One of the most historic movie franchises of all time, James Bond, has hired some great actors, such as Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig, to play the titular lead character.
Novelist Ian Fleming wrote a slew of stories about the suave and ultra intelligent British spy, which was loosely based on his experiences during World War II and the Cold War.
And now there might be a big and surprising announcement about the actor who will play the next James Bond.
Emily Smith of Page Six reports:
“After saying he’d rather ‘slash my wrists’ than do a final Bond movie, sources say Daniel Craig is ready to sign on to return as 007 after Bond bosses decided Tom Hiddleston is ‘too smug and not tough enough’ for the role.
Multiple sources tell Page Six that Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli has ‘just about persuaded Daniel Craig to do one more Bond movie.’
This comes after Broccoli produced his hit off-Broadway production of ‘Othello’ with David Oyelowo, which won Craig the serious acting plaudits he craved.
A Hollywood source said, ‘Daniel was very pleased with how ‘Othello’ went and the great reviews. Now Daniel’s talks with Barbara are going in the right direction.
They have a script — screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade [who’ve penned several Bond movies] are writing and they’ll go into production as soon as Daniel is ready to commit.’
The source added, ‘Plus, Barbara Broccoli doesn’t like Tom Hiddleston, he’s a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond.’
British actor Hiddleston’s cringe-making romance with Taylor Swift sealed his fate with Bond producers.
We’re told, followed by his self-righteous Golden Globes speech, pontificating about his trip to South Sudan, and how Doctors Without Borders ‘binge-watched’ his series.
In 2015, Craig was asked if he’d be back again after finishing a difficult ‘Spectre’ shoot, and replied, ‘I’d rather . . . slash my wrists . . . I’m over it at the moment.’ When asked who should take over the role, he added, “Look, I don’t give a f – – k.”
But apparently now he does. Another source added, ‘Daniel had such a good time in ‘Othello,’ produced by Barbara, that he’s ready to do a final Bond.”
Wade recently said the new film would be different from ‘Spectre.’ ‘You’ve got to say something about Bond’s place in the world, which is Britain’s place in the world.
But things are moving so quickly now, that becomes tricky.’”
To be fair to Daniel Craig who said he wanted to “slash” his wrists when asked about starring in more James Bond films, he had made that comment after a long day on the press junket for “Spectre.”
Craig ended up apologizing for his comment – which seemed ungrateful to almost everybody, including the producers – but he said it was like being a 100 feet away from finishing a marathon and getting asked to do it again.
And it does seem ungrateful not to think about running a back-to-back marathon when Barbara Broccoli was reportedly offering him the biggest contract in the history of film to do two more Bond films that guaranteed him $75 million (and that doesn’t factor in the profit participation).
Who wouldn’t run 52.4 miles for that kind of money?
Even still, it’s being reported that apparently this will be Daniel Craig’s last Bond film.