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A black 007?

Started by merithyn, October 26, 2012, 05:01:13 PM

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Neil

Elba has the swagger to do it, and the physicality to be good in a modern action film.  As much as I normally hate it when they try and shoehorn minorities into parts that were written for white folks, I think that this is a case when it would actually work rather well.  007 isn't a man so much as he is a title, and the cardinal rule is that if he's cool, it's all good.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

merithyn

Quote from: Neil on October 26, 2012, 05:30:27 PM
Elba has the swagger to do it, and the physicality to be good in a modern action film.  As much as I normally hate it when they try and shoehorn minorities into parts that were written for white folks, I think that this is a case when it would actually work rather well.  007 isn't a man so much as he is a title, and the cardinal rule is that if he's cool, it's all good.

Yeah. Elba is definitely someone who can pull of being James Bond. I admit, though, that I had a problem with Daniel Craig playing Bond because he was a blond. It just seemed wrong. I've gotten used to it, though, and now think that he's a great James Bond. I don't doubt that I'd be the same with Idris Elba, especially if we get regular shirtless shots.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

Ideologue

#17
Quote from: merithyn on October 26, 2012, 05:11:52 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 26, 2012, 05:08:27 PM
How so, M?

Well, I think Idris Elba could totally pull it off. He has that suave, sexy attitude that makes Bond Bond. But James has always been white. So, it would take a big leap for me to accept someone who is not white for the role. Doesn't mean that I can't/won't make it, but it will still be a bit of a jolt on some level.

See, I'm not usually for race-blind casting, because a character's race usually informs their character to such a degree that by changing their race you are radically changing their character (you cannot, for example, just cast a black dude as Superman and say, "Diversity!", for example, although as times move forward, it's becoming less of an issue; and Nick Fury as a black guy is really problematic if you retain Nick Fury's original backstory, almost as problematic as making Captain America black; casting black Norse gods is actually, maybe ironically, far less quarrelsome because that modern kind of racism didn't exist on the Gothic steppe where those guys originated).

But James Bond?  Fuck it.  I've been waiting for years for the Bond movie where they finally pull the trigger on the concept and the Bond played by the marquee actor actually dies at the end of the first act, to be replaced by the new model 007.  James Bond is a caricature, or more charitably multiple characters filling one role, not an integral character to himself.

Also: I'd vote for Chiwetel Ejiofor.  I hear Idris Elba's name a lot, but I've never seen him in anything but Prometheus and that movie suuuuucked, and he really was not that great in it.  OH HE CAN DO A SOUTHERN ACCENT WHAT A MAMMOTH TALENT YOU HAVE.  But I guess he'd be fine, sure.
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)

The Brain

Quote from: Ideologue on October 26, 2012, 05:47:29 PM
I hear Idris Elba's name a lot, but I've never seen him in anything but Prometheus

WTF
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Eddie Teach

He was in the Ghost Rider sequel, not that that's something worth bragging about. And he was a badass in that Britcop show.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

garbon

Quote from: merithyn on October 26, 2012, 05:20:05 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 26, 2012, 05:15:01 PM
Quote from: merithyn on October 26, 2012, 05:11:52 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 26, 2012, 05:08:27 PM
How so, M?

Well, I think Idris Elba could totally pull it off. He has that suave, sexy attitude that makes Bond Bond. But James has always been white. So, it would take a big leap for me to accept someone who is not white for the role. Doesn't mean that I can't/won't make it, but it will still be a bit of a jolt on some level.

<_<

:huh:

What? I'd have just as hard (if not harder) of a time if they made Bond a woman.

Has 4 years been enough time to get you to be okay with having a black president? After all, that's a position that has an even longer history of only being white.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Eddie Teach

 :lol:

James Bond's a character, not an institution.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Viking

I think speculation on a black bond is all that there will be. You can't fuck too much with the franchise. If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black... and like the joker says, a joke isn't funny if you need to explain it.
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

The Brain

Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:00:27 PM
If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black...

:unsure:
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Viking

Quote from: The Brain on October 26, 2012, 06:01:55 PM
Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:00:27 PM
If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black...

:unsure:

While if you make Bond Irish or Scottish, or Australian then you don't need to explain. If having a black bond is ok, why isn't anybody thinking about a chinese bond?
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

garbon

Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:04:36 PM
Quote from: The Brain on October 26, 2012, 06:01:55 PM
Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:00:27 PM
If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black...

:unsure:

While if you make Bond Irish or Scottish, or Australian then you don't need to explain. If having a black bond is ok, why isn't anybody thinking about a chinese bond?

I don't know. I guess because we have people like Meri who would be put out because he isn't white.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

garbon

Quote from: Peter Wiggin on October 26, 2012, 05:59:02 PM
:lol:

James Bond's a character, not an institution.

I don't see the importance of that difference. Bond has been played by all different sorts of men, just like the role of President of the US.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

The Brain

Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:04:36 PM
Quote from: The Brain on October 26, 2012, 06:01:55 PM
Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:00:27 PM
If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black...

:unsure:

While if you make Bond Irish or Scottish, or Australian then you don't need to explain. If having a black bond is ok, why isn't anybody thinking about a chinese bond?

I don't follow.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Viking

Quote from: The Brain on October 26, 2012, 06:10:09 PM
Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:04:36 PM
Quote from: The Brain on October 26, 2012, 06:01:55 PM
Quote from: Viking on October 26, 2012, 06:00:27 PM
If you make bond black you will have to explain why he is black...

:unsure:

While if you make Bond Irish or Scottish, or Australian then you don't need to explain. If having a black bond is ok, why isn't anybody thinking about a chinese bond?

I don't follow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz0rGmc5u_c
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

Eddie Teach

Quote from: garbon on October 26, 2012, 06:08:05 PM
I don't see the importance of that difference. Bond has been played by all different sorts of men, just like the role of President of the US.

No, he's been played by tall athletic white men with British-sounding accents. The audience accepts all of them as being the same guy. Nobody thinks of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as being the same guy. Or Dennis Haysbert and Morgan Freeman, for that matter.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?