John Cleese Says Bond Films Sacrificed Their Humor To Please Asian Audiences
John Cleese has been in film for a long time, and he has made a statement about the lack of humor in recent Bond films. Always an actor to hire if you want a touch of British humor, he earned his fame with the British equivalent of National Lampoon, Monty Python.
Having been cast as Q in the last two Pierce Brosnan headliners in the series, Cleese told the press that the decision to reboot the franchise with Daniel Craig at the helm and remove the humor was to appease Asian audiences.
A few films after its inception, the character of James Bond was known for his witty and often sexually charged one-liners. While some actors fit the role better than others, they all had their chance to make us laugh with their shenanigans and one-liners.
Q… and A: John Cleese tells us why he stopped being in the James Bond films… http://t.co/IwZ8UNc3lS pic.twitter.com/83SGiBgEIi
— Radio Times (@RadioTimes) June 24, 2014
Monty Python veteran Cleese may get tagged as a racist for his statement, though it was recently revealed that Michael Bay’s latest Summer blockbuster Transformers: Age of Extinction was forced to undergo a cut to remove certain buildings for similar reasons. Allegedly the owners of those buildings were Asian businessmen who felt the appearance of those buildings in the movie might lower their profits.
John Cleese detailed his reasons for the claim:
“The big money was coming from Asia, from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, where the audiences go to watch the action sequences, and that’s why in my opinion the action sequences go on for too long, and it’s a fundamental flaw. The audiences in Asia are not going for the subtle British humor or the class jokes.”
According to Cleese’s logic, the majority of profits from the Bond films were coming from the Asian audiences, and the box office even supports the theory. Daniel Craig’s take on James Bond earned more money than any of the earlier efforts, even the ones with Pierce Brosnan.
Do you think the Bond films lost their humor because of Asian audiences? Is Monty Python veteran John Cleese a racist for allegedly claiming a stereotype that Asians are humorless?
[image via Graham Prentice / Shutterstock.com]
