Amazon's James Bond

Since Amazon bought the rights to James Bond, there has been much speculation on where the franchise would go.  Will Bond become a social justice warrior?  Maybe Bond will be a black man - Idris Elba was once suggested - or even a woman.  Heck, Lashana Lynch could just resume her position as Agent 007 from No Time to Die (2021).  An online creator suggested that Pierce Brosnan resume the role as Old Man Bond, something along the lines of Logan (2017).  Then there is the idea of having Young Bond.  This could be like Batman Begins (2005), exploring Bond's final days in the Royal Navy and joining MI-6.  A series of 9 novels have been written about Young Bond.  Another suggestion, and one which appeals to me, is to do the literary Bond.

Ian Fleming set the books in his present, which was the 1950s and early 1960s.  Amazon could do for James Bond what Granada Television did for Sherlock Holmes.  Jeremy Brett played the most faithful adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.  It was an outstanding series.  Eventually, the literary Bond will be made.  Will it take almost a century as it did with Holmes or will Amazon take the leap?

Gender Bender Insanity

I just saw a video on YouTube proposing the Top 10 Actresses Who Could Play James Bond.  The obvious answer is none, but that would make for a very short video.  Though I like all the actresses listed and think each and every one of them could make a great agent in MI-6, none of them can be James Bond.  Just like none of them can be Winston Churchill, Alfred the Great, or King Arthur.  The point is that filmmakers today lack the talent to create an original secret agent who could get the kind of audience that the name James Bond attracts.

As described by Ian Fleming, Bond looked like Hoagy Carmichael, an American composer and actor.  He also had a scar on his cheek, which has been ignored in the movies.  He was not a woman.  He was not black.  If you want to make a James Bond who is not a white male, create your own damned character!  Eidos wanted to have a female Indiana Jones and rocked it with Lara Croft.  Do that.  Make the female version of Bond, but don't have some actress deliver the line, "Bond, James Bond."  At least the Ghostbusters reboot had the decency to have different characters, not a female Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, and Zeddemore.  Make a movie about 006 or 008 but leave 007 alone.

 

If this travesty does come to pass, I want to start seeing videos of Top 10 Actors Who Could Play Lara Croft, Modesty Blaze, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Or how about Nancy Drew, Katniss Everdeen, or Pippi Longstocking?  Of course, I find all of those suggestions equally ludicrous.