00 HEAVEN?
Bond should go back to the 60s and not be so PC, it’s a fantasy, fans give their view on Aaron Taylor-Johnson as 007
One former crew member speculates they may be going back to the Sean Connery type 007 with Aaron
NEWS that Aaron Taylor-Johnson is being lined up as the next James Bond has left fans shaken – and a little stirred.
We revealed yesterday how the 33-year-old Kick-Ass star has been offered the role of the secret agent ahead of contenders such as Idris Elba and James Norton.
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As our story went round the world, fans were left shocked by the choice to take over from Daniel Craig.
Here, Grant Rollings speaks to Bond buffs and Sun writers about what they think – and what they want to see from the new 007 . . .
DULCIE PEARCE, Sun film critic
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BRITAIN’S most dashing hardman faces a lot of competition in the action stakes at the cinema these days.
From Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible, we have come to expect heart-stopping stunts and fantastic fight sequences — with not a green screen in sight.
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And it all has to be sprinkled with enough charm and humour to stop us squirming in our £7-plus cinema seats.
While Bond was once our go-to screen hero, he is now up against many caped crusaders and fearless fighters.
Daniel Craig did a superb job bringing the dashing, but often dusty, spy into the 21st century, with subtle changes to his air and mannerisms.
And he managed it while still being great with the ladies and delivering cheeky one-liners with a twinkle.
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The new Bond will have a more modern audience to entice to the big screen.
An audience that now casually watches death-defying stunts in the comfort of their front room and barely bats an eyelid at new-fangled technology (good luck, Q).
GMB star slammed by James Bond fans after ‘ridiculous’ comment about Aaron Taylor Johnson landing iconic 007 role
So it will be a bigger, bolder Bond that we see car-chasing his way around the world with, I suspect, a more sensitive, brooding side than even Craig gave us.
For many, it would be seen as impossible.
But I, for one, hope it’s a mission Aaron will choose to accept.
CLEMMIE FIELDSEND, Sun fashion editor
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WHEN I think of Bond, it conjures up the iconic film opening of our sharp-suited hero seen in silhouette through the barrel of a gun.
Suave and sophisticated, Bond is a symbol of style.
From Connery to Craig, each actor who has been lucky enough to bag the role has looked dashing in the signature black tie and tailored suits.
Bond’s dressed-down style hasn’t been all that bad, either.
In the majority of the films, casual Bond has worn a polo shirt and chinos or a T-shirt and cardi.
But going forward, it would be nice to see a more current trend.
I’m not saying I want to see Aaron in Barry Keoghan crop tops or Harry Styles frocks, but a more rough-and-ready, relatable Bond would be a welcome change.
Like all of us, though, he has suffered a few fashion faux pas, too.
Let’s definitely leave Daniel Craig’s little-too-tight budgie smugglers in the past.
And his No Time To Die grey suit and black tie, which made him seem like he was off to sixth form college — or court — can be retired.
And let’s not give clangers such as George Lazenby’s frilly shirts from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, pictured, and Roger Moore’s velour tracksuit from A View To A Kill a licence to thrill again.
If Aaron is the next 007, we’ll be keeping a GoldenEye on his wardrobe.
ROCKY TAYLOR, Bond stuntman
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AARON is a great choice to play the next 007.
He’s young, fit and good-looking, with what would be described as “sexy eyes”.
He has the physique for Bond but is also suave.
For me, the best Bond was Roger Moore, who was elegant, sophisticated and funny.
Roger could switch from making jokes to being serious.
Aaron showed in his two Kick-Ass movies that he can do humour, so I am hopeful we’ll see more of that.
Daniel Craig was more rough and ready — The Sweeney of the Bonds.
So I don’t think Aaron will be another Daniel.
It seems they may be going back to the Sean Connery type 007 with Aaron, which would be great.
As we have seen in the Kick-Ass and Marvel Avengers movies he’s been in, Aaron moves well.
You need to know how to throw a punch and sometimes it requires three weeks of training for a big fight scene.
It is like a dance routine — which requires rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal.
Aaron will have to work hard to live up to the past 007s but I think he can do it.
ULRIKA JONSSON, Bond fan
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WELL, I have to say I’m a tad under-whelmed at the announcement that Aaron could be the new Bond.
When it comes to looks, no one can deny he has it all — that square jaw, slight frown, eyes you can drown in that are as beguiling as they are kind.
And that scruffy, tousled hair. Oh, and that’s without even objectifying his honed and toned body.
But the truth is, I want a Bond with a bit more character.
Dalton, Moore, Brosnan and even my all-time favourite George Lazenby, were archetypally handsome and very smooth — but too smooth, in fact.
They all looked just like we expected Bond to look like — polished, sleek, shiny and glossy.
It was the kind of stuff no woman could turn down.
And no woman did. Bond just snapped his fingers and every female would fall to the floor or on to the bed.
It was like he was hypnotic and women were helpless against his powers of persuasion.
Who can forget Roger Moore’s Bond bedding the hilariously named Holly Goodhead in Moonraker?
Or Sean Connery’s sexually charged scene with Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) in From Russia With Love?
We didn’t care how many women he bedded — the more the better — but it was all a bit samey and predictable.
When Daniel Craig took the crown I was thrilled, because his face looks like he’s lived a little.
Or a lot, in fact.
His face is craggy and naughty and definitely has an “I don’t give a monkey’s” air about it.
And I think that’s what we want from a modern-day Bond.
We want interest, a face with more teeth and grit — maybe even some quirkiness. And definitely some danger.
I want Bond to unsettle me a bit.
And I’m not sure Aaron does that.
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GARTH PEARCE, Bond biographer
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THE greatest challenge that comes with being James Bond is not the filming, but the publicity.
I’ve seen fine actors wilt under the pressure. The most notable was Timothy Dalton, who made just two films, The Living Daylights in 1987 and Licence To Kill in 1989.
I was with him in Vienna for his official launch as Bond and again in Mexico City for the much re-written Licence To Kill.
The poor bloke was like a rabbit in the headlights and his mood ranged between irritation and anger.
Here was one of our best theatre actors being asked about his suits, his cars, his private life and what he thought of his Bond girls.
But Pierce Brosnan, who began his four-film stint with GoldenEye in 1995, lapped it up from the start.
He’d long held ambitions of playing 007 and could handle the Press, the TV cameras and the endless publicity tours to promote the film.
His successor, Daniel Craig, was like a cross between the two.
He had Dalton’s scorn and Brosnan’s capability, but without the charm.
He famously said that he’d sooner slit his wrists than play Bond again. But that came in the wake of an exhausting world tour.
He did go on to play him one last time.
Roger Moore? Relaxed, easy with the publicity, ready with a joke. Didn’t take himself too seriously. Perfect.
Sean Connery? Fine at first — the publicity pantomime was not as intense then — but grew grumpy with age.
George Lazenby was out of his depth. Fame had come too suddenly.
Is Aaron ready for the role? The real battle will be away from the set.
- Garth Pearce wrote The Making Of GoldenEye and The Making Of Tomorrow Never Dies.
GRAHAM RYE, 007 MAGAZINE editor & publisher
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I DON’T think Aaron has the look or the charisma to play James Bond.
In fact, none of the bookmakers’ favourites have what it takes.
Bond needs to be around 6ft 2in, following the Sean Connery blueprint.
There is one actor I have been watching for some time, a Scotsman called Stuart Martin, who has the physicality needed to play 007.
For me, James Bond needs to go back to his roots.
All this political correctness is rubbish and it is time the filmmakers realised this character is supposed to be escapist entertainment.
Bond has never reflected the real world, he has always been a fantasy.
They should set the next movie back in the 1960s, when he was at his best.
You can get away with anything in the 1960s, including bringing back names for female characters such as Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman.
No one could complain about that, because that’s the way it was. It is all innocent fun.
I was born in 1951, when no one was terribly offended by anything.
The Connery movies were the closest to Ian Fleming’s novels and managed to remain within the realms of possibility.
Daniel Craig is a good actor but he wasn’t Bond for me.
His final outing, 2021’s No Time To Die, was a technical masterpiece but the idea of killing off James Bond was one of the movie world’s most stupid ideas.
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They have painted themselves into a cul-de-sac now.
- Graham Rye is editor and publisher of 007 Magazine.
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