Who do you want for Bond 7?

Well said. I’ll still offer up Tom Bison from the series “Sleepy Hollow” - which I enjoyed. He was good and could do action and had conviction. Slightly reminded me of Dalton. I’ve seen a few pics of him sans beard and ponytail, and he’s the right age to come in. A long shot perhaps, but I’d bet he’s on Eon’s radar in some respect.

Just a notion.

2 Likes

After seeing him in ‘And Then There Were None’ I’ve felt that Turner could make a great Bond, definitely one of me top 3.
So while I’m here, my top 3 choices for Bond no.7:
1: Dan Stevens
DS2

  1. Luke Evans

  2. Aidan Turner
    AT

I’m sure he is, as I suspect is Aaron Taylor Johnson

1 Like

I suspect Luke Evans is just on the old side for Eon right now;
I’d imagine they are primarily looking for actors around the 32-36 range right now;
Even Tom Hiddleston may have moved out of the age range they are looking at,
However, Eon won’t be worried about that,
There’s a lot of potential candidates in that 32-36 range
Dan Stevens
Sam Clafin
Theo James
Aidan Turner
James Norton
Tom Hughes
Tom Sturrdige

FWIW a friend of mine seems to think Josh Bowman is a likely candidate, I actually think he’s a bit young, but this guy is actually fairly well connected and offered up this info out of the blue…

Anyone see a little of Brosnan in Stevens, looks-wise? Specifically fresh-faced Brosnan in GE.

Not just looks-wise. His acting style is not dissimilar. I know, that sounds baseless, but look at him in Night at the Museum; comedy timing and Caricature verging on self parody (meant as a compliment).

And then there’s The Guest, handled with cool, deadly charm by Stevens in a similar way to Brossa in The Long Good Friday and The Fourth Protocol.

1 Like

After the name cropped up on this thread , I checked out Josh Bowman in Time after Time, touch of Connery there … Interesting actor. I do think there are quite a few to choose from this time around

Had a quick google on Josh Bowman. Seemed pretty bland in interview, however according to wikipedia he studied method at the Strasberg in NY, so if he was paying attention in class there could be some acting chops awaiting the right role.

Imo the current front runners for the part in the ‘20s’ are (as mentioned above):

Stevens, Clafin, Turner and Norton.

And as Stbernard pointed out above there’s Aaron Taylor Johnson. Often forgotten, but his sinister performance in Nocturnal Animals was very impressive imo; displayed the danger the Bond character needs, which Craig delivers and many a name above will struggle to bring (perhaps Hardy is the best example of ‘dangerous’, but unfortunately he’ll be too old for Eon by the '20s).

Rupert Friend is also still a contender imo - his very physical (and very funny) performance in Death of Starlin showed a new side to his range. Much as High Rise did for Luke Evens.

Aaron Taylor Johnson seems a little young, he’s still in his mid 20s, I’d be surprised if our next Bond is not at least 30 years old by now (but unlikely to be older than 36-38)
Of course Eon may be willing to go a little younger for the right actor

Exactly! Probability dictates a mid 30s actor, but I think eon have wisely erred towards sculpting the franchise’s direction around the actor they think fits the role best.

So I don’t see his age being a barrier. If he’s tested and tests well they’ll pitch the soft reboot as a novice bond learning the ropes (again).

And who knows, if the new bond novel - a prequel to CR is well received they could use that as a template for a younger bonds first outing; updating to a contemporary setting - I don’t see them going ‘period bond’.

Besides, by the time they shoot it - probably 2021/22 or even 23 he’ll be in his 30s. So, actually, ignore all the above, it’s moot - he’s not that young! :sunny:

I’ve mentioned it before in this thread but I’m still a huge fan of Aaron Tveit, even if he is American. He’ll be 39 in 2022. That’s perfect. There’s a darkness to him I really like. He has the “cruel mouth” Fleming described…


Tveit’s a good actor, would be a decent fit,
but why cast an American when you have so many British options that are equally as good (or better)?

Ask Prince Harry :sunglasses:

But seriously… we have had 2 non-British Bonds. If that touchy subject of an American Bond ever did happen, I suspect it would start with a reaction like Daniel “Blonde Bond” Craig had, then he would settle into the role and it would be forgotten.

Ha!
I get your point but perception wise, especially amongst Brits, I think there’s a big difference between casting an Irishman or even an Aussie and casting an American; The press would have a field day and it wouldn’t be positive,
why court that negative publicity when you don’t need to?

2 Likes

As the thread is who do you WANT for James Bond mk 7… The reality gloves are off so to speak…
My top 3 wants are
Idris Elba
Chris Hemsworth
Chadwick Boseman (token American) ( anyone who saw Black Panther saw a really entertaining Bond Movie)

As far as Americans are concerned…

Back in the day when Lazenby cut himself out of the picture - and of his entire career - and when Connery wasn’t yet coerced with a big paycheque, apparently both Adam West and Burt Reynolds were offered the role. And supposedly Clint Eastwood too, though details on this have always been a bit hazy.

Those were the ‘classic’ days of Bond when Broccoli and Saltzman still ran the show together. Still, it would seem they didn’t have any qualms about casting an American in the role. The dictum that James Bond should always remain a role reserved to Britons didn’t exist then. And it’s not even supported by Fleming, who would have been fine to see James Stewart play 007.

Of course, since the barbarous times of Fleming and the old Eon showboat we’ve made a great big step into some kind of progress. Of a kind. For a given degree of progress. But if we put tradition and dubious tabloid values aside, there remains the fact that a good contender, maybe an outstanding and downright fabulous contender, shouldn’t necessarily be discarded on the grounds of his passport colour. Or color.

If Fleming didn’t care, why must we?

5 Likes

The stories about West and Reynolds are interesting but never confirmed by Eon; Just as today, in the late 60s and early 70s, agents were selling their clients as hard as they could for Bond,
The only American that was actually lined up for the role for sure was James Brolin, altho that was in 82 when supposedly Ian Ogilvy was also on the shortlist.
Let’s remember of course that the first person they turned to after the Lazenby issue was Roger, but he was tied up with The Persuaders; I am curious if you have anything more concrete about the Reynolds and West discussions tho.
As for Fleming and James Stewart, I think it’s well known that Fleming’s first choices were David Niven and Richard Todd, I always thought Todd could’ve made a great Bond.

All that said, I agree, if the BEST contender was American then I don’t think Eon would have too much of an issue , but is there any American actor that is absolutely the BEST contender?

Talent is talent, and let us not forget John Gavin. Signed for DAF and was once quoted as saying “I was James Bond… For almost three weeks.”. Wardrobe fittings, working with a vocal coach to get his accent solid and readying himself for the press announcement all while being put up by Cubby and Harry at the Dorchester… and then Sean agreed.

1 Like

As long as the particular actor can master a British accent I have no problem casting someone from any part of the world.

But this British accent seems to be very tricky for foreigners. British actors, however, have demonstrated already how completely convincing they can pull off an American accent (i.e. Hugh Laurie).

1 Like

Actually, Reynolds said so himself:

As did Eastwood:

But I remember the odd reports about both even from back in the day. Today both are a little over the age where they’d need the popular sharpen-my-profile-with-007 routine. What Eon confirms or not in that regard seems to be more a question of screentests and how good they can be marketed.

However, it was evidently during times when the series as a whole was deemed more important than who was going to play Bond. And especially during the Moore years the ‘offers’ turned up so inflationary as if after TSWLM the role was constantly up for grabs. We know of course better.

With Fleming I think it’s not important who was his first choice; he was keen to see his books filmed and wanted the films to be a huge success, whether that meant James Stewart, Cary Grant or Richard Burton. He’d probably have been happy with any actor as long as the audience was and the box office justified the expense.

1 Like