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If you could replace any of the actors from any of the films....


Who would you replace?

Personally if it were me the only changes I would make would be:
1) Sean Connery would have been in On Her Majesty's Secret Service instead of Lazenby and then in Diamonds Are Forever we got a serious revenge story like we should have gotten
2) Roger Moore would have come back one more time for The Living Daylights as I really don't think the tone of the film was appropriate for Timothy Dalton who I really don't think was a good Bond actor
3) Licence To Kill would have been Pierce Brosnan's debut.

So here is how things would have gone down:
SEAN CONNERY:
- Dr. No
- From Russia With Love
- Goldfinger
- Thunderball
- You Only Live Twice
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- Diamonds Are Forever
ROGER MOORE:
- Live And Let Die
- The Man With The Golden Gun
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Moonraker
- For Your Eyes Only
- Octopussy
- A View To A Kill
- The Living Daylights
PIERCE BROSNAN:
- Licence To Kill
- Goldeneye
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The World Is Not Enough
- Die Another Day
DANIEL CRAIG:
- Casino Royale
- Quantum Of Solace
- Skyfall
- Spectre
- Bond 25

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I would replace Connery in Diamonds with Lazenby.

I would replace Moore with Laz from Live and Let die to For Your Eyes Only
With A View to a Kill I'd replace Moore with Dalton.
I'd leave Dalton through The World is Not Enough.
I'd replace Daniel Craig with....just about anybody. At least someone who looks like James Bond.

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Gotcha so you really aren't a fan of Roger Moore.

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Well I did give him Octopussy. I don't hate him. He just never seemed like Bond to me.

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Diamonds are Forever- George Lazenby
For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To a Kill- Timothy Dalton

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I'm going to start after You Only Live Twice; otherwise, I'll probably extend Connery way too far into the future.

LAZENBY:
On Her Majesty's
Diamonds are Forever
Live and Let Die
The Man with the Golden Gun

MOORE:
The Spy Who
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy

BROSNAN:
A View to a Kill

DALTON:
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day (or better yet, not make this film at all.)

CRAIG:
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall

SOMEONE NEW:
SPECTRE
No Time to Die

I also wish Clive Owen had taken on the role at some point.

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I would put Connery in all of them.

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George Lazenby should have stayed on for Diamonds Are Forever to satisfyingly conclude the story arc from OHMSS. Connery lacks the emotional weight it deserved. And I’d keep Lazenby on for at least four more films. He was superb.

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Film all.books in order way they were written.
My Bonds -
Early 60s Lawrence Harvey
Late 60s Gerald Harper
Mid - 80s Simon Williams or Lewis Collins

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Lazenby should have played Bond in DAF for sure. Connery simply destroyed that movie (he and that horrible script wirters). With Lazenby it would have been as deep a story as OHMSS. That would have been a real Bond movie compared with this pseudo deep Bourne movies with Craig.

Lazenby as a 60s actor also would have fitted in the 60s themed LALD and TMWTGG. Thos movies are as misplaced in ther 60s as possible. Yes, LALD rides on the Shaft wave and TMWTGG on the Bruce Lee wave (and got the solar power theme). But at their core both were 60s movies at its worst. A modern actor like Moore couldnt save the,. But perhaps a 60s actor like Lazenby would have fitted in thos movies.

But starting with TSWLM noone else then the iconic Roger Moore could have played Bond. The 70s and 80s were the peak of Bond movies and human society. Everything was modern, innovative and ironic. Old actors like Dalton or Connery wouldnt have have fit in such movies at all. Thats why Roger Moore saved the Bond franchise. He stopped portraying Bond as a serial killer (paid by the government) and made him into a hero (everything else is just watching a drunken assasin killing people slowly. And thats something only lunatics prefer). On top of that he mixed the correct amount of irony so that this movies became excitement again (they already were excitement once with movies like Goldfinger or YOLT).

There are also so called Bond fans which dont get that the Bond of Fleming is nothing else then a relict of the Cold war. Of a drunken writer whom was rooted in the 50s (and nowhere else). Everyone dreaming about a character as useless as this Bond should thinking about getting a therapy. Cause no sane human likes such a character.

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nice analysis. especially of Moore .

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you left out the best two Bonds.

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I wouldn't change any as I love Lazenby, Connery and Moore. Especially I would not change OHMSS as it's probably the finest of the Bond films.

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