007 as a burden These people are called James Bond
The new James Bond is still being sought. Filmmaker Matthew Bauer has found several. His documentary tells the story of real people called James Bond. And shows how the name determines their lives.
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- The documentary "Our Name Is Bond" sheds light on the lives of real people called James Bond and their challenges with the famous name.
- The film features a diverse group of Bonds, including a black and a gay James Bond, and explores the bizarre, often stressful experiences they associate with the name.
- Gunnar Bond James Schäfer, a Swede who believes in his father's past as an agent, hopes to find new clues to his family history through the documentary.
It has been three years since the last James Bond film to date, "No Time to Die", premiered and Daniel Craig bid farewell to the role of the famous secret agent. Since then, there have been plenty of rumors about possible successors. Most recently, Aaron Taylor-Johnson ("Nocturnal Animals") was considered a hot candidate. However, no one has been confirmed.
While James Bond fans are slowly becoming impatient, it is very convenient for some that the next 007 adventure is a long time coming, namely the real James Bonds of this world. For people who are really called James Bond, the name can become a curse. This is shown in the documentary "Our Name Is Bond", which is now (25.10.) available as video-on-demand on streaming portals.
James Bond is black and gay
"I had to filter out a lot of fake James Bonds to find the real ones," says director Matthew Bauer in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The Australian filmmaker, whose search for protagonists began on Facebook, wanted to show a Bond group that was as diverse as possible.
"There were always these media reports that the next James Bond would supposedly be a black man, a woman or that he would be played by a gay man. It was important for us to have a black James Bond, a gay James Bond. Because of course they deviate from the typical image that most people have of James Bond."
The curse and blessing of the famous name
All the protagonists have one thing in common: they regularly have to endure the saying "Shaken, not stirred". Someone is constantly hoping that they will introduce themselves as "Bond, James Bond". But the worst thing is when a new James Bond film is released in cinemas. Then friends and relatives feel compelled to write him messages about it, reports James Bond from New York. The 007 hype gets on the gay actor's nerves.
"They basically all have the same experiences," Bauer notes. At least for the most part. You can almost imagine what can happen if you're a black man in the USA and you're stopped by the police, don't have your ID with you and have to tell the officers that your name is James Bond. The story of a curious mix-up in a dramatic criminal case is particularly gripping.
Of course, there are also positive aspects. "Almost everyone says it's both a curse and a blessing," says Bauer. "Some have lost their virginity thanks to the name James Bond, they've met a girl and she's asked, "What's your name?" That's an integral part of their story. For all of them. The story of how they met their wife usually has to do with James Bond."
A Swede named Gunnar Bond James
While one man has even changed his name out of desperation, there are others who have taken on the name specially. The Swede Gunnar Schäfer has been called Gunnar Bond James Schäfer since 2007 - the year is no coincidence. "It's always interesting to see the reactions," he says in the dpa interview. But he is not just a huge 007 fan. There's more behind the name change.
"I want to honor my father," says Schäfer, whose father was German. He served in the navy during the Second World War before fleeing to Sweden. There he took Swedish citizenship and started a family. But when Schäfer was two years old, his father did not return from a trip. A trauma for the Swede, who to this day suspects that his father was a secret agent.
James Bond creator Ian Fleming as a surrogate father
He found solace in Ian Fleming's Bond novels and fantasized that his father was like 007. No one had any answers. "I knew nothing," he says. "I asked my mother a lot, but she didn't want to talk about it anymore. I guess that's typical of that generation."
Today, he runs a James Bond museum in Nybro in southern Sweden and emulates the fictional secret agent. However, his most important mission remains to find out what happened to his father.
Schäfer is hoping that the German release of "Our Name Is Bond" will provide new clues. He hopes viewers from Bavaria will see a possible connection, perhaps know of a German named Schäfer who lived through the Second World War and later told of a life in Sweden. Gunnar Bond James Schäfer is easy to reach via his museum.
Entertaining, exciting documentary film
Matthew Bauer, himself a passionate 007 fan, has skillfully interwoven a series of fascinating stories. "Our Name Is Bond" is entertaining and at times really exciting. You don't have to be a James Bond fan to find this entertaining documentary interesting.
For the real James Bonds, by the way, taking part was worth it. Since then, they have been sharing their experiences with their fellow sufferers in a WhatsApp group. Some of them also meet in person. "Shaken, not stirred," says no one. And most of them don't care who the next 007 actor will be.
