I remember talking about this with Jim E-T -- he said that Owen was "too rough". He wanted someone who had, like, gone to Eton and spent some years in the Navy -- someone to whom baccarat would come naturally, more naturally than craps or other "low class" gambling games. (I think the idea was that Bond was always slumming, hanging around in the spy world.) Then again, Jim's also a book-devotee, and I think we're far along now in the movie-Bond development to give altogether much for book-Bond.

Then again, who is movie-Bond? Gadgets, a quip or two, expensive suits, and an awful lot of narrative convenience. I'd be perfectly happy if Bond were to be reworked, in a distinctive way, for a new actor.

I wonder about all the other unlicensed spies. So they're restricted to thrashing their opponents to within and inch of their lives? Much trickier than killing them, for sure.

I think they just kill off-license, and get good practice in hiding their tracks. SEE: Jason Bourne.

I think they just kill off-license, and get good practice in hiding their tracks. SEE: Jason Bourne.

But ... he's all on-license.

I mean, you send agent 123 out to do his gig, and folks back home are going to know if he popped a cap in anyone errantly.

Or maybe Stiles is an example of an unlicensed agent. It just seems a really odd distinction to make.

Dude, Moneypenny could totally take her.

I'd be perfectly happy if Bond were to be reworked, in a distinctive way, for a new actor.

I know you didn't mean to hit me with the mental image of Vin Diesel in his pimp gear from XXX going "I said shaken, not stirred, Bitch!" but that was the end result.

::tries to envision Bond in that sheepskin coat::

::fails, but with many interesting diversions along the way::

Not that distinctive, Matt. I think there is a universal rule that Bond may not wear pimp-gear.

But ... he's all on-license.

Not any more!

Not any more!

He's also cut way down on the whole killing and hiding his tracks thing too, so I don't know if the example works.

Seth Green Caught in Near-Fatal Incident on Movie Set

Actor Seth Green was left questioning his daredevil attitude, after he faced death on the set of his upcoming comedy Without A Paddle. The 30-year-old screen star, who stars in the movie alongside Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard, was on the New Zealand set filming a scene where his character gets knocked out of a canoe into raging waters - but in real life he ended up being caught in Class 5 rapids. Director Steven Brill says, "Seth is kind of fearless. He jumped into a tide pool that he couldn't get out of and almost got sucked under a rock. The safety guy jumped in to save him on a WaveRunner, but that guy fell off the WaveRunner, and it sank and also got sucked into the tide pool." In the end, both Green and the safety worker were rescued unhurt - but very shaken. Green recalls, "It was just a matter of holding my breath and acting the whole time."

I like Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li don't know anything about Zhang Ziyi -- but wonder, isn't there even one Japanese actress who could have taken a main role in this movie? (Of Geisha?)

Wait, was Zhang Ziyi -- the younger woman from CTHD? (If so, then I have seen her in something.)

You didn't see Crouching Tiger, sumi? eta: asked, and answered

She's pretty good. However, unless her English has improved dramatically in the past few years, the language issues confuse me.