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Never say never again....until they kill you ;)
I presume Cavill got to that stage based on his GE reading. Alex O'Loughlin talked about going to London and doing proper screen-tests with costumes. I think Goran Visnjic did too I believe but was rejected because he couldn't do the accent. The latter two may or may not have done those early line readings though (Craig didn't).
Probably a fair few did proper screen-tests. But some may have only been on a list (I think David Tennant talked about discovering years later that he was supposedly on some sort of 'shortlist' for Bond, but had no idea).
EDIT: had a quick look online when looking up stuff for this post and found this archived from September 2005, a month before Craig was cast! It's quite funny in hindsight all the doom and gloom with the film supposedly in crisis. Some panicking that a Moneypenny hasn't been cast yet is quite funny too. Same for Campbell supposedly wanting a 'complete unknown'! It's an interesting insight into the run up to Craig's casting though, and for fans there was obviously a clear sense he was being considered, even though there's a lot of ignorance about everything in hindsight. https://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/25092-more-screentests-planned-for-new-007/
Some things never change ;) It's funny knowing just how wrong we can be though and what information we actually get. Here are my favourite quotes:
Oh and here's what some supposedly thought of the rumoured final candidates (including Craig), if we're worrying about the lack of good options for Bond now:
And as a final one to round it off, for anyone disappointed by a lack of information on this Bond film or convinced they'll be disappointed, just know these things have always been a source of existential worry/gloom for fans, and often the subject of long posts. Here's some poor chap in a tizzy a month before CR's official press conference, and a matter of months before it started shooting.
I don't happen to think any of those users are stupid incidentally, funny as some of those quotes are. They're just talking about something they don't have first hand knowledge of, and often they're reacting to tabloid rumours or things that turn out to be half true or simplified. They're talking about a film they have no real concept of either. Add to that all their worries, frustrations, and preferences for this franchise, and this is the sort of dialogue we get - people confidently claiming stuff which turns out to be comically wrong, or outright worrying about something beyond their control, and that which they don’t have a full understanding of anyway. It'll be exactly the same this time round. Many of us will fret over who are reported to be candidates for the role, or worry about a lack of information coming out about the script. Hell, that's already what's happened! Some things never change!
Lately I wonder where the franchise would've gone had someone else played Bond in CR.
Would there have been more films since '06? Would Bond still have been killed off?
All just speculation on my part.
A good question @ToTheRight
Would Henry Cavill have been cast had Craig turned the role down?
I suppose in an alternate universe, the tenure of the actor would’ve been very different.
Would there have been fewer films? Would the audience have lost interest without a popular lead actor? Hard to say.
Other interesting names in that list: Henderson, Scott, Urban.
I think he would have been in that scenario.
For what it's worth I can't imagine Henry Cavill having quite the same impact in the role or doing what Craig did, but he's obviously gone on to find fame in his own right, so I don't think he would have been a disaster or anything. I think the franchise was fortunate to get the right lead though.
I've seen many of his films, and Cavill never seems like he really digs into roles, instead skating along on his (admittedly very pretty) surface.
With Cavill, I think we would have seen something more akin to GE-DAD (a fun first film and then an abrupt dropoff) than CR-NTTD.
As I've said, I can always feel he's "acting" and contemplating every word before it's spoken...
I mean, who knows? Perhaps a Cavill era would have lucked out with a director who would have been able to play to his strengths and give us something great. But it's pure speculation. I agree he's not a stellar actor. Charismatic and not a bad one, but a rather limited one unfortunately.
Like someone else just said, James Purefoy was another name mentioned sometimes by fans, as was Jack Davenport. Jeremy Northam and Ioan Gruffudd were a couple names that would be thrown around from time to time. And Jason Isaacs of course, though most fans dismissed him due to his hairline. Richard Armitage is a name brough up a lot in hindsight, though I don't really remember anyone bringing him up back in 2005. He must have been too unknown. Oh yeah, I remember seeing Wentworth Miller's name as well. And of course some names that most fans didn't take seriously, like Rupert Everett, Robbie Williams, Jude Law, etc.
Edit: I also remember Matthew Goode's name being mentioned, though fans thought he was too young and could be a candidate for the Bond after Craig. Though now he'd be considered too old at 47, lol.
Fans mentioned those yes, but that list is apparently actors who Eon actively looked at/tested etc. and were actually interested in. There probably were more though, yes.
I've heard of Jason Isaacs as well, although I don't know how serious the rumours were about him. Or James Purefoy.
There's that funny story of Brosnan meeting Tarantino where the two got drunk and Tarantino started banging the table. When Brosnan went back to EON and asked the producers if they'd consider him directing a Bond film they said no. Probably best to be completely honest!
Anyway, as it's the last month of the year, and potentially about one year or so away from getting a new James Bond, I'll do a little round up of potentials who I believe will be considered or asked to audition. Who knows, one of them might even get the role.
To be clear I understand some of these could be comedically wrong in hindsight, and I'm sure I'll miss many, perhaps even the actor who eventually gets the role! For the record, I don't necessarily like all of these actors or believe they'll get the role (although most of them I do rate highly, and a few of them I'd personally love to see play Bond). Some may only ever be names on a list rather than those brought in for whatever reason. But I can imagine all will have been discussed or will be approached.
My suspicion at the moment is that a lot of what we're hearing is second hand and made up of half truths - ie. all this stuff about Villeneuve wanting a complete unknown actor. I also don't believe it's some two horse race between Harris Dickinson and Jacob Elordi, but I do think both actors will have been discussed as options. I believe in practice they'll explore a range of options when they get to the process of casting/finalising the script. Anyway...
Callum Turner
Solly McLeod
Archie Renaux
Harris Dickinson
Leo Suter
Ben Radcliffe
Jacob Elordi
Sope Dirisu
Jamie Flatters
So yeah, hypothetically that's what a group of Bond contenders could look like.
I presume from the anecdote he started pounding the table with his fist :)) The latter could have been a bit of a faux pas on Tarantino's part when trying to get pitch for a new job... dependent on the job anyway...
Of the lot above, Suter and Radcliffe would be my top two.
Solly McLeod's a lesser known who's cropped up again recently for me. Deke originally mentioned him here, but I've seen him in The Dead Don't Hurt, Tom Jones, and some short films, and would be really interested if he were a name in the mix. I'm otherwise a fan of Callum Turner and Sope Dirisu.
I will stress the point of that list isn't to say any one of them will be the next Bond or could be great in the role. I personally think Leo Suter would be very lacklustre and is a rather limited actor for Bond, but if I were a casting I'd audition him. If he impressed I'd be happy. They're just potentials. It's all about how they do in that context.
Plenty of potentials though. I don't think there's any less options out there than there was in 2005 (honestly, some of those '05 actors would only go on to do great stuff in hindsight anyway, and that's always the case).
He does have a certain something to him. Get him in a barber’s chair then down to Savile Row..,