Post by Ace on Feb 12, 2004 18:06:48 GMT -5
www.ianfleming.org/mt_content/000154.html
New Mail Article Defends Brosnan
February 12, 2004
Following the UK's 'Daily Mail' report earlier this week on Pierce Brosnan being axed from the 007 role, a 'Keep Brosnan' campaign seems to have started, writes Steven Woodbridge.
Parts of the Bond fan community in the UK have also begun to express shock and anger at the move by MGM and EON, as there was a general assumption that Pierce would do one more movie and be allowed to go out on a 'high'.
One fan has even created a "Keep Pierce" petition online.
There is also deep concern at the idea of pitching the next Bond at a 'younger' audience and going for the lowest common denominator. Some have expressed a suspicion that MGM have become desperate to bail themselves out of further financial difficulty after the managerial incompetence of other recent film projects, and have now focused on James Bond - the most successful part of their empire - to save their skins.
The opening shots in a Keep Brosnan campaign have been made in the same UK newspaper that revealed the shock news, the 'Daily Mail', with an article on 12th February by former Bond woman Fiona Fullerton. It was entitled 'Oh Oh Heaven! Or Why, at Fifty, Brosnan
should STILL be Bond'.
Fiona, who played a Russian agent in Roger Moore's final Bond movie AVTAK in 1985, clearly expressed in the article her astonishment that the Bond producers are scouting round trying to find a replacement. 'Excuse me? Too old at 50?', she wrote. 'Since when has that been too old for men in the movies?'.
She pointed out that when she appeared in AVTAK in 1985, Roger Moore was 57 at the time but the film was as popular as ever. On the Brosnan decision, Fiona complained: 'The film-makers say that they are worried that an ageing special agent will put off young cinema-goers. But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that an older Bond looks as if he can whip the backsides of all the handsome young villains... that come his way. And that's as obvious to a teenage cinema-goer as it is to a geriatric'.
Fiona pointed out that it is 'depressing' that the Bond producers, like so many in the film and television industry, 'appear to be pandering to the youth audience'.
She continued: 'At 50, Brosnan is more alluring than ever because the lines and occasional fatigue that show on his face are desperately attractive'. She added that Brosnan, in her view, was the best Bond ever.
Moreover, at the professional level, he takes his profession very seriously, 'and even does most of his own stunts. He's still in tremendous shape and looks like a man who has lived life in the fast lane, but he doesn't want to quit now and the producers would be mad to let him go'.
Fiona ended her article by powerfully pointing ut: 'Pierce has been quoted as saying he'd like to do another Bond film. And so he should'.
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Pierce Brosnan to remain as 007 Petition
New Mail Article Defends Brosnan
February 12, 2004
Following the UK's 'Daily Mail' report earlier this week on Pierce Brosnan being axed from the 007 role, a 'Keep Brosnan' campaign seems to have started, writes Steven Woodbridge.
Parts of the Bond fan community in the UK have also begun to express shock and anger at the move by MGM and EON, as there was a general assumption that Pierce would do one more movie and be allowed to go out on a 'high'.
One fan has even created a "Keep Pierce" petition online.
There is also deep concern at the idea of pitching the next Bond at a 'younger' audience and going for the lowest common denominator. Some have expressed a suspicion that MGM have become desperate to bail themselves out of further financial difficulty after the managerial incompetence of other recent film projects, and have now focused on James Bond - the most successful part of their empire - to save their skins.
The opening shots in a Keep Brosnan campaign have been made in the same UK newspaper that revealed the shock news, the 'Daily Mail', with an article on 12th February by former Bond woman Fiona Fullerton. It was entitled 'Oh Oh Heaven! Or Why, at Fifty, Brosnan
should STILL be Bond'.
Fiona, who played a Russian agent in Roger Moore's final Bond movie AVTAK in 1985, clearly expressed in the article her astonishment that the Bond producers are scouting round trying to find a replacement. 'Excuse me? Too old at 50?', she wrote. 'Since when has that been too old for men in the movies?'.
She pointed out that when she appeared in AVTAK in 1985, Roger Moore was 57 at the time but the film was as popular as ever. On the Brosnan decision, Fiona complained: 'The film-makers say that they are worried that an ageing special agent will put off young cinema-goers. But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that an older Bond looks as if he can whip the backsides of all the handsome young villains... that come his way. And that's as obvious to a teenage cinema-goer as it is to a geriatric'.
Fiona pointed out that it is 'depressing' that the Bond producers, like so many in the film and television industry, 'appear to be pandering to the youth audience'.
She continued: 'At 50, Brosnan is more alluring than ever because the lines and occasional fatigue that show on his face are desperately attractive'. She added that Brosnan, in her view, was the best Bond ever.
Moreover, at the professional level, he takes his profession very seriously, 'and even does most of his own stunts. He's still in tremendous shape and looks like a man who has lived life in the fast lane, but he doesn't want to quit now and the producers would be mad to let him go'.
Fiona ended her article by powerfully pointing ut: 'Pierce has been quoted as saying he'd like to do another Bond film. And so he should'.
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Pierce Brosnan to remain as 007 Petition
