"I don't know how we had about eighteen international stars in it, all playing James Bond"
About this Quote
The comedy is in the absurd math. James Bond is a singular fantasy - one man, one face, one brand. Eighteen “international stars” “all playing James Bond” turns that fantasy into a revolving door. The subtext is about celebrity gravity: once you stack enough famous people into a frame, the story stops being about character and becomes about scheduling, contracts, and the audience’s little thrill of recognition. Bond, supposedly the ultimate individualist, becomes a shared costume.
Guest is also quietly pointing at the cultural machinery of the era: the mid-century confidence in “international” casting as box-office insurance, and the way franchises start to behave like empires, absorbing talent and flattening difference. His phrasing doesn’t romanticize the chaos; it treats it as an outcome of commercial logic. When a property gets big enough, even the hero becomes divisible - not because the myth changes, but because the market demands more surfaces to sell it on.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Guest, Val. (2026, January 17). I don't know how we had about eighteen international stars in it, all playing James Bond. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-how-we-had-about-eighteen-24638/
Chicago Style
Guest, Val. "I don't know how we had about eighteen international stars in it, all playing James Bond." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-how-we-had-about-eighteen-24638/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I don't know how we had about eighteen international stars in it, all playing James Bond." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-how-we-had-about-eighteen-24638/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





