I know Jackman made a big deal about turning down the part, but he did seriously consider it. So I think "not a chance in hell" is too strong.

As for being too fey, well, c'mon-- have you *seen* the guy on Broadway?

Anyway, the only thing that disappoints me here is that I like Craig enough to feel sad for him that he's going to be trapped into this anemic franchise for at least one but probably more movies. Shame, really.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I suppose it could have been worse... He could have been described as "too Tina Fey" which is, I understand, the reason Jimmy Fallon was never considered for the part.

Clive Owen? It seemed so perfect. . .

They could have made a real statement with Don Cheadle!

TOO FEY ?

Mark, as long as Cheadle didn't call himself Bond, but "Joe."

I don't see any of those guys saying yes (bana, maybe)

Memo has the air of some pimply, uber geek explaining to the rest of the untouchable caste why he wouldn't have gone to the big dance with any of the hot cheerleaders "even if they woulda begged me."

The last decent Bond flick was "Goldeneye". Generally, you get about one good Bond movie in every four, which is a pretty crappy average when you think about it. The whole "British superspy" thing is...well, retro, I guess. In this brave new world of head-cutting jihadis and child-murdering sickos, the adventures of a suave British dandy mean approximately fuck-all to me in terms of entertainment value.

Kill Bond off already. In any reasonably true-to-life scenario, he'd have died of syphilis long ago. Make "Q" the new hero.

Owen would have been great, Adrian Paul would have been good; I'm afraid that Craig is going to be the new Lazenby rather than the new Connery.

There's that secondary definition of "fey": instead of "fairylike," "full of the sense of approaching death." Which would describe a good Bond, actually.

If people are going to say "fey," I'd like to see "fell" popularized in its adjective form. Way underused. And a good description of how one of my prom dates looked.

Hubris,

Yeah, great words. Learned 'em from Tolkien. "Fell", especially -- seems to be just brimming with grim, broadsword-wielding malice.

Not to shamelessly link-whore, (but this is Ace's site after all), so here's my take on Craig from a few days back, including the now-mandatory "jab at Hewitt" (TM).

http://www.colossusblog.com/mt/archives/001154.html

Ace, you could always write a Bond script and start not selling that instead of your potential $300 million "comedy"

I propose replacing the Bond franchise with the current Minnesota Vikings roster. We can call it Sex Boat, and give the Bond Girls something to do besides stand around with their jugs hanging out.

(Bah. Goddam Vikes. Tice ruined the team. Well, completed the ruination of the team, which was well underway when he arrived.)

Colossus,

Yeah, totally Tolkien.

Legolas: There is a fell voice on the air ...

Gandalf: It's Saruman!

By nightfall they come under the shadow of the blck chimneys of Chikken Noodul, the dread company town that stood across from Mina Troney. From deep with the earth came the heavy whomp-whomp of fell engines producing overshoes and mess kits for Sorhed's war machine.

Bored of the Rings - Harvard Lampoon

Colin Farrell? What is he, five-foot-eight in his Riverdance clogs?

Now Will Ferrell would have been interesting -- and at 6'3" or so, up to their height standards.

....

Verily and forsooth, the wizard replied darkly. Suddenly a band of narcs and trolls fell upon them, one of them brandishing a huge faggot.

"You dieth, G.I.," cried the faggot.

"My, this is a queer river." said Gimlet as the river lapped his thighs.

Hilarious

I'm surprised no one has pointed out that a guy named "Cubby Broccoli" shouldn't be calling anyone "too fey".

Colin Firth

Nobody who plays Wolverine could possibly be called "fey" just because he can play Peter Allen on Broadway, too. It used to be called "range" but I guess cubby broccoli can only handle one food group at a time. I dont think he would be right but not because he's fey.
Clive Owen would have been perfect. He's got that cool guy/tough guy dynamic down pat. and pat is a damned lucky girl.

Watching the PBS series, "Riley, Ace of Spies" kinda ruined the whole Bond franchise thing for me anyway. Sam Neill was ruthless, cold as steel, and chilling as the true British Agent during the Cold War with Russia. He prompted the correct attraction/revulsion/fear instinct in women, and was pitiless in his focus on his task. Still gives me shivers to think of him in that role.

Ah, yes. Bored of the Rings. I love the way they captured Tolkien's spare, economical prose style:

"Welcome to Lornadoon," said Lavalier, rising slowly to her feet, and it seemed to the company that she was as fair as a young sapling or scrub oak. She had magnificent chestnut hair, and when she shook her head, handfuls of magnificent chestnuts dropped to the floor like rain. Frito toyed with the Ring and wondered at her great beauty. As he stood, as if in a trance, Lavalier turned to him and saw him toying with the Ring and wondering at her great beauty.

"I see, Frito," she said, "that as you toy with the Ring, you wonder at my great beauty."

why couldn't they have picked Gerard Butler? He's got the perfect look and sound of the original James Bond. He had everything that George Lazenby had too!

Well, I thought George Lazenby and Diana Rigg looked really cool together!

Uh, Eric Bana's not handsome enough and they pick CRAIG? What-ever.

And I can understand why they wouldn't want Jackman considering the "gay" rumors.

I'll just be pleasantly surprised if the next Bond film doesn't suck donkeys like the last 3 have.

Wolverine, too fey?

Come on, Hugh Jackman makes Roger Moore look like Richard Simmons.

Besides which, Bond is not what makes a good Bond movie, it's the villain that makes the good Bond movie. The villains have mostly sucked since the late 70's.

Get some name brand actors to play villains: Ving Rhames, Patrick Stewart, Dennis Hopper, Selma Hayek. Someone who can pull off pure malevolent evil.

Patrick Stewart?
Yeah, he'd be a terrifying villain, if terrifying=overacting.

"-Do you expect me to talk?"

"Ha haaa! No! Mister Bond!! I expect you to diiiieeeee!!! Ha ha ha ha haaaa!"

I just fell down on my way to the bar for another Jack Daniels, cuz I'm already getting wasted.

I can't really judge the "not handsome enough" bit, but Eric Bana has made a pretty convincing tough guy. He was the best character and actor in "Blackhawk Down" and pulled off the hero thing in "Troy". He would have made a good Bond, but at least they didn't give Jude Law the job.

Bana broke big in Chopper, smallish Aussie film bout a hood. Absolutely great movie where he projected 'intense/crazy' perfectly. If you haven't seen Chopper, do yourself a favor. People raved Bana was the next thing cause of that movie. (like Craig is getting recognized for Layer Cake.)

And then... Ang Lee and the 'Incredibly Boring Hulk.' Lost all his heat. Shame. And Craigs gonna lose his cause of Bond. He's gonna get tagged with that franchise's continuing slide into "Oh, they still make those Bond movies?"

Bana's okay, but he's not Bond. He is a little odd-looking. He looked great as Hector, but he had the beard and helmet helping him out.

Gerald Butler really would have been a good choice, and given the movies he's been in lately, he'd have been pretty cheap.

I know he was pretty good as Dracula in Dracula 2000.

Isn't Jackman, like, married? Would a gay guy get married for the sake of a beard in this day and age?

And the old rule used to be that closeted gays never play gay characters, for obvious reasons. As a general rule-- if a guy was playing a gay guy, you could be pretty sure his heterosexual paperwork was in order.

Yeah, I've heard he's married, and I got no reason to think he's gay (aside from his steamy feyness) but I think it can still hurt you to come out, especially for Jackman's roles.

He's playing action stuff, making big loot there - Van Helsing, Wolverine, and he's considered, seriously, apparantly, for roles like Bond. I doubt the teenage boy is gonna accept 'out' homosexual in those roles. ("Dude, that guy's gay!")

Remeber Rupert Everett? I remember saying he could take Bond in a whole new direction. Producers proably laughed their arses of at the notion of a gay Bond.

Jackman's lucky his career survived "Van Helsing". Anybody else think that was the most ridiculously self-indulgent piece of dogshit to come out in the last couple of years? It made the last three Star Wars look like Heat by comparison. I saw it on cable a couple months ago and almost shot my television like Elvis.

SHUT UP.
ALL OF YOU, JUST SHUT UP.

Close your ears, Laura...

Isn't Jackman, like, married? Would a gay guy get married for the sake of a beard in this day and age?

He could be bi.

And as Reo pointed out, Rupert Everett is gay, and his first breakout role was as a gay guy in "My Best Friend's Wedding." He's also played a gay in a Madonna movie, so gay guys do play gay roles on occasion.

I want to see Gerard Butler's next movie, "Beowulf and Grendel." GREAT armor, very authentic, yep I'm geeking out again...

I'm surprised no one has pointed out that a guy named "Cubby Broccoli" shouldn't be calling anyone "too fey".

I'm surprised no one has pointed out that Cubby Broccoli died nine years ago.

'Tis the Widow Broccoli calling the shots now, isn't it? Or one of the Broccolettes?

It's his daughter, but apparently his stepson is also involved.

I understand where JAMES BOND had been a real person although he was mostly a bird enthusiist it just that IAN FLEMMING just used the name

By the way, the article lists all the ways that Craig is like Bond as described in the books: hight, wieght, age, eye color, everything except hair color (if only there was some way that could be changed...). On paper, he's a near-perfect bond.

The trouble is, I remember endless articles over the last few months about how the new movie would have a younger Bond, and be handelled in a 'grittier, more realistic' way (They might as well have just called the movie The Bond Identity, and got it over with). Well, now the younger Bond is gone, and we are left with a moderately well-known, moderately well-respected English actor who resembles Bond as decribed in the books, and talk of a 'grittier, more realistic' style. Isn't that how we ended up with Timothy Dalton?

That last comment was me, by the way.