The Men Who'd Be Bond: BRIAN VINER looks at the next possible successors to the 007 role
So who is to play the next James Bond, once Daniel Craig has handed in his licence to kill, as he seems likely to do after the forthcoming Spectre?
Excited headlines this week suggested that the red-haired Homeland star Damian Lewis is firmly in the crosshairs to play 007, following a rash of betting that overnight made him clear favourite.
Until then, Idris Elba looked like the likeliest pick, but now it seems we are marginally more likely to get a ginger than a black Bond, and it may be significant that producer Barbara Broccoli has worked with Lewis before, on last year’s The Silent Storm.
The times they are a' changing: Could we have a redhead or black James Bond in future, with Damian Lewis and Idris Elba in the running?
I was also asked on the radio this week whether she might yet surprise us with the first female Bond. I said I fervently hoped not, not because I don’t want to see more women taking leading roles in action films (I do), but because it would be an insult to Ian Fleming’s original vision.
Not so a black Bond. Times have changed since Sean Connery outsmarted Dr No in the first 007 picture, and I think Elba, a terrific actor, would be splendid. I’d be perfectly happy with Lewis, too, but he’s not much younger than Craig, and would be a sight closer to 50 than 40 by the time he reported to M. That’s getting a bit old even to flirt with Miss Moneypenny, let alone jump on and off moving trains.
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If the bookies’ lists are anything to go by, behind Lewis and Elba as the next likeliest Bond is the currently ubiquitous Tom Hardy, followed by Michael Fassbender. Aidan Turner, otherwise known as the smouldering Ross Poldark, is a 50/1 shot, along with Benedict Cumberbatch and another Homeland alumnus, Rupert Friend. He’d be good.
My own choice, though, would be 32-year-old Dan Stevens (currently 14/1). He’ll have to learn to manoeuvre cars better than he did as ill-fated Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, and poor old Matthew was undoubtedly a bit wet, but he’s the right age, with good looks and abundant charm. And in last year’s thriller The Guest, daft film though it was, he exhibited the requisite psychopathic streak, too.
Outsider: Downton Abbey's Dan Steven is suave enough to play Bond, if he bulks up a bit
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