“Who would you choose as the next James Bond?”
This question was posed this week by Amazon's head, Jeff Bezos, on the platform X (formerly known as Twitter), where he has nearly 7 million followers.
He now holds the final say on which actor (or actress?) will have the fortune of replacing Daniel Craig as the legendary “Agent 007” on the big screen.
Along with his question, Bezos included a screenshot of a BBC news article regarding the transfer of creative control over the famous spy film franchise to his company.
Now, the decision on who will play the lead role in the next Bond film rests with the board of directors of the Amazon MGM Studios media holding.
Let’s delve into the direction of this process and see who stands the best chance at embodying the legendary “Agent 007.”
The audience favorite, according to responses to Bezos's online poll, is British actor Henry Cavill, known for his role as Superman.
Cavill, who has already stated he “would love to play Bond,” was a major contender against Daniel Craig nearly 20 years ago during the casting for the film “Casino Royale.”
Since then, five installments of the franchise featuring Craig in the lead role have been released.
At the end of last year, the director of the upcoming Bond installment, Martin Campbell, mentioned that Cavill’s auditions were outstanding, and “Henry would make a great Bond — if Daniel didn’t exist.”
The only obstacle to casting him was one issue: “He just looked too young at that time.”
The idea of portraying such a young Bond was categorically rejected by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who have been behind the franchise for decades.
“Don’t forget that Bond is a veteran of the intelligence services with quite a bit of experience,” Wilson reminded viewers in 2022. “A man, so to speak, who has been through the war.”
It’s important to remember that Amazon’s choice may differ from the opinions of moviegoers.
Ironically, 41-year-old Cavill may already be considered too old for the role of a secret agent — especially if the contract is signed for multiple installments of the franchise rather than just one.
The second to fourth places in Bezos’s poll went to Tom Hardy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Idris Elba, respectively.
Rumor has it that 34-year-old Taylor-Johnson, known for his roles in “Kick-Ass” and “Kraven the Hunter,” was already considered by producers as a candidate for the role of Bond, but no statements have emerged from them.
The film “Kraven,” released last year, flopped at the box office, which likely doesn’t increase Taylor-Johnson’s chances of landing the coveted role.
Meanwhile, bookmakers had been considering 39-year-old James Norton, known to Russian audiences for his role as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in the 2016 BBC television adaptation of “War and Peace,” as the main favorite as of last Friday.
Last weekend, while speaking at the Bafta awards ceremony, Norton described all discussions regarding his potential involvement in the Bond franchise as “rather strange and disheartening, yet at the same time amusing.”