“That role would have swallowed me whole and I could have sunk the franchise, or at least been the worst Bond that ever lived.”
On the Croisette this week for Asteroid City by Wes Anderson, the English actor Rupert Friend tells in variety the beginning of his career, boosted by costume films like Pride and Prejudice (in 2005), which quickly garnered him Hollywood attention. So much so that he was offered the role of james bond :
“When I was 22 and fresh out of drama school, I made three films in a row: Rochester, the Last of the Libertines (2004), Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005). Producers came to see me and then said: We would like to talk to you about playing James Bond! But to revive the series. We basically want a new Jump, coming out of college. And I met Barbara Broccoli and her brother Michael and Debbie McWilliams, the saga’s casting director. Of course I had seen all those movies growing up and I love all the actors and all the movies james bond.”
The offer was more than serious and Rupert Friend was presented with a golden opportunity: “Basically, they told me: you’re going to do a screen test, and if it goes well, you’re hired for three films, which you won’t read and you won’t know who the director is. You will essentially be handcuffed to the saga.”
Too much pressure for the young British actor. Who preferred to refuse: “I felt that at this stage of my life and my career, I was too young for that, I didn’t have the experience, I didn’t have the necessary build and I hadn’t yet suffered any hard knocks in my career. Neither emotionally, nor psychologically, nor physically… But that’s what a great Bond should have. So I politely declined. It was probably a bit of a surprise to them.”
Without regret for the one who will become a star of Homeland afterwards. “To be honest, I’m glad I didn’t. Because at the time, not only could the role have crushed me. This role was bigger than me as an actor or even as a person. He would have swallowed me whole and I could have sunk the franchise, or at least been the worst Jump who ever lived. And that just wasn’t an option, because I love this franchise.”
So twenty years later, after Daniel Craig took his place in Royal Casino (in 2006) and in five 007 films, Rupert Friend would he be interested in the job?
“Very, very recently, like mid-April, I started thinking that I now have the scars and the bruises I need now. I went around the hard knocks, I rolled my bump on film sets (…) and I wrote to my manager saying, “I’ve been thinking a lot. . .” I literally decided I was ready. Now, if the producers are interested in me… It doesn’t matter if I do it or not one day, it’s important to listen to the cycles of life and to understand that the universe is always on time. Just, sometimes it’s us who are a little bit ahead or a little bit behind.”
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This Homeland star refused to play James Bond before Daniel Craig