I have no Bond history today, so I thought I would short
list some individuals that I think would have been or could be fascinating
villains if cast in a Bond film.
Klaus Kinski
He starred in a number of films directed by Werner Herzog,
who solicited some of his best performances in Fitzcarraldo (1982), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) and Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). If he had been Blofeld’s second in command
who eventually became the head boss, instead of trying to take over the world,
he probably would have set off the bomb that would have destroyed the world.
Jurgen Prochnow
This German actor has an intriguing face and I have enjoyed
his performances in Das Boot (1981) as
Capt.-Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, The Keep (1983) as Woermann, The Seventh Sign (1988) as David Bannon, and In the Mouth
of Madness (1994) as Sutter Cane. Even
though Christopher Walken’s approach emphasized an appropriate amount of
unbalance and unease, having Prochnow portray Maxillium Zorin in A
View to a Kill (1985) would have lent more
seriousness to the villainous role. I think it would have made the character
more formidable against Sir Roger Moore’s James Bond.
Roger Rees
Englishman Roger Rees came from the same cloth as John Hurt
(Alien, 1984) and Alan Rickman (Die
Hard, Harry Potter series) who I think I
first saw in the comedy series Cheers (1989 – 1993) as Robin Colcord. Most recently, I watched him in the
Survivor (2015) in which Rees played a darker, shifty character named Emil
Balan. As I write this, I think that perhaps he would have played a
second-in-command, hungry for power and being the second to last man standing
against Bond before Bond goes against the main villain.
Health Ledger
He nailed it as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), but
this Australian actor showed his flexibility for roles. He was here and sadly, gone much too soon. Portraying a young
dot.com millionaire turned villain through an obsessive greed for a particular
resource has a nice ring to it and would have fit in with the other Bond bad
guys nicely.
William Fichtner
William Fichtner is one of those contemporary actors that
can slip into a character and embody someone well. He’s been in a lot of roles
over the years, but he unfortunately has not become a household name. Some of
the roles I have enjoyed him in: Strange Days (1995), Albino Alligator
(1996), The Amateurs (2005), and Crossing
Lines (2013-2014). I think that any back-story
given to Fichtner’s villain, he would take hold of it and make it his own. He
just needs the opportunity.
Bonus Round:
James Purefoy
Purefoy is another actor who has been in the business twenty
years, but usually in smaller roles. Loved him in Solomon Kane (2009), Ironclad
(2011) and The Following (2013 – 2015), where he definitely proved he has the stuff to be the penultimate villain. We need more Purefoy!
There are many others that would be great villains - who's on your shortlist?
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Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are
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