Why Timothy Dalton Is Secretly The Best James Bond

The Living Daylights
MGM

In order to understand why Dalton's version of James Bond worked so well, you have to understand how he prepared for the role. Once he landed the part, he immersed himself in the work of Ian Fleming, hoping to find the spark that would make his 007 the most realistic, accurate and multi-layered.

A classically-trained actor with a love for challenging character work (he had worked on Dickens' adaptations, and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company), he knew that the best way to bring a new Bond to the screen was by going back to the source material and attempting to do it justice.

In his preparation, he found that Bond was much more than a suave playboy with gadgets and a slick wardrobe; he was also a tortured spy and assassin at odds with his job, his past, and burdened by his vices - most notably drinking, a mechanism he uses to combat his disillusionment.

Dalton knew what he had to do to make Bond work for a new era of movies, but he knew he was in a tight spot, too, once stating about the franchise in the 80s:

"The prevailing wisdom at the time – which I would say I shared – was that the series, whilst very entertaining, had become rather spoof-like. It was one-liners and raised eyebrows and it had become, let’s say, too lighthearted. And the producer, Mr. Broccoli, felt that, and he wanted to try and bring it back to something more like its original roots."

Dalton knew his gritty and vulnerable take on Bond would likely alienate fans of the Moore era, but he also knew exactly where he stood with the character and the direction both he and Albert Broccoli wanted to take the franchise.

When it came time for audiences to feast their eyes on what he had in store in The Living Daylights, then, Dalton had to prove just how committed he was to the role, and his vision.

Cont.

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