Forty-six years ago, when Marvin and Susie Bond welcomed their baby son into the world, they wanted to pay homage to an uncle by giving their son the same first name, James. They were vaguely aware that some movies had been made about a fictitious British spy but, living in a small town in BC's south-eastern interior, where half the town shared the last name of Bond, they had no idea that they'd be giving their son one of the most iconic names in popular culture.
When you're in junior high school, and school is tough for a lot of reasons, having a name like James Bond certainly wasn't helpful, says the successful Vancouver corporate lawyer with a laugh. But now my clients love being able say, 'I'll have my lawyer, James Bond, contact you...'
In his teenaged years, Bond called himself Jim, not able to cope with all the attention, and jokes, his name garnered. He had to grow into the full name which always always provokes a comment. (If people don't actually say something to him, he can tell that they are thinking it. You can see that look on their face that they want to say something and then they'll say, 'You know, I wanted to say something but I didn't....')
The most common question people ask is, Did your parents know what they were doing when they named you James Bond? Since we've already answered that, above, now we get to the second most common comment: That's a great name to pick up women with.
Bond laughs. If I'm brave enough, I'll say, 'Or guys.'
James Bond, or at least this James Bond, is gay.
Next month he's getting married to his partner, Brad Davis, a local realtor. At the wedding will be the film crew of The Other Fellow, a documentary that follows several real-life James Bonds (while injecting an appropriate amount of cinematic drama.)
Director Matt Bowyer first meets Vancouver's James Bond apparently there's a surgeon in Surrey with the same name in Toronto. Bond has flown there for the birth of his twin children. Their mothers are a lesbian couple who also have an older son with Bond.
It's not quite the scene one imagines for a 007 unless, of course, you picked up a gay vibe between Daniel Cragg and Javier Bardem in Skyfall. (Cragg told the Daily Mail there will never be a gay James Bond. Huh. That's what he thinks.)
'I'm never going to be able to live up to Daniel Cragg, Bond cautions. If they hear my name before they meet me, they'll always be disappointed.
The irony is that Bond and Davis rarely watch James Bond movies. In fact, when trying to come up with the name of the last one, Davis describes it as the one when that lady dies. That lady. Bond says he sometimes calls Davis M because he's always trying to tell me what to do.
But Bond has certainly learned most of the iconic lines from the movies. He's also picked up a fondness for martinis, especially the ones at Market at Shangri-La. When people find out my name, they start sending me martinis and when free drinks are coming your way, you learn to love them.
He also loves his name. It's a great icebreaker and no one ever forgets it. In university, when he was running for student council, he used it to his advantage Vote James Bond and never say never again, that sort of thing. I won the election and it's not necessarily because I was the best candidate. I think a lot of people thought it was a joke.
When he's travelling in the United Kingdom, people make a fairly big deal of it. Americans love meeting him. At US Customs, the customs official once pulled him aside so he could tell all the other custom officials that he was clearing James Bond. Canadians? They're pretty calm.
And while the movie James Bond gets to add OBE after his name for being an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Vancouver's Bond started to elicit a lot more smiles when he got to add the regal-sounding QC (Queen's Counsel) to the end of his.
When he and Davis marry, neither one is tempted to change last names. Brad Bond? No thanks, says Davis respectfully. As to James Bond, once I got comfortable carrying around the name, I'd never go back. I like seeing people smile. There aren't too many other names that carry such a large meaning.
You can watch a clip of The Other Fellow on YouTube. Meanwhile, as part of its James Bond 50-year retrospective, the VIFF is in the midst of a 20-film retrospective. On Aug. 30, UBC film professor Ernest Mathijs is giving an academic perspective between viewings of Octopussy and Never Say Never Again. There's a Bond quiz night (Vancouver's James Bond would fail) on August 31 with Canada's foremost Bond expert, Murray Gillespie. And on Sept. 5, voting for Vancouverites' favourite James Bond film will culminate in the screening of the best one. Go to VIFF.org for details and ticket information.
