The Bottom Line: The 'Bond' that Ties Brosnan and Craig
By Robert Sims, Special to Hollywood.com
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Friday, December 16, 2005
Presenter Pierce Brosnan |
Pierce Brosnan’s lost his license to kill. Daniel Craig just received his 007 designation. Now great danger awaits the past and future James Bond.
Brosnan must tread carefully if he wants to follow in Sean Connery’s footsteps. The relatively unknown Craig runs the risk of forever being identified only as Bond. Just ask Timothy Dalton. But both Brosnan and Craig look set to avoid the pitfalls before them.
Brosnan’s earned a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for poking fun at himself with The Matador (Dec. 30). Craig should raise his low profile with Munich (Dec. 23), The Visiting (Aug. 11) and Infamous (Oct. 13), all due before Casino Royale (Nov. 17).
Life after Bond begins with a bang for Brosnan. In The Matador, an unexpectedly heartfelt black comedy, Brosnan strips himself bare--physically and emotionally--as a burned-out assassin. He’s coarse, thuggish, weary and lonely. And that makes The Matador a terrific showcase for the likable Irishman known for his suave and sophisticated spies and jewel thieves.
Pierce Brosnan’s Greatest Hits*
- Die Another Day $160.9M
- The World Is Not Enough $126.9M
- Tomorrow Never Dies $125.3M
- GoldenEye $106.4M
- The Thomas Crown Affair $69.3M
* Since taking over as James Bond in 1995
“It’s a smart move: he shows he can act and what he really can do,” Richard Shepard, The Matador’s director, tells The Bottom Line. “People think playing Bond is easy. Now they get to see him a different light.”
Still, hard work lies ahead. Brosnan revived the Bond franchise, but his only recent non-Bond hit is The Thomas Crown Affair.
Naturally, Brosnan plans a Thomas Crown sequel, The Topkapi Affair, based on 1964’s Topkapi. But the Civil War thriller Seraphim Falls, with Liam Neeson hunting Brosnan, sounds more intriguing. And if audiences accept Brosnan as a killer in The Matador, then they should accept him as a kidnapper in Butterfly on a Wheel. But is it too soon to play more spy games as The November Man?
Brosnan’s lucky that Remington Steele made him famous before he became Bond. That should prevent him from fading into obscurity, like George Lazenby, if he fails to emulate Connery’s post-Bond career.
Pierce Brosnan’s
Greatest Misses
- Grey Owl $632,617
- Evelyn $1.4M
- The Tailor of Panama $13.7M
- Laws of Attraction $17.8M
- After the Sunset $28.3M
Craig, however, remains an unfamiliar face unless you remember him as Paul Newman’s scheming son in Road to Perdition (or you read about his relationship with Layer Cake co-star Sienna Miller, Jude Law’s ex-fiancée). In recent years, Craig’s earned great admiration as an object of obsession in little-seen British dramas (Enduring Love, Love is the Devil, The Mother, Sylvia).
Even before being named the sixth Bond, or receiving Connery’s endorsement, Craig seemed poised for a breakthrough.
In Steven Spielberg’s chilling fact-based Munich, Craig is a hotheaded Mossad agent out to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the 1972 Olympic Games massacre. He makes the most of his supporting role, providing some dark humor during the grim proceedings.
Consider The Visiting practice for Casino Royale, with Craig and Nicole Kidman out to save the world, in this case from extraterrestrials. And Infamous, another retelling of Truman Capote’s experiences writing In Cold Blood, stars Craig as murderer Perry Smith.
If anything, the attention surrounding Munich, The Visiting and Infamous can only benefit the Bond franchise’s transition from Brosnan to Craig.
The Bottom Line:Was it premature to dump Brosnan as Bond? Yes. The Matador demonstrates Brosnan’s hardly past his prime. Unlike Dalton, though, Brosnan possesses the clout and the charisma to pursue a prosperous post-Bond career. With his weathered face and boxer’s physique, Craig’s not classicially handsome like Brosnan. But the first blonde Bond could bring an intensity to the franchise that’s been missing since the Dalton days. And Craig’s already amassed an impressive pre-Bond body of work. That should help him emerge unscathed when--like Brosnan before him--he’s discarded by MI6.
Photo(s) by Adriana M. Barraza- © 2005- Hollywood Media Corp.- All Rights Reserved