No Time To Die producer Michael G. Wilson recently talked about a quite elaborate debate that has been around since the very establishment of the Bond character.
He finally addressed and put a lid on the suggestion why James Bond’s character would never be played by a young actor.
Since the very beginning, there have been many James Bonds, and more or less, the one similarity between them has to be above a certain age.
They are atleast never have been young James Bond, even perhaps in early 30s except the very first few ones.
The first James Bond was when Dr. No was released in 1962 played by Sean Connery, shown at the age of 32, then he was 33 in 1963’s Blofeld debut From Russia With Love, 34 in Goldfinger, 35 when Thunderball released and finally 37 in You Only Live Twice in 1967.
But even the beginning age as early 30s, merely for a few films, is not what you would call the “younger” version of James Bond.
And then after that, every new James Bond was adding more years to the cast who played the super spy role.
This includes actors like George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and finally the current and retiring Bond actor Daniel Craig.
Before we get into what explanation the producer of the recently released James Bond movie No Time To Die addressed on the idea of a younger 007 version, you woud like to know that the actor who played Bond for longest is tied between Sean Connerya and Roger Moore with seven movies each.
However, since Sean Connery’s last Bond movie Never Say Never Again was an unofficial Bond film, officially Moore seems to be the longest-running James Bond actor.
So, producer Michael G. Wilson who along with his sister Barbara Broccoli, the head of Eon Productions co-owns the company that presently has rights to the entire Bond franchise.
It came down from their father and producer Albert R. Broccoli’s company produced the first James Bond film in the 1960s and was the key player to bring this franchise alive on the big screen.
The character James Bond is a literary character, created by an English author Ian Fleming in the 1950s, and as shared was played by numerous actors over the years.
Finally with Daniel Craig, saying goodbye to this character and officially stepping down from the role opens up all new possibilities.
Even though, one of prolonged expectations of the fans to see a younger James Bond could hav a space here to explore, as franchise soon will be searching for new actor to play 007, the producer clarified about not going to have a younger Bond version.
He was talking to Deadline and sharing the casting process, in an event “In Conversation” celebrating the 60 glorious years of James Bond in the British Film Insitute of London.
Here’s what William shared about why a younger actor or younger James Bond version won’t work:
”We’ve tried looking at younger people in the past. 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 thirty-something.”
And it is actually a big ‘NO’ as we are not going to see a younger Bond version anytime soon for sure.
Wilson did sometime ago, hinted about a complete re-invention of James Bond’s character, perhaps to make it more according to today’s day and age.
To begin with, James Bond is known to have a signature womanizing tendencies which is not very suitable as for today’s age, and offensive as well. And there has been much more criticism regarding that in recent Bond movies.
On other hand, Bond fans do not want to move too far from the actual source, the books, whereas there is the idea to make him more approachable and universal, focusing on a larger aspect of him.
Perhaps, there could be a version of Bond, who could be a female, or different ethnicity or other changes as well.
The producer did accept all these but according to him, the very idea of altering the authenticity of the character is not unfathomable.
It has already been a challenge to alter the James Bond character with modern values and sensitivities without disturbing its traditional authenticity.
The producer saying that younger actors won’t be bringing the experience and maturity of James Bond characters is quite apt.
Because the character does require some gravitas to him, and that can be only accessed by an older actor.
And about the replacement of the actor Daniel Craig, the Brocoli shared to EW that they haven’t even begun searching.
She said “We haven’t begun the hunt”. We’re going to be sort of sitting down and trying to figure out where the Bond series is going to go, and we need to do that first, to get a sense of that, before we start casting for the role. So, we’ll start thinking about that sometime next year.”
When asked whether a prospective actor for a potential Bond role should expect a call or not, she answered “Not so much, no.No one should be waiting by the phone yet”.
Featured Image Source: CNBC