![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/James-Bond-007-Gun-Barrel-Opening-General-Character-2025-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n
Mon 29 September 2025 17:45, UK <\/p>\n
With the exception of George Lazenby, a failed experiment that will never be replicated for obvious reasons, the bare minimum requirement to play James Bond<\/a> is to be a professional actor. And yet, the net was once cast so wide that a sheep farmer almost ended up with the job.<\/p>\n Once Lazenby\u2019s one-and-done outing in On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service saw him depart one of cinema\u2019s most coveted roles, which led to him being branded a \u201cprize shit\u201d by no less of an authority<\/a> than Sean Connery, the producers of the 007 series were scrambling to find a replacement.<\/p>\n After all, the Bond machine had become so well-oiled and lucrative that nobody wanted to hit pause on one of Hollywood\u2019s most reliable money-spinners, leading to an extensive and exhaustive casting search that included non-actors, Americans, and, in the case of Roger Green, sheep farmers.<\/p>\n The New Zealand native and former rugby player had relocated to London in the 1960s in the hopes of carving out an onscreen career, but his credits amounted to a minor role in Sergei Bondarchuk\u2019s 1970 historical epic, Waterloo, and a filmed play broadcast on the BBC, which was still enough to get him in the room with Eon Productions\u2019 casting director.<\/p>\n \u201cI proceeded to try and impress him with my acting ability by embellishing my very small acting CV,\u201d he recalled<\/a>. \u201cI was well relieved when Cubby Broccoli said, \u2018We are not so concerned with your acting ability. We\u2019re more interested in how athletic you are.’\u201d As an ex-rugby player, Green admitted it was \u201cmusic to my ears\u201d that his inexperience didn\u2019t matter, and it stood him in good stead for Bond.<\/p>\n His next meeting saw him surrounded by the franchise\u2019s biggest players; Broccoli, fellow producer Harry Saltzman, and regular 007 director, Guy Hamilton. \u201cThey asked me if I felt I could do this role,\u201d Green added. \u201cOf course, I said yes. They then handed me the script of the forthcoming screen test.\u201d<\/p>\n Once he\u2019d carried out the screen test, the filmmaker put a word in his ear: \u201cThe audition ended with Guy Hamilton saying, \u2018I want to tell you, you have a great chance of getting this part. We will get back in touch with your agent. For this sheep farmer on extended holiday in the UK, this was certainly an event to cause me to walk on air for the next three months.\u201d<\/p>\n Having been burned by hiring Lazenby, a model by trade who\u2019d only appeared in commercials before landing Bond, Green\u2019s chances weren\u2019t great from the outside looking in. That said, Broccoli was willing to throw anything and everything at the wall to see who or what would stick in an attempt to find the one-time leading man\u2019s replacement, until it became clear that Connery could be tempted to return<\/a> for Diamonds Are Forever.<\/p>\n Once the original vintage acknowledged that he could be lured back into the fold, with a giant pile of money the main motivator, any chances of a sheep farmer being cast as the iconic operative went up in flames.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Mon 29 September 2025 17:45, UK With the exception of George Lazenby,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,5453,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-178390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-james-bond","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}