The search for a new James Bond is still under way, though it’s clear no one’s in a rush: After all, Daniel Craig wrapped his last day as 007 nearly four years ago. Could it be Aaron Taylor-Johnson, or will he be too busy playing Kraven the Hunter? (Whatever happens, sorry, it won’t be Idris Elba.) But what if Craig never got the gig? What if it went to the guy who went on to play Superman for a spell? Turns out that could have happened.
In an interview with The Daily Express (as caught by Deadline), director Martin Campbell, who helmed the game-changing reboot Casino Royale (as well as another Bond revivial, Goldeneye), said that one of the better candidates to replace Pierce Brosnan was no less than Henry Cavill.
“And look, if Daniel didn’t exist, Henry would have made an excellent Bond,” Campbell said. “He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape…very handsome, very chiseled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”
Indeed, Cavill at the time was a very green 22. Craig, meanwhile, was 38.
Campbell explained that age really is a factor when it comes to taking on England’s most famous fictional spy. Oddly, Craig, he argued, was a bit too old when he got the gig.
“By the time Daniel got to [No Time To Die], really he was at an age where one more would have been too old for him,” Campbell explained. I know with Pierce, he had to sign on to three when we did him. So that’s going to take, what, six years of your life maybe? I suspect Daniel [had] the same deal. And the next guy’s going to have to do that.”
Campbell also said that Cavill, who’s now 40, is definitely too old for the role “Henry’s 40, so by the time he’s done the third one he’s going to be 50 and anything beyond that’s two, three years per Bond,” Campbell said. “He’s in good shape Henry, he’s a good guy. He did very well in the audition, but ironically he was too young.”
At least Cavill got to play a dashing spy later on: Napoleon Solo, one of the heroes of Guy Ritchie’s delightful film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(Via The Daily Express and Deadline)
