As we mentioned yesterday during his revival of the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, Hugh Jackman is now adding himself to the dog pile of actors that seem to be on some secret list connected to possibly playing James Bond. We’ve seen degenerate gamblers pick Tom Hardy and the public seems keen on Idris Elba (even if he is too street), but now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Jackman says the role was offered to him back when he was still in X-Men mode, and he’s still interested:
“At the time, I was just about to do X-Men 2, and I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t think it’s the right time,’ ” said Jackman, who soon can be seen in the final Wolverine film, set for a 2017 release.
But Jackman, 46, still remains open to the idea of donning the iconic spy character’s tux.
“I’d seriously consider it,” he said of playing 007.
Has anybody asked what Daniel Craig thinks about all of this? Oh they have. Well maybe this is all just part of the promotional cycle of Spectre? Not that it needs it, since we’re talking James Bond and all.
Jackman would be the second Australian Bond, the first being George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service — arguably the best James Bond movie out there. Lazenby famously shunned the film series after just the one feature, so Jackman could certainly pop in to give Australia a Bond with a little bit of a longer tenure. The doubtful part is that Jackman is the same age as Daniel Craig. That could pose an issue.
The obvious solution here is to finally do what should’ve been done long ago, and just go ahead and reveal that James Bond is a code name for spies around the globe. Then just bring them all in and create a Bond team-up, then place them against Jason Bourne and Aaron Cross from the Bourne films and go to town, leaving just one standing at the end to go on as Bond. Part of that idea sounds pretty cool.
I still put my money on Idris Elba finally getting a chance to play the role at some point, but I do like Jackman. He could bring some of that fun back to the role in a good way.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
