Following the departure of Danny Boyle over the dreaded and mysterious “creative differences,” Bond 25 is without a director. It may also be without a villain. Said Taghmaoui, who played Sameer in Wonder Woman and Caesar on Lost, told the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National that he’s “supposed to do the next James Bond, playing the lead bad guy.” He was cast by Boyle, but “now [he’s] left the project, so of course there’s some uncertainty…”
Taghmaoui then expanded on the villainous role, which in the Daniel Craig-era has been played by heavyweights like Mads Mikkelsen, Javier Bardem, and Christoph Waltz. “We don’t know who the director will be, and the producers don’t know if they’re going to go Russian or Middle East with the baddie right now,” he said. “I literally just received a message saying: ‘If they go Middle East, it’s you. If they go Russian, it’s someone else.’ It’s the story of my life. Always on that line between something that could change my life and something that disappears.” (Taghmaoui was born in France, but lives in the United States.)
Taghmaoui said he was aware that having an Arab villain could be seen as a “big cliché” but that it hadn’t been a concern for him with the Bond movie. “If you knew how many movies I refuse because of my conscience, honestly. There is a lot of cliché and stereotyping, and you always have to try to be real – at least that’s what I try to do,” he said. “There’s always a danger, but there are also always people with good intentions and people with bad intentions. Artistically it’s great to play bad guys, but you have to watch out for the cliché and the propaganda.” (Via)
Bond 25 is still scheduled to come out fall 2019, assuming it finds a new director (there are some intriguing names being considered) and villain. Here’s a suggestion: bring back Christopher Walken’s character from A View to Kill. It doesn’t matter that he died; that will make everyone happy!
(Via Variety)
