For years, James Bond casting rumors have been a constant. It seems like every actor with a British accent and a striking visage has been whispered about as Daniel Craig’s eventual replacement, but what if the criteria was loosened up a bit, and producers entertained the notion of bringing an American actor aboard to play the iconic UK spy? Sacrilege? Perhaps, but the idea has apparently been floated before, and the names attached to those rumors are as shocking as they are intriguing… well, some of them, at least. In honor of what would have been author and Bond creator Ian Fleming’s 107th birthday, we present a list of actors who nearly put a little mesquite American flavor dust all up in the Bond franchise, and who likely would have made Fleming’s head spin.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood could have followed Sean Connery as James Bond, but decided to turn down Broccoli’s substantial offer because, as he told the L.A. Times in 2010, “It didn’t feel right.” While that may have been a wise decision, it’s still fun to ponder how the franchise could have changed with Eastwood in the lead role (sweater vests?) and how his career would have changed had he played Bond. Maybe, all of a sudden, Eastwood is too much of a hot sh*t to work with an orangutan in Every Which Way But Loose. Who wants to live in that timeline?
Dick Van Dyke
It’s hard to imagine the same Dick Van Dyke who famously tripped over a footstool in the opening credits to The Dick Van Dyke Show (don’t flee, I’m your age, I saw it in reruns!) smoothly ordering a martini as 007, but Bond producer Albert Broccoli apparently didn’t have that same issue and wanted the Mary Poppins star to play Bond. Van Dyke jokingly told Kevin Pollak during an episode of Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show that his offensively bad cockney accent derailed things once he reminded Broccoli what it sounded like, but I don’t buy it. I think Van Dyke wanted to go dark and gritty.
Adam West
The camp caped-crusader could have traded Robin for Q and the Batmobile for an Aston Martin, but he believed that James Bond should be British, according to reports. If those reports are true, then that’s mighty respectful of him, but being that West’s career has mostly been a series of nods and winks to his Batman TV series work, one wonders if he might reverse his view if given the chance to go back in time and do it all over again. Personally, I’d rather see him use his time travel skills to get a series order for Lookwell, but who are any of us to tell Adam West how to time travel?
Mel Gibson
Gibson is actually a natural-born American and not Australian or Scottish, but he’s also relatively short (5-foot-9), and that’s reportedly why he lost out on the chance to play James Bond in the late ’80s. Don’t cry for Mel, though: Lethal Weapon turned into its own mega-franchise, he continued to find success as an actor and director into the early aughts, and he recently appeared in the third Expendables film and Machete Kills. Not quite sure what happened in the middle there…
Burt Reynolds
First, let’s make ourselves comfortable in the notion that, at one point, Clint Eastwood, Adam West, and Burt Reynolds were all up for the role of James Bond. Second, lets imagine that Burt didn’t turn the role down because, as he told GQ (via Moviefone), he was worried about what people would think of him, but that he said no because producers wanted him to shave his mustache off. That’s a narrative I can get behind, even if it isn’t true.
