Sean Connery Talks James Bond

In an interview with Cinescape there’s no doubt that the conversation would eventually turn to Bond, especially when you’re interviewing Sean Connery.

The interview eventually turned away from Connery’s new movie, Finding Forester, to our favourite topic 007 and Connery has given some interesting thoughts on the topic.

Connery can never escape his work as James Bond. The actor says that there isn’t a day that goes by that someone doesn’t mention it. And he finds that fascinating.

“Everyone makes the same mistake. They go, ‘I saw my first Bond film, ten, twelve years ago.’ And I’ll say, ‘No dear, 32 years ago.”‘

Audiences also usually forget that when Connery was first cast in the relatively low-budget Dr. No, the movie and its unflappable main character weren’t yet box-office gold.

“Everyone who said that the first one was going to be a success is a liar because they didn’t know,” Connery says. “The film costs less than a million dollars. They didn’t make one immediately afterwards because they still weren’t sure. Everybody forgets that. Believe me, nobody could have foreseen that all these years later, we’d be sitting here discussing James Bond.”

True to say that Connery has never escaped the shadow of Bond that looms over all actors who have portrayed the man with the license to kill.

All things considered, Connery is a good sport about the endless questions. The best part of being Bond? “The first two or three were fun. The cast made it fun. Jumping out of planes was entertaining although it was tough on my hair piece,” he says. And the worst? “It became too dominant in everything I was doing. There was no way to compete with it and try to get any justifiable balance.”

Connery did return in 1982, defying an oath he made to never Bond again, in Never Say Never Again. His wife Micheline suggested the title. The movie was a hit, but he wasn’t happy with the finished product, despite producing the movie himself. “It wasn’t the best experience,” he says.

That’s hardly new news. However, I find the next part particularily interesting. Connery’s thoughts on Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton portraying James Bond:

The actor is equally frank when ratings his most recent 007 successors. “I think Pierce Brosnan was a good choice. Timothy Dalton never got a handle on the role. He took it seriously in the wrong way,” he says. “The person who plays Bond has to be dangerous. If there isn’t a sense of threat, you can’t be cool.”

Very interesting. With those parts of the interviews dissected I recommend you go over to Cinescape and read the whole interview dated January the 5th, 2001.