Blond... James Blond.

According to published reports, Daniel Craig has been handed Licence to Kill #007.

If that's true, I'm disappointed. Being a fan of the Fleming books as much as I am of the Bond films, I'd hoped that Eon Productions would cast an actor more in the mold of Fleming's original conception — Clive Owen, for example. And a blond as Bond? Not working for me, sorry.

I can't say that I'm all that familiar with Craig's oeuvre. Scanning the list of films in which he has appeared, I've seen two (Lara Croft, Tomb Raider and Elizabeth) and don't recall Craig's performance in either. (His recent crime caper Layer Cake is high on my want-to-see-on-DVD list.)

So I'm neither shaken nor stirred by Craig's landing the part, if indeed he has.

That said, I'm willing to give Mr. Craig the benefit of the doubt. After all, my favorite Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starred the least likely actor ever to play the role: Australian male model George Lazenby. And as skeptical as I was originally about the sleek and effete Pierce Brosnan taking over from the grittier Timothy Dalton (a talented actor with the right blend of appearance and tone who got sandbagged by substandard scripts and poor directing in his two outings as 007), the former Remington Steele eventually won me over.

Whoever its star may be, I'm pleased that Casino Royale is getting a proper remake. The supposedly comedic version from the '60s is one of my least favorite films of all time.