007 loses the `Bond, James Bond` catchphrase in latest film
22-Sep-2008 • Quantum Of Solace
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His name is Bond, James Bond: just don't expect him to introduce himself. For the first time in his 22 screen outings, Britain's best- known secret agent will not utter the words of introduction that have thrilled fans and appalled master criminals for 46 years.
Nor in his next adventure, Quantum of Solace, released in November, does 007 utter the other classic one-liner â "shaken not stirred" â when ordering his martini, according to the director, Marc Forster.
"There was a 'Bond, James Bond' in the script," he said. "There are several places where we shot it as well, but it never worked as we hoped. I just felt we should cut it out, and Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson [the film's producers] agreed, and Daniel [Craig, who plays Bond] agreed, too. It's nice to be open-minded about the Bond formula. You can always go back to them later on."
It is another radical departure for Bond who, in his last film, Casino Royale, found himself stripped of many on-screen staples.
Gone were the unfeasible gadgets on which he could always rely in a tight spot. The boffin who created them in the basement of the MI6 building, Q, played in the past by Desmond Llewellyn and John Cleese, was also therefore eliminated, along with Miss Moneypenny and her flirtatious banter. Bond even briefly abandoned his high-performance motor to drive a Ford Mondeo before reverting to an Aston Martin.
It is all part of a deliberate attempt to bring the agent with a licence to kill into the 21st century â the producers declined the film rights to Sebastian Faulks's Bond homage, Devil May Care, last month because it was set in the 1960s â yet also to take him back to his 1950s roots.
The move is welcomed by fans who have seen the films veer away from how Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, originally envisaged his cold-blooded hero.
Thanks to `Red_Grant` for the alert.
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