Ooh! Can Helen Mirren be Bond? She's white and British.

Helen Mirren would long since have been forced to retire from field duty, I fear. I don't think they let 60 year old agents go traipsing about these days.

The original Bond was a representative of patrician snob Britain, which may be why he has always been white and driven Austen Martins and whatall. (Although his choice of drink is distinctly declasse.) But then, the very first movie-Bond violates the patrician-ness of it all, casting a Scot. So, I say the field's wide open.

Except for Don Cheadle, who on evidence of Ocean's 11, should never be allowed within a mile of a British accent.

Except for Don Cheadle, who on evidence of Ocean's 11, should never be allowed within a mile of a British accent.

Maybe it's the Cockney he can't get. In fact, no one should try that. It just begs for overdoing.

I don't think they let 60 year old agents go traipsing about these days.

They should! First off, she's hot, and secondly, well, if a 60 year old can be good at it, it doesn't all have to look like Spooks.

the second miniseries of Prime Suspect, where he plays the cop who has an affair with Tennison

Oh, yeah. That was hot. t fans self

Helen Mirren will be a scorcher until the day she die. She's almost 60 and still hot like the sun. It's really too bad that nobody made a film with her as Lady Macbeth.

Although his choice of drink is distinctly declasse.

A martini, shaken, not stirred? I had no idea it was declasse. What would have been an appropriate snob-class drink of his time? (I was raised in a mostly tea-totalling household, so I'm not up on some of the finer drink associations.)

I think it's the fact that it's a vodka martini, not a "real" (gin) martini. Was it always vodka, or was that just product placement, I wonder.

Ooh! Can Helen Mirren be Bond?

I'm totally down with this, too. ita's an unqualified GENIUS!

don't think they let 60 year old agents go traipsing about these days.

t refers Nutty to half of Roger Moore's Bond work

(I'm not saying they were good, I'm just saying being old has never stopped someone from playing Bond)

(Although his choice of drink is distinctly declasse.)

There's a great bit in West Wing where President Bartlett explains that the reason you stir a martini is so as not to chip the ice, and thus Bond is ordering a watered down martini, and doing it in a snooty way.

Is it possible to order a martini made to your specifications and not be doing it in a snooty way? I mean, it's a snooty drink.

When my sister bartends, there are always customers who will ask for their martinis "mild" (or, alternately, "extra-strong"). She has given up trying to explain to these people why they are idiots.

Is it possible to order a martini made to your specifications and not be doing it in a snooty way?

Cosmo. It's so done.

I am obviously a martini-idiot. Guess that explains why I have had maybe one in my lifetime.