Bullet Train actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson impressed audiences as the suave, mustache-wielding, British assassin, Tangerine in his most recent hit movie.
And it seems he caught the eye of James Bond producers too, as he has recently sat down to discuss the possibility of becoming Daniel Craig’s successor.
Taking over as James Bond is no easy feat, it’s not just about the suits, car chases, or even the Martinis — although they are a large part of Bond’s iconic character.
It’s all about upholding a decade-long legacy. And let’s face it, once you’re a Bond, you’re never really remembered for anything other than that, so it’s a huge risk for any actor to take.
There have been a handful of actors that have played the fictional British Secret Service agent over the years. The first-ever movie, Dr. No came out in 1962 and starred Sean Connery as Bond.
That’s where it all began, and since then, there have been twenty-five movies, totalling a whopping $7 billion, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film series to date.
While Connery might have been the first to show the world what 007 is all about, there have been several actors since then that have put their own spin on the iconic character, including David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and most recently Daniel Craig, who said goodbye as the MI6 agent in No Time to Die (2021).
Craig took on a more modern approach to Bond when he first took to the screen in Casino Royale (2006). Audiences were met with a grittier, less gadget-based Bond, and he was an instant hit.
But now that Craig has retired as 007, the world is in need of a new agent to take on the mantle of playing the iconic character. And who’s better equipped for the challenge than British heartthrob, Aaron Taylor-Johnson?
For those of you that are hard-core fans of Johnson’s work, you might remember him as Robbie from the coming-of-age comedy, Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging, but his popularity has boomed over the last few years.
The thirty-two-year-old is best known for his later films, such as Nocturnals, Kick-Ass, and Bullet Train, the latter of which seems to have caught the attention of James Bond producer, Barbara Broccoli.
The pair reportedly sat down to discuss the possibility of Taylor-Johnson taking on the baton, and according to Puck News, “the meeting went well.”
They added that he checks all of the boxes: “Great actor, British, fits the younger direction the Broccolis want to go, accomplished but not particularly famous.”
However, they added that: “If Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff Kraven the Hunter or Universal’s Ryan Gosling 2-hander The Fall Guy works, Taylor-Johnson might end up, ironically, too famous to take on Bond.”
So there’s every chance Taylor-Johnson could be the front-runner.
But nothing has been written in stone just yet, and Broccoli previously said back in June 2022, it would be “at least 2 years” before they would even begin filming another Bond.
“We’re working out where to go with him, we’re talking that through,” she said, as per Deadline. “There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time.”
