Harry here with yet more news of casting about BOND 19, this from London, I have absolutely no comment on this since I have no idea of who the guy they are talking about is. I just hope he's not another brainless thug that we know Bond will be able to beat easily. I'm tired of villians that you just KNOW Bond will kill in a slightly comedic way. Oh well, So here ya go...
I suppose you have got this from lots of your British readers, but this is from The Sunday Times of 13th December 1998:
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Goldwinger! Jonah Lomu, the New Zealand rugby player who single handedly destroyed the England team, has been offered the job of cutting James Bond down to size.
Film makers want him to reprise the role of Oddjob in a new 007 movie to be filmed next year. Lomu, 23, nicknamed "The Man Mountain", visited Pinewood studios in Buckinghamshire last week for a meeting with the producers and director of the movie, which starts shooting next month.
Oddjob was the fanatically loyal, muscle-bound Korean manservant to Goldfinger in the 1964 film starring Sean Connery as Bond. His most dangerous weapon was not a badly served vodka martini but a steel-rimmed bowler hat which he threw like a Frisbee.
The film makers have still to decide on the name of the character in the new movie, The World Is Not Enough, but it is likely that Pierce Brosnan, the Irish actor who now plays Bond, will be faced with an Oddjob-style adversary.
Lomu, who stands 6ft 5in and weighs 18st, more than matches the physical attributes required, although a newspaper suggested John Prescott for the role when it was revealed that one storyline involves a plot to blow up the Millennium Dome ( * - John Prescott, by the way, is the deputy to the Prime Minister Tony Blair, and opposes the building of the Dome! - * )
"The producers and directors loved him and think he is great and would love him to be in the film. His role would be as a body guard, a baddy - he would have to be, being his size", said Amanda Schofield, publicity manager for Eon Productions, which will release the film next November.
Phil Kingsley-Jones, the winger's manager, said in Auckland that Lomu was interested in the role but could not agree to a film deal before consulting the New Zealand Rugby Union. He would first have to join the British actor's union to get an Equity card.
He added, "Jonah is a big James Bond fan and it is very exciting news. But nothing has been decided. Jonah's main goal is to play for the All Blacks in next years World Cup and nothing comes before that." In the past Lomu has portrayed himself as a big softie, saying he is more afraid of his mother than anyone else. He keeps a cuddly bunny and bear in his car.
Sophie Marceau, 31, the actress votes France's sexiest woman by Paris Match, and Denise Richards, 26, who featured in Starship Trooper and Wild Things, have both been signed up for the film. Locations include Turkey and France.
Harold Sakata, the Hawaii-born Olympic silver medallist who played Oddjob in Goldfinger, went on to a successful wrestling career in Britain as the Great Togo. He died of cancer in 1982.
In the film Bond used the bowler hat as a means to electrocute his opponent. The bowler was sold for 61,750 pounds at an auction in London in September.
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Hope this is of interest. If you use this, can you call me Windmill?
