The first trailer for "Spectre" did what it was supposed to — tease a lot, and give away very little. And literally shrouded in darkness in the promo was Christoph Waltz‘s mysterious villain. For months and months, many have assumed he’d be reprising the classic Bond baddie Blofeld, but the actor has now denied those reports once and for all.
"That is absolutely untrue. That rumour started on the Internet, and the Internet is a pest. The name of my character is Franz Oberhauser," he told British GQ. So, does the name Oberhauser appear in the Bond canon? There’s a Hans Oberhauser in the "Octupussy" short story by Ian Fleming, and he’s Bond’s ski instructor who winds up getting killed. So, family relation? Or maybe this is just all a John Harrison/Khan scenario from "Star Trek Into Darkness" situation all over again.
As for taking on the role, Waltz did have a moment of pause before signing up. "I always hesitate… You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about? The thing about ‘Spectre’ is that it is not the work of hack writers. It does not have a hack director. The actors are not hams," he explained. "The action sequences in Mexico are extravagant to say the least. The scenes in Austria are traditional Bond action in the snow. These films with Daniel Craig have shifted the tone. They don’t depend on a set formula that forces actors simply to go through the motions."
So, we’ll see if the Blofeld report was truly hot air or if Waltz was keeping a secret when the movie opens on November 6th.
