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Not that I ever bet, but Nicholas Hoult would be one I'd imagine getting the role, at least at better odds than he is now. This is not saying I think he would be my choice, a good casting decision or even that he's on EON radar. But if he was to be cast, I wouldn't be so surprised.
I think casting is still terra incognita for bookies. What were the odds for Jude Law, Hugh Grant, Robbie Williams or even George Clooney circa 2005?
I never understood what people see in Clive Owen. Be that as it may and my skepticism notwithstanding, wasn't he a name often mentioned in public, but not seriously considered by Eon?
I know he was certainly mentioned a lot on Bond forums like CBn at the time as a replacement for Brosnan. He was one of the frontrunners at that time, at least amongst the forum members possibly because he'd already been in a few spy related things. I'm not sure how seriously Eon considered him though, if at all. It could just all be fan pipe dreaming which has been known to happen on Bond forums from time to time.
This is one of my favorites; I find him very “Craig-like” in his intensity. This roughly 8 minutes is more exciting than all of SPECTRE.
That's a really great short film, I'd never even heard of before to be honest.
Clive Owen is a good actor and he definitely gives off Bond vibes, especially when he's driving.
The big drawback for me on him, is his voice. It just sounds a bit dull and plain. A lot of potential candidates for Bond #7 fall into that category
I wonder what the bookies put his odds at the time. My bet (no pun intended) is that they were much better than his true chances of obtaining the role.
I think it was media and fan speculation mostly. Similar to Aidan Turner or Idris Elba now. I don't believe Owen ever auditioned for the part. I remember thinking at the time he might have been a stronger candidate than many of the other names tossed around who possibly did audition: the guy from the new Hawaii 5-O, the guy from Nip/Tick, etc
I almost believe his films at the time: CLOSER, SIN CITY, DERAILED may have gotten a little extra audience attention due to his Bond hype. I certainly saw SIN CITY to see what he might be like.
They usually are but I suppose the bookies just pocket the profits and smirk to themselves at how many mugs are out there who would bet on anything. It's more often than not someone you haven't heard of who ultimately gets the Bond role and not a known name linked to the role.
Oh that guy from Nip/Tuck I remember about that one. Another one I never understood the appeal.
True that bookies tend to be prophets almost after the fact.
But atleast Casino Royale get a bit of Twine style and return of Martin Campbell what also stay on people list include me. You must see it as Twine is Spy, DAD is MR and Bond 21 have been FYEO. Back to earth.
Brosnan was offical Bond off/ Fired on 14 October 2004, but Dana Broccoli also died that year and MGM have money problems in 2004 too. When it stil going to look like Brosnan going to return in Bond 21 the plan was for 2005.
With Clive Owen (1964) i expect not more then 3 because of his age. Jeremy Northam (1961) was my second choose, but with only 2 mabey 3 movies. With what we know now that is funny with Daniel Craig (1968) being much older now.
Beyond Borders (2003) brings Owen up as Bond, return of Martin Campbell and Angelina Jolie as Bondgirl. Closer (2003) was second movie.
Whatever happened to him? Seemed to sort of disappear. Is he in the US now?
Joker came out as a stand alone film and did very well, and DC are apparently planning more one offs like that. There was Logan too, a few years ago, which despite having Hugh Jackman was pretty much its own one off thing, right? I don’t really keep up with those superhero franchises, but do we think this could be the start of a trend, with experimental one offs from the big brands becoming more common? I think the idea of there being a “casual viewer” who’d find it too confusing is holding less and less weight as time goes on. I think pop culture is so full of reboots and alternate takes now that most people are accustomed to it, and we’ve seen these stories so many times that they don’t need much in the way of backstory/set up. Could we see EON do something like Joker in the future? Some sort of experimental one off Bond, R rated or a period piece or something maybe, a whole seperate entity to the the main film series, with a big name who’d only commit to the one film? If they ever did do something like that then the actor’s age wouldn’t matter at all.
My first choice would still be Jack O’Connell either way, although he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth lately, haven’t seen him in anything for a while. Not sure if that’ll hurt or help his chances.
For some time I think Nicholas Hoult could be an interesting choice and I'm happy to see I'm not the only one with the idea. The interesting thing about him is it's hard to imagine how he would play the role since he is acting in so much different genres.
However, I can't really believe they will jump from an actor born in '68 to one born in '89 which is more than 20 years. Also, we basically already had a "Bond Begins" movie with CR and I've always thought they will probably choose an actor born in the first half of the 80s so I'm not sure if he (or others mentioned around that age) are realistic suggestions? What do you think?
It is a bit of a leap, but then don't forget Craig has been the current Bond for 15 years! And he was already, what, 6 or so years older than Connery was when he did his first one? So a leap of 20 years kind of makes sense with that.
I would say Hoult is looking pretty grown-up there: imagine the sort of makeover and training regime that would take place if he were to be given the lead in a Bond movie (there he's playing sort of third/fourth credited role in a lower budgeted movie), and I think he'd be feeling right.
I could see an occasional one off being the next phase of the Bond franchise. If 5-6 year gaps continue, which I sadly believe could be the case, the most I could see a new actor sticking around is 2-3 films regardless of his age.
I have this hunch, moving forward, that Bond could become an occasional or even rare event in the future. Rare enough that there would be no point in planning anything long term for Craig's replacement. A one off in 2029, then another film in 2041, then 2062 for the 100th and so forth.
I don't think they will go that far, but yes, the current regime is clearly of the opinion that a Bond film should be a rare, luxury event and not a common occurrence like say Marvel films (those are of course a totally different beast, but you kind of get what I mean, I hope). Covid is of course a massive intervening factor, but I would assume they will do a lot of thinking after NTTD's results are in on whether absence makes the heart grow fonder or too long of a hiatus just leads to Bond dropping out of the public consciousness. I think the idea of Bond is very ingrained in western culture. The question is whether they are jeopordizing this with not really giving a younger generation that much to latch onto.
Furthermore, I believe the current EON regime is inherently conservative. They want one Bond in cinemas and that's it. I don't see them doing one-offs, alternates, period pieces or TV stuff. All of those are possibilities for a franchise at the moment, but Eon clearly isn't interested. Again, they look at Bond as a luxury cinematic experience. And part of that for them I think is the intense debate over who gets cast. If the films are to be prestigious, the role has to be, too. I don't think there is any other role in the world (The Doctor in the UK, perhaps, but not worldwide) that is pored over quite like this. And that is excellent marketing for them. And what they absolutely don't want is for someone like Tom Hardy to do one film and then shove them aside.
The obvious curveballs we have been discussing for quite some time are the sale of MGM and the change of leadership at EON. If one of the big streamers buys MGM they will very certainly push for more Bond content to be produced (because that is the current modus operandi in Hollywood) but the way I understand their arrangement, EON is very much in the driver's seat on all of that. So would Michael and Barbara buckle? (When) Will they give up operational control of EON and to whom? Would they possibly even sell EON/Danjaq?
One last thought: I personally always thought Bond was the franchise best positioned to do experimental stuff with different actors and timelines and whatever. People are already very accustomed to the idea that there are multiple actors playing him and that there is no use trying to puzzle all of it together. Yes, now and again someone comes up with codename theory and amnesiac-double-codename theory and all the other ridiculousness and us fans will always debate connections and disconnections, but I would bet general viewers seeing a Bond trailer with a new actor coming across their YouTube wouldn't think "Oh, I guess they must have rebooted the franchise to an alternate timeline which confirms there is a James Bond multiverse, what does it all mean?!!" but rather "Oh, there's a new Bond. I might check that out." But EON clearly thinks differently about this.
Sorry, this went so long.
PS surely , those Hoult screenshots must reduce the odds (who is the other guy? struggling to hold his rifle correctly)
That's Aidan Gillen, and you're right about his handling. That sort of stuff annoys me, too. We don't see it too often these days though, thankfully.
Looking at the movie poster on IMDb, Nicholas Hoult gets second billing in the list of names (though Jon Bernthal gets the important 'and' designation at the end of the list).