10 Best James Bond Escapes -from WatchMojo
Showing posts with label Pierce Brosnan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pierce Brosnan. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
"Taken" Star Passed On Bond Role
"Taken" Star Passed On Bond Role
March 1, 2014- Acclaimed actor and action hero, Liam Neeson, revealed in an interview this week that he was offered and rejected the role of the world's most famous secret agent, James Bond in the 1990's. He says he was "heavily courted", among other actors, in a field that ultimately led to Pierce Brosnan's assumption of the role. Neeson indicated he turned down the role as a concession to his future bride, Natasha Richardson, now deceased, who had reservations about his taking the role. It is hard to question a man's commitment to "family first", although his success as an action star in such film's as Taken, and Non-Stop is an strong indicator that he would have been a formidable Bond. 
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Book Review: Bond on Bond by Sir Roger Moore
Book Review: Bond on Bond by Sir Roger Moore
Moore tells the story of the transition of James Bond from the fictional character of the Ian Fleming novels to the central character of the longest running film franchise in movie history. This is all done through Roger Moore's eyes, and in his unique voice. Moore provides a chronological perspective and a "behind the scenes" look at the how the Eon Productions' team created the winning James Bond formula, and what it has taken to sustain it through 50 years, 23 films, and 6 Bond Actors.
Bond on Bond includes chapters on the Gadgets, the Villains, the Bond Girls, and even, one on James Bond's style. It is light hearted, self effacing and filled with personal narratives, opinion, and touching tributes to many of the individual actors and professionals that have passed on from the long history of Bond film making. Moore provides a wealth of information and trivia in an easy to read, visually pleasing format.
Bond on Bond is a fun, fact filled, trip through 50 years of Bond film history. Moore is an excellent tour guide and this book is a must for any Bond Fan.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
The World of James Bond Mourns The Passing of Pierce Brosnan's Daughter
The World of James Bond Mourns The Passing of Pierce Brosnan's Daughter
July 2, 2013- It seems like only yesterday when the world was fixated on the loss of a major star's wife to ovarian cancer in a story fit for a romantic tear-jerker. That star was Pierce Brosnan, whose wife Cassandra died in 1991, at the age of only 43 years young. Cassandra, incidentally, was one of the driving forces behind Pierce taking the role as the world's most famous secret agent, James Bond 007. Following her loss, Pierce touched the world with these words,"
"When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children."
It is with shock and sadness that the BBC reported that on June 28, Pierce and Cassandra's daughter, Charlotte died at 41 years young, after a 3 year battle with the same dreaded disease. Pierce released this statement:
"On June 28 at 2 p.m. my darling daughter Charlotte Emily passed on to eternal life, having succumbed to ovarian cancer. Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity. Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl," said the man who had played James Bond four times. We pray for her and that the cure for this wretched disease will be close at hand soon. We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences."
Pierce Brosnan is not only James Bond, but an actor and a humanitarian who is beloved around the world. These losses are hard to understand and our hearts and prayers are with him and his family at this difficult time.
It is with shock and sadness that the BBC reported that on June 28, Pierce and Cassandra's daughter, Charlotte died at 41 years young, after a 3 year battle with the same dreaded disease. Pierce released this statement:
"On June 28 at 2 p.m. my darling daughter Charlotte Emily passed on to eternal life, having succumbed to ovarian cancer. Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity. Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl," said the man who had played James Bond four times. We pray for her and that the cure for this wretched disease will be close at hand soon. We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences." Pierce Brosnan is not only James Bond, but an actor and a humanitarian who is beloved around the world. These losses are hard to understand and our hearts and prayers are with him and his family at this difficult time.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Your Favorite Bond Is.....
Your Favorite Bond Is.....
The votes have been cast and tabulated in The World of Bond's Which Bond Is Your Favorite contest. For some this may be one of the most significant elections of the 21st Century (For James Bond Fans that is). Our readers were asked to choose their favorite actor, who played James Bond, from among the Eon Productions' film Bonds; from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. Our readers have, overwhelmingly, selected Daniel Craig as their favorite Bond Actor. What does Craig's selection tell us about the modern Bond audience? It may reveal that the modern Bond fan appreciates the dramatic, gritty, course that the series has embarked upon since Craig's elevation to the role with 2006's Casino Royale. It may be evidence that the current crop of Bond fans are traditionalists that harken for the three dimensional, flawed character of the Ian Fleming novels and short stories founded on a bedrock of strong spy stories, rather than the the two dimensional Roger Moorish character films that degenerated into formula films relying too heavily on one liners, gadgets, and gimmickry. Craig, in only three film installments, delivers this traditional Bond for the new age.
This selection of Daniel Craig is not a huge surprise when one looks at the financial and critical success garnered by Skyfall, the 23rd installment in the James Bond movie series, and the most successful by any standards used to measure success. It is also not a surprise when one looks at the current actor and winner who, to some, not only plays Bond but is Bond. Despite the early skepticism over the selection of Craig as Pierce Brosnan's replacement, he quickly won the attention of fans, film critics and the broader movie audience by playing the role with believable grit, intelligence, and masculine sex appeal. Perhaps it was Craig's training on the British stage, television, and films that prepared him to fill the role so adeptly. Regardless, as we approach the 24th installment of the franchise and rumors of the return of Sam Mendes as the film's Director and the casting of the beautiful, Penelope Cruz as the latest "Bond Girl" circulate, one thing is for certain, Daniel Craig will return as James Bond.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Which James Bond Is Your Favorite?
Which James Bond Is Your Favorite?
While I certainly have my own opinion about who is the best Film James Bond, I decided to give my readers an opportunity to vote and have their voice be heard on this important debate among Bond aficionados. I limited the choice to the Eon Productions' Bonds to provide a more even playing field among the choices. On June 1, 2013 the results will be published and the winning Bond will be the subject of a feature story in The World of Bond. Who will the public choose:
Sean Connery? Daniel Craig? George Lazenby?
We will soon find out.
May 21, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Fighting Style of James Bond
Anyone who is familiar with the novels or films featuring the James Bond character knows that although 007 is an unmatched sharpshooter with his Beretta and later, his famed Walter PPK, he is also very capable of defending himself in an unarmed, hand to hand situation. Virtually every work has him, at some point, squaring off with an opponent, or henchman without the aid of a firearm. So what fighting style is Britain's favorite fictional son skilled in? Kung Fu? Jui-Jitsu? Taekwondo perhaps? Even as a Bond fanatic over the years, I never really, seriously contemplated this question until now. While the answer may vary slightly from Bond persona to Bond persona, it seems 007 may have been a real frontrunner in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena before it was even called MMA, and he is certainly a man whose hands are to be feared.
Going back to the source material, as I always do, Ian Fleming's Bond references our hero training in British Naval Intelligence. This training would, likely, be a form of what has been referred to as Close Quarters Battle Combat, an unorthodox, little documented fighting style that involves deadly blows and the use of economic, crippling strikes which can be executed in close proximity to an opponent when locked in close combat, hence its name. There is also some reference to boxing in his youth and, later in the military which is evidenced throughout all the Bond personas with his striking blows. Fleming's Bond also references some Combat Judo training. Eastern style Martial Arts training is very common today in the West. Varied styles, from Karate to Taekwondo to Competitive MMA, are taught throughout Europe and the United States; however, this was not the case in Fleming's day. Martial Arts study was a closely guarded secret of the East and many Asian countries had strict prohibitions on teaching their secret arts to Westerners. It is no surprise, with Fleming's background, that Bond was a well versed combatant with his hands and in the Asian martial arts. He adeptly kills his arch-nemesis, Blofeld, in the epic novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, not with an assassin's bullet but with his bare hands. Fleming's Bond is a dangerous secret agent with, or without, a weapon.
Sean Connery is heralded, in the pre-Daniel Craig era, as a tough guy without question. Connery even did many of his own Bond stunts. Connery, himself, was a student of Karate, and his swagger, confidence, and skill are evident in his portrayal of Bond. His Bond persona was good with his hands, whether it was defending himself against Red Grant in From Russian With Love (1963), or his prowess in the deadly elevator fight in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In You Only Live Twice (1967) Bond's Judo skills are evidenced in many of the fight sequences in Japan and, later, he is trained in the art of Ninjitsu, under the supervision of Tiger Tanaka, in preparation of his infiltration of Blofeld's Volanic hideaway. One of the widely and wildly circulated story's emanating from Connery's return to Bond in the non-Eon Productions Thunderball (1965) remake, Never Say Never Again (1983), is that Connery is alleged to have had his wrist broken while undergoing martial arts instruction, and a possible disagreement with, non other than Steven Seagal. In true Connery "tough guy" fashion he ignored the pain until well after the production was wrapped on the film, only to discover that lingering pain was a broken wrist.
While Roger Moore always appeared to be more concerned about his hair and appearance to get his hands dirty, he was, in fact, an adept Karate student of Aaron Banks. There are numbers of hand to hand sequences in the Moore films, many include "karate chops" and some low kicks and many campy uses of props but his fight scenes never reach the intensity and grit of Connery's, or later, Craig's, fight scenes. Moore understood his limitations in this area, and opted for cunning rather than grit in gaining the upper hand on his opponents in hand to hand combat scenes. The series aided this paradigm by introducing characters such as Tee-Hee of Live and Let Die (1973) and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)and Moonraker (1979) to make Moore's mortal fighting deficit seem less personal in light of these super-villains extraordinary strength and size.
Like many other aspects of the film series neither Timothy Dalton nor Pierce Brosnan made very memorable contributions in the perpetuation of Bond's reputation as a skilled hand to hand combat expert. Dalton is a grittier in his portrayal and more believable as a hand to hand tactician. Brosnan is clearly the most debonair of the Bond actors, but he is the least believable in the "mano-a-mano" arena unless you consider George Lazenby's fighting style, which I choose not to ever consider. Both Bonds hold their own with their hands when appropriate but neither performance had audiences hankering to learn to fight like Bond.
After these lackluster years for lovers of good, manly combat scenes along came Daniel Craig, a gritty, brawler who is skilled in the lethal art of Krav Maga, the martial art of choice of the Israeli Defense Forces. This lethal art combines kickboxing, karate, wrestling, street fighting and Close Quarter Combat. Craig was trained by Darren Levine, founder of Krav Maga Worldwide. The emphasis in Krav Maga is "continuous motion" and this emphasis is exhibited in dynamic form in the amazingly memorable and riveting scenes in Casino Royale (2006) as the one were Bond does mortal combat with Obanno and his Ugandan mercenaries who are are seeking a return of their funds from Le Chiffre one way or another. Craig is believable in the role and believable in the fight scenes. These fight scenes have moved beyond the formula, and sometimes gimmicky, fight sequences audiences had become used to in Bond films and, like the film, into a new grittier, dramatic World of James Bond. These fight sequences are engaging, brutal good film making and remind us that, while Bond is far from a super hero, he is a dangerous and skilled combatant.
Jeffrey Deaver's outstanding James Bond treatment Carte Blanche delivers us a gritty, Craig-like Bond who is skilled in the art of Systema, a Russian fighting style that is designed for close quarters and defense against guns and knives. The key in Systema is the use of an opponent's own energy against them and the focus on key pressure point areas of the elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles and shoulders to control them. Systema fighters exert little energy and move very efficiently, often giving them the ability to outlast their opponents before crippling them with their effective striking points. Deaver graphically depicts several fight scenes in his novel with such color that one can envision them taking place. In fact, his depiction was so colorful it immediately drove me to seek out and observe the work of Martin Wheeler, one of the foremost Systema practitioners and teachers in the world in the hopes of learning more. For true Bond Traditionalists they would rather see Bond fight an opponent with his hands than with his exploding pen, and Deaver gets it.
James Bond, at his core, is a government assassin. Whether it is under Fleming's "License to Kill" or Deaver's "Protect the Realm...by any means necessary" Bond is is a deadly force to be reckoned with. When most people think of James Bond, they envision the iconic opening sequences of so many of the Eon Production films where Bond turns, fires a single shot, and blood runs down the frame. While there is no question that Bond's skills with a gun are unmatched, he is equally deadly in a close contact combat situation with his hands. Given a choice, which Bond would you stand the best chance of holding your own against in a fight?
-->
Going back to the source material, as I always do, Ian Fleming's Bond references our hero training in British Naval Intelligence. This training would, likely, be a form of what has been referred to as Close Quarters Battle Combat, an unorthodox, little documented fighting style that involves deadly blows and the use of economic, crippling strikes which can be executed in close proximity to an opponent when locked in close combat, hence its name. There is also some reference to boxing in his youth and, later in the military which is evidenced throughout all the Bond personas with his striking blows. Fleming's Bond also references some Combat Judo training. Eastern style Martial Arts training is very common today in the West. Varied styles, from Karate to Taekwondo to Competitive MMA, are taught throughout Europe and the United States; however, this was not the case in Fleming's day. Martial Arts study was a closely guarded secret of the East and many Asian countries had strict prohibitions on teaching their secret arts to Westerners. It is no surprise, with Fleming's background, that Bond was a well versed combatant with his hands and in the Asian martial arts. He adeptly kills his arch-nemesis, Blofeld, in the epic novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, not with an assassin's bullet but with his bare hands. Fleming's Bond is a dangerous secret agent with, or without, a weapon.
Sean Connery is heralded, in the pre-Daniel Craig era, as a tough guy without question. Connery even did many of his own Bond stunts. Connery, himself, was a student of Karate, and his swagger, confidence, and skill are evident in his portrayal of Bond. His Bond persona was good with his hands, whether it was defending himself against Red Grant in From Russian With Love (1963), or his prowess in the deadly elevator fight in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In You Only Live Twice (1967) Bond's Judo skills are evidenced in many of the fight sequences in Japan and, later, he is trained in the art of Ninjitsu, under the supervision of Tiger Tanaka, in preparation of his infiltration of Blofeld's Volanic hideaway. One of the widely and wildly circulated story's emanating from Connery's return to Bond in the non-Eon Productions Thunderball (1965) remake, Never Say Never Again (1983), is that Connery is alleged to have had his wrist broken while undergoing martial arts instruction, and a possible disagreement with, non other than Steven Seagal. In true Connery "tough guy" fashion he ignored the pain until well after the production was wrapped on the film, only to discover that lingering pain was a broken wrist.While Roger Moore always appeared to be more concerned about his hair and appearance to get his hands dirty, he was, in fact, an adept Karate student of Aaron Banks. There are numbers of hand to hand sequences in the Moore films, many include "karate chops" and some low kicks and many campy uses of props but his fight scenes never reach the intensity and grit of Connery's, or later, Craig's, fight scenes. Moore understood his limitations in this area, and opted for cunning rather than grit in gaining the upper hand on his opponents in hand to hand combat scenes. The series aided this paradigm by introducing characters such as Tee-Hee of Live and Let Die (1973) and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)and Moonraker (1979) to make Moore's mortal fighting deficit seem less personal in light of these super-villains extraordinary strength and size.
Like many other aspects of the film series neither Timothy Dalton nor Pierce Brosnan made very memorable contributions in the perpetuation of Bond's reputation as a skilled hand to hand combat expert. Dalton is a grittier in his portrayal and more believable as a hand to hand tactician. Brosnan is clearly the most debonair of the Bond actors, but he is the least believable in the "mano-a-mano" arena unless you consider George Lazenby's fighting style, which I choose not to ever consider. Both Bonds hold their own with their hands when appropriate but neither performance had audiences hankering to learn to fight like Bond.
After these lackluster years for lovers of good, manly combat scenes along came Daniel Craig, a gritty, brawler who is skilled in the lethal art of Krav Maga, the martial art of choice of the Israeli Defense Forces. This lethal art combines kickboxing, karate, wrestling, street fighting and Close Quarter Combat. Craig was trained by Darren Levine, founder of Krav Maga Worldwide. The emphasis in Krav Maga is "continuous motion" and this emphasis is exhibited in dynamic form in the amazingly memorable and riveting scenes in Casino Royale (2006) as the one were Bond does mortal combat with Obanno and his Ugandan mercenaries who are are seeking a return of their funds from Le Chiffre one way or another. Craig is believable in the role and believable in the fight scenes. These fight scenes have moved beyond the formula, and sometimes gimmicky, fight sequences audiences had become used to in Bond films and, like the film, into a new grittier, dramatic World of James Bond. These fight sequences are engaging, brutal good film making and remind us that, while Bond is far from a super hero, he is a dangerous and skilled combatant.Jeffrey Deaver's outstanding James Bond treatment Carte Blanche delivers us a gritty, Craig-like Bond who is skilled in the art of Systema, a Russian fighting style that is designed for close quarters and defense against guns and knives. The key in Systema is the use of an opponent's own energy against them and the focus on key pressure point areas of the elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles and shoulders to control them. Systema fighters exert little energy and move very efficiently, often giving them the ability to outlast their opponents before crippling them with their effective striking points. Deaver graphically depicts several fight scenes in his novel with such color that one can envision them taking place. In fact, his depiction was so colorful it immediately drove me to seek out and observe the work of Martin Wheeler, one of the foremost Systema practitioners and teachers in the world in the hopes of learning more. For true Bond Traditionalists they would rather see Bond fight an opponent with his hands than with his exploding pen, and Deaver gets it.
James Bond, at his core, is a government assassin. Whether it is under Fleming's "License to Kill" or Deaver's "Protect the Realm...by any means necessary" Bond is is a deadly force to be reckoned with. When most people think of James Bond, they envision the iconic opening sequences of so many of the Eon Production films where Bond turns, fires a single shot, and blood runs down the frame. While there is no question that Bond's skills with a gun are unmatched, he is equally deadly in a close contact combat situation with his hands. Given a choice, which Bond would you stand the best chance of holding your own against in a fight?
-->
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)