Next Bond Villain is to be played by Indian actor?

[Martino]

Following in the footsteps of great actors like Donald Pleasance, Curt Jurgens, Gert Frobe and Cristopher Walken, the big bad for the upcoming Bond movie, Casino Royale, is strongly rumoured to be veteran Indian actor Gulshan Grover.

The role was originally played by Orson Welles in a Sixties spoof of the Bond movies, though the character of Le Chiffre is regarded as the template Bond villain in the books.

An interesting choice, or a last gasp attempt by a tired franchise to break into the Asian market?

[Paradox]

Following in the footsteps of great actors like Donald Pleasance, Curt Jurgens, Gert Frobe and Cristopher Walken, the big bad for the upcoming Bond movie, Casino Royale, is strongly rumoured to be veteran Indian actor Gulshan Grover.

The role was originally played by Orson Welles in a Sixties spoof of the Bond movies, though the character of Le Chiffre is regarded as the template Bond villain in the books.

An interesting choice, or a last gasp attempt by a tired franchise to break into the Asian market?

I clicked on this thread hoping it would be Kal Penn. That would have been hilarious.

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

Brown people are evil. I'm looking forward to this,

[Martino]

Brown people are evil. I'm looking forward to this,

Grover only plays villains in Indian movies, so there is some typecasting there. But Grover is up for the role of Le Chiffre in the film. This is the main baddie. Traditionally, that role is always played by distinguished actors from around the globe, the vast majority of them being white males. It's about time an Asian played more than a henchman in the series, no?

French actors played the villains in Moonraker (Michael Lonsdale) and The World is Not Enough (Sophie Marceau), German actors Gert Froebe and Curd Jurgens played the big bads in Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me, Italian Adolfo Celi starred in Thunderball, Austrian Klaus Maria Brandauer (Maria??) and Swede Max von Sydow in Never Say Never Again - and so on.

If he does get the role, I just hope there will be big Bollywood-style song and dance numbers ...

[Paradox]

It's about time an Asian played more than a henchman in the series, no?

Not really..

[Martino]

ooo-kay.

[bluemonq]

i think his point is that the bond series is on its way out. i mean, look at the last movie, die another day? gadgets: surfboard with secret compartments, watch with a laser beam and detonator. mini-rebreather (i assume his suit must have been pretty well insulated too, but what about his face?) car: aston martin vanquish. bond girl: halle berry. (there was rosamund pike, but i bet most people don't remember her name). premise? evil villian builds superweapon to destroy dmz so north korea can attack south korea. lame.

[yoMAMA]

If he does get the role, I just hope there will be big Bollywood-style song and dance numbers ...

LOL

BTW...sophie marceau is HOT (ok maybe not to you ;)

[yoMAMA]

Brown people are evil. I'm looking forward to this,

hey, shouldnt be any worse than the "evil yellow man" aka rick yeun and that other korean dude (who became a white dude). :tongue:

[Irezumi Kiss]

He's definitely got the game face on for this joint, that's for sure...

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/articles/images/bond_21_march05_gulshan_grover.jpg

And if he's in, will Miss Rai be back in the running?

Rai Rumours
The wave of Bollywood rumours first started after "Die Another Day" and centred around one actress - Aishwarya Rai.

The Indian actress, often dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world, was linked in several ways with the 21st James Bond film.

Aishwarya cleared up the rumours last year. She said, "I did meet the people who wanted to cast me in the Bond film, so I put them to my agents. They told me that if they used an Asian character they would come to me. They were scripting the role at the time. Since then, I have not been contacted."

Later, when asked whether she would accept a Bond girl role in theory (despite a lot of misinformed tabloid pieces about kissing and body doubles), Rai said "I would be truly flattered if such a role was offered to me. I have been approached for several international projects but I am not at liberty to speculate unless the film is a confirmed project."

[power puff girl]

i find the whole 007 series to be distasteful, and something that should have been stopped years ago like colonialism. its nothing more than little boys playing with more expensive toys as they've gotten older, but not more maturer.

the whole concept belongs in the 70s with its playboy mansion matrix of morality. james bond is a sexist, vile, violent mysogynist.

if they really wanted to update the movie character, they shoud use a woman or a minority to become 007 instead of using them as sexual objects or evil henchmen.

[kimpossible]

While I personally like "classic" Bond which is fairly sexist, I agree with the idea that there really wasn't any reason for Bond to be white or male. I was looking forward to maybe an Brit-Indian Bond or a woman (whatever ethnicity).

[Martino]

While I personally like "classic" Bond which is fairly sexist, I agree with the idea that there really wasn't any reason for Bond to be white or male. I was looking forward to maybe an Brit-Indian Bond or a woman (whatever ethnicity).

And there's me being shocked that the new Bond was blonde ...

[Shuriken]

In Tomorrow Never Dies, there was a Caucasian henchman with the Indian name Gupta.

Go figure.

[bluemonq]

i find the whole 007 series to be distasteful, and something that should have been stopped years ago like colonialism. its nothing more than little boys playing with more expensive toys as they've gotten older, but not more maturer.

the whole concept belongs in the 70s with its playboy mansion matrix of morality. james bond is a sexist, vile, violent mysogynist.

if they really wanted to update the movie character, they shoud use a woman or a minority to become 007 instead of using them as sexual objects or evil henchmen.
you - and i, while i'm at it - are not the studio's target audience. movie studios tend to be conservative, especially when it's a studio that owns the license to a highly-profitable series. as long as the audience will pay for the tickets and dvds of "a sexist, vile, violent mysogynist", they will keep turning out the reels.

[Martino]

In Tomorrow Never Dies, there was a Caucasian henchman with the Indian name Gupta.

Go figure.

That's Ricky Jay, one of the world's best illusionists (and I don't mean the razzle dazzle TV variety). Doesn't look Caucasian to me, more Mid eastern ...

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

I really like Bond movies in general, although they have greatly devolved since the Spy Who Loved Me into regular wannabe-Michael Bay bore fests. Supposedly, Casino Royale is going to be a throwback to the early roots of the character, along the lines of From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. Then again, they've been saying that for decades now.

It would be nice though if they'd stop trying to out-do other action movies in terms of explosions and concentrate on the style and panache that makes good Bond movies great. A gadget or two is great, but having a 10 minute killer car duel is stupid.

They also need to give the "killer who threatens the world with laser satellite" angle a rest.

[Martino]

They also need to give the "killer who threatens the world with laser satellite" angle a rest.

They've only used that storyline once once, in Diamonds are Forever, and also Goldeneye -- er, TWICE! they've only used that storyline twice, in Diamonds are Forever and Goldeneye and again in Die Another Day -- THREE TIMES. They've only used that storyline three times, in - oh soddit, I'll come in again.

(In a Monty Python mood)

[power puff girl]

you - and i, while i'm at it - are not the studio's target audience. movie studios tend to be conservative, especially when it's a studio that owns the license to a highly-profitable series. as long as the audience will pay for the tickets and dvds of "a sexist, vile, violent mysogynist", they will keep turning out the reels.

well, even if a movie like birth of a nation made beaucoup money for a studio, no movie studio would greenlight it today. and, given the success of passion of the christ, there's clearly a lack of movies targeted towards right wing wackos. as much as we would dispise them, those types of movies would earn lots of money at the boxoffice but jewish hollywood producers are uncomfortable with releasing them.

i'm just pointing out that if those same producers are uncomfortable with certain projects, then they should also recognize and extend that same
concerns to a similar vile franchise like the bond series. james bond is an anachronism, where women are abused and mistreated by bond. and, bond hasn't shown much sensitivity towards asians either in his movies. in the movie, you only live twice, it exhibits all the things asian guys complain online about their portrayal in the media.

there's that quip by bond in the movie "ancient japanese proverb, "bird never make nest in bare tree." we all know that its a jab at asian men and how they don't have hairy chests. bonds is basically saying that with thier hairy chests, caucasian men are more virile and that's why its ony natural that asian women are always swept off their feet by caucasian men rather than asian men. imagine the uproar if somebody else had made such a jab at another ethnicity.

its just strange to see bonds celebrated on a progressive site for asians.

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

I think that the franchise has improved greatly in terms of ethnic and cultural sensitivity. I have watched every single Bond movie at one point or another and you can see how the movies have changed with the times. The portrayal of women in particular has improved drastically with the Pierce Brosnan movies. Admittedly, this greatly depends on your definition of "abused and mistreated." I have a pretty liberal view when it comes to consensual behavior by women.

Still, it's not like every Bond movie has been the same. They're all reflections of their times. The Connery period is greatly different from the Roger Moore period and the Brosnan period is even different than that.

The basic elements of the character are pretty timeless, I feel. People generally like seeing suave men save the day with a combination of polished style, intelligence and ruthlessness. It's very "bread and circuses" and even progressive Asians like the occasional fun adventures. It's not like we can't see the movies for what they are or have our cultural awareness subsumed by the propoganda.

If you only spent your life watching movies like Better Luck Tomorrow, your world would be pretty boring, right? Likewise, I feel that every movie with interesting, flawed, or distinctive characters can be viewed as a politically objectionable work when put in the right context. After a while, you have to let go.

[Martino]

I think that the franchise has improved greatly in terms of ethnic and cultural sensitivity. I have watched every single Bond movie at one point or another and you can see how the movies have changed with the times.

Moving away from the characterisation of Bond himself, its fascinating to see how much the world has changed in the span of the franchise. Dr No was filmed just one year after Yuri Gagarin's first spaceflight, and the character trotted the globe in prop airliners. Planes with propellers!

That in itself is a reflection of the fact that the world has changed, got smaller, as the series rolled on.

[power puff girl]

the only bond movies i've seen have been the older ones. after all, don't all the fanboys always proclaim those to be the best ones in the series.

i'd also add homophobia to the list of trangressions the series committed.

take the character pussy galore, which as a woman i already find the name offensive. in that movie, she's a lesbian but the movie gives the message that its only because she hasn't met the right man yet. it sends the message that gays can be 'cured' of their gayness by meeting the right person.