Creating James Bond

Nice essay by Robert Cotton on how Terence Young, who directed the first, second, and fourth James Bond films, created the screen character:

Charm. The one thing no one can accuse the Bond of the books of possessing to any great degree. Young reasoned that a 1962 audience might not buy a hero who simply did his job and in the meantime slept with any woman he felt like, without seeming as derelict as the villain he was disposing of. Young knew that if James Bond were going to differentiate himself from the standard, run of the mill hero, he needed three things that heretofore the character was lacking. Style, wit, and charm.

★ Wednesday, 19 January 2011