Former James Bond Angry That New 007 Prefers Heineken

In case you haven’t heard, James Bond is ditching his classic “shaken, not stirred” martini in favor of Heineken in Daniel Craig’s third outing as the pop-culture icon in the upcoming film Skyfall. The decision to replace such a defining aspect of the character has been met with a fair amount of controversy, the latest of which comes from a former Bond, arguably the least well-known Bond, George Lazenby.

MGM struck up a controversial $45 million deal with Heineken in order to cover film costs, and part of that deal stipulates that Bond will be reaching for the Dutch beer instead of the vodka martini he is so well known for in his latest film. But the vodka martini is an inseparable part of the James Bond mythos. It’s absolute blasphemy to have him quaffing anything else, according to a man that used to play him. No, not Sean Connery. Not Roger Moore either. Or Pierce Brosnan. Who’s Timothy Dalton? Oh right, he played Bond a couple of times. No, not him either, but you’re getting close. The most forgettable Bond. The one almost everyone agrees isn’t worth remembering. The one at the bottom of the pop-culture bargain bin along with Rocky V, all Terminator films after Judgment Day, and straight-to-DVD sequels.

George Lazenby.

Lazenby had one outing as Bond in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (an otherwise important film in the Bond canon). If you’re against the corporate switch to Heineken as well, it’s likely that Lazenby is the last Bond you want on your side, but let’s hear him out anyway. According to TMZ, he says that breaking away from the martini is tantamount to sacrilege, and takes a jab at Heineken personally, saying, “It’s not the best beer out there, either.” Regardless, he shrugs, adding that it’s a sad choice, but that filmmakers will always “go where the money is.”

We get it. The martini and James Bond are peanut butter and jelly. It’s the only relationship Bond has ever managed to seriously commit to. But how many people in our lives are defined solely by their bar tabs? Skyfall looks amazing, are you really going to boycott it because Bond feels like changing things up? Remember that without Heineken, the movie might not ever have gotten made.

In Casino Royale, Craig’s Bond orders a martini. The bartender asks, “Shaken or stirred?” to which Bond replies, “Do I look like I give a damn?”

Should we?