As the worldwide search continues for the next James Bond, the field of potential stars has taken a dramatic turn.
Speaking on Britain’s ITV’s morning show Lorraine on August 8, UK author and award-winning radio host Ross King delivered new details of exactly who producers were looking for.
The long-time Hollywood-based correspondent reckons the next 007 has to be aged in their 30s and stand at least 180cm tall.
Sadly, for many Bond fans, this rules out Superman’s Henry Cavill, 39, Luther’s Idris Elba, 49, and Mad Max‘s Tom Hardy, 44.
And the strict mandate also eliminates Outlander‘s Sam Heughan, 42, to play the iconic M16 spy.
So who’s in the running now?
Bridgerton‘s Regé-Jean Page, James Norton and Ross’s favourite, Irish actor and Poldark star Aidan Turner, are in, with Page coming in at second-shortest odds on Sportsbet this week behind Elba.
‘‘The latest rumour – and in some ways part of this is very much true – which is, basically, the Bond producers are looking for a younger Bond.
‘‘Someone probably in their 30s. At the end of the day they want someone who will be Bond for the next three movies.
‘‘For the franchise, they want someone who will carry it through the same way Daniel Craig did it.’’
He went on: “The other thing they’re saying is they have to be taller than 5’10”.
However, at a star-studded Bond love fest recently to honour Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and her brother Michael G Wilson for British Film Institute fellowships, there were no hints on who would play Bond.
There was a carrot – a timeline for Bond26.
“Nobody’s in the running,” Ms Broccoli disclosed to Deadline at Claridge’s Hotel.
“We’re working out where to go with him. We’re talking that through.
‘‘There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond.
‘‘We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time.
‘‘I’d say that filming is at least two years away.”
Bond regulars Ralph Fiennes, who plays spy chief M, and Naomie Harris who plays Miss Moneypenny, presented the awards in front of an audience of many filmmakers, movie and theatre executives with long associations to the Bond franchise.
Fiennes described Broccoli and Wilson as “exemplars of film producers and filmmakers” and praised their “transcendent tenacity”, Deadline reported.
Noting that the two producers “killed Bond” – Daniel Craig was in the past five films – in No Time To Die, Fiennes joked that “Naomie and I are the people to fix it’’.
Tweet from @regejean
‘You find him and we’ll train him’: Fiennes
Fiennes told the gathering: ‘‘You find him and we’ll train him.’’
Hot off his starring role in action thriller The Gray Man, Page could be a great James Bond, according to the Russo Brothers, who directed him in the latest Netflix film.
Let’s look at his vitals.
He’s British, 34 years old, is 183cm tall and is a relative newcomer to Hollywood with just a handle of blockbuster projects under his belt.
He’s no longer part of the Bridgerton cast that made him famous (he was only in season one), and, according to IMDb, is set to star in fantasy adventure Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves with Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez.
‘‘I want to break down the boundaries of what is considered normal, and do away with labels – gay, straight, brown, white,’’ he has said.
In an interview with the UK’s Radio Times, the Russos were asked about rumours linking Page to Bond.
Joe Russo said: “He’s fantastic. I mean, he has more charisma in his pinky than most people do in their entire body. So you know, we’d watch him do anything – I mean we’d watch him read the phonebook!”
“[He’s a] very savvy performer and [has] so much charm,” added Anthony Russo.
Aidan Turner’s four-year stint playing hero (and sex symbol) Captain Ross Poldark in the BBC adaptation is the highlight so far of his career.
He’s a cool 39 years old and is 183cm tall.
He grew up a shy child from Dublin, competed internationally in ballroom dancing, and as his confidence grew, so did the roles including playing a vampire, a Renaissance painter and landing on the set of The Hobbit trilogy for Peter Jackson in New Zealand before his Poldark journey.
He’s about to star in an ITV thriller – he plays a psychologist – called The Suspect, and tells The Times it’s a ‘‘very grown-up role’’.
‘‘It doesn’t feel cookie-cutter and that’s where I’m trying to go now with things, roles where there’s more layers and it’s more complicated and more dense. It just feels right,’’ he said.
And we all know Bond is layered. Very layered.
In a July 30 short Q&A with The Guardian, Norton disclosed a few fun facts that make him a frontrunner.
The London-born star of Little Women, Norton, 37, studied the Russian martial art and health system Systema for his role in McMafia and has had a solid history on the stage in London’s West End and at the University of Cambridge.
He was cast in Netflix’s Rogue Agent (2022) and the 2019 TV series The Trial of Christine Keeler, and hasn’t been a Marvel superhero.
He’s 185cm tall.
He says he carries insulin and sugar with him all the time as he’s a diabetic, and when asked what scares him about getting older, he replied: ‘‘Not being ready to die.’’
