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Amazon MGM Studios (still can't get used to that name) is setting its final auditions for the actor to play James Bond in the 26th official film in the 60-year history of the franchise. (The official list does not include the 1967 Peter Sellers spoof, Casino Royale, or the 1983 Sean Connery comeback vehicle, Never Say Never Again, which were produced by different companies.)
The studio will be giving screen tests to three actors over the next week to 10 days. The finalists are Jack Lowden, Callum Turner and Josh O’Connor. Each of them has a Hollywood pedigree, of sorts. I wouldn't know. I have never heard of any of them. I trust that they will be appropriately woke and properly castrated.
Critics have complained that none of the actors who played James Bond was "true" to Ian Fleming's immortal character in his novels. That Bond is hardly a subject for a feature film. He was so British that he would have put off audiences around the world.
Fleming didn't envision a conventional, polished movie star; he wanted a man with "dark, rather cruel good looks" who looked like a hardened, lethal government operative rather than a model, a "bureaucrat with a gun," as Fleming envisioned him. While that description captures the gritty, workaday reality of a Cold War intelligence officer, it's also a phrase famously used by biographers and critics (and echoed by authors like John le Carré) to describe how unglamorous and grounded Fleming's original spy was meant to be compared to the cinematic loverboy he later became.
Women on the street barely gave him a second look. But damsels in distress fell for him immediately. He had "something cold and ruthless" that made women confident everything would be all right, even though the situation was deadly. He had a scar on his cheek and a curl in his lip that made his appearance dangerous, which Fleming believed was like catnip to some women.
Of all the previous Bonds, some of that description fit Pierce Brosnan. His ease with killing and ruthlessness with allies and enemies alike were closer to the Bond in the books that I read in high school than any of the other actors. Besides, if you liked Sean Connery as Bond, Brosnan came close to capturing the suave sophistication that made Connery believable whether in a tux or a Japanese kimono.
The film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (new Dune, Blade Runner 2049) and produced by Amy Pascal and David Heyman. Pascal has produced some of the Spider-Man films as well as the Venom trilogy. Heyman produced all eight Harry Potter films as well as the George Clooney vehicle, Gravity. But Heyman also produced the execrable Barbie, while Pascal produced the Ghostbusters reboot. Both films were seriously flawed and chock-full of wokiness. I can't imagine either of them producing a Bond film with any good old-fashioned toxic masculinity.
According to several sources, Callum Turner, who recently starred in the rom-com One Night Only, and Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden are said to be in the mix for the screen tests, which are taking place in London this weekend. They could begin as early as Friday, according to two sources.
It is unclear who else may be testing. Sources said at least three actors are part of the action but another source says up to five may be putting on the tux to see how it fits. Jack O’Connell (Sinners) was rumored to initially be in the mix, but that is apparently not the case, according to sources. And despite some reports, Euphoria and Frankenstein star Jacob Elordi is not testing.
Amazon had no comment and pointed to its previous statement, which said, “The search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.”
Josh O'Connor is the least objectionable of the three being tested. "O’Connor has the requisite presence, mystery, and effeminacy for this role," as UnHerd's 20-something editorial assistant, Cosmo Adair (yeah, I know), claims.
Eek.
I will wait until the new Bond film hits one of my premium streamers rather than waste money going to the theater to see it.
Besides, at home, no one will see me crying over how far this franchise has fallen.
English (US) ·