| James Bond character | |
 |
|
| Elliot Carver | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Media tycoon |
| Affiliation | Carver Media Group Network |
| Status | Deceased |
| Relatives | Father: Lord Roverman (deceased) Mother Unnamed German woman (deceased) Wife: Paris Carver (deceased) |
| Role | Villain |
| Portrayed by | Jonathan Pryce |
Elliott Carver is a fictional character in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. In the film he is portrayed by Jonathan Pryce.
Contents |
Biography
Elliot Carver was born in Hong Kong. Officially an orphan, he was the illegitimate son of a German woman who died in childbirth and Lord Roverman, the Hong Kong and London press tycoon. A Chinese family took the boy for a one-time fee of fifty pounds. Thirty years later, Carver confronted and blackmailed Roverman into suicide and took over his media empire. This expanded background was found in the official novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies, and it is also shown in a deleted extended scene in the Tomorrow Never Dies special edition DVD.[1] Carver is an international media baron who frequently uses his influence to gain an advantage for his firm or wreak havoc on opponents. He threatened to release scandalous photos of the President of the United States with a Chicago cheerleader if a bill lowering cable rates wasn't signed, and then ordered them to be released anyway. Another time, after a British beef baron lost a bet to Carver and refused to pay up (on the grounds that the bet was rigged), Carver got revenge by releasing stories on "Mad Cow Disease". Whether or not this has happened is a matter of debate, as Carver only joked about it. More nefariously, he attempted to start a war between the British and China, hoping to wipe out the existing Chinese leadership in Beijing so his cohort could take over. Beyond the massive publicity such a war would produce, a friendlier political atmosphere would allow his television network, the Carver Media Group Network, to secure exclusive broadcasting rights in China for the next century, something that the existing Chinese politicians have denied. Elliott Carver first appears in the movie at the headquarters of his media empire in Hamburg, Germany, overseeing the sinking of the British warship HMS Devonshire in the South China Sea at the hands of his torpedo-like "SEA-VAC" drill. He then has his men steal a cruise missile from the sunken ship, which they have made impossble to be tracked by the British Government. He is later seen at the launch party for his new satellite network, where he gets unusually aggressive with his wife, Paris Carver. Upon meeting James Bond, he develops a foul attitude towards him for questioning him regarding the sunken ship. He has his henchmen capture and attempt to interrogate Bond, but he escapes and cuts off power to Carver's live international broadcast. When learning it was Bond who caused him and his network international embarrassment, Carver tells Paris to attempt to gain information from him as to why he was at the party and what he knows. Carver falsely believed that she was merely a former friend of Bond, and when he discovers that they are ex-lovers, he has Paris killed by Dr. Kaufman, a henchmen of Carver's skilled in the art of chakra torture. This sets a fuse burning between Carver and Bond, but at the end of the movie, Bond's love for Paris is replaced with Wai Lin. Carver runs his operations on a stealth boat that can move undetected by radar. Bond and Chinese People's External Security Force agent Wai Lin infiltrate his boat and learn he's going to fire the missile at China so as to wipe out the existing Chinese government and replace them with a government who will grant him broadcasting rights. Carver is ultimately killed by Bond, who forces him into the path of the running "SEA-VAC" drill, pulverizing the weapon's owner.
Henchmen
Quotes
"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success." "There's no news... like bad news." "When you remove Mr. Bond's heart, there should just be enough time for him to watch it stop beating." "Let the mayhem begin." "Mr. Stamper. Would you please kill those bastards?!"
Behind the scenes
Carver is the third Bond villain to attempt to cause World War III, the first being Blofeld, the second being Karl Stromberg. He has similarities to influential Media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. After Carver's demise M has an obituary written for him stating that it is believed he committed suicide. This may be a parody of media mogul Robert Maxwell who died in mysterious circumstances onboard his luxury yacht and was presumed to have commited suicide. Carver's request for his News Network to be filled with bugs thus forcing people to upgrade for years may be a jab at computer tycoon Bill Gates.
