In “No Time to Die,” Billie Eilish’s stirring song for the James Bond film of the same name, she sings, “Was it obvious to everybody else? / That I’d fallen for a lie.” That’s how I feel about the rumor that Rami Malek’s Safin is actually iconic 007 villain Dr. No — played by Joseph Wiseman in the very first Bond film — in No Time to Die. I don’t want to fall for the lie; then again, it’s not as if Malek is shooting down the theory entirely.
The Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody star was asked by Esquire whether, in a Finkle is Einhorn-esque twist, Safin is Dr. No. The evidence is, I mean, it’s kinda there, I guess? They’re both in movies with “No” in the title and he’s wearing a “Noh” mask. After confessing that he has “to be extremely careful” and “can’t really talk about the character,” Malek admitted that he’s heard the theory — and then he got cagey. “Am I? I mean, isn’t that an exciting thing to consider all the way up to the release?” he asked, only adding that “there is a resurgence of an Ian Fleming influence” in No Time to Die.
[Daniel] Craig will go only so far as to say of Malek’s turn, “He’s a very complex human being, he played a very complex part, and it was just fabulous to watch.”
There’s gonna be egg on our face when it turns out Safin is Khan.
No Time to Die opens on April 10.
(Via Esquire)
