Franz Sanchez | the m0vie blog

An Interview with Robert Davi

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Darren

We’ve been doing a bit of celebrating this month, to mark Bond’s fiftieth anniversary on film (and the release of Skyfall). Actor Robert Davi, who played the villain Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill, was kind enough to get in contact with us about a piece we published covering the character, and politely volunteered to ask a few questions about the film. Davi has been a remarkably recognisable screen presence since the eighties, with roles in iconic movies like Licence to Kill, The Goonies, Die Hard and the hit television show Profiler.

He now manages his own film (Sun Lion Films) and music production (Sun Lion Records) companies. In 2007, he made his directorial debut with The Dukes, and launched a professional singing career in 2011. You can check out his Sinatra-inspired work at Davi Sings Sinatra, with some great testimonials. (Quincy Jones knows music, and his endorsement is worth more than mine – although consider mine offered as well. Check out a sampler here.)

The opportunity to ask Davi some questions was too good to pass up. It was a delight to be able to put some of my questions to him, and Davi was very generous with his time in answering quite a few of the more tangential and nerdy ones – a great insight into the construction of, I’d argue, one of the more fascinating Bond villains.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bond, casino royale, Darren, Franz Sanchez, ian fleming, James Bond in film, John Glenn, Licence to Kill, Richard Maibaum, robert davi, Sanchez, United States | 5 Comments »

A View to a Bond Baddie: Franz Sanchez

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate James Bond’s 50th birthday on screen (and the release of Skyfall), we’re going to take a look at the character and his films. We’ve already reviewed all the classic movies, so we’ll be looking at his iconic baddies, and even at the character himself.

As far as James Bond’s on-screen adversaries go, Franz Sanchez stands out for a number of reasons. Like Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos, Robert Davi seems like he might have wandered on to the set from a nearby sound stage. While the murky and subtle double-agent from For Your Eyes Only could have arrived from a John le Carré story, Franz Sanchez looks to have wandered out of Miami Vice. Licence to Kill represented an attempt by the producers to make Bond topical again, with mixed results. It’s still one of the most divisive films in the series.

Part of that attempt to modernise Bond was the decision to cast the character as a morally ambiguous anti-hero out for revenge, in contrast to the clean-cut morality of earlier adventures. However, Sanchez himself was also by-product of the attempt to modernise Bond. Bond was no longer hunting a spy, an assassin or a madman with plans of world domination. Instead, Bond found himself confronting a thug running an international drug cartel.