Renny Harlin Wouldn't Direct GOLDENEYE with Timothy Dalton

Renny Harlin Wouldn't Direct GOLDENEYE with Timothy Dalton

Hold on, before everyone freaks out and says, 'Pierce Brosnan was James Bond in Goldeneye, not Dalton' click the jump for more information.

By nailbiter111 - Feb 09, 2012 05:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Action
Source: mi6-hq.com



Imagine it's late in the year of 1993 and Renny Harlin has come off back to back blockbusters hits with "Die Hard 2" and "Cliffhanger." He of course has his pick of films, and would go on to pass up on directing Keanu Reeves in a little known movie called, "Speed." Which I haven't seen, but I believe is about Richard Pryor's drug addiction.

But at some point during this period he was also offered the job to helm "Goldeneye." Now we know that film was finally made in 1995 after a six year hiatus. It was the first one to introduce Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. It also broke new ground by putting Judi Dench in the role of M, becoming the first female to take on the head of the MI6.

So, originally Dalton was to come back for the 17th Bond film, but disputes between the Broccoli family and MGM over the direction of the franchise put the film to a halt. "Goldeneye" was written with Dalton in mind, and the script was shopped around to directors like Renny Harlin.

During a Q&A session in June he goes into details about why he passed on the project at the time.

"Actually, to be honest, what happened at that point was I was interested in doing the Bond movie, but there was an actor in it that I didn't believe in. And I'm not going to say that his name is Timothy Dalton. I just didn't think that he made a good Bond."

"I said that you had to recast and come up with a new actor for it. And they refused and said 'he's great', and I was like 'he is not James Bond'. So that was why I walked away from that job."


Now, Timothy takes quite a lot of flack from Bond fans, but most of them aren't familiar with the books. Ian Flemings version of Bond is much more accurately portrayed in Timothy Dalton's take on the role. Most fans just weren't accustomed to a Bond that was much more serious. He seemed to emotionally suffer with each kill, and drank to forget his pains, and not to have a jolly good time. I just don't think the audience at that time was ready for a Bond that felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Even the villains were much more grounded in reality, and he wasn't going up against over-the-top evil doers like Roger Moore faced in such Bond films as "Moonraker."



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HKFanatic
HKFanatic - 2/9/2012, 5:43 PM
Timothy Dalton is a better actor than Renny Harlin is a director.
Timmer82
Timmer82 - 2/9/2012, 5:56 PM
Didnt' everyone know this? This and that Brosnan was originaly cast to do the two films Dalton did but the BBC wouldn't let him out of his Remington Steele contract.
sinchsw
sinchsw - 2/9/2012, 6:03 PM
Agreed. Goldeneye was Pierce's best film, but it also would have been Timothy's. And yes, he was best suited, but everybody compares Bond to the original take by Connery.

I would be amazed that the world went for Daniel Craig but the last ten years everybody has been on a making like real life kick. And I guess boring is like real life...
RunDTC
RunDTC - 2/9/2012, 6:03 PM
GoldenEye is by far my favorite Bond movie. Brosnon was great but Dalton would've been good too.
gunner
gunner - 2/9/2012, 6:17 PM
Dalton was a great Bond and Die Hard 2 was good , but Cliffhanger sucked ( stallone) so take it all with a grain of salt.
And as the saying goes "what have you done lately" ?
RikerDonegal
RikerDonegal - 2/9/2012, 6:37 PM
Dalton's the best James Bond.

I had just read the books for the first time when he did his first movie and I was blown away by how accurate he was. Definitive Bond.

(Cliffhanger was rubbish.)
Rowsdower
Rowsdower - 2/9/2012, 6:45 PM
Dalton would have been awesome.
AC1
AC1 - 2/9/2012, 6:48 PM
Dalton is one of my favourite Bonds, he's in my top three.
Timmer82
Timmer82 - 2/9/2012, 7:11 PM
@ironman53, @nailbiter111, thanks for the replies. My fav Bond ever has gotta be From Russia with Love. Robert Shaw and Connery on the train were aswome. "Red wine with fish, I should have known."
Next I would have said Golden Eye, but I love the physicality that Daniel Craig has brought to the role, so at #2 I have Casino Royal, then at #3 Golden Eye.
Timmer82
Timmer82 - 2/9/2012, 7:14 PM
yeah, originaly the BBC was going to cancel Remington. after word got out that Brosnan was gonna do the Bonds, BBC had an extension put on his Remington Steele contract. He coudn't do anyting about it, they could have sued him. So after his ppularity rose a little bit BBC made him stay on as Remington. So Dalton was cast.
SuperboyPrime1
SuperboyPrime1 - 2/9/2012, 7:16 PM
it looks like its a slow news day....
TheHitchhikingGhost
TheHitchhikingGhost - 2/9/2012, 7:35 PM
Renny Harlin is a turd who makes direct-to-DVD tripe now. Dalton was a fine Bond, and LICENSE TO KILL is one of the better movies of that period. The only Harlin movie I can even stomach is NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 4.
schneider625
schneider625 - 2/9/2012, 7:58 PM
This guy sounds like a douche bag. Dalton was the ideal Bond. He got shafted with 80's written scripts.
tocap
tocap - 2/9/2012, 8:11 PM
Morty you nailed it. Born fo the role but movie sucked!
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 2/9/2012, 9:09 PM
I always liked Dalton. I got into Bond when I was in middle school, and pretty much saw everything up till Tomorrow Never Dies at once.

License To Kill was, however, one of THE worst Bond movies. Not THE worst (Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun have that honor for me), but it was just so cheap, had such horrible actors and stunts. Not panning it for it's lack of realism either, every Bond movie has that, but it just seemed to shout out to the audience that James is out for blood.

GoldenEye will always be my favorite Bond movie, probably because it is the first one I ever saw, and it's just so damn cool. I've watched it to the point where I can recite it by heart and I still enjoy seeing it now and again.

Timothy Dalton would have been real good, but Brosnan did a fine job as well. His only problem was he got a bit too comfortable with the role afterwards.
alekesam
alekesam - 2/9/2012, 9:20 PM
Since I missed out on Connery the first time around as a kid, my experience with Bond was Moore and then Dalton. Moore I could never buy as Bond but Dalton to preteen kid who liked a little edge, Dalton was the sh!t. Now that I've finally seen all the Bond films, my list would go

Connery
Dalton
Craig/Brosnan (tie)
Moore

xxkryptonitexx@ To be fair to Brosnan's campy Bond movies, they were a lot better than Moore's campy ones.
Ceejay
Ceejay - 2/9/2012, 9:44 PM
Someone said that Dalton didn't have the Bond look? Well actually he more than anyone looked more like Bond as described in the books. Fleming describes Bond as looking very similar to Hoagy Carmichael the Jazz musician but with black hair and blue eyes. Dalton and Carmichael look very, very similar. Sean Connery came a close second for looks then George Lazenby. Brosnan, Moore and Craig look nothing like the description but Craig and Daltons performances are about as close as you get to the character in the books.
mstaley3000
mstaley3000 - 2/9/2012, 11:59 PM
Dalton is the 1st actor who actually made me like a James Bond movie. Craig did a good job too. The rest, meh, Connery was better in Highlander and Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Bronson was Remmington Steele and never came off as Bond.
rea1dea1stee1
rea1dea1stee1 - 2/10/2012, 12:45 AM
Dalton was my bond growin up thought the guy should of got a couple more goes as bond!
AUSSYACE
AUSSYACE - 2/10/2012, 2:28 AM
Daniel Craig is the WORST Bond ever...
Ric
Ric - 2/10/2012, 2:45 AM
Craig is the BEST Bond ever ...
opencurtain
opencurtain - 2/10/2012, 3:37 AM
Bring Back George Lazenby !!!!
Gose
Gose - 2/10/2012, 3:53 AM
This never happen to the other fellow ...
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