Rumor: Michael Sheen in Talks to Appear as Blofeld in Bond 23

[GreenScar]

So it's most likely false but it's all over the place. Should they bring in some of the old villains in the new Bond film?

Classic James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld was supposedly killed in For Your Eyes Only. Or, at least, we last saw him plunging to what would be a demise for most people. But this is Bond, so nothing is writ in stone (as evidenced by the fact that Blofeld later appeared in the non-canonical Never Say Never Again). Now, The Guardian says that actor Michael Sheen is in talks to appear in the next Bond film as Blofeld. No great surprise that Sheen might appear in the film, as Peter Morgan was just hired to co-write. Sheen and Morgan have worked together several times in the past: in Frost/Nixon, The Queen and The Damned United. If he’s going to appear in this Bond film, why not use the chance to bring back Blofeld, one of the most classic screen villains?

Ernst Stavro Blofeld is the head of SPECTRE, the organization against which Bond frequently found himself aligned. He first appeared in the novel Thunderball, then in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. On screen, there was a time when you wouldn’t actually see his face; only his hand stroking a white cat would be shown. (Yeah, Blofeld is the target of Mike Myer’s Dr. Evil parody in the Austin Powers films.) Once he was fully revealed, several actors have incarnated Blofeld, notably Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray, Max von Sydow and my favorite: Telly Savalas. (I’m the guy who likes the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.)

If Blofeld returns, does that mean we’ll find that Quantum, the underground organization seen in the two Daniel Craig Bond films, will be revealed to be a subset or new aspect of SPECTRE? And would we see the established bald, scarred version of the character, or some different interpretation? Regardless, Sheen would be an excellent fit for the next Bond villain regardless of role, and I’m not concerned enough with the rules of Bond canon to be anything other than excited for the return of Blofeld.

EDIT: It’s actually The Daily Express that originated this story, not The Guardian, so the lowdown is that it is likely bullshit. Very few truthful casting rumors ever come out of the British tabloid papers, so mark this one as fantasy until further notice.

[SonOfArathorn]

Wow.... Feels like I predicted this not so long ago in a thread called "The future of Bond?"

Totally could see Quantum being the next gen of SPECTRE.

Also if this is a reboot for the franchise then Blofeld wouldn't be dead in the Daniel Craig Bond mythos.

I'm all for it if it can be done right, as we had talked about in that thread they need to make Blofeld a real incarnation of evil, need to make him seem like an actual threat to the world. I never got that from some of the older movies, Thunderball and FRWL for sure, but maybe it was because they never showed his face and there was more menace as a result, faceless man doing evil things and so on... Even if it's just a rumor it's still got me excited.

Fantasy it may be... but someone is thinking in the right frame of mind

[BTobin]

mehhhhh I don't know about this, Michael Sheen was awesome in Peter Morgan's other stuff, but Bloefeld? I don't know....he's kind of a throwaway villain like Luther or the Joker...but so far the Joker is the only one of the three that's been remade successfully

[SonOfArathorn]

Yeah maybe in the movies he was "a throw away villain" and even then I'd have to dispute that and ask if you'd even seen all the ones he appeared in... But in the books he was most definitely not

[BTobin]

I believe I have seen all the ones with Bloefeld, the only ones I have seen are the Sean Connery Ones, Casino Royale (the non Peter Sellers one), and some of the Roger Moore ones, can't stand Pierce Brosnan...I liked Bloefeld in some of the movies like Diamonds are Forever, the very first one with him in it (the title escapes me), and You Only Live Twice but at the end of the day he is still a bald man with a white cat...I mean villains like Scaramanga, Jaws, and those two assassins from Diamonds are Forever were really cool...using Bloefeld feels like a Superman Returns type move...Luther especially has never worked for me as a villain, I know he's famous, but he's not very exciting, and I felt that way about the Joker until The Dark Knight and Batman (1989)...(and I am a big Batman fan)...I mean they've come up with some interesting new villains in the past few years and Bloefeld seems like a step backwards