Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, Gillian Anderson – those are probably the biggest names that have been mentioned as potential replacements for Daniel Craig in the James Bond franchise. Sure, Anderson was more of a tongue-in-cheek candidate, but she now has an army of supporters, so we’ll take it seriously. Most recently, even as Hiddleston has emerged as the lead candidate, it was revealed that Jamie Bell met with producer Barbara Broccoli about playing the world’s greatest gentlemen spy, and that picked up steam when combined with the news that Craig is in final talks to join Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky.
Basically, unless this is just one massive PR stunt of a con job, Craig is absolutely done, leaving an alleged $100 million on the table, and now it’s time for someone to take over for the 25th installment of the Bond franchise. How about Preacher and Warcraft star Dominic Cooper? After all, he already played Bond-creator Ian Fleming in the excellent miniseries Fleming, so why couldn’t he step into the tuxedo next? As he told Huffington Post UK, he’s certainly interested.
“It needs to be different,” says Dominic of the next incarnation.
“They’ve been so brilliant, the Broccolis, at changing the idea each time… blonde Bond last time… and so clever at adapting the franchise, keeping it fresh, that whatever they do, it’ll be a different and distinct interpretation.”
And is Dominic different enough? “Yeah, I could do it…” he begins, before the fire alarm goes off in the hotel where we’re chatting.
“That’s a sign,” he shouts over the din. “Imagine if I went into full 007 mode now? Dinner jacket, gun. We could abseil down the building.” (Via HuffPo UK)
It’s pretty funny that Cooper considers a blonde Bond a “brilliant” change for the franchise, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Cooper is a proven on-screen ass-kicker. Look no further than the bar room beatdown he issued in the first episode of Preacher. Imagine that for two hours, with some PG-13 lovemaking mixed in. Cooper could certainly get people buzzing.
Of course, there’s still that other lingering issue of Bond 25 not having a distributor, three months after producers expected to have a deal done. But hey, that’s not nearly as fun as speculating over who will star in the movie with no “workable script.”
