\n
\n
\n
![\"Roger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/intro-1764783136.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
MGM<\/p>\n
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.<\/p>\n
If one were to make a Mount Rushmore of cinematic icons from movie franchises, there’s a decent chance James Bond would make it onto that monument. As for which portrayal of Bond it would be? That’s another conversation entirely, but every actor who has ever played the part has gained some level of immortality. George Lazenby played 007 just once in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,”<\/a> but will always be remembered. So an actor missing out on the chance to fill those shoes is a big deal. That’s precisely what happened to James Brolin in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n Brolin was coming off of the massive hit that was “The Amityville Horror.”<\/a> Meanwhile, “James Bond” franchise producers Cubby Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were gearing up to make “Octopussy,” the 13th movie in the long-running spy franchise that began with “Dr. No” in 1962. In the early ’80s, Roger Moore had been suiting up as Bond, dating back to “Live and Let Die.” The only problem? He wasn’t intending to return to the role. So, the producers looked to replace him, and Brolin was on the list.<\/p>\n In a July 2025 interview with People<\/a>, Brolin reflected on his very brief flirtation with becoming Bond, which itself was unique given that he is an American actor and Bond is decidedly British. As Brolin recalled:<\/p>\n “He was out, so I flew over and I met all the people. And I got my apartment and I started working with the stuntmen and Cubby Broccoli hired me. We hadn’t signed any papers yet. I got back to L.A. to get my stuff because I was going to be gone for a year. And I got a call saying Roger decided to do one more, and I was out.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Roger Moore changed his mind about retiring as Bond<\/p>\n
MGM<\/p>\n Brolin even screentested for the role, which you can watch online<\/a>. Aside from Brolin, Michael Billington also screen tested with Maud Adams, who played the titular Octopussy in the film. “It was an excellent test,” dirctor John Glen said of Brolin’s on-camera try-out in the making-of documentary “Inside Octopussy.”<\/a><\/p>\n But how did we get to a point where an American actor like Brolin was being considered for the role in the first place? It goes back to Moore’s contract, which was originally for three pictures, “Live and Let Die,” “The Man with the Golden Gun,” and “The Spy Who Loved Me,” a high point in the series<\/a>. After that, Moore was negotiating one movie at a time.<\/p>\n Moore did both “Moonraker” and “For Your Eyes Only” on one-picture deals. For a time, it genuinely looked like “For Your Eyes Only” would be his final outing as 007. But through some combination of backroom negotiations and semi-public searches for a replacement, things changed.<\/p>\n “It was like a continuing game between Cubby [Broccoli], Roger, and presumably MGM, all about negotiations,” Glen said in “Inside Octopussy.” But those negotiations eventually broke Moore’s way once more. “In the end, Cubby really instinctively didn’t really want to use an American playing Bond,” Glen added.<\/p>\n Though “Octopussy” isn’t exactly considered one of the best “James Bond” movies<\/a>, it was a big success and out-grossed the rival “Bond” movie “Never Say Never Again,” which brought Sean Connery back as 007. The dual Bonds were the result of a complex legal issue<\/a>, but thanks in no small part to Moore’s return, MGM came out on top. Unfortunately for Brolin, that came at the expense of his date with destiny.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n ![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/roger-moore-changed-his-mind-about-retiring-as-bond-1764783137.jpg\")
<\/p>\n