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In the history of cinema, several franchises have managed to endure across generations, transcending trends and the persistence of time to remain relevant. “James Bond” is one of the biggest examples, dating back to Sean Connery’s debut as 007 in the smash hit “Dr. No” in 1962. Bond, James Bond, has been going strong ever since.
The whole enterprise stems from the mind of the late author Ian Fleming, whose books inspired a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that has lasted more than 70 years, dating back to the publication of “Casino Royale.” That was Fleming’s first novel, but he wrote a total of 14, in addition to several short stories. Up until the ’90s, every “James Bond” movie took its title from one of those works. That all changed with the release of “GoldenEye” in 1995, which, after being delayed for several years due to various issues, kicked off Pierce Brosnan’s run as the famed MI6 spy.
“GoldenEye” did not take its name from any of the books. Rather, it was inspired by Fleming’s estate in Jamaica where he wrote many of Bond’s adventures. This wasn’t a one-off though, as none of the four films featuring Brosnan in the lead role, which also include “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “The World is Not Enough,” and “Die Another Day,” took their titles from the books. That begs the question, why? The answer is surprisingly simple.
By that time, four other actors had portrayed Bond, including Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and George Lazenby who played the role just once in the underrated “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Those actors fronted a total of 16 movies. By then, most of Fleming’s titles had been used up. “Octopussy and The Living Daylights” was even split into two different titles for the movies. The well had dried up.
Pierce Brosnan helped bring James Bond into the ’90s
Technically, several of Fleming’s short stories were still up for grabs as far as titles went, but they weren’t exactly desirable. “The Hildebrand Rarity” and “Risico” don’t exactly have a great ring to them, and “007 in New York” takes a lot of the mystery out of things. So, the producers were forced to take things in another direction, either that or start the process of re-doing some of the novels. It’s worth pointing out that other authors have since written various “James Bond” books, but Eon Productions, the company that used to control the franchise (Amazon MGM recently gained full creative control in a huge shake-up), has never gone down that route.
Pierce Brosnan harbored some insecurities in his portrayal of Bond, but to be fair, the pressure was on. “GoldenEye” was the first movie in the series to arrive in six years, and a lot had changed in that time. The Cold War ended, the ’90s were firmly upon us, and the Bond of old needed to justify his existence in a changing world. That’s acknowledged directly in the film when Judi Dench’s M refers to Bond as a “sexist, misogynistic dinosaur.” Brosnan, for his part, was interested in doing something different with the character. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 1995, the actor explained:
“I would like to pull back the layers a little. When Sean did him in the ’60s, it was a straight-on, macho, bam-bam-bam kind of character. Now we’re in the ’90s and we have cinematic heroes that are a lot more f****ed up. Mel Gibson put the gun in his mouth in Lethal Weapon. The guy was an animal. I don’t want to deconstruct Bond or do a Method Bond or anything like that. But a scene with Bond sitting in a room, with the camera slowly zooming in on him, showing him in pain — that’s what I mean. Peel back the layers, show his dark side.”
Brosnan’s run was a bit uneven, with “Die Another Day” often considered one of the worst “James Bond” movies ever. Even so, the movies were successful and helped ensure that Bond could be a relevant character in the ’90s, 2000s, and beyond. Abandoning the Fleming titles was just one way that the franchise was able to assert its own identity for the future beyond what had come before.
You can grab Pierce Brosnan’s “James Bond” films on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.