Guide #231: How the search for the next James Bond film became the franchise’s best marketing tool | culture

CTurner’s role as James Bond lasted at most two weeks. No sooner had he been hailed as the favorite to succeed Daniel Craig, than he was nudged from the DB5’s driver’s seat by the latest heir apparent, Jacob Elordi, who was installed as the bookmakers’ new favorite after his hugely profitable performance at Wuthering Heights. Somewhere in the background there is a clever Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who seemed locked in the position two years ago, enjoying the support of former agents Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby, but now appears to have fallen out of favour. And don’t forget the succession of other dead Bonds now banished to the back of the prospect market: the likes of Tom Hardy and the long-rumored Idris Elba (both now likely to have outgrown the role); Theo James; James Norton; Josh O’Connor; Harris Dickinson; Bridgerton Reg Jean Page; And nearly 5,000 other mostly British actors who enjoyed box office success/led a hit TV drama/looked good in a tuxedo.

The hunt continues. Five years after Craig’s last outing, which left absolutely no wiggle room for his return, and not far from the year Denis Villeneuve was hired as director of the next, still untitled sequel, the next 007 has yet to be found. Or if he is (and it seems certain he is), everyone involved in the Bond operation is characteristically keeping quiet about it.

It has been an unusually long wait – one that was extended even further by the passing of the creative control baton from the old Bond siblings, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, to MGM and its parent company Amazon – though perhaps not an entirely unwelcome wait. Because “looking for the next Bond” is as important a part of the franchise as martinis, female deaths, and product placement; It’s a vital act of self-promotion that keeps Bond in the headlines even when there’s no upcoming film.

The idea of ​​Bond being the most beloved role in cinema has been carefully nurtured by the franchise’s hosts. Stories of celebrities (Paul Newman, James Brolin, Mel Gibson, and other famous names) being approached or screen-testing for the 007 film have become part of Bond lore, as have the efforts made by producers to find the right man for the job. The first Bond film was preceded by a competition announced in the Daily Express newspaper to find the man who would play the film’s main character. Among the qualities required for competitors are to be six feet tall, have an English accent and a “firm chin.” The winner, London model Peter Anthony, certainly looked the part, but his lack of acting skills led long-time Bond producer Cubby Broccoli and Eon Productions to look to more established characters. As has become tradition whenever a new Bond was sought, there were conflicting views on what kind of characteristics were required: his creator Ian Fleming prioritized “gentleness”; Broccoli wanted the “Creary Man.” Broccoli won and Sean Connery was appointed.

When Connery first walked away from the role, Broccoli and his producing partner Harry Saltzman allegedly auditioned 400 people to be his replacement, before eventually landing George Lazenby, a former Australian car salesman who Broccoli and Saltzman had discovered looking dapper in an ad for Fry’s Chocolate – unlike Peter Anthony, it didn’t matter that Lazenby had never delivered a single line before playing Bond. In contrast to Lazenby, Roger Moore’s pre-Bond apprenticeship was more plausible: he was already appearing as a similarly smooth character in the TV series The Saint. The same can be said for Moore’s first choice replacement, Pierce Brosnan, who appeared as a Bond lookalike in the US TV police drama Remington Steele. Famously, when Brosnan was offered the role of 007, NBC, which had just canceled Remington Steele, immediately canceled the show due to increased interest in his lead, forcing Broccoli to offer the part to Timothy Dalton instead.

It was a back-and-forth at the time in the mid-1980s when celebrity and entertainment news was on the rise, and was covered relentlessly in the UK tabloids, US publications such as Premiere magazine and on the evening news. The search for the next Bond became a media event, exploited by bookies, who began offering new or ‘special’ bets as a larger part of their offers (initiated by William Hill’s much-publicized book on Who Shot JR): when Dalton officially backed out of the role in 1994, the bookies offered 20-1 on Kenneth Branagh, 25-1 on Lenny Henry, and 50-1 on Emma. Thompson takes his place, although smart gamblers would have backed Brosnan at a less generous 2-1.

By the time Brosnan (reluctantly) left the role, the buzz around finding his successor had heated up again thanks to the advent of the Internet. The chat rooms were full of speculation, fueled by tabloids: in Eon’s offices there was reportedly a list of names of every potential actor who had been shortlisted for the role by the tabloids, 72 in all, including “a midget and two women”. The studio’s latest casting of Daniel Craig, announced via a dramatic performance on a speedboat on the Thames, was audacious and controversial – a gruff, blond-headed stepchild in a family of glamorous brunettes – and led to negative headlines and online boycotts.

Of course Wilson and Broccoli proved right in their choice. The subject of high-profile satire in the 1990s and early 2000s, Bond was restored to the status of event cinema by the huge success of the Craig years. That is why such caution is exercised in finding a replacement for him by the existing franchise handlers. Maybe they can take their time – the relentless hype machine will ensure that no one loses interest in Bond any time soon.

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