MovieChat Forums > Topaz (1969) Discussion > Sean Connery Turned This Down?

Sean Connery Turned This Down?

posted 20 years ago by ecarle
8 replies | jump to latest

At a Hitchcock exhibit during his Cenntennial year in 1999, I saw storyboards drawn in 1968 for "Topaz" -- and the hero is always drawn as Sean Connery.

Hitchcock probably offered Connery "Topaz" first. They had worked together on "Marnie" and Hitchcock tried to sign Connery to a long-term contract then. Connery knew he was going higher fast, he said "no."

Connery was probably wise to turn down the lead in "Topaz," given that the character is French. Hitchcock had to go with a near-total unknown, Frederick Stafford, and that hurt the film in the American marketplace.

Yves Montand would have been a good "name" French choice for the role, but in 1969, Montand was a committed Communist, and the villains in "Topaz" are French, Russian, and Cuban Communists.

[–] duke-verity 19 years ago

A better choice would have been Daniel Gelin, an enormously respected French star. He was the perfect age to play the lead (do we really believe that the square jawed, virile, impossibly handsome Frederick Stafford could ever pass as a 'discreet' secret agent, and be the father of an adult married daughter?!) and would have been ten times better in the role. If only Hitchcock had been more imaginative with his casting and not given the lead to a third rate Connery clone.

[–] s007davis 18 years ago

Sean Connery in Topaz would have been great. It would have been cool to see him reunite with his "You Only Live Twice" co-star Karin Dor a/k/a Miss Brandt/SPECTRE #11.

[–] Hot_Water_Burn_Baby 18 years ago

According to M. Montand's bio, he had renounced Communism by 1968 following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He may very well have jumped at the chance at that particular time to play Devoreaux.

[–] ecarle 18 years ago

I did not know that about Yves Montand.

Too bad. He would have fit the role very well in terms of age and "star aura." There were few "name" international stars at the time. Another ranking French star, Jean-Paul Belmondo, wouldn't have fit Andre.

I do believe that Hitchcock approached Catherine Denueve for the blonde wife role, but she would have been a bit too young for it.

[–] Hot_Water_Burn_Baby 18 years ago

Deneuve definitely would've been too young (unless they wanted to have her play the role as a bored or jealous trophy wife). If they weren't concerned about hair color (but we know Hitch certainly was, with his "blondes"), perhaps they could've gone with such choices as Audrey Hepburn (who would've been 40), Simone Signoret (48, the same age as Montand), or Deneuve's "Belle du Jour" co-star, Geneviève Page (39).

It seems the majority opinion of this board is that we would've all preferred a much different (and "name") cast for the film. I suggested in another thread that instead of Stafford, a real groundbreaking choice would've been to cast Roscoe Lee Browne instead (making him fully French, as opposed to being a French Martinique islander). He had far more presence, charm, and charisma, and his scenes in New York City were amongst the highlights of the film. Stafford actually detracted from that segment, sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb (though not quite as ridiculous as Roger Moore did in the Harlem sequence in his first outing as Bond in "Live And Let Die" just 4 years later).

[–] ecarle 18 years ago

"Topaz" is a very problematic late Hitchcock film.

I can tell you this: I think it has a much bigger life today than it did on its very brief release in late 1969 (as a Christmas attraction in big cities) and early 1970.) It pretty much sank without a trace back then, but now gets plenty of circulation on cable TV and in DVD rentals, where curious Hitchcock buffs watch it to "complete their set."

Hitchcock had just worked with the very big Paul Newman and Julie Andrews on "Torn Curtain" when he went looking to cast "Topaz." But he had a problem: the lead is clearly French; the usual American/British stars wouldn't work. (It's amazing that Sean Connery was considered at all.)

Hitchcock angled to find some "New Wave" actors who worked with Godard and Truffaut, and he found two rather major ones: Michel Piccoli and Phillipe Noiret. But those two fine fellows don't even turn up in "Topaz" until its final act in Paris.

Karin Dor (Juanita de Cordoba) Hitchcock cast out of "You Only Live Twice."

Roscoe Lee Browne was his best casting, and I'd agree it would have been a treat to see him as Andre, surrounded by those other actors.

The story on Frederick Stafford is that he was Hitchcock's "Male Tippi Hedren," an attempt by Hitchcock to create a new male star out of an unknown.
The handsome, square-jawed Stafford was meant to remind us of Cary Grant or Sean Connery, but ended up looking like an older, disipated John Gavin (Sam in "Psycho.")

Probably the most famous player to emerge from "Topaz" was John Vernon, a solid character guy with a booming voice who would go on to fame in "Dirty Harry" , "Outlaw Josey Wales," and, above all, as Dean Wormer in "Animal House."

[–] christomacin 15 years ago

I think Montand was the man for the part. Some other big French actors of the time had problems I fitting the part: Alain Delon was probably too young for the part, Jean-Louis Trintignant, also too young and with a too-thick French accent. Belmondo...I don't know, maybe.

[–] ecarle 15 years ago

And that's the problem. I think all of us saw Montand as pretty much the ONLY guy for the part.

He was active in movies very much around '69-'70, both in the gritty foreign thriller "Z," (released the same month as "Topaz') and in the big glossy Hollywood musical "On a Clear Day" with Barbra Streisand(and Jack Nicholson!) for Vincente Minnelli.

In other words, Montand was as marquee as he was going to be...and the right age. I don't think Belmondo could have pulled off the married-daugther thing.