was years before sharks with friggin laser beams were commonplace.
Warhead 2000
ThunderballAgain?!
TheScenario:A secondThunderballRemake, possibly more.
Likelihood:If the courtroom had smiled on McClory once again, it may well have happened.
Maybe he could have been the new rival James Bond?
Liam Neeson was mooted at one point.
This rumor became increasingly persistent towards the latter half of the 1990s.
Even Connery was considered at one point.
An American Bond?
The Scenario:Every man in Britain throwing his pipe onto the floor.
you may cry, but an American Bond has been under consideration at various stages.
In one scene, he recreates a scene fromFrom Russia With Love.
This one even features Maud Adams who would have been his co-star inOctopussy.
The next scene involves a fight sequence.
The most surprisingly aspect is that he doesnt even attempt a British accent.
Timothy Dalton
A Much Younger 007
The Scenario:Dalton takes over sooner.
They all could have worked out differently.
Its very important to make the man believable so that you might stretch the fantasy.
Whether people like this kind of Bond is another question.
This means that he could have succeeded Sean Connery instead of George Lazenby forOn Her Majestys Secret Service.
Arguably, as good as Dalton was, he never had a truly great film.
The Scenario:Complicated a third or fourth Dalton film to send the man out on a high.
Likelihood:It was going to happen if not for arguments about the rights.
The hypothetical third Dalton film exists on a continuum of continually evolving treatments and scripts.
The starting point is a 17-page treatment that fans sometimes refer to asProperty Of A Lady.
Much of the action would have taken place in Hong Kong.
From here on, things get a bit crazy.
It seems that Bond would have had to do battle with robotic adversaries.
Disneys Imagineering department had been commissioned to produce some designs for the robots.
Production was slated to start in 1994, but by then, Dalton had left the role.
In either case, who knows what the fourth one would have ended up like?
Likelihood:Brosnan wanted it to happen, as did a very special director.
Pierce Brosnan is perhaps the best balanced Bond and very much a man of his time.
Hes a dab hand with a one-liner and he can deal with the techno-terrorism of the post-communist era.
And yet, he probably moisturises before bed when hes in a dry climate.
He gave good Bond.
It has bad CGI.
It has a muddled, implausible plot.
Er, Roger Moore said that it seemed a bit silly and unrealistic.
In interviews, Quentin Tarantino made it clear that he was extremely enthusiastic about directing a James Bond movie.
At different times, Tarantino had differing ambitions for the project.
Shortly afterDie Another Daywas released, he met up with Brosnan and the two got on famously.
Tarantino went as far attempting to purchase the rights for himself.
As for his take?
This fits in with Tarantinos reported plan to make a back-to-basics Bond.
