Roger Moore approves of the new 007

He'll always be known for playing Bond. But shaken, not stirred? He never said it, says Roger Moore

Considering how many times Sir Roger Moore has been asked if he wants his martini "shaken, not stirred" since his days playing Bond, James Bond, it's a wonder he manages to keep smiling about it.

Especially since not once in the seven 007 films he made, from Live and Let Die in 1973 to A View to a Kill in 1985, did he make the famous refreshment demand.

"It amuses me because I never said it," Moore, 78, chuckles on the line from his winter home in snow-topped Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

"The `martini shaken not stirred' was Sean (Connery). Bartenders and leading ladies knew that I liked them that way, but I never said it."

Moore's martinis will be served at cocktail parties during Vue sur Bond 007, a three-day film and music celebration in Québec City Feb. 24 to 26 that Moore will attend. (Details are online at http://www.vuesurbond007.com). He'll also make a Toronto stopover a day earlier for an event honouring UNICEF, the children's charity he strongly supports.

Vue sur Bond 007 has the multiple goals of raising funds for UNICEF and a Québec cultural event known as the 3 Americas Film Festival. It will also salute Harry Saltzman, who was born in Québec.

Other Bond guests scheduled for the event include Dame Shirley Bassey, the siren of several 007 theme songs; Richard "Jaws" Kiel, Moore's razor-toothed nemesis in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker; Britt Ekland, Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun; and Guy Hamilton, director of four 007 films, two with Connery and two with Moore.

It's been 21 years and three 007s — if you include new hire Daniel Craig — since Moore last saved the world. The father of three is now also a grandfather three times over.

But the world still calls him James Bond, or even Commander Bond, as the British military men Moore skied with the night before this interview insisted on doing.

"Oh, sure you always get referred to as Bond," he says. "So does Sean Connery and everybody else. You're always given a label. They always give the age, as well.

"It's better than being known as a bank robber, although I'd say that playing Bond is sort of like being a bank robber."

The 21st official James Bond movie, a remake of Casino Royale, is currently being filmed in Prague with new blond Bond Craig brandishing the Walther PPK revolver. Moore is as keen as anyone else to see how Craig will do, and he doesn't buy any of the negative press criticizing the casting or doubting the viability of the 44-year-old film franchise.

"Of course it still has life left in it!" Moore roars.

"Even when you finish being Bond, they still go on. Every other article I read says, `Well the best Bond of course was Sean and Roger Moore really screwed it up.' But anyway, I got paid!"

Moore also doesn't subscribe to the media theory that the lack of confirmed casting of a Bond girl and a villain for Casino Royale, before the start of filming last week, indicates the fading appeal of the 007 series. "Well, they always do that. It's par for the course. They usually have a script, and the script is really more or less an outline, and then they go off and find the locations and set what sort of stunts they're going to have. And then they'd get around to casting the leading lady ..."

Most Bond watchers agree that the original film version of Casino Royale, a 1967 parody made outside of the Saltzman/Broccoli family starring David Niven as the unlikely spy guy, doesn't do justice to the franchise.

Moore is all in favour of the remake, and he's also intrigued by talk it will be a darker take on Bond, more in keeping with the original vision sketched by author Fleming.

"I haven't seen too much of the (007 movies) that I was not in, so I don't know how light or dark they went. If I believe what I read, then the seven that I did were much too light and I was all sort of tongue-in-cheek, so maybe they do want a more serious Bond. But of course, I think I was wonderful."

He has some sympathy for Pierce Brosnan, who played 007 in four films over the past decade. He was abruptly let go last year when his contract expired.

"Sympathy in the sense that it's not good to be turned down in public," Moore says.

"You know, rejected. But as an actor, you've got to get used to rejection. It happens every day."

Does he know why Brosnan was booted? There are differing versions of the official story.

"Yeah, I do know some of the inner politics, which I'm not going to go into. But I guess he was sort of fairly p-o'ed — he had at least another two in him.

"But anyway, he's got his revenge. Have you seen him in The Matador (a movie comedy about an aging hit man)? It's terrific. It was great. I thought, `Wow, good for you, Pierce!'"

Moore's continuing interest in all things 007 is somewhat surprising, since he's seen just one of the six James Bond films made since he left the beat in 1985. That was Die Another Day, the 2002 movie that proved to be Brosnan's swan song.

"I wasn't really that curious about them. It's gone, and it has nothing to do with you after that. I've seen snippets of the others that have been on television when I've been passing by. At first I made a point of not seeing them for the simple reason that I knew that somebody would ask me, `What did you think of it?' And being the truthful schmuck that I am, I'd probably say it was terrible!"

He finally relented and saw Die Another Day. He was impressed by Brosnan, but little else.

"I think Pierce was very good. I thought the movie itself was just a little too confused in its action sequences. Invisible cars really don't make sense. That's stretching it a little bit. Q (the Bond gadget man) was never that dumb."

The only thing you really need to play Bond, Moore believes, is a sense of humour, though he's often been damned for having one.

"Whether you're playing it straight or not, you've still got to have a sense of humour. I think humour is one of the most important elements that we can have in life. If we can't step back and laugh at ourselves, then we're pretty miserable."

You can raise a Moore martini to that thought.