Debonair. Charming. Stylish. Also brutal and complicated. James Bond is one of the most iconic male figures in history. On the Mount Rushmore of characters who moved the needle on how men are viewed among the masses, looked up to by men, desired by women, 007 is one of the first names you would hear thrown on one of the faces. From the moment Sean Connery defined the role until Daniel Craig redefined it six decades later, we have been treated to a deluge of content from books and movies to comics and parodies.
Now, the hunt is on for a new James Bond under Amazon/MGM’s new management, and, as they revealed, casting is underway for the right person to step into the role, we look back at how the original look could have given us something else entirely, and how that may be the focus of the next chapter in the story of MI6’s most famous spy.
The original change in the image
The history lesson we all need is one with a bit of weight on the look of the new Bond. Ian Fleming wrote about the man long before Albert Broccoli put him on screen. He had an image, an idea, he created him from the ground up (kinda…more on that in a moment). So, when he sketched him out, it was straight out of his imagination. Later, when the titular character made the jump to comics, John McLusky came on as the artist and drew someone more seasoned. He was less Paul Newman of the 1950s and a little more Charlton Heston. He had a rugged demeanor. He was rough and tumble.
This is what leads to the casting choices. When Sean Connery’s agent saw how much his client looked like the man in the comics, he encouraged the Scot to go out for the role, and the man went from bodybuilder to Bond, James Bond. If you remember the Guy Ritchie movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, it is a loose adaptation of what people say was the inspiration for James Bond. With Henry Cavill finally getting his parallel run at the character. While he isn’t the focus of the movie, Freddie Fox plays Fleming himself, and he looks eerily similar to the original drawing.
The undeniable charm of Bond
After Connery, the character went through a few iterations and moments of growth. culminating in Pierce Brosnan taking over the role. What made Brosnan different than the rest was his mixture of the pretty boy charm of the original idea of Fleming’s and the ruggedness of McLusky’s reimagining. He was, in my opinion, the most conventionally handsome of the Bonds, with the ability to go the more coarse route.
Then came the reinvention of the character. The origin story we never got in the past. Daniel Craig brought the brutality. The dark complication leaned a lot harder into the idea that McLusky brought with his sketches. He was more of a blunt instrument than his predecessors. He leaned hard into the darkness of intelligence work. Leaned into the trauma, the isolation, and the effect they have on his life and of those around him. Leaving much of the charm behind.
The perfect mix in the next iteration
So how does this impact the future? Simple. The idea that neither Fleming nor McLusky was totally off-base in their imagining of the character. The reason Connery’s Bond was so iconic was that he was believable. When he was on screen, he was emblematic of who we thought of as a man of mystery. We could see that he had been through it. He was a veteran of the service, and that was how and why he was so successful in his job. The reason we loved Brosnan’s Bond was that we found a man who was less the deceptive spy and more the relatable lover. He was a likable character. He was protective of his Bond girls. He was loyal to the service. And most importantly, he had a weaponized charm that felt natural.
The new James Bond needs both. And the casting directors likely know that. Craig’s brutality with Brosnan’s charm. The blunt instrument with the killer smile. The ability to strike fear into the hearts of men with overthought and complicated plots and schemes, coupled with the suave charisma to make us and the Bond girls fall for him. The front-runners are Callum Turner, who looks closer to Fleming’s drawing than any of the rest. And Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who brings a bit more of an edge to the role the way McLusky dreamed him up.
