“He isn’t some kid out of high school that you can bring in and start off,” Michael G. Wilson said, noting a “30-something” actor will take over.
The next 007 will decidedly be a “veteran” of the spy game, according to longtime James Bond producer Michael G. Wilson.
During an “In Conversation” event at the British Film Institute to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the character, Wilson revealed that any younger actors who have been rumored to be in the mix to take over the role, like Jacob Elordi and Tom Holland, are not in the running to play the famed MI6 agent.
“We’ve tried looking at younger people in the past,” Wilson said, via Deadline. “But trying to visualize it doesn’t work. Remember, Bond’s already a veteran. He’s had some experience. He’s a person who has been through the wars, so to speak. He’s probably been in the SAS or something. He isn’t some kid out of high school that you can bring in and start off. That’s why it works for a 30-something.”
While debates over who will play Bond next after Daniel Craig’s turn concluded, Idris Elba shot down rumors he was on the shortlist. Regé-Jean Page and Tom Hardy have also been rumored to be discussed. However, the next Bond film is at least two years away.
Producer Wilson shared that every Bond has to audition using a scene from “From Russia With Love,” the 1963 installment starring Sean Connery. The sequence includes Connery’s Bond confronting Soviet military member Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) when she is in his bed, wearing only a choker necklace.
“We always use the same scene, and that’s the one in ‘From Russia With Love’ where Bond comes back to his room after the assassination, and he starts taking off his shirt, goes into the room to bathe. Then he hears something, takes his gun, goes in and the girl’s in the bed,” Wilson said. “That was the test we use. Anyone who can bring that scene off is right for Bond. It’s tough to do.”
And despite the Amazon buyout of MGM, Wilson assured fans that there will “always be a Bond” no matter what.
“It’s a whole new world. We’ve got to see what happens with Amazon,” Wilson said. “But there’ll always be a Bond.”
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