In an interview with Variety, on the sidelines of the Cannes presentation of the film “Asteroid City” in which he plays, Rupert Friend talks about his refusal to wear the clothes of James Bond, which he had been offered in 2006.
Present alongside Wes Anderson and part of the cast of Asteroid City presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Rupert Friend indulged in a few confidences in an interview with variety and published on May 19. The Homeland actor has revealed he was one of the actors approached to play James Bond in 2006, when Pierce Brosnan had just stepped down, four years after Die Another Day.
But, as he explains, he didn’t feel confident at all, too inexperienced. “At 22, fresh out of drama school, I made three movies back to back: Rochester, the last of the libertines, Pride and Prejudice And Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. I was told: “We would like to offer you to play James Bond, but by reinventing the saga. We want him to come straight out of university”.
The actor met the historical producer of the franchise, Barbara Broccoli, as well as the casting director, Debbie McWilliams. “You will do a screen test, and if it goes well, you will be hired for three films that you will not read and whose director you will not know” he was told.
“I risked sinking the franchise!”
A start of pressure not easy to bear from the top of his 22 years, for such a huge role. “I suddenly said to myself, ‘I think at this point in my life and in my career, I’m too young, I don’t have the experience, I don’t have the acting talent and I don’t I don’t have any of the hardships – emotionally, psychologically, physically – that a great Bond should have. So I will politely decline” comments the actor.
However, he has no regrets about turning down the role: “I’m grateful that I did it. Because at the time, not only could the role have overshadowed me, but I felt like the role was beyond me as an actor or even as a nobody. I felt like he was going to swallow me up and I risked sinking the franchise, or at least being the worst Bond ever.”
In the end, the spectators will not necessarily have lost out, with the arrival of his British compatriot Daniel Craig who slipped impeccably into the custom-made costume of Agent 007 in Casino Royale.