THE BIG PICTURE
A View to a Kill is one of the silliest entries in the Bond franchise due to its absurd plot and villain, Max Zorin. Christopher Walken’s campy performance as Zorin gives the film a “so bad it’s good” charm.
David Bowie was offered the role of Max Zorin, but ultimately dropped out of the production.
The critical failure of A View to a Kill led to a darker tone in subsequent Bond films, including The Living Daylights .
Of all the actors who have played James Bond, Roger Moore’s tenure as the character is one of the most interesting. Although his debut in 1973’s Live and Let Die suggested that Moore could take the franchise in an inventive, original direction, his subsequent films grew increasingly silly and unfocused. Bond managed to go to space in Moonraker, skate down a mountain in For Your Eyes Only, and dress up as a clown in Octopussy.
By the time that Moore made his last appearance as 007 in A View to a Kill, the film felt closer to a Zucker brothers parody than an actual Bond entry. Often regarded as one of the worst entries in the entire series, A View to a Kill nearly featured David Bowie as the main villain.
Who Is Max Zorin in ‘A View to a Kill’?
While the majority of Ian Fleming’s original Bond novels had already been adapted by the end of Moore’s run as the character, A View to a Kill is based on a short story from the 007 anthology novel For Your Eyes Only.
After a secret mission to Siberia during the film’s pre-title action sequence, Bond is assigned to investigate the ruthless government contractor Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), who has amassed a series of powerful weapons in his private blimp. Zorin is a crazed industrialist who was created through a Nazi scientific experiment.
Aiming to cripple the American economy, Zorin wants to destroy Silicon Valley so that he can monopolize the financial market with his microchip inventions.
Although the series has its fair share of memorable antagonists, Zorin is by far the silliest villain in the entire Bond franchise. The notion of a genetically enhanced genius with a personal vendetta against American investors feels plucked right out of a camp classic, and reflects how significantly the Bond franchise had strayed from its original source material.
While they had their elements of superficiality, Fleming’s original novels had attempted to depict a fairly realistic version of espionage that reflected the real tensions between the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Zorin, with his elaborate evil schemes and strange technology, felt like a parody of Fleming’s original work.
A trio of writers, a novel, and two feature films were at the center of this ordeal that lasted for half a century.
Although the film itself is one of the least rewatchable entries in the series, Walken’s amazing performance makes A View To A Kill more entertaining. Instead of trying to take the character seriously, Walken leaned into the campiness of the material, bringing the signature idiosyncrasies that he had perfected through his Saturday Night Live performances.
While the franchise would go on to create memorable antagonists like GoldenEye’s Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) and Skyfall’s Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) who have deep-seated motivations for their violent actions, there’s no underlying complexity to Zorin. He’s one of the rare villains who simply enjoys being evil, and Walken’s comic charm succeeded in helping the film become a “so bad it’s good” classic.
Why David Bowie Didn’t Want To Play a Bond Villai
Although casting an actor of Walken’s magnitude proved to be a masterstroke, the role of Zorin was originally intended for Bowie. While he was best known for his outstanding career as a musician, Bowie was a burgeoning actor who showed he could shed his stage persona and play memorable characters in genre films.
While many famous musicians seek cameo roles in order to increase their popularity, Bowie’s sensitive performance in the war classic Merry Christmas, Mister Lawrence suggested that he harbored greater ambitions for his film roles.
The role of the main antagonist in one of the most popular franchises of all-time certainly would’ve exposed his acting talents to a wider audience.
It also would’ve given audiences a reason to take interest in the franchise once more after the underwhelming critical reception to Octopussy.
Having just completed a recent worldwide tour, Bowie’s schedule was free during the summer of 1984, which saw the production of A View to a Kill.
Despite his initial enthusiasm about the project, Bowie dropped out of the production, with the quip that he “didn’t want to spend five months watching my stunt double fall off cliffs.”
‘A View to a Kill’ Changed the Bond Franchise Forever
Despite the entertainment value that Walken had brought to the role of Zorin, A View to a Kill was a critical disappointment that raised serious concerns about the future of the Bond franchise.
With its extensive special effects sequence, significant collateral damage, and general lack of intelligence or wit, A View to a Kill suggested that the Bond franchise had become old and out of touch.
MGM aimed to retool the series with Pierce Brosnan cast as Bond, but the casting fell through due to the actor’s obligations to the Remington Steele television series.Timothy Dalton was cast in his place for 1987’s The Living Daylights.
The Living Daylights became a much darker Bond film in response to the campiness of A View to a Kill, reflecting the more somber tone of Fleming’s original source material. Although The Living Daylights still had its moments of comedy, Dalton’s second Bond film License to Kill essentially turned the franchise into a gritty revenge thriller.
When Brosnan eventually did obtain the role for GoldenEye, the franchise managed to find a tone that honored both the intensity of Fleming’s novels and the more comical touches that Moore had added to the character.
Although the Bond franchise has certainly featured some eccentric villains in recent installments, it remains unlikely that it will ever feature a character like Zorin ever again.
