Jay Leno - `This is vile car abuse, Mr Bond`

As I look back on my life, I can say I’ve achieved something that not many men can say they’ve achieved. I’ve met every James Bond personally, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig, who has just been a guest on my show. He’s quite impressive. Not since Connery has a James Bond had this much of an edge - reports The Times.

Occasionally I’ll run into George Lazenby, riding motorcycles in Los Angeles. Pierce Brosnan was a frequent guest on my show. And, of course, there’s Roger Moore, who I call the Pillsbury Doughbond. He was the least effective of all the Bonds for me because he just didn’t have that killer instinct.

Daniel Craig was a very enjoyable guest and definitely has that grittiness needed in a Bond film. I found him very self-deprecating and very funny. He’ll do a blockbuster and then he’ll go and do a little independent film next. The great difference between a lot of American actors and English actors is that English actors love to work. Another favourite of mine, Michael Caine, I believe recently broke the record — he has been in more than 3m films.

I’ve seen Quantum of Solace. It’s quite good. Dame Judi Dench adds a great deal of gravitas to her role:

“Try not to kill everybody, Bond,” she says. And you realise this Bond has a real revenge streak in him. He’s angry.

The new 007 movie also probably has the best Bond car since Sean Connery’s DB5. The Aston Martin DBS, which we saw flip over in the last film, Casino Royale, again gets wrecked, this time in the opening sequence when he’s driving through the tunnels around Lake Garda or some place. And he’s being chased by these guys in an Alfa Romeo sedan.

If I were Aston Martin I would be upset that they’ve beaten the car to death, ripped the doors off, smashed it into a tunnel and rolled it down a hill. I mean, the car is horribly abused. Like a lot of car guys, I don’t balk at people being shot or dismembered in films, but to see a car such as the DBS destroyed makes me shout out, “Stop the carnage!”

For me the two best Bond cars are the ones at either end of the spectrum — the two Astons. The DBS and the early DB5. The Aston in Quantum of Solace doesn’t have any special machineguns or a device that makes french fries or any of that nonsense, it’s just a regular standard Aston, but I think the gadgets will be back for the next Bond film. I’ve heard that from a pretty good source.

Although some people go crazy for the Lotus Esprit that turns into the submarine, hey I’m sorry, I don’t want my car to turn into a submarine. If my car goes into a lake it’s because I’m being an idiot.

Some things remain constant. Bond’s inability to outrun cars that in reality could never keep up with an Aston. Go back to Goldfinger and he’s being chased by a Mercedes sedan that must have 1,500 Koreans and Chinese in it and hanging out of the window, and he’s not able to beat them in his Aston Martin.

Remember that scene? They’re racing down the road and they’re right on his tail, but when you have an Aston Martin, just stepping on the gas would be enough. You wouldn’t need oil-slick ejectors and smokescreens to outrun bad guys cramped in a 50-year-old Mercedes.

I don’t think Daniel Craig is a real car guy. Obviously he’s a terrific actor and he liked the car and he told me he enjoyed driving it. He also told me that they offered him one, but said he would feel a little silly driving around LA in one. People would go, “Hey look, there’s a James Bond car — and look, there’s James Bond in it.”

I, on the other hand, happily borrowed the DBS for a few days. But then I am never going to be mistaken for 007.

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