Aaron Taylor-Johnson
The Sun, the U.K. tabloid, which has floated various possibilities for actors to play James Bond, caused a stir this week when the tabloid claimed Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been offered the part.
But there are reasons to be cautious.
Director? The original story in The Sun made no mention of a director. Some previous Bond films (Peter Hunt with On Her Majesty's Secret Service, John Glen with The Living Daylights, Martin Campbell with GoldenEye and Casino Royale) were onboard before a Bond actor was cast.
There has been no confirmed director for Bond 26.
Script? The very first Eon Productions 007 script was Richard Maibaum's 1961 draft of Thunderball before Eon changed gears to Dr. No (because of Thunderball legal issues). That draft was written *before* Sean Connery was cast as Bond. Maibaum's description of Bond was taken directly from Ian Fleming.
The Sun's story this week says a script is being written, suggesting there isn't an actual script at this point.
Dynamics of making a Bond movie: The SpyHards podcast had a recent interview with Jeff Kleeman, a studio executive who worked on the first three Pierce Brosnan Bond movies. He said, from the studio perspective, you had to pursue lining up a Bond actor, a script *and* a director. Without getting all three lined up, it's hard to get a Bond movie made.
Dynamics (Part II): Eon Productions can't get a Bond movie made without the studio (now the Amazon-owned MGM). Amazon-owned MGM can't make a Bond movie without Eon. It's an unusual dynamic that doesn't apply to most movie franchises.
The Sun has been all over the place since mid-2022: The Sun has a shaky reputation and its Bond "reporting" from 2022 to the present isn't something to crow about.
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