Honeymoon

Here’s another story from the Hofstra event. This comes from the live, in-person interview with Robert Davi, who played the drug lord Sanchez in Licence to Kill.

Davi was funny. When asked for stories about the filming of LTK, he said, “Look, it was Mexico City, me, Timothy [Dalton], and Benicio [del Toro] going out every night. Tequila was involved. I could tell tales.”

Davi, Dalton, and del Toro are all Method actors, and they bonded (no pun intended) over the acting. At one point, Davi was asked (by Lee Pfeiffer, who conducted the interview), how it was being directed by John Glen. He said they were given a lot of leeway to explore the roles. For example, he said, the way that del Toro said “Honeymoooon.”

“That was an unusual line reading,” he said, “And Benicio got a lot of support to explore that.”

Now, when Benicio del Toro says “We gave her a nice honeymoooon” in LTK, it’s creepy and disturbing and odd. And it sticks in my head. Everyone’s head, I guess, because the audience totally recognized what he was talking about. But what’s interesting to me is the actor’s process. That everyone on-set was aware of how weird that line reading was, and how daring, and paid attention to it (Sanchez wasn’t even in the scene).

My thoughts on the Craig Interviews

So, there’s been all sorts of news out of Daniel Craig’s rough-but-sexy mouth lately. And I’ve been reporting the items I find most interesting here.

This is a personal blog. It is one author’s reflection on James Bond and the Bond films. (I intend to invite other Bond writers to co-blog, but I haven’t arranged that yet. I think it’ll be fun.) So I don’t report every story, or even report in any kind of organized fashion.

Sometimes, though, I get really busy, and I just throw the stories out there with little comment. Since this is a personal blog, that’s not as satisfying. So I’m taking some time today to comment on the past few days of stories.

Craig Denies Four More

I reported here that Daniel Craig had contracted to play Bond through Bond 25. It was a good source; CBn doesn’t publish rumors, and the original source was the Hollywood Reporter, not some weird disreputable rag.

But now, one of the many new interviews I warned you about, Craig denies the whole thing (via CBn, via HisDarkMaterials).

Q: You’ve been signed for four more Bond films?

Daniel Craig: That’s what you said… I never said that. [laughter]
—
Q: You said that you thought about the first one eighteen months ago, before you finally said ‘I’m making this film’, so I thought this was quite a commitment to make?

Daniel Craig: Well, that’s what’s been said, it’s not that it’s not true, because I haven’t signed up. What I’ve done is I’ve signed up on the next movie, after that we’ll see. That’s the way I’m doing it, and certainly it’s not four more – that’s the truth. It’s certainly not four more.

Oh. Well.

Putting the Humor Rumor to Rest

There are lots of Daniel Craig interviews out this week, because he’s doing the press junket circuit for The Golden Compass. This one from Coming Soon at last quashes the joke rumor.

CS: I read somewhere you’re going to inject a bit more humor into the next movie.
Craig: I was lying. I said, “Yes, it’s going to be funny.” I don’t remember saying that, but if I did, I’m not going to shy away from the fact the occasionally there should be humor. I just don’t like gags. I don’t like written gags. That’s not the way I’ve ever liked working and I don’t think that’s funny myself.
—
CS: “Casino Royale” marked a welcome return to the style and sensibilities of the earlier Bond movies, rather than the jokey more recent movies.
Craig: The idea of having jokes in Bond I don’t think is completely wrong, but I think the jokes to need to come out [of] tension. There needs to be moments of humor because we’ve all been sitting on the edge of our seat. I don’t think you should write gags in Bond.

Goldfinger at the Lafayette Theater

First of all, let’s hear it for the Lafayette! An old-fashioned (1924) theater with a big (46 foot) screen, one thousand seats, a balcony, and a live Wurlitzer player! That’s the environment in which to see classic films.

Second, the movie itself. I’m committed to grabbing every opportunity to see Bond on the big screen. Seeing it brought back memories of the first (and only other) time I saw it in a theater; in 1970! Despite having seen Goldfinger many times since then, many of the sensations I experienced as a child have not recurred from watching it on DVD or television broadcast. The chill of fear when the soldiers of Fort Knox fall, seemingly to their deaths, the terror and fascination of Odd Job, seemingly unbeatable, both human and superhuman, and the suave sex appeal of Sean Connery; all of these flooded back like sense memories.

The Writer’s Panel at Hofstra

Here’s a picture of the Writing Bond panel at the Hofstra Symposium.

From left to right: Lois Gresh, me, Lee Pfeiffer, Raymond Benson, John Griswold

Goldfinger in Suffern, New York

I got a question about timing for the local Bond showing.

Here’s what a mailing from the theater says:

Showtime for GOLDFINGER is Saturday, November 24 at 11:30 am – tickets are $6.00. Doors open at 11am, come early and hear pre-show music by Jeff Barker on the Lafayette Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ.

More on the Writer’s Strike

MI6 has an interesting interview excerpt about the script for Bond 22:

“I just finished the second draft of the Bond movie and was doing the polish when this thing stopped”, Haggis said. “And I don’t want that movie shooting where it says “something happens here.” I’m sure they can figure it out for themselves. It sort of does that at one point. Whatever, I can’t tell you what it is, but it says “something is like that,” and I’m sure they can figure it out for themselves.
—
Haggis went on to say that he has been contacted by the production during the strike, but would not break picket lines to help out Bond 22. “I get calls from Amy (Pascal), I get calls from Michael (Wilson). They hope this thing resolves. They’re really, really good people.”

Happy Birthday Mads Mikkelsen

He of the bleeding eye turns 42 today.

Daniel Craig is GQ’s Leading Man of the Year

Just saw this report on CBn.

Talk about something to be thankful for!