New “007” wanted? Daniel Craig proves critics wrong!

The online opinion portal demandi conducted a huge ‘James Bond survey’ in which more than 1.000 “007” fans were asked, between Nov. 2006 and Feb. 2007, to voice their opinions about various aspects of the legendary Bond films.

Participants were asked amongst other things about their favourite Bond film and to comment on the choice of Daniel Craig as the next James Bond. In addition, they were asked to voice their opinion about the new film “Casino Royale” and also about other controversially discussed film topics eg. product placement.

[article] demandi, march 2007

Favourite Bond
When asked about their favourite Bond of all times it comes of no great surprise that Sir Sean Connery was voted by almost 50% of all participants to be the undisputable personification of 007 agent James Bond. More surprisingly, especially considering the huge amount of critique regarding the new Bond, was the participants’ choice of Daniel Craig to be their 2nd favourite Bond actor (18%). Pierce Brosnan came in 3rd place with 14.2% closely followed by Sir Roger Moore who was voted for by 10.9 % of participants.

Best bond film
It appears to have been more difficult to decide which Bond film was the best ever, however “Goldfinger” (31.4%) and “From Russia with Love” (22.4%) were clear favourites.
According to participants “The Man with the Golden Gun” was the worst Bond film ever made and was favoured by a mere 4.2%. Regarding the latest film “Casino Royale”, over 94% of participants who had already seen the film considered it to be “good” or even “excellent”.

Daniel Craig and alternatives
Despite the general scepticism seen prior to “Casino Royale” being launched at the end of last year, Daniel Craig would have been the first choice of the majority of those taking part (32.4%). There was however quite a significant number of participants who thought Clive Owen to be an acceptable alternative for the role of the new 007 (24.3%).

Books and music
The character and world of James Bond originated in the Novels written by Ian Fleming from 1953-1966. Despite a great many Bond films being based on the novels, an astonishing 45% have never read any of Flemings’ books.
Regarding the legendary soundtracks which are almost as popular as the films themselves participants had three clear favourites: “Goldfinger” from Shirley Bassey (32.9%), “Live and Let Die” from Paul McCartney & Wings and the “James Bond Theme (Dr. No) from the Monty Norman Orchestra.

Villains and Bond girls
One of the most important aspects of the films proved to be not only the action (68.3%), or the British elegance and tradition (31.3%) but also Bond’s infamous adversaries (28.6%). Out of the long list of Bond villains, it was a close call between Ernst Stavro Blofeld (50%) and Auric Goldfinger (43.5%). Regarding favourite Bond Girls there was of course one clear winner – Ursula Andress as Honey in “Dr. No”.