MovieChat Forums > Casino Royale (1967) Discussion > coud they have done it serious?

coud they have done it serious?

posted 3 years ago by bozo_500 (12267)
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Could they have done that? if so why didn't they? I recall reading way back they felt they had to go spoof as to compete with Eon (who were approached to co produce) and without Connery(who was also approached Never Say Never Again style) would've been an impossible task but it could've been done!

Same cast: Ursula as Vesper, Orson as LeChiffe, Niven as M, same Moneypenny, and yes even have Sellers as Bond (playing it completely straight, no humour - twist casting as it'd be pointless to try to compete with Connery with a similar type of Bond so go the unexpected route with Sellers but have him buff up abit, get a totally straight out of the Fleming novel performance)

[–] Ace_Spade (9366) 3 years ago

If they had done it, Bond would be completely different today. Opening up the possibility of other companies doing serious Bond films would likely have resulted in sneaky deals to license 007 through copyright loopholes ala Never Say Never Again. One or two competing Bond franchises might be healthy. It certainly would either prevent woke BS like the rumours around No Time to Die, and if there was no "official" Bond company it would make any "wokeness" a bit more palatable (since it wouldn't feel like word-of-God retconned Bond into a social justice warrior).

Would CR have been a success if it was serious? I don't know. It's hard to say. Sellers could have been a great Bond. I think it could have worked, but it might have just been held up as pale by comparison. Hard to stand in Connery's shadow. Still, it might have been okay. Now, I will say this, Andress as Vesper might have been a bit of casting from the uncanny valley since people would keep seeing Honey Ryder as a different character in the same universe - all the worse since Bond was a different Bond. It'd be strange - or, potentially strange. Orson Welles would have probably self-destructed. His ego was one of the reasons CR imploded to begin with, so if he was in the same state to make a serious Bond, he would have made it very, very difficult.