Skyfall- Bond goes homo?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:06pm

Saw Skyfall this morning, and I thought it was easily Daniel Craig's best entry in the franchise. Personally I'd rather watch Moonraker or Octo**** ha, but this one was good and had a few nice nods to some of the older films.

The thing I was most surprised about was that Bardem played the first (openly) gay villain in Bond history. In one scene he has Craig tied to a chair and slowly unbuttons the top of his shirt, running his finger across his chest. Then he caresses Craig's thigh and says, "There's a first time for everything," to which Craig quips back, "Who says it's my first time?" I'm glad Bardem brought some camp back to the franchise.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:20pm

Must run....not walk to see this. I love me some Bond.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:22pm

Here is what Daniel Craig had to say about this scene and the future of the franchise.




Daniel Craig: Gay James Bond Never Going to Happen Updated On: 11/10/12 at 02:22 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:23pm

My brother and I have gone to see the past few Bond films together in theatres. However, he is a bit of a bond purist and refuses to see this one based upon Bond's new drink of choice. Guess I'll have to go alone.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:30pm

I don't think they were trying to imply that Bond is gay/bisexual. Craig treated the line like a suave comeback and nothing more. It was more the surprise that this franchise even went there. There was some nervous laughter from the audience, but mostly I think they responded positively to Bardem's villain.

Winston, what drink are you talking about? The only drink I noticed Craig drinking was a shaken martini.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:34pm

There was a big issue that he was switching to Heineken.

It was revealed in an early still that the studio released.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:42pm

Hmm, well maybe it was cut, or it went by so quickly I missed it. I know all the Heineken ads lately have been with Craig, but I never caught him drinking on during the film.

I did notice some product placement for VW though at the beginning of the movie.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 2:46pm

What the most facinating thing for me in this film is that it wasent about Bond. It was M's story and the wondeful thing is that she was the Bond Girl.

[canmark]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 3:06pm

I don't want a gay Bond, either (although an action movie with a gay James Bond/Jason Bourne-type hero would be great).

I wonder if Q (Ben Whishaw, who also plays the gay composer Robert Frobisher in Cloud Atlas) could turn out be be gay in future films? They've added a black Moneypenny (Naomie Harris)--so why not add to the diversity with a gay Q?

Updated On: 11/10/12 at 03:06 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 3:27pm

Whishaw also played gay in The Pride. I wouldn't mind them making Q gay at all.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 3:30pm

Bond was in a Heineken commercial. And like Whizzer said there were plenty of products.

Considering Casino Royale had Bond say he didn't give a damn about what he drank, should purists be hung up on something they didn't see regarding his drink? Not like shaken, not stirred impacts the quality of the film- I give you films of the Moore and Brosnan Bonds.

I am just glad to read John Logan modernized Bond and his agency without going full Bourne, which I thought Quantum of Solace was very guilty of doing- and sorta failed to even do that right.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 7:11pm

I hate to bring it up buy it is only a movie gang

[strummergirl]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 7:26pm

Also want to add that it should not be a shock if Bond (which I think by now is an entity as much as a single character) had to engage in homosexual activity while on the job. Bond has run into a lot of honeytraps over the years, is it hard to assume he was also at one point the honeytrap? Back then in the Connery days overtly implying such a thing would be unthinkable but it most certainly occurred within the real spy agencies and I believe even in spy fiction. Not sure if it was ever expressed in the Fleming novels but agents having flexible sexualities was definitely mentioned in the John le Carre spy novels.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 8:19pm

I enjoyed the film too--and I think it is the best of the Craig films. The people I was with certainly saw the bi/homoerotic element to Bardem's role, but the way it was played I wouldn't go as far as saying he was *openly* gay--it could be read (and seems to be being read) a myriad of different ways...

I admit I like some of the campier Bonds, but Moonraker? Really Whizzer?? :P

[wonkit]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 8:46pm

COCKTAILS SPOILER for SKYFALL:


He has his signature martini at one point, and 50-year-old McCallan's at another. Didn't notice the beer of choice -

MORE SPOILERS - although it is pretty much spoiled in a post above -

My reaction to Bond saying it wouldn't be the first time was not that he had adult homosexual sex but that he had the typical public schoolboy exploration experience.


FINALLY -

One of the best Bond films in decades. Craig has totally mastered the role, and Bardem is completely wildly crazy - like the old Bond villains were.
Updated On: 11/10/12 at 08:46 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/10/12 at 9:02pm

It could definitely be said that way. I also thought it was meant to show Bond being cool and one uping it. Bardem's character--gay straight or whatever--was obviously trying to make Bond particularly uncomfortable (though the guy just had his testicles beaten a few years back, so...), and doubtfully expected that kind of cool response.

[canmark]

Posted: 11/11/12 at 10:36am

I hadn't realized that co-writer John Logan (Red) was gay. And while I still think Skyfall is overrated, I would be quite happy if Logan was working on the next Bond screenplay.

SPOILERS. I think the 'gay' scene in question played out very well. At first, Bardem's character just seems creepy. And gradually, as he is moving his hands over Bond's body you get the sense that he might be turned on by touching Daniel Craig (whose bare chest had already been shown off in the film). You can sense the audience's slight discomfort, but also glee in how this scene might play out. Bond receiving physical punishment (ie. the aforementioned 'ball busting' scene) from the (male) enemy is one thing--but sexual intimidation? When Bond offers his daring retort, it releases the tension and the audience is able to laugh at the audacity--yet also wonder if it might be true. Well done.

----------
Parental mysteries, though, are the least of the liberties Logan, who worked closely with director Sam Mendes on a script initially written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, took with the character. In a pivotal -- and sure to be talked-about -- scene that finds Bond tied to a chair by Javier Bardem's flamboyant villain character, there is a wink-wink, arched-eyebrow exchange between the two, in which Bardem slowly unbuttons Craig's shirt and the famously libidinous agent smiles as he hints at maybe having had previous experience in same-sex carnal relations. It would seem a first for 007, but Logan doesn't think it's much of a stretch.

"Some people claim it’s because I’m, in fact, gay but not true at all," Logan told The Hollywood Reporter at the NYC premiere of the film, thrown by Tribeca Film Institute. "Sam and I were discussing, there were so many scenes where Bond goes mano-a-mano with the villain, whether it’s Dr. No or Goldfinger or whatever, and there’s been so many ways to do a cat-and-mouse and intimidate Bond, and we thought, what would truly make the audience uncomfortable is sexual intimidation; playing the sort of homoerotic card that is sort of always there subtextually with characters like Scaramanga in Man With the Golden Gun or Dr. No. So we just decided that we should play the card and enjoy it."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-bond-gay-flirtation-parental-386864

Updated On: 11/11/12 at 10:36 AM