The aspect of James Bond that John Cleese called a “fundamental flaw”
When it comes to John Cleese, the first thing that immediately springs to mind is his work for the British comedy troupe Monty Python and the films The Holy Grail and Life of Brian. Aside from the Pythons, though, Cleese has also provided many contributions to the world of entertainment.
For starters, he co-wrote the classic British sitcom Fawlty Towers and the 1988 heist black comedy A Fish Called Wanda, for which Cleese won an Academy Award. Beyond all that, though, Cleese had even once had a hand with one of the most famous film franchises of all time, James Bond.
Sure, Cleese is not the first person we think of when bringing 007 to mind, but in 1999, he took over from Desmond Llewelyn in the role of Bond’s Quartermaster. Llewelyn had played Q in 17 Bond films, meaning that he still holds the record for the most appearances in the longstanding spy film franchise.
When 1999’s The World Is Not Enough came around, Cleese took over from Llewelyn to play Bond’s new Quartermaster. Interestingly, though, he did not go by the name Q as his predecessor did, at least not initially. Pierce Brosnan’s Bond makes the joke that if Llewelyn was Q, that shouldn’t that make Cleese’s character R, with Cleese indeed being credited as R in the film.
The World Is Not Enough was Brosnan’s third Bond movie, and his next, 2002’s Die Another Day, would be his last. It was also the second and final time that Cleese would appear as 007’s Quartermaster, by which point he had assumed the character’s correct name of Q. By the time Cleese had finished his two Bond movies, he felt that they were missing something, or at least that they had been misguided in their approach.
Cleese had once admitted that the Bond movies of the late 1990s and early 2000s had tried to appeal to a broader audience and had largely departed from the kind of British humour that the film franchise had become known for. “I believe that they decided that the tone they needed was that of the Bourne action movies, which are very gritty and humourless,” Cleese had told The Radio Times.
He added, “Also, the big money was coming from Asia, from the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, where the audiences go to watch the action sequences.” According to Cleese, the action sequences of Die Another Day and The World Is Not Enough go on for too long, which he considers a “fundamental flaw”.
If it’s true that the producers of Bond were trying to appeal to a wider audience, then it’s fair to say that they might not have retained Bond’s British humour at the top of the list of priorities. What would have been more important was to make exciting films that could be understood on a universal level, free from “the subtle British humour or the class jokes,” as Cleese put it.
Cleese was naturally a bit of comic relief as Q in his two Bond movies, and when Daniel Craig’s first Bond movie, Casino Royale, rolled around, the Monty Python star saw his character cut for the even grittier 007 tales. Ben Wishaw would eventually come back into the role in Skyfall, leaving Cleese to reflect on his campy Q efforts for the following years.
