Cellars of IMDb: Clive Owen Is Too Cool to Be Bond
Last week we were discussing the movies in the works for the actor Willem Dafoe. He's getting his wish: a variety of interesting roles in a far-ranging assortment of movies helmed by a number of strong directors. Clive Owen will be appearing in Spike Lee's Inside Man, albeit in a much larger role. Owen has an equally successful-looking near-future, but for him success is a little different. He too is ever on the lookout for diverse and interesting projects, but Owen also has marked interest in growing his stock in Hollywood and being a big time movie star. But heck, who wouldn't want to do that? Also in the pipeline for Owen are starring roles in the British costume drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a sci-fi movie called The Children of Men, based on the P.D. James novel, and an action film currently known as Shoot 'Em Up. The latter's plot description on IMDb reads as follows: " A man named Mr. Smith (Owen) delivers a woman's baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen," and according to Canada.com the film will have shootouts during sex scenes and freefall. I for one think that this is not a movie to be missed.

Of course the excitement surrounding these movies barely recognizable when compared to the anticipation for Owen's fifth film scheduled to appear later in 2006.



Sin City 2. Going by IMDb's information it certainly looks like Owen's character Dwight McCarthy will be playing a major role in this movie as well, perhaps even a greater one.

Of course, if five starring roles isn't enough he also has his cameo in the Pink Panther as consolation. It's certainly a good year to be Clive Owen, am I right? Well yes and no. True he's got a ton of exciting-looking stuff in the works and certainly seems to be a bona fide star. Yet there's one thing he isn't: Bond. James Bond.

For a while he was considered the frontrunner in the race to replace Pierce Brosnan for Casino Royale (scheduled for release this year). He was not the first to gain that status, nor was he the last. Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell,
Julian McMahon, and his Fantastic Four costar Ioan Gruffudd. None of them ended up with the role. Among the others considered were Henry Cavill and Gerard Butler of The Phantom of the Opera and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. In the end it was instead Lara Croft's love interest from the first Tomb Raider movie who won the role.

If you recognize the name Daniel Craig from anything other than Casino Royale, it's most likely the arthouse action flick Layer Cake, directed by Guy Ritchie's producer, Matthew Vaughn. He's also appeared recently in Stephen Spielberg's Oscar-nominated Munich.* Craig will be the first blond Bond ever, while across the Internet, the Owen faithful are still complaining. If you ever seen the man in anything, you're immediately struck with the realization that this man was born to play James Bond. It's still not certain whether he turned it down or if he was even in serious consideration. What we do know is that Owen played a Bond-esque character called 006 in The Pink Panther, and it's safe to say that no one left that movie thinking Owen wouldn't have made a top-notch Bond. Perhaps he was afraid of getting trapped into the role and typecast, perhaps Casino Royale's producers were incredible idiots, or maybe, just maybe, Daniel Craig really is a better Bond. We'll see in less than a year.

Getting away from the whole Bond fandango for a bit, let's see just how our dear Clive Owen managed to reach his lofty spot on Hollywood's A-list. Born in 1964 in Coventry England, Owen was involved in theatre at an early age and stuck with it into the late eighties when he started get involved in film and television projects. His first big break came when he landed the lead on the hit television show Chancer.



He only stayed with it for two years before quitting on account of the pressures fame and the fear of type-casting. To further combat the great type-casting peril Owen took on the role of Richard in Close My Eyes, a young man who has an affair with his sister.



Perhaps he was trying a little too hard though. Owen didn't work for two years after that, largely because of the negative public reactions to the film and his character (quite a shift from the endearing scamp he played on Chancer).



After Close My Eyes Owen did mostly stage and television work for awhile, but didn't seem to learn his lesson as he returned to controversial sexual issues with his performance as a homosexual interred in a concentration camp 1997's Bent.



It paid off this time though. Owen's next appearance would be the following year in the American film Croupier.



Finally American audiences were getting a chance to see the sizzling new sex symbol for the themselves. Still, Croupier was no box office smash, and Owen once again turned to television, though this time it would in America. First there was Second Sight, a miniseries starring Owen as detective going slowly blind that was successful enough to spawn a number of followups, Owen reprising his role in each.

Next stop was a serious of glorified car commercials. But oh how glorious they were.



In The Hire Owen plays a mysterious but super cool chauffeur (who just happens to drive a BMW) who always seem to get involved in the nastiest in the scrapes. Luckily, thanks to his super cool BMW, the driver usually manages to wrap up the trouble in about six minutes of screen time.



What makes these ads so unique is equal parts Clive Owen and direction. It isn't just some hack churning out these things. There is major talent behind the lens, with John Woo, Tony Scott, Guy Ritchie, and John Frankenheimer among the men who have helmed The Hire commercials. The Hire also features an excellent array of supporting players. Such notables as Mickey Rourke and Madonna make appearance, but the highlight is Gary Oldman as the devil. The exposure brought him by The Hire brought Owen a number of more prestigious roles, including notable appearances Robert Altman's Oscar-nominated period piece Gosford Park and The Bourne Identity.



Over the last few years Owen has a number of starring roles, but so far all have been unsuccessful at the box office. His major supporting roles, however, have been more noteworthy. The aforementioned Sin City was a bona fide smash, and Closer, while particularly commercially successful, won rave reviews, especially Owen, who had been in the earlier stage production, albeit in the role that would be filled by Jude Law in the film version. Well he's got leading roles coming up, and the movies themselves (well some of them) look unimpeachable. This is the year we'll see what Clive Owen's really made of.





And remember the guiding light, lest we forget the glory that be Lemon Party.
Because your blog sucks.

*Which was the best picture of 2005 by miles. In fact I can honestly say it's the best picture of the admittedly brief) millennium. Seriously, see it. I'm sure a lot of the impact is lost in the smaller screen, but I don't think you're going to find it theaters anymore. Anyone who doesn't think this movie deserved the Oscar either didn't see it or was too caught up in the homosexuality controversy or too pugnacious and myopic about the Middle East. The film is surprisingly neutral, deeply moving, and almost without flaws. See this movie.
- posted by Odovaucer @ 11:59 PM