Whatever happened to “yes,” “no” or “maybe”?
We’ve already covered the rampant rumors of Aaron Taylor-Johnson potentially becoming the next James Bond.
There’s been much speculation and it hasn’t really died down. No other actor has had this much buzz in terms of Bond casting. You can read the Bond/Taylor-Johnson stories here, here, here, here and here.
Whenever he’s asked, it’s been constant deflection on Taylor-Johnson’s part. In a recent interview with Esquire, he neither confirmed nor denied that he’s the next Bond. Now, when asked by AP, he deflects, again, and gets rather frustrated at the interviewer:
You sick of asking that question? Have a good one.
It’s been like this, in countless interviews, and, really, Taylor-Johnson could have easily just denied the rumors, once and for all, but he’s clearly not doing that. He must, at the very least, be in the running, otherwise a simple “no” would have sufficed.
Last year, a report suggested that Taylor-Johnson had a secret screen test with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli at Pinewood studios in November 2022, and it went so well that an announcement of his casting was going to happen in the near future.
Then the strikes happened. Obviously, it’d be in poor taste to announce any sort of major casting news while that is happening. Still a rumor, I guess, but who are we kidding here? There’s been no denial from Bond producer Barbara Broccoli as word keeps spreading throughout the film world.
Taylor-Johnson would be succeeding Daniel Craig. I had my doubt about Craig’s casting but he surprisingly delivered two of the best movies of this five decade plus franchise: “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall.” I never had high expectations for this franchise to begin with, but those two movies were aces.