Lethal Weapon star Mel Gibson has revealed that he almost played James Bond in the 1980s.
In an interview with JoBlo, the actor explained that he was offered the role while shooting 1982's The Year of Living Dangerously, but turned it down over fears of being typecast. "I got offered the James Bond movies when I was like twenty-six, which is like forty years ago, okay? And they said, hey, we want you to be the next James Bond," Gibson recalled. "And I thought about it; I was in Australia, I was working with Peter Weir. And I did think about it, and I sort of turned it down – for that reason. Because I thought, look what happened to poor Sean [Connery], he got stuck there for like three decades."
Gibson doesn't mention which Bond film would have been his first had he taken on the role of 007, but since he was offered the gig in 1982, 1983's Octopussy would likely have been his first film. Roger Moore, who was the current Bond at that time, had openly expressed a desire to retire as the spy following 1981's For Your Eyes Only. This led Eon Productions, the company that produces the James Bond film series, to begin looking for the next Bond with actors like Timothy Dalton, Lewis Collins, Michael Billington, Oliver Tobias and James Brolin being suggested. However, Eon was eventually able to persuade Moore to continue in the role for another two films before Dalton replaced him as 007 in 1987's The Living Daylights.
Who Will Be the Next James Bond?
The most recent Bond actor was Daniel Craig, who starred in five Eon films between 2006 and 2021. With Craig's tenure as the character over, the Bond producers have now turned their attention to developing the next wave of Bond films, which will begin with reinventing the titular spy. Casting-wise, Eon is reportedly looking for a younger actor in his thirties who will not be hesitant about dedicating the next 10 to 12 years of his life playing Bond. While the Bond producers have stated that casting will not begin for another two years, several actors have already emerged as possible contenders for the role with The Witcher star Henry Cavill considered the current favorite among bookies to play the iconic double O agent. Other actors believed to be in contention include Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page, Game of Thrones' Kit Harrington and Happy Valley's James Norton.
While the direction Eon will take with the upcoming Bond 26 remains unknown at this time, producer Barbara Broccoli has revealed that they always look to the real world when developing the next Bond story. "We always sit down with our writers, and we start by thinking about what is the world afraid of?" she explained. "We start by thinking about, 'Who's the Bond villain?' We try to focus on that as the sort of uber story, and then we want to also look at Bond's emotional life, and what he'll be facing personally that he hasn't had to deal with before. So he has two big issues in the films — one is the geopolitical one and the other is the personal one."
Bond 26 remains without a cast, crew and official release date.
Source: JoBlo