“That is absolutely untrue. That rumour started on the Internet, and the Internet is a pest. The name of my character is Franz Oberhauser.” ~ Christoph Waltz (GQ)
Sure, Christoph. Sure. It has long been rumored two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz is playing the head of SPECTRE, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and not his character’s credited name, Franz Oberhauser, in the upcoming 24th James Bond film Spectre, due in theaters Nov. 6.
You can understand why people would think this. Waltz is playing a villain, and the title of the movie is Spectre. You would expect the villain in a movie with the title of the source of one of Bond’s greatest foes would be Blofeld. Waltz, in an interview with GQ, wanted to quash those rumors… although, I doubt anyone will stop believing this after his comments.
Him being Blofeld just makes too much sense every way you look at it. It’s like when J.J. Abrams and company tried to convince us all that Benedict Cumberbatch was not playing Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. Unlike the name John Harrison, which was a new addition to the Trek universe, Oberhauser is Bond canon. Hans Oberhauser, note the different first name, was a ski instructor who became a father figure to Bond after his parents died. If you watched the teaser trailer, you will know they are introducing this other foster kid, which one can surmise is Walt’z Franz Oberhauser.
Waltz’s comment does not turn me away from thinking Oberhauser is actually Blofeld. If it turns out Oberhauser is just Oberhauser, I think it could make for a really interesting character. I might actually prefer it, even though I desperately would like to see Waltz’s take on the classic villain. The idea Blofeld is connected to Bond’s past kind of irritates me. I don’t want SPECTRE to be a vendetta against Bond. It’s just an organization that wants to harm everyone on every side. But we’ll see what happens.
On the topic choosing to be in a Bond movie, Waltz said:
I did, yes. I always hesitate… You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about? The thing about Spectre is that it is not the work of hack writers. It does not have a hack director. The actors are not hams. The action sequences in Mexico are extravagant to say the least. The scenes in Austria are traditional Bond action in the snow. These films with Daniel Craig have shifted the tone. They don’t depend on a set formula that forces actors simply to go through the motions.
They may not be hacks, but two of the three screenwriters did pen the absolute worst Bond film (Die Another Day). These three are responsible for Skyfall, and my issues with that film come at a script level. We’ll see how Spectre ends up. Hopefully, they are able to nail the spy story, which they flubbed in Skyfall, along with the character drama they got very right.
The 007 franchise is the only franchise I am consistently interested because they really could go any way with it. I will be really excited to see Spectre whether Christoph Waltz is playing Blofeld or not. The film will be released Nov. 6.
A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.
