People Have The Power

News coming over the transom that EON Productions have scrapped the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, in the early days of production in the face of the growing protest movement against their choice of Daniel (Layer Cake) Craig as the new 007 (the protest organizers were calling for a worldwide boycott of the film) is at once a huge relief (I mean, come on - a blond Bond?) and heartening, in the sense that it reaffirms a simple truth - people can, and do, make a difference.

It's hard to believe that a modest little on-line petition can expand, like a strong breeze on a brushfire, into a firestorm that can bring a film studio as big as Sony to its knees, but there it is. News over the weekend that Craig had two of his teeth punched out in a fight scene on set wound up being a harbinger of today's punching out of his career.

Let this be a lesson to arrogant film producers looking to cut corners by making idiosyncratic casting choices for beloved film franchises... 40-year-old men do not buy diecast Aston Martin models with little blond guys behind the steering wheel.

Now that the film has ceased production for now, this gives Albert R. Broccoli a chance to try and woo Brosnan back (if he'll have him) or maybe go back to their hopes for either Clive Owen (the most Connery-like choice) or Jude Law (a more Roger Moorian option). I mean, they wouldn't want to waste those no doubt spectacular Ken Adam sets they must have in place.

I guess the people at CraigNotBond.com are too busy celebrating their totally unexpected victory over Goliath to update their website, but I look forward to see whether they will be modest in their triumph, giving proper credit to the people who made it possible, or more Blofeld-like, stroking the metaphorical white cat and trying to parlay this win into acquiring Polaris missiles.