Why Michael Caine Turned Down the Role of James Bond

Far Out Magazine ^ | Sat 10 February 2024 | Elle Palmer

[coloradan]

I am Spartacus! He/him.

[MinorityRepublican]

The name is Bond. James Bond. He/him.

[Macho MAGA Man]

(It is said North by Northwest movie was the pre-curser to the 007 character.)

What I vaguely remember is that they looked at Carey Grant to first play the role of Bond based on North by Northwest. Ian Fleming I think had a role in choosing the actor.

[broken_clock]

I never knew their politics

Perhaps neither did I. The quotes I recall them saying regarding guns and abortion I cannot find. To be clear as actors Connery and Caine are the tops to me.

[Bobbyvotes]

Carey Grant was not the pre-cursor, it was the movie plot itself. Grant was more comic actor and lacked the swagger of 007 character. He was also good in To Catch a Thief movie by Alfred Hitchcock.

[Fiji Hill]

My favorite Sean Connery film is "The Hunt for Red October." It has a great theme song, The Hymn to Red October, which is sung in Russian, although I find it annoying that the singers are obviously not Russian-speakers.

[Rummyfan]

Caine was very good as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File, but I don't see him as Bond.

[A strike]

Not sure Michael Caine could have pulled off JB.
Maybe a smidge too intellectual/high brow, not near ruthless.

It would have worked of course,
but not even close to Sean Connery, the James Bond GOAT!

[A strike]

kind of pinhead are you?

[AndyJackson]

He was also very good in Rising Sun. But he absolutely defined the Bond role and everyone since has been measured by Connery’s work.

[PghBaldy]

Title reminded me of the old Fabian song, “Durn Me Loose.”

[Paal Gulli]

Caine has never been held back by his accent. His very first movie role was as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, who did a very passable “Posh” accent. By then he’d already had a number of stage roles in which he had to bury the sound of the Bells of St Mary’s.

Even Connery had to have a dialect coach to get rid of his Edinburrah (sic) broque. To this day no one apart Connery himself ever figured out what accent it is he was doing but it wasn’t any known form of Lowland Scots.

[rlmorel]

I think this was one of the most enjoyable movies I have seen with Michael Caine in it...:)

[dfwgator]

Great scene.

[Michael.SF.]

Caine’ self assessment: “ he didn’t possess the glitz and glamour required to embody the spy.”

He was right.

[rlmorel]

I was grinning even as I previewed my post!

Heck, I have enjoyed him in a lot of roles over the years...The Man Who Would Be King, The Eagle Has Landed, The Cider House Rules, Second Hand Lion (Probably my favorite) and...I just saw this, I never knew-he had a cameo role in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life"! I had to go look, and I think this might be him!

[The Duke]

Peachy would never displace Danny!

[Reverend Wright]

What could have been.

[going hot]

“...every move he makes, another chance he takes.....”

[Mark17]

Jane Bond will be played by a black lesbian out to fight Climate Change and systemic racism in older white males.

Probably true.