Imagine it's late in the year of 1993 and Renny Harlin has come off back to back blockbusters hits with "Die Hard 2" and "Cliffhanger." He of course has his pick of films, and would go on to pass up on directing Keanu Reeves in a little known movie called, "Speed." Which I haven't seen, but I believe is about Richard Pryor's drug addiction.
But at some point during this period he was also offered the job to helm "Goldeneye." Now we know that film was finally made in 1995 after a six year hiatus. It was the first one to introduce Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. It also broke new ground by putting Judi Dench in the role of M, becoming the first female to take on the head of the MI6.
So, originally Dalton was to come back for the 17th Bond film, but disputes between the Broccoli family and MGM over the direction of the franchise put the film to a halt. "Goldeneye" was written with Dalton in mind, and the script was shopped around to directors like Renny Harlin.
During a Q&A session in June he goes into details about why he passed on the project at the time.
"Actually, to be honest, what happened at that point was I was interested in doing the Bond movie, but there was an actor in it that I didn't believe in. And I'm not going to say that his name is Timothy Dalton. I just didn't think that he made a good Bond."
"I said that you had to recast and come up with a new actor for it. And they refused and said 'he's great', and I was like 'he is not James Bond'. So that was why I walked away from that job."
Now, Timothy takes quite a lot of flack from Bond fans, but most of them aren't familiar with the books. Ian Flemings version of Bond is much more accurately portrayed in Timothy Dalton's take on the role. Most fans just weren't accustomed to a Bond that was much more serious. He seemed to emotionally suffer with each kill, and drank to forget his pains, and not to have a jolly good time. I just don't think the audience at that time was ready for a Bond that felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Even the villains were much more grounded in reality, and he wasn't going up against over-the-top evil doers like Roger Moore faced in such Bond films as "Moonraker."
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