Text/Burial of Time
Famous British actor Sean Connery died of illness on October 31 at the age of 90.
Since entering the film industry in 1954, Sean Connery has been active on screen for almost half a century. His last work was the 2003 fantasy action film "Skyfall", since then, he gradually faded out of the film world, and in 2008, he simply announced that he would retire and enjoy retirement with all his heart.
In Connery's long screen career, he is well known for starring in a large number of action movies, such as "Brave to the Island", "Raiders of the Lost Ark 3", "Hunting Red October", "Iron Mask Selfless" and other works at home and abroad. He himself won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor that year for his role as an old detective in "Iron Mask", and was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the American Film Institute in 2005.
But no matter how many exciting roles Connery later played, his name was destined to be tied to 007. Whenever people mention the name Sean Connery, the first word that pops up in their minds must be "the first 007". Since his role as James Bond in the first 007 film Dr. Noe in 1962, he has become the embodiment of the world's most famous agent, and he himself has become the quintessential representative of the screen tough guy for a long time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "the most perfect Bond in history."</h1>
Connery's elegant appearance of an English gentleman, tall and strong figure, with a strong body and humorous conversation, exudes a unique male charm. Since the debut of James Bond, played by him, it has been considered to be completely in line with all the imaginations of the Bond described by Ian Fleming in the original book, and many media even rated him as "the sexiest man in the world".
007 Russian Love (1963)
What many people don't know is that when Ian Fleming created the image of Bond, he wrote according to Gary Grant's template ("North by Northwest", starring Grant and directed by Hitchcock, had a huge impact on the 007 film), and Connery became the ideal Bond actor, in addition to his natural body and charm, more thanks to the tuning of "Dr. North" director Terrance Young. Young personally took Connery to customize suits, change his hairstyle, go to high-end restaurants and casinos, learn the tone of speech, the posture of walking, and even the movement of eating, in order to make his elegance as real as possible, and even asked Connery to read proust, Tolstoy and James Joyce. It was after such a "transformation" that "the most perfect Bond in history" was created.
Diamond Diamond in 007 (1971)
After the blockbuster with "Dr. No," Connery starred in five subsequent 007 films, namely Russian Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderbolt (1965), Thunder Valley (1967) and Diamond Diamond (1971). Among them, "Goldfinger" is generally considered to be the best 007 movie in history. Because this film builds on the basic elements of all subsequent 007 films- the sexy "Bond Girl", who is often either dead or injured after getting involved with Bond; the visually striking pictures and action scenes; the funny and evil villains; and the thrilling last-minute rescue.
Goldfinger 007 (1964)
Connery starred in several 007 films that were very successful, but he himself announced that he would not appear in the 007 series after playing Bond six times. In fact, as early as when he starred in "Goldfinger", he was bored with Bond's repeated "virtual spy life" composed of fighting, drag racing, and flirting, and in such a highly disciplined role, he felt more of a sense of bondage. According to Connorly's close friend Michael Kane, Connery later resented being called "Bond." He also didn't like the trivialities that people talked to him about when shooting the 007 movie, so he deliberately wrote this clause into the contract during the filming of "Highlanders 2".
Despite this, in the early 80s, the 007 series of spin-off films "Cruise Missile" persuaded Connery to join the film, and after 12 years, he played James Bond again. It's just that this film doesn't belong to the 007 series, so Connery is not a renegade.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > six Bond, six 007 films</h1>
After Sean Connery stepped down as 007, finding a new Bond actor became a problem. Because Connery's Bond image is so successful and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it is self-evident that it is difficult to get the latecomers to reach the same height or even surpass. In fact, every subsequent "change" of Bond was not lacking in controversy. And every Bond actor is destined to bring a different personal logo and style to this series.
007 Thunder Valley (1967)
The second Bond actor after Connery was Australia-born George Lazarbe, who starred in 1969's The Queen's Secret Envoy. Objectively speaking, Lazabe's performance in the film cannot be regarded as a failure, but he is not as handsome as Connery and has no acting experience, which is still difficult for the audience to accept. "The Queen's Secret Envoy" only grossed nearly half of the previous 007 movie "Thunder Valley", which is enough to explain the problem. The embarrassed Lazabe voluntarily resigned after acting in "The Queen's Secret Envoy", and he became "the shortest-lived Bond in history".
Lazzabé's casting failure also set a series of unruly rules for each Bond since then, such as the actor who plays Bond must be a British actor, can speak pure British English, has a handsome appearance, and is best to have rich acting experience and can play a large number of action scenes.
Dr. 007 No no No (1962)
The third Bond was Roger Moore, who came from the theater stage. In appearance, Moore is not the ideal person to play Bond, in Ian Fleming's original book, Bond should be black hair, but Moore is a brown hair. But in other respects, Moore is already a good candidate, although he is not as handsome as Connery, but he does not lose the grace of a gentleman, and he always uses a lot of humorous dialogue when playing Bond, and the performance is his own style. From 1973 to 1985, Moore starred in seven 007 films, mostly popular with audiences. Moore, who was three years older than Connery, died in May 2017 at the same age as Connery, aged 90.
After Moore stepped down, Bond was succeeded by Timothy Dalton, who was also experienced in theatrical performances. Dalton, 17 years younger than Moore, brought a distinctly different flavor to audiences accustomed to Moore's role as Bond. Dalton didn't have Moore's humor and was much more serious. In terms of performance, Dalton belongs to the academic school and is widely regarded as the best Bond actor in history. When he first played Bond's Dawn of Life (1987), Dalton tried to inject More Emotional and Psychological Changes into Bond, giving people a glimpse of Bond who was infinitely close to ordinary people. In "Dawn of Life", the spark between Dalton and "Bond Girl" Maria Debo is also the most dazzling one in the entire 007 movie. Unfortunately, after playing Bond twice, due to copyright disputes in the 007 series, no new series were released between 1990 and 1994, and Dalton resigned in 1994.
In 007's GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan played Bond.
The next successor, Pierce Brosnan, is one of the most well-known Bond actors in the country, and many people should know Bond from the 4 007 movies he starred in, and understand this amazing action movie series. Brosnan's advantage is handsome (even a little handsome enough), and many viewers may have fallen in love with his role of Bond just by rushing to this point. Many people think that Brosnan is the closest Bond to Connery after Sean Connery, handsome and elegant, he has elegant manners, agile hands, and a strong and soft posture. His first 007 film, GoldenEye, more than doubled the box office as the previous one, License to Kill, and after a long copyright storm, he was seen as the hero who successfully saved the series. Soon after playing Bond, Brosnan quickly became one of the "sexiest men in the world", and many people have long forgotten that he is not actually an Englishman.
Most recently, Bond actor Daniel Craig faced perhaps the biggest controversy in history at the beginning of his tenure. From the appearance point of view, Craig can be described as a full-fledged "rough guy" compared to the previous Brosnan, not handsome, closer to the impression of the tough guy, rather than the charismatic agent. Many people have questioned whether such a person, who is neither tall enough nor handsome enough, and who is not brunette, can play the Bond in people's hearts.
In 007, Daniel Craig plays Bond.
But Casino Royale (2006) quickly dispelled doubts, and the all-new James Bond, who was very different from every previous one, quickly won the recognition of the audience with Craig's unique personal aura. This unsmiling Bond may not be as mercurial as the previous ones, but he is more mature and stable, and does not reduce his gentlemanly demeanor. In the interpretation of more intense action scenes, can use more solid fist and foot kung fu to attract the audience, for contemporary audiences accustomed to more visual stimulation, Craig's Bond is invisibly more in line with the current aesthetic. After an initial brief period of questioning, Craig has become a deeply rooted Bond, and he has surpassed Roger Moore as the "longest-serving" Bond in history.
In 2016, there were rumors that Craig wanted to quit after starring in four 007 movies, but then such rumors also disappeared, and the fifth 007 "No Time to Die" starring him was originally scheduled to be released worldwide in April 2020, but due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it had to be postponed until next year to meet the audience.
After Sean Connery's death, Daniel Craig also publicly wrote tribute, arguing that Connery "defined an era, a style." Today, more than half a century later, 007 is still defined by Connery's Bond. In almost every spy/agent movie since 007, it has more or less the imprints of Connery and James Bond. From the self-contained series of "Mission Impossible" to the "Ace Agent" designed to subvert, from the retro nostalgia "Secret Agent" to Nolan's novel "Creed", there is nothing wrong with it.
After all, people dream of being like Agent Seven, humorous, elegant and charming, wearing a well-tailored suit, driving a dusty Aston Martin, freely using a variety of high-tech weapons and equipment, flirting with beautiful women, and saving the world. James Bond and the 007 film he represents are the best all-round display of the film's "dream-making" function.