Bond, Jeff Bond.
It truly is start of a new era when it comes to James Bond. As the creatives over at Amazon/MGM are now hard at work on the next instalment, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is already asking fans about who should play 007.
Bezos, posting a BBC headline about 007 given “control to Amazon,” asked his followers on Instagram: “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?” It sounds like he’s in on the action, and wants to partially take part in the process of reigniting the franchise.
Social media users took the bait and the replies have been all over the place. However, one big name kept popping up, that of Henry Cavill whose social media army swarmed Bezos’ post. Cavill’s 2005 screen test for Bond recently leaked online to mixed reactions.
Some of the other rumored actors for the next Bond, under the Broccoli era, were Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Regé-Jean Page, Richard Madden, Henry Golding, James Norton, Damson Idris and Dev Patel. Broccoli stated she was looking for an actor in his ‘30s and “whiteness was not required.” Maybe now with Amazon/MGM back in charge, actors like Cavill, Idris Elba, and Tom Hardy can come back in contention.
There are plenty of negatives in Amazon/MGM overseeing Bond. However, if looking at it with the glass half full, there might be some positives. We might start seeing a total shift in how director’s get chosen — maybe bigger names will be sought with filmmakers being given more creative input in the process. Broccoli’s method of selection hampered the chance to see Nolan and Villeneuve directing a Bond.
It is also entirely possible that we might finally go back to the roots of Ian Fleming’s novels by getting a period-set Bond movie with a filmmaker crafting their own vision on the franchise. That’s the hope, that creating a new Bond film will have less of Broccoli’s creative restrictions and open the door for a new vision.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.