Naming fictional characters is an art unto itself. Charles Dickens was fond of giving his creations quirkily memorable names—Wilkins Micawber and Martin Chuzzlewit come immediately to mind—while other authors strive more for realism. Ian Fleming chose the latter route when choosing a name for his most famous fictional creation, settling on the name of the author of one of his favorite nature guides: James Bond, author of Birds of the West Indies. Both halves of the name are perfectly ordinary (Fleming himself calls it “a really flat, quiet name”) and yet it’s proved a perfect match to the dashing spy that continues to be a source of inspiration in the cinematic world.
But what about all those other James Bonds out there? Have they tried to live up to their famous name? Have they tired of jokes about their famous moniker and of being compared to the embodiment of a very specific type of masculine perfection? Have they gone in the opposite direction in order to prove their independence? Such are the questions addressed by Matthew Bauer’s documentary The Other Fellow, which features interviews with a selection of James Bonds from around the world. While that may sound like a stunt, the resulting film is more rewarding than you might expect (and, spoiler alert, the James Bonds featured are quite different from each other, demonstrating that the name does not necessarily make the man). There’s a film director James Bond, a lawyer James Bond, a retired oilman James Bond, a pastor James Bond, a helicopter pilot James Bond, a computer programmer James Bond, an inmate James Bond, and many more.
There are costs to having such a famous (and common) name: coming up with a social media handle is more challenging than for those of us with more unusual surnames, for instance, and the opportunities for credit mix-ups is greater for the same reason. People may expect you to look or act like the fictional character, and a little of that can go a long way. On a more serious note, there’s the problem of telling the police your name, and them thinking that you’re lying or making fun of them. As one James Bond relates, such an encounter can land you in jail, and it certainly doesn’t help if you have dark skin.
Then there’s Gunnar “James Bond” Schaefer, who became obsessed with Bond after seeing Goldfinger in 1964, when he was a small boy looking for a replacement role model after his father went on vacation and never returned. Schaefer began collecting Bond memorabilia and today runs the James Bond 007 Museum in Nybro, Sweden. Even that was not enough for him, however: he adopted some of the character’s manners and mannerisms, and finally adopted his name as well. He seems to be playing the game pretty hard, as they say in the world of Sherlock Holmes fans, but between you and me, he’s more reminiscent of Fleming than Bond.
Bauer draws on archival footage to revisit the controversy surrounding Fleming’s first use of the name. While the ornithologist James Bond didn’t seem to be bothered by the character borrowing his name, at least initially, his wife Mary was sufficiently upset that she asked Fleming to change the name of his famous character. He didn’t, and seemed to consider the matter a joke, telling Mary that the association might sell more books for both of them. As with several other sequences in this film, this one supplements existing footage with re-enactments that are unnecessary and serve primarily to pad the film out to feature length. Overall, I’d never claim that The Other Fellow is a consequential film, and it could certainly use tighter editing, but it’s pleasant enough if you’re in the mood. |Sarah Boslaugh
The Other Fellow opens in select theatres and on digital on Feb. 17.
