UPDATE: Add Jack O’Connell to the mix, as it looks like the race is now down to three actors, with O’Connell and Callum Turner among them. The third name remains a mystery.
EARLIER: Here’s Page Six Hollywood with a report that will travel far and wide today. It concerns the next James Bond.
Screen tests are scheduled to begin in early September, and we have a list of names. The shortlist includes Jack Barton, Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal and Harris Dickinson.
Yet the one actor who is apparently leading the pack, with insiders calling him “The One,” is Barton, 31, who was found by casting director Nina Gold as she scoured the UK for unknowns to play the new 007.
Barton — who had a very small role in “Poor Things” — has mostly done British TV, with small roles in Steven Knight’s “SAS: Rogue Heroes” and Netflix’s “Heartstopper.” Search his name on Google News, and you’re likely to find obituaries for other Jack Bartons, as well as a piece on a hockey player of the same name. The algorithm will change in his favor, starting today, with this Page Six report.
Quite interesting how the name who now sits atop the James Bond sweepstakes is up against a handful of well-known actors, all of whom have been tipped and rumored for months now. For example, I’m pretty sure I was the first to report about Elordi being involved back in early 2025, adding that he was the actor Amazon most wanted to don the tuxedo. But technically, and although they might have a say, Amazon will not have the final word in the casting. Rather, it’ll be a group effort consisting of Denis Villeneuve, Nina Gold, producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman, and screenwriter Steven Knight.
Save for Barton, the other name that’s part of the shortlist and who was not really presumed to be in the race is Mescal, who is currently shooting Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies, playing Paul McCartney. Out of the six actors currently on the shortlist, he’s the one I probably most don’t want to come near 007. Hopefully, Gold, Villeneuve and company have the good sense to realize how bad a fit Mescal would be.
Several studio executives told Page Six that Amazon/MGM is reportedly looking for a younger actor — preferably under 30 — who can carry the franchise across five films, much like Daniel Craig did during his 15-year 007 run, which began in 2006.
Villeneuve was hired to direct and brought on writer Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) to shape the script, which, according to the latest report in June, was still being written. An announcement of the actor who has been selected to play Bond is supposed to come before the year is done.
Zeller’s feature debut, “The Father,” was an acclaimed and Oscar-winning film. Many believe he struck out with his sophomore effort, 2022’s critically maligned “The Son.” This is another miss.