‘Casino Royale’ director says Henry Cavill would’ve made an “excellent” James Bond if not for Daniel Craig
Casino Royale director Martin Campbell has revealed that Henry Cavill could have been an “excellent” James Bond “if Daniel [Craig] didn’t exist”.
Speaking to Express UK, Campbell, who led the Craig-starring James Bond reboot with Casino Royale, revealed that Cavill – now most famous for playing Superman and Geralt in The Witcher – had auditioned for the 007 franchise but was “a little young at the time”. For context, the reboot’s auditions were held 18 years ago, when Cavill was just 22-years-old.
Campbell said of Henry Cavill’s audition: “He looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel didn’t exist Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape… very handsome, very chiselled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”
Despite Cavill’s fantastic audition, Campbell said he was not “favouring Henry” over Daniel Craig for the role. “The way they work with Bond, and it’s pretty terrific, is when they decide on the actor and you audition — in our case, it was eight people — it’s very democratic,” Campbell said.
“You sit around a table, eight or nine of you. It was myself and the producers, casting director, etc. And you go through the eight people and you put your hand up as you talk through each person and ultimately everybody has to be unanimous in their decision, if you see what I mean.”
Despite being a hot favourite among fans to be cast as the next James Bond, Cavill faces yet another obstacle: he may be too old now.
“Henry’s 40, so by the time he’s done the third one he’s going to be 50 and anything beyond that’s two, three years per Bond,” Campbell explained. “He’s in good shape Henry, he’s a good guy. He did very well in the audition, but ironically he was too young.”
Daniel Craig most recently wrapped up his stint as 007 in 2021’s No Time To Die. The film scored a four-star review, with NME‘s Alex Flood writing: “No Time To Die producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson should be applauded for taking some bold risks. The gobsmacking ending, in fact, may be the biggest in Bond history. Yet when the credits finally roll on Daniel Craig’s last hurrah, all those difficulties fade into the background. If we didn’t know better, we’d say it even looked like he enjoyed himself.”
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Surej Singh
NME
