Apparently MI6 is recruiting, England needs a new Bond. After M in Skyfall, interpreted by one of the greatest British actresses, Dame Judi Dench, who was killed and therefore replaced by Ralph Fiennes, now it is time for Daniel Craig too to leave and hang his tuxedo, drink one last Martini and lay down his Walther PPK.
Yet, Craig doesn’t seem to be too sad to leave his Bond character. In a recent interview to TimeOut, when asked if he can imagine to do a new film of the Bond saga, he answered:
Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.
Further on in the same interview, Craig is clear about the new actor – or even actress – who is going to play the oo7 role:
Look, I don’t give a f***.
Whether Mr Craig is not interested in the choice of the actor who is going to replace him, Bond’s fans are. In the last months the international press has devoted great attention to this topic and, after a careful scrutiny of the articles, the essential list goes as follows:
Idris Elba, 43, has been working both in cinema and television since 1994. Yet, as Esquire online reports, chances for him might be few. He would give a spark of diversity to the iconography of the white-male Bond, but as Laurie Penny recently wrote in the New Statesman, Roger Moore was right when he said that Bond cannot be played but by a white male because
the very fact of being white and male is as part of the character as the gadgets that he handles, the elegance of his attire and his romantic alcoholism.
But “the times they are a’ changing”, and 007 might be part of a bigger renovation.
Damian Lewis, 44, played Nicholas Brody in Homeland. Rumour has it he has been given an “unofficial nod” by Bond producers.
Tom Hardy, 38, the star of Mad Max: Fury Road, won awards for his performances in Locke, Inception and Bronson.
Tom Hiddleston, 34, Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris directed by Woody Allen, said that he would enjoy the experience of being the new Bond.
These are the most recurrent names of the unofficial forecasts, among which there appear also curious possible choices such as Emily Blunt and David Beckham.
Personally, among all the names lately whispered, a good choice would be Michael Fassbender: although he is not purely British, he’s Irish-German born in Heidelberg, Fassbender has all the characteristics to be the new 007, he is elegant, charming, has a deep voice and looks fantastic in tuxedo. On a more technical side, he is a great and eclectic actor who is able to play the buttoned-up Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method, the wild Brandon in Shame and the rebellious Irish prisoner Bobby Sands in Hunger.
66th Venice Film Festival, Matthew Goode on the red carpet for ‘A Single Man’
Finally, I would like to give my modest proposal by suggesting Matthew Goode who, like all the others, is not at all lacking in charm and elegance. But, despite the huge success of Spectre, the Bond saga perhaps needs some fresh air and a wave of renovation: even institutions need a change sometimes.
Bets are still open.