James Bond fans shaken, not stirred, by Amazon ownership of beloved 007
In case you missed it, the British family that scrupulously supervised the film franchise for six-plus decades has, grudgingly,
The concern in the UK and elsewhere — aside from the fact that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a Bond villain cliche — is what the world's second largest corporation might do with a remarkably
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Considering the
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What's worrisome to some Bond fans is that Amazon's track record of handling prized IP isn't great. After paying the Tolkien Estate close to
It's hardly beloved; one reviewer called it '
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It's clear that Broccoli, who inherited the franchise from her father,
was dubious of Bezos's intentions. A year ago,
The notion that Bond now toils for a US company is demoralizing to many in the UK — including one of the actors who used to play the character. Timothy Dalton, who was Bond in 1987's 'The Living Daylights' and 1989's 'License to Kill,' told the
'It is one of the few wonderful stories we've got in film that is British,' Dalton said. 'We can call it our own.'
David Hepworth, a music journalist and
'Everybody understands certain things about James Bond,' he says. 'Bond knows the correct way to serve a martini, to win at poker, and how to ask a lady to dance at an embassy ball.'
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It's been four years since the last James Bond movie — 2021's '
Still, Broccoli and Wilson's restraint has had a downside. Oscar-winning British directors Danny Boyle ('Slumdog Millionaire') and Christopher Nolan ('Oppenheimer') both were interested in making a Bond film but were
It's anyone's guess who Amazon will pick to play Bond. Broccoli and Wilson took a chance on Craig, who was little known (and blonde and not conventionally handsome), and the bet paid off. Craig starred in five Bond films, two of which — '
'Sean Connery is James Bond, as far as I'm concerned,' Quantick says of the Scottish actor who was in seven Bond movies between 1962 and 1983. 'He's an Aston Martin; he's martinis and Italian suits; he's sex with women whose names are synonyms for 'vagina'.'
Actors Idris Elba and Robert Pattinson are often mentioned as possibilities, and either would be OK. But there are many others. Variety put together
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'I would fundamentally refuse to have anything to do with it,' says Hepworth. 'It's as simple as that. I would regard it as a reason to never think about James Bond again.'
As for a villain, Bezos, the bald, billionaire tech tycoon, certainly fills the bill. Indeed, John Higgs, author of '
'They've been very good at working out what people are afraid of and having Bond address that problem,' says Higgs. 'The fear in the world now is people like Bezos and Elon Musk.'
Amazon would never let that happen, of course, and some wonder if a Bezos-like bad guy would be compelling enough. 'How could Bezos destroy the world when he can't even deliver a parcel?' says Quantick. 'He's too dull. I mean, Goldfinger wouldn't buy a newspaper and
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Mark Shanahan can be reached at
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