Quote:
Originally Posted by
NoMoreMrNiceGaius 
Moore could put the squeeze on girls too though. Remember him nearly breaking Maude Adams' arm in Man With The Golden Gun, and nearly killing Rosie Carver when he realized she was a double agent in Live and Let Die? He softened up a bit after his first two films but he was still kind of a bastard early on.
Of course, and Moore turned out not to be very convincing in those scenes hence why he had very few of those moments and they never happened beyond film #2. I think Mankiewicz said it best when talking about writing for the two actors and the differences between Connery and Moore.
http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1101Quote:
What was the difference, for you, between Connery’s Bond and Roger Moore?
As a writer, I always said the difference between Sean and Roger is that Sean used to throw away the throw away lines. And Roger, because of his RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts] upbringing played them, so I wrote dialogue for Roger to really play those quips. The difference is you can put Sean at a nightclub table with a beautiful girl opposite him, and he could just as easily lean across the table and kiss her or use his steak knife under the table stick it in her gut, and then say, “Excuse me, waiter. I have nothing to eat my meat with.” The audience will accept him doing either one. Roger can kiss the girl but if he tries the knife thing, he would look nasty. Roger looks like a nice guy; Sean can look like a bastard. Meaning, there’s a twinkle of violence in his Sean’s eye, that just isn’t there isn’t there in Roger’s.
In The Man With The Golden Gun, Moore as Bond does rough up a women. Do you think it wasn’t that successful for the reasons you described?
Yeah, that’s right. First of all, they were trying to make Roger more physical. In the beginning of Live And Let Die - and Roger’s just a wonderful, wonderful man and has become a great friend - the first scene we filmed was him running for the double-decker bus that eventually gets shaved off during his car chase. Guy Hamilton said, “When we start, Roger, you run for the bus and hop on.” Roger said, “There’s something you oughta know about me Guy; I can’t run.” Guy said, “Can’t run?” Roger said, “I look like a twit when I run. I have such long legs. Watch”. And he ran and he looked like Bambi. So, you had to adjust. Guy said, “Right then. Roger, walk briskly towards the bus and get on.” You know, of course, every actor has his strengths and weaknesses.
Do you think that the character of Bond in Diamonds Are Forever is consistent with his character in Live And Let Die?
No. Roger’s character in Live And Let Die is a much more urbane Bond. I played to his strength. For instance, one of my favourite lines in there occurs when he’s taking the little old lady for the flying lesson and, because they’re being chased, they fly around (in the plane) half-destroying the airport. The little old lady is so frightened by the end of the chase that she nearly passes out. He looks at her and says, “Same time tomorrow Mrs Bell?” Now, Sean wouldn’t have played that well, I would have found another line for him. But Roger had this urbane kind of cheeriness about him that you can do that. It’s just an instinct, you know who you’re writing for.
You've said that Connery had an uneasy relationship with the part. How did Moore feel about playing Bond? He seemed more comfortable with it, a little more at ease.
I think Roger is very comfortable in his own skin, he really is, and I think that shows. So when you give him a part to play that suits him, he is just awfully good at it. He’s a real pro. That’s a wonderful quality for an actor to possess. Especially when you know you’re playing something that you are absolutely right for. If you cast Roger as a crazed killer because you thought, “Boy, this is gonna be great because you’re casting Roger against type,” I think you’d probably be disappointed. I don’t know if Roger plays that very well; I suspect he’d be uncomfortable playing so dark a character.
