{"id":40899,"date":"2025-09-24T15:38:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/40899\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T15:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:38:07","slug":"denis-villeneuve-to-cast-unknown-british-actor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/40899\/","title":{"rendered":"Denis Villeneuve To Cast \u201cUnknown\u201d British Actor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE:\u00a0Denis Villeneuve<\/a> will embark on the search for an actor to play the world\u2019s most famous fictional spy \u2013James Bond<\/a> \u2013 next year when he completes production on\u00a0Dune: Part Three. Those familiar with the matter tell us that the director and his collaborators are seeking a \u201cfresh face\u201d to take on the 007 mantle in\u00a0Bond 26.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, Bond\u2026James Bond, will be male, as written by creator Ian Fleming, and importantly, will be an actor who hails from the British isles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, they want a Brit to play Bond.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIan Lancaster Fleming (1908 \u2013 1964), British author and creator of the James Bond character. (Photo by Express Newspapers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExpress Newspapers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThat rules out fanciful speculation that the likes of Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Glen Powell, Austin Butler, Jacob Elordi and others who don\u2019t hail from UK shores are in the running.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrankly, 99.9\u00a0per cent of\u00a0the names we\u2019ve heard speculated online so far won\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose in the know tell us the ideal approach is to cast \u201can unknown\u201d, possibly in his late twenties or early thirties, to play what Fleming called \u201ca blunt instrument\u201d \u2013 the lethal but \u201cextremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf that criteria is stuck to, then that means favourites such as Tom Hardy, aged 47, Idris Elba at 53 and Henry Cavill, aged 42, presumably don\u2019t match what Villeneuve, producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal, and execs at Amazon MGM<\/a> Studios are leaning towards.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tom<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTom Hardy<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSteve Granitz\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, consider that by the time\u00a0Bond 26\u00a0begins shooting in 2027, both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jack Lowden will be 37 years of age. Will they be too old for Villeneuve?<\/p>\n

\n\tHow rugged and imposing will this Bond be? Fleming describes Bond as being over six foot tall, even taller in his best Jermyn Street brogues. Daniel Craig is shorter than that.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut have a think about Steven Knight\u2019s writing credits, a key source suggests, referring to the screenwriter picked to write the script for the Amazon MGM Studios production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKnight\u2019s work includes\u00a0SAS Rogue Heros, Peaky Blinders\u00a0and\u00a0Eastern Promises, all of them featuring kick-ass, bone crunching scenes. \u201cWhoever it is, has to look like he could kill you with his bare hands in a trice. From the moment you see him, that has to be readily apparent,\u201d a person close to discussions tells us.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnline speculators and betting companies throw out\u00a0names without thinking who Bond is. Knight will be going back to Fleming\u2019s earliest novels \u2013\u00a0Casino Royale\u00a0(1953), Live and Let Die\u00a0(1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever\u00a0(1956), From Russia, with Love\u00a0(1957), Doctor No (1958), and Goldfinger\u00a0(1959), to help remind us who Fleming\u2019s protagonist is.\u00a0Might the new Bond be more in the mould of a younger Sean Connery who originated 007 in 1962\u2019s Dr. No?<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tProducer Cubby Broccoli, author Ian Fleming, actor Sean Connery, and producer Harry Saltzman at the Eon production offices before Dr. No began filming<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMetro- Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Danjaq, LLC<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a sense from the many conversations I\u2019ve had that Knight\u2019s going back to Bond\u2019s beginnings as a Royal Navy Commander before being recruited by MI6, the UK\u2019s foreign intelligence agency, to perhaps chart how Bond attained 007 status. I want to stress that this is what I\u2019m hearing but to caution that none of this is confirmed or fully formed because the script is still being written and the direction of travel is still up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\n\tCould Bond be played by a non Caucasian, I asked sources? He could, came the reply. As always, well, nearly always, it\u2019ll come down to this: Are they\u00a0right\u00a0for Bond? Are they\u00a0right\u00a0for the story that Villeneuve and screenwriter Knight will be telling?<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile we\u2019re here, it\u2019s worth pointing out the obvious:\u00a0Bond 26\u00a0will not take up where No Time to Die, the final iteration in the franchise under Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, left us; with Bond dead. \u201cIt\u2019s a new Bond, a new start, a fresh everything,\u201d is how it was put to me by a key source who adds that it\u2019s unlikely many associated with the past Bond regime will be involved with Bond 26. That said, I suspect a few old Bond hands might well be consulted on the quiet in the snug of a private club in Pall Mall, London.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNO TIME TO DIE, Daniel Craig as James Bond, 2020. ph: Nicola Dove \/ \u00a9 MGM \/ courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tAn unprecedented number of applicants have already sent in their pitch to play James Bond\u00a0to the production. \u201cEvery name you\u2019ve heard of, and many you\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d a well placed mole revealed. \u201cWe\u2019ve been flooded. But understand that the casting process has not begun and it won\u2019t until Denis finishes the\u00a0Dune movie,\u201d they continued.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt pays to remember that Daniel Craig, who, although famous to those of us who followed his career on stage and in independent and Hollywood movies, was not a household name when he was picked to play Fleming\u2019s approved British government assassin. I know that Broccoli knew of Craig\u2019s theater history but it wasn\u2019t until she saw Matthew Vaughn\u2019s\u00a0Layer Cake\u00a0that she became convinced that Craig should be cast for\u00a0Casino Royale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBritish actors in their mid twenties to early thirties, with stellar acting chops, who fit the Bond mould, are going to be under an intense spotlight for the next twelve months. Bond\u2026James Bond is somewhere out there.<\/p>\n

\n\tOur sources indicate that the film will be released in 2028 with filming due to take place in 2027. There\u2019s a lot of talk about the movie premiering in the November slot favoured by past Bond movies.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the way, just because Bond will be British, it doesn\u2019t mean that other roles, such as the Bond foe and the actress leads, can\u2019t be performed by non-Brits, as has been the case for eons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE:\u00a0Denis Villeneuve will embark on the search for an actor to play the world\u2019s most famous fictional spy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[36916,36917,156,24973,409,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-40899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-amazon-mgm","9":"tag-denis-villeneuve","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-james-bond","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}