I've enjoyed a great deal of movies with Connery as the lead. I think he made the right choice not being Gandalf.
this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
531 points (99.1% liked)
memes
19841 readers
753 users here now
Community rules
1. Be civil
No trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour
2. No politics
This is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world
3. No recent reposts
Check for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month
4. No bots
No bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins
5. No Spam/Ads/AI Slop
No advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.
A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
Sister communities
- !tenforward@lemmy.world : Star Trek memes, chat and shitposts
- !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world : Lemmy Shitposts, anything and everything goes.
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world : Linux themed memes
- !comicstrips@lemmy.world : for those who love comic stories.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Connery even made a Michael Bay movie watchable.
There's not many actors that can say that.
Cocaine was cheap and plentiful in the 70s.
Okay, but hear me out. Zardoz is good.
I know it looks goofy, and it IS goofy. But it's also GOOD.
I need to watch it. The guy who hosts our card games has that picture on a greeting card on his fridge, it makes me laugh everytime I see it.
Same. It was actually trying things, but all people see is this one image of Sean Connery.
The director's commentary is so delightfully honest, right at the top he's like "so I'll be the first to admit, this film kinda got away from us,"
Quoting from memory. But that was the gist.
I heard this story, not sure if it's true, but I choose to believe it and will not hear any corrections; apparently, he was approached about Gandalf, but he turned it down because he didn't really understand it. Then he was approached about Dumbledore, but turned it down because he didn't really understand it. After seeing how those two franchises turned out, he said, "screw it, I'm taking the next role that I don’t get." That role was Alan Quartermaine in League of Extraordinary Gentleman. After that movie bombed he retired from acting altogether.
That role was Alan Quartermaine in League of Extraordinary Gentleman. After that movie bombed he retired from acting altogether.
Which is a shame really because I remember it being... Kinda good? Clearly not a work of great art, but fun action silliness. Admittedly I watched it as a kid and never again so who knows really.
With adult eyes, it's pretty bad. Also, it's an adaptation of a much better Alan Moore graphic novel.
It has some of the worst dialogue and pacing of any movie I've ever seen. I can see how it would be fun as a kid, but even as a teenager, it sucked ass.
Didn’t hate it? It was a fun action film. Sometimes people take things too seriously.
I'd also argue that however the movie did after the fact, turning down roles you don't understand is probably the smarter option. Maybe those other movies would have also flopped if they had Connery in those roles.
Like I can't picture him doing a good Gandalf. It wouldn't be Gandalf, it would be Sean Connery in a wizard outfit. I can't think of any roles where Connery played someone who wasn't Sean Connery. He brought a lot of charisma to his roles but not a ton of range.
I agree that he wouldn't have been right for either part, but I'm sure they still would have been very successful franchises. Also, he probably wouldn't have gotten either part (definitely not Gandalf), they were just approaching him about it. Producers on Batman (1989) were in talks with Bill Murray and Pierce Brosnan before they moved on to Michael Keaton, but it's pretty unlikely either one would have made it.
Jesus can you actually imagine if LOTR had Sean Connery instead of Ian McKellen? Hideous prospect. No shade to Connery, he's played some of my favourite characters over the years, but christ that would have been a terrible mistake.
Idk he could land "Run, you foolsh!" pretty well.
"You shall not pash!"
"Is it shecret? Is it shafe?"
"When did Sharuman the wishe replace hish wishdom with madnessh?"
You could play this game all day long
"I have no memory of this plashe..."
I don’t think he’ he’d be a good Gandalf anyways
nothing against him, but what we got was perfect.
That reminds me of how Will Smith turned down Neo in The Matrix because he thought Wild Wild West was the safer bet.
Honestly though, I agree with him. WWW definitely is the safer bet on paper. But safer doesn't mean foolproof, and the risky ventures sometimes are the most profitable. Making the worse move doesn't necessarily mean you made the incorrect one.
Yeah, but in the third act he got to fight a giant spider. Do you know anything about spiders? They're the fiercest killers in the insect kingdom.
Dragonflies would like a word
They're not in the insect kingdom.
They broke in, because they are the fiercest killer.
He would have been an awful Neo. Bullet dodged for everyone.
Imagine all the matrix themed rap songs that were missing out on tho
It's hard for me to imagine anyone else in any of the roles. They are all such perfect fits.
Gollum should've been played by Nicolas Cage. With no VFX or makeup.
Also Willem Dafoe with a bald cap could pull it off.
"I'm something of a hoarder myself ... but only for this precious ring!"
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
He would've been awful. Connery was good at playing smarmy dickheads, but he was kind of ass any time he wasn't playing a smarmy dickhead.
This is why his performance in The Rock is pitch perfect.
To be fair to Connery, Zardoz was right after 007. He was type casted and nobody would hire him. He had to do something different to get new work. Also, Zardoz is legit a good movie... If you get past the weird and laughable aesthetic choices, the plot is a decent sci fi plot.
And then Highlander, so it was no wonder he was a bit wary when it came to LOTR.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Also, Zardoz is legit a good movie
load more comments
(10 replies)
There was a population boost in the town they filmed Zardoz in due to all of the drug-induced revelry that was going on during the making of that movie.
There is a good chance that town is populated with tens if not scores of Sean Connery's illegitimate grandchildren now.
I mean, maybe the bottom picture made perfect sense to Sean?
Yeah, it's called "I was young and broke, and needed the money".
Although, I really do recommend watching Zardoz at least once. It's a trip.
load more comments
(4 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
The gun is good!
view more: next ›