Heartthrobs: November 2006 Archives

Well, isn't this just a dandy little morsel of information just making its way around cyberspace? According to the site Contactmusic, the hunky Daniel Craig is urging movie bosses to modernize the James Bond series by including gay scenes involving the superspy.

"Why not? I think in this day and age, fans would have accepted it," Craig reportedly says. "I mean, look at (British TV series) Doctor Who - that has had gay scenes in it and no one blinks an eye."

Hmmmmmmm. Do I think this is a good idea? HECK YEAH!

Anyway, the blond Bond, who debuted worldwide last week in "Casino Royale," has also reportedly made it clear that he has no inhibition about doing film a full frontal nude scene to please both his male and female admirers.

OK, I think I'm gonna faint now.

Being ridiculously behind in my movie-going, I'm now gaining some megaplex momentum after seeing "Dreamgirls" on Wednesday then a Daniel Craig double-header this weekend: the Truman Capote drama "Infamous," and the new James Bond movie everyone is buzzing about: "Casino Royale."
As Bond, Craig has tremendous screen presence and charisma with blue eyes that say so much. He's also the hunkiest and most physical Bond ever which is obviously very appealing. While the publicity shots of him walking out of the ocean looking like an Adonis initially had me smitten as any regular reader of "Out in Hollywood" well knows, it ends up just being icing on the cake.
This is the most character-driven of any Bond film iis also a mostly fast-paced (although about 20 minutes too long with a 2.5 hours running time) thriller that has spectacular chase scenes (including a real doozy on foot), plenty of twists and turns, and endless action. I don't want to spoil for you but trust me, it is non-stop and more realistic than previous Bond films. When he kills someone, it is not pretty. This movie is not played out like a cartoon. As for the romance, Craig has his match in the lovely Eva Green who I would not be able to classify as a Bond girl. She is a woman, her own woman. These are two actors who have depth and know their craft but are also oh-so sexy. The nuances, the eyes, the chemistry, the repartee. It's all there. And you add Judi Dench to the mix and give her more to do as M. than in any of her previous Bond movies, and "Casino Royale" is a wonderful winning hand.
Sean Connery will always be the definitive 007 for most Bond fans but Craig and the filmmakers I think accomplish something remarkable: they literally re-start a franchise that can be better than ever moving forward. It feels brand-new again! "Casino Royale" is on track to cross the $100 million mark in domestic grosses this weekend and is making a killing overseas.
Since I had seen, and liked, last year's "Capote" which won Phillip Seymour Hoffman an Academy Award for best actor, "Infamous" didn't feel so brand-new to me. But that didn't mean it wasn't every bit as good as the oither movie because it is in many ways.
Craig plays one of the men who brutally murdered a Kansas farm family in “Infamous,� which examines Truman
Capote’s emotional journey into the minds of two killers that formed the core of his true-crime novel, “In Cold Blood.� An attachment grew between Capote (Toby Jones) and confessed killer Perry Smith during the long periods the author spent in Kansas teasing out their story. In a pivotal moment, the two men kiss.
Craig is nothing like Bond in this movie (obviously) but the contrast allows you to see what a versatile and mesmerizing actor he is. As Perry, he's scary and angry yet tender and vulnerable and the performance allows a cold-blooded killer seem human. "Infamous" helped me to understand the night of the killings better than "Capote" did. I think Jones is physically more like the real Capote and certainly has the voice down, but Hoffman was better at conveying how much researching the book was destroying him. Sandra Bullock was every bit as good as Catherine Keener in the Harper Lee role. This movie is definitely a must-see when it comes out on DVD and I hope it isn't forgotten at Oscar time.
My friend Eddie and I took in "Infamous" at the Recency Fairfax theater on Friday afternoon where every seat is $3. Can't beat the price! But who you sit near, that is the wild card. After the lights dimmed and previews began, a loud lesbian couple plopped down in the seats directly in back of us. The two squeakiest seats in the place and they took about the first 20 minutes of the movie to finally settle in. Squeak! Squeak! But that was preferable to the sound of one of them munching on her popcorn. You woulda thought she was chomping on dry Cap'n Crunch! I almost turned around and said, "Did you order the EXTRA CRUNCHY popcorn?" Then one gets a cell phone call. She answers (of course). When she returns from taking the call, the other one explains (and not in her whisper voice) what she had missed. I wanted to move but a jet-lagged Eddie had fallen asleep. So, I turned around every few minutes to give every dirty look I have in my collection. As we were walking out, Eddie casually says to me, "Hey, did you notice those two were kind of loud?" I look at him incredulously: "Gee, ya think?"

Fast-forward to The Abbey about an hour and one margarita later and I am back to my shallow self.. No more grumbling about the loud lesbians in the $3 movie theater, just guy talk: "So isn't Daniel Craig hot even as a cold-blooded murderer?"

The character may be hopelessly heterosexual, but I can drool, can't I? So today is the day the newest James Bond flick, "Casino Royale," debuts in more than 3,400 theaters natrionwide. I, of course, am most looking forward to seeing sexy Daniel Craig make his debut in the role previously played by Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, George Lazerby, and most famously, by Sean Connery. There is a lot of buzz that Craig could be the best Bond since Connery, the man to whom all other Bonds must be compared.
The reviews have been tremendous including a positive one (***) in today's edition of my favorite newspaper, the Los Angeles Daily News. Click HERE to read it. I also wrote a piece, "Licensed to Thrill" about the Bond business empire and how, after more than 40 years of movies, it has remained strong with new generations lured by the charms of Agent 007.
Craig has already signed on to do the next Bond film as well due out in fall 2008!
The British newspaper, The Guardian, has published a story on the smoking sex appeal of Craig as Bond and the ridiculously hot scene of the buff secret agent emerging from the ocean.

Here it an excerpt printed in today's Towleroad site:
"...Craig has made himself iconic in the most familiar way. He is simply demonically sexy. The frame of the movie where he emerges from the sea in those clinging trunks is so scorchingly hot I feel embarrassed watching it, even when alone. It has been used as the key piece of pre-publicity on the movie, and with good reason. Good film directors recognise gold dust when they see it. This is the kind of image that even straight men can't peel their eyes from...The traditional term for all this is 'homo-erotica'. But that's not quite right here. Craig in his swimming trunks has cemented the emergence of a new type of adoration of the male form. This is hetero-erotic, too."

I think the world of George Clooney but the Out in Hollywood choice for "Sexiest Man Alive 2006" is...DANIEL CRAIG! Runner-up: Daniel Craig. First runner-up, Dan....(you get the picture).

This became all the more apparent to me during an overpriced sushi dinner in West Hollywood Saturday night. My friends Ted and Michael and I talked about politics, our loves lives, our holiday plans and...James Bond! We all agreed that Daniel Craig could be the sexiest Agent 007 ever and that's without even seeing the movie yet! We thought Pierce Brosnan was as handsome as they come but Craig seems kinda dangerous, kinda wild, filled with secrets. Plus, he's got those blue eyes and that body...wow! These pictures say it all.

And so, I begin a "Casino Royale" countdown: THREE days until these pictures come to life at a theater near you.

I'm a big fan of "Lost" but if it has to go off the air for a few months, I think I might be quite happy to get into its timeslot replacement: "Day Break." The premise, a detective who keeps living the same day over and over again, sounds intriguing but hey, let's get real: the star is the talented Taye Diggs, one of THE best looking men currently walking the Earth.
It was a shame that his "Kevin Hill" series a few seasons back didn't make it because not only was it a terrific show, it also showed Taye's comedy skills as he played an unprepared single father of an infant juggling parental duties with his job as an attorney. I also liked that he hired a gay male nanny!

Taye, married in real life to Tony-winner Idina Menzel ("Wicked") has never been afraid to play gay on the screen. In the past few years alone, he reprised his Broadway role as Benny the evil landlord for the movie version of "Rent" and he also played Will Truman's boyfriend for a five episodes on "Will & Grace" even sharing a kiss with Will at one point.
Diggs, 34, burst onto the scene in the mid-90s as Angela Bassett's young lover in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" but he has not depended on the sex symbol thing for work. He's got a musical theater degree from Syracuse University and extensive stage and screen credits in several genres.
So, get lost "Lost," and bring on Taye!